Genius Hour Update: Asking the Right Questions

We are a few weeks into our genius hour project.  Our students are in a junior learning strategies class and have varied levels of ability but all are enthusiastic about the project.  We are at the project approval stage but I want to take some time to get the students generating some focus questions.  I feel like I want to connect the projects to inquiry by using questions for focus.  I imagine that they will all look very similar but since I have these same students next semester as well, for the most part, I think it is a good time to plant the idea of generating questions to guide inquiry.

Once the questions have been set, it will be time to research and make lists of resources and materials they will need to complete the projects.  I am looking forward to getting the projects underway.

Academic Conversations

A few years ago, I took a MOOC from Coursera about Accountable Talk in the classroom.  It was interesting and I filed it in the back of my mind for use in a High School Classroom.  I recently bought the book called Academic Conversations by Zwiers & Crawford to take the next step towards really focusing my students when they have group conversations about a topic.

I am also interested in more inquiry in my English classes and I think academic conversations are a skill my class needs to work on before I really dive into their first inquiry activity (details in a later blog post).

I used to believe that students would naturally catch on to some things, like group conversations. However, over the years I have learned that sometimes you have to set out the rules for activities we teachers think are self-explanatory.  I am hoping that doing a few short mini lessons on the nature, rules and behaviours of academic conversations will help my students get more out of group discussions.  We are having our first book talk about The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie tomorrow and I am going to start with a short demonstrative video from the Accountable Talk course and then an overview of academic conversations before we begin.  I hope that this will help students to become better literature circle members and group members overall.

Wish me luck.

20 minute P.D.: Making Lifelong Learning Manageable

20 minute P.D.: Making Lifelong Learning Manageable

I like to think of myself as a lifelong learner.  I am always looking for new ideas for my classroom.  It keeps me excited about teaching and fresh from year to year.  However, it can get overwhelming. When school gets busy, my best intentions are often pushed to the side in favour of the more pressing issues of teaching.

When I set the goal for myself this year that I would blog and tweet more, I didn't know how much that would inspire me to investigate new (or new to me) teaching ideas.  I came across a tweet by Brad Currie about A 5-Day Plan to Bring Professional Development Into Your Daily Routine. The link in the tweet no longer works and I am having trouble finding the article but I will tell you what I got from his words.

The idea is that teachers can engage in meaningful P.D. by dedicating 20 minutes a day to discovering new ideas.  He suggested a 5 day plan.  Monday is designated for reading an article or blog post. Tuesday is dedicated to watching a # devoted to an educational issue.  Wednesday focuses on a blog, either reading or writing a blog post.  Thursday involves watching a video.  Finally, Friday invites 20 minutes of listening to a podcast.

I have used these guidelines to structure 20 minutes of P.D. into each prep period.  I am well into week two.  Today's post is my 20 minutes of blogging.  It has proven to be very easy to do and I find it very engaging.

Here is my schedule for last week:
Monday: Labour Day
Tuesday: #internationalliteracyday
Wednesday: Blog Post about the Remind App
Thursday: "The Angry Eye" Jane Elliot (I later used this video with my class)
Friday: "Life on Purpose" podcast by http://markwguay.com/ (not really what I was looking for)

I think I will post my weekly schedule so I can have a record of what I looked at, in case I want to use an idea later on.

This week, I have already adapted the reading 20 minutes to include chapters for my Research in Education class at UWindsor.  However, I have also been reading short articles about a variety of subjects as a result of my weekly search for 20min P.D. topics.

I am interested to ask colleague how they engage in P.D. on a regular basis without becoming overwhelmed.  This is working for me so far, although it is still early days.

Starting a Genius Hour with a High School Class

We are going to try a genius hour with our Grade 9 GLE/ENG 1L class and our Grade 10 ENG 2L class.  I love the idea and have my colleague Daniella (who will become a celebrity on this blog for the number of times I will mention her) and my new V.P. Chad Barrette on board.

Chad has arranged for us to see a genius hour in action at a local elementary school.  I will let you know how it went after we get back from the visit.

I am also following #geniushour on Twitter to get ideas.  I should receive the book I will be using for our mentor text today:

Have any of you tried a genius hour?  Do you have any suggestions, cautions or advise?

Parental Involvement and the Remind App

I have a confession to make.  I am not a very social person and I dread the topic of parental involvement.  My husband and I don't have kids of our own so I sometimes feel like the only thing I have in common with parents is that I like their kids.  Case in point, last term in my Master's class, a colleague did a presentation on the importance of parental involvement and we discussed visiting students' home and meeting the parents.  The very thought terrifies me.  I would no more visit a student's home than stop by a friend's house (which I almost never do).  I am not a "visitor" and unless I am very comfortable with a friend, I will rarely hang around their (a use of a plural pronoun to be gender neutral - the focus of another post) house.

So, what does a socially awkward teacher do when she avoids people whenever she can?  The first thing is I ask a friend to help me write good news postcards home to parents.  I love the idea but I just can't figure out what to write.  Can you send home a postcard that says, "you have a darned nice kid there"?  I am even socially awkward through the mail.

I teach seniors so I rarely need to call home but I would like to let parents and students know about the good things that they are doing.  The same friend who writes my postcards started using the App, Remind.  She convinced another colleague (hello Daniella and Kathy) to use it as well and they did so with great success last year.  So, I am going to give it a try. At least my Grade 9 parents will know what is going on and I will take that as a first step towards more parental involvement in my classroom.

Remind lets a teacher text out a message to subscribed parents and students.  It is a one way line of communication, so it does not open up the possibility of parents or students responding.  I think there are a few too many ways that parents and students can contact me in my life already.  All students and parents have to do is text the number Remind designates and use the code generated when you create an account with them.  There is an option to use a google sign in and I am all Google, all the time, so that is great for me. Then, you can text to all the subscribers.  My friends say it is easy so I will give it a try.

Has anyone else faced their fears of parental involvement?  Have you used Remind?  Any suggestions?

Back to Blogging & Transforming the Classroom Environment

I have set a goal to blog at least once a week about what has captured my imagination this school year.  I would like a record of what I see, try and do this year.  Here we go.

2015-2016
I will be the Literacy Support Teacher for 2 periods this year.  I am also teaching the First Nations, Métis and Inuit Studies classes at my school (NBE 3U and NDW 4M).  My new challenge is a year long GLE/ENG 1L class that I am teaching with my friend Daniella.  I have ideas for all three classes and these ideas will be the focus of my blog posts in the coming weeks.  I am also trying to finish the longest Master's Degree in Education in history (at least it feels like it to me).

My focus today will be changing and improving my classroom environment.  I spoke to my Principal in June about getting a few half circle tables and drew up a few diagrams.  I also spoke to another professional partner in crime, Melissa, about changing the classroom environment up.

My friend Daniella found this video and it is exactly what I had in mind.  She and I are going to try and scare up the resources to do this.  I NEED a genius bar with whiteboards at the back of my classroom.  I have been tossing around the idea of getting whiteboard walls for a while and now I see that it must be done!  This transformation is awesome.

Check out the video:

We will be contacting http://thethirdteacherplus.com/ to see if we can connect with them.  I smell a new TLLP (Teacher Learning and Leadership Program).

Well, that wasn't so hard.  Now, to keep it up.

WECDSB's first Google Summit

I am at our Board's first Google Summit.  I am hoping to get some new ideas for the upcoming school year.  I am really excited for tomorrow's Advanced session "Everything Google".

The WECDSB Google Summit website has more information.  It is exciting to see so many teachers getting into Google educational apps!

Hurray to Doug Sadler (my tech mentor), Joe Sisco (GCT!) and John Ulicny (our Tech S.O.) and everyone else involved for pushing the envelope and putting us on the cutting edge (some cliques for this momentous occasion).

I am also sitting with my first Associate teacher from my Faculty of Ed years, Suzanne DeFroy.  It is nice to collaborate with her after all this time.