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.

Flipping my classroom

I recently bought a book called Flip Your Classroom. It is a great, short book about the reasons for flipping your classroom and how to go about it. Flipping your classroom is basically having students learn concepts at home (using videos made by teachers) and then using class time to master the concepts with the teacher acting as a mentor and guide during the mastery time.

  

I highly recommend the book.  The authors recommend using Camtasia to record your videos.  I have been using Jing (TechSmith) for years and Camtasia is a more sophisticated program by the same people.  I am currently using the free trial but I love it and will be purchasing it when I buy my new laptop in a few weeks (my last laptop was stolen from school and it turns out that neither the school's insurance nor ours will cover the loss - so sad).

If you are not ready to pay for a program, Jing is free and does a great job at recording your audio and recording your screen. You only have 5 minutes in the free version but you can get a lot done in 5 minutes of screencasting.  I love it but I am ready for something more.

My slideshare views

I just got an email from SlideShare. It is the site where I host some of the presentations I have made for my classes, both face to face and online. It allows you to add your own narration to a presentation so students can listen to your voice while they watch the slides. I guess it was my first foray into flipping my classroom. Well, check out how many times they have been viewed since I posted my first presentation a few years ago: Wow! That seems like a lot. 20956 views! The excess exclamation marks aside, the number of views show that the videos/slideshows are worth doing. Luckily, I am involved with a Tools2Go PLC initiative at my Board (thanks, Len). Tools2Go is our WECDSB Google + partition (is that how to describe it?). One of the things we can do is have students get a Youtube account under the umbrella of our Board. Also, I now have a Youtube channel and I am excited to make more videos using Youtube. Maybe 5 years from now, I will also have 20,000 views there.

Sidewalk scribe

This year, for Catholic Education Week, my English department did an activity called "Sidewalk Scribe".  I got the idea from Soul Pancake. We bought a bunch of sidewalk chalk and took the students outside to write quotations that inspire them on the sidewalk around the school.  It was great fun.

When I left, I saw students stopping to read what was written on the sidewalks.  I also saw a grandmother get out of her car and read some while she waited for her grand kids after school.

Here are some pictures:

Kid President and Soul Pancake

One of my students last semester recommended a Youtube video by Kid President.  I loved it and through the video, learned about Soul Pancake.  I bought the Soul Pancake book and it had a lot of great and quirky ideas in it.

This is the video that started it all:

New header design

The new look is thanks to my husband!  I love it.

A student favourite

My students are loving anything written by John Green.  A few students last semester choose John Green novels for their Literature Circles.  We now have a teacher doing The Fault in Our Stars with her classes, both University and College level.  The book is so popular, that students are borrowing it to let their parents, siblings and friends read it as well.  Said teacher also has an "author crush" on Green which inspired me to create a Pinterest board in her honour.

A friend and DI consultant at our Board recommended it to me last year and I loved it as well.  It is sad and truthful and clever and inspirational. 

I also did a little Fault inspired manicure, just for fun:

A new TLLP grant

My teaching partner in crime, Daniella, and I applied for another Teacher Learning and Leadership Program Grant for the 2013-2014 school year and our project was accepted.  Our project is called "Comics Aren't Just For Kids: Graphic Texts in the High School Classroom".  We are going to develop lessons and assessments centered around graphic texts, both paper and digital. 

The project is in its infancy but we are attending the kick off conference in May and are already looking at what graphic texts we will use.  I have a number of volunteers from my first semester Studies in Literature class who are helping us choose our texts.  They are called the "Dork Knights" (a hilarious play on the Holy Names Knights, the Dark Knight and our own "dorkiness").  Daniella is less dorky so I hope she will lend some much needed legitimacy to the project. We are also hoping to get a local comic book store involved.

One of the really exciting aspects of the project is the purchase of 25 iPad Mini's to use.  The TLLP team at the Ministry of Education suggested I look into the work of Dr. Ruben Puentedura and his SAMR model.  The SAMR model talks about the use of technology in the classroom.  I am looking forward to exploring his ideas and using technology as a way to redefine both our instruction through this project and also redefine our assessment and evaluation of the project using the iPads.

I have started to collect ideas for the technology aspect of the project on my TLLP Pinterest Page.

So, apply for a grant.  We have gotten 2 in the last 3 years and our first project, Equal is Not the Same: DI & the Middle Learner was a great learning experience. It is true that Teacher-Directed Professional Development is the way to go.

We will be using both a website and a blog to document our progress.

The Misplaced Metaphor

Who first started using the word "piece" in education?  Did some well known speaker use a puzzle metaphor and the puzzle part got lost?  Two years ago, I counted the number of times the word was used at a conference and it was in the triple digits.  It has found its way into just about every educator's speech.  I thought it would lose popularity but instead, it is gaining fast.

I really hate it.

Guided Journals and Literacy

I was "exploring the blogosphere" this summer when I came across the website GraceisOverrated.com.  Blogger Christine Zimmer has a great site where she posts ADORABLE hand lettered journaling pages that you can fill in and colour.

http://www.graceisoverrated.com/

I loved the site and ordered a pocket journal from her Etsy shop for me and my friend and partner in Education related crime (and actual crime if you count the time I called 911 on a boy I saw manhandling his girlfriend in a field a few years ago), Daniella Czudner.

http://www.graceisoverrated.com/

Now, Daniella is much more of a people person than I am and she e-mailed Christine to tell her how much we loved the journals.  Then, like every teacher, we started to talk about how great it would be to do an activity like this in the classroom.  With the support of our Principal and our Parent's Council, we are hosting Christine in a few weeks to do both student and teacher workshops on Guided Journaling.

I can't tell you how excited Daniella and I are.  You have to check out Christine's site; it is amazing.

I will be sure to post some pictures from the workshops.

Using Pinterest

I cannot overstate the number of ideas I have found on Pinterest that I am using in my classroom.  My teacher candidate Sarah and I have been pinning ideas back and forth.

Our latest idea was inspired by a free lesson by Tracee Orman called "Using Twitter to Make Connections".  She has some great resources on her Pinterest site or her classroom website.  We also found a few pins about using Twitter in the classroom.

Here are a few pictures that are inspiring us right now.

This picture is from http://mesmrswhitesclass.blogspot.ca/2012/08/my-twitter-door.html

http://mesmrswhitesclass.blogspot.ca/2012/08/my-twitter-door.html

This one is from http://artfor1170.blogspot.ca/2012/01/twitter.html

http://artfor1170.blogspot.ca/2012/01/twitter.html

I will update this post when we get our own Twitter board up.

Why Differentiate?

I feel this way about the OSSLT sometimes as well.  Students who have learning disabilities will struggle as much on the Literacy Test as that fish will trying to get up that tree.

Using Tagxedo

My smart teacher candidate found a neat website that is an alternative to Wordle.  It is called Tagxedo (www.tagxedo.com). You can enter text and the website puts it into a shape.  We are going to try it with The Hunger Games.  Students will find adjectives that describe a character and put them into a Tagxedo shape.

Here is my exemplar.  I just cut and pasted a portion of text from Part 1 of the book so they can see what it will look like.

Thanks for the idea, Sarah!

I love looking at other teachers' classrooms

My favourite teacher blog posts are the ones where I get to see into other people's classrooms.  So, I am going to post a few pictures of mine today.  I have a few shots of my classroom after a day of classes.  I have a couple of Grade 12 classes and one Grade 10 class.  I need to do a good cleaning and reorganizing but this it, mess and all.

This is the front of the room.  We still have old blackboards so I put up a white board at the front with velcro.  We also still use TV/VCR sometimes.  Don't laugh.  There is also a projector next to my podium so I am not a dinosaur. I teach from the front and have my desk at the back.

This is the side view of the room.  I am luck to have a bank of cabinets.

This is the back corner.  The shelves come from our now defunct library (that is another story).  The old Mac was generously donated by my sister.  Thanks, Melanie!

This is a view of the back of my room, including my Smart board and my teacher desk.







I also have some close ups of two of my movable white boards at the front.

Here is my Objectives Board (for Learning Goals and Success Criteria)

It is a small dry erase Board I got from Home Depot.  I used some American Crafts stickers I had lying around for the titles.  My latest project connects Reading Strategies to the Objectives Board.  I will be trying it out tomorrow.














Here is my other white board, "Ticket to Freedom".  It is my exit card board. I use it primarily with my ENG 2P1 class.