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RTI and dyslexia

The article about RTI and the Hudson article about dyslexia are similar in some concepts. Mesmer and Mesmer were explaining what RTI is, and it is a scientific process. Hudson was talking about the science behind dyslexia--what brain imaging tells us about dyslexia. In the Hudson article, there was a section about what teachers should do for dyslexic students, and all of their recommendations were similar to the process of RTI: continuous assessment, targeted intervention, and constant monitoring of progress and individualized instruction. Hudson emphasized that dyslexia is the broad term for reading disability--it is not a specific problem in the brain, it is different for almost every sufferer of dyslexia. RTI is about trying to meet individual students' needs, and Hudson proposes a similar idea. The tone of the two articles was different, though--Mesmer and Mesmer was easier to read than was Hudson--Hudson was not written esoterically, but the concepts they were trying to explain are difficult to grasp for most people.

Middle School Science teacher teaches students how to read

News flash: middle school and high school teachers all become certified reading specialists. Apparently, it is in fact true, according to Cris Tovani. I have found myself having difficulty this quarter maintaining motivation for all these classes that I see as irrelevant to my chosen career path: middle school science teacher. Every day I spend with my fourth grade class, I am more and more certain that all I want to teach is middle schoolers, and all I want to teach is science.

I chose to pursue a K-8 certificate with Middle Level Endorsements so that if I could not find a job in middle school, I would be able to work in an elementary school. I don't particularly want to teach high school, primarily because science in high school is very discipline-structured. You either teach biology, chemistry, or physics--not any ecology, geology, soil science, or other earth science which is where my passion is. Anyways, as someone being certified to teach K-8, I have to be able to teach all the subjects, so I am taking lots of classes that are not science classes. With my growing certainty that all I want to teach is middle school science comes a disengagement from math and, sorry, literacy.

I must be honest: I did not complete all my readings for literacy this past week. I carpool with two cohort-mates, one of whom is utterly fascinated by language and literacy, and I was discussing my disengagement from school with her. She told me that if I read any of the literacy readings this week, I should read Tovani, because Tovani talks about how all teachers, even middle school science teachers, are reading teachers. So, I took her for her word and read Tovani today.

I must be honest, her book is really relevant to me. I had more of a purpose for reading Tovani (as Tovani herself says, if a student does not see the purpose of the reading, than they won't act as a good reader and find all the meaning). I was surprised by her information, but at the same time, reflecting back on my dyad experience in the junior high school, I can visualize many fake readers and I also remember hearing teachers complain about how the material is too hard for the students and they have to tell them the nuggets, because kids can't get those on their own.

Well, looks like I'll be a reading teacher after all. I will need to show students how to make sense of the nonfiction content science text. I will also need to seek out engaging science writing. I have one dilemma with this--how do I know that something that I enjoy reading about a topic is not too hard for my students to read? Most of the science text I find interesting is targeted at adults--National Geographic articles, PCC monthly newsletter, nonfiction books about science, environmental articles at sightline.org, journal articles from researchers, case briefs from appeals and Supreme court cases, etc. How can I know if it's too hard for my students? I heard multiple times from teachers of science who have been teaching middle school science for 10-20 years that regular National Geographic and other science magazines are written at an inaccessible level for students. Are they really, truly, inaccessible, or are they just inaccessible because students do not know how to read for meaning? Do I really need to pay for kid versions of articles?

Another thing I found very interesting in Tovani's book was the bit about resistant readers: readers who know how to read for meaning but choose not to because they know that teachers will tell them the stuff they need to know anyway. I myself was a resistant reader at various times in my life. In college, I never read the assigned text before biochemistry class, I waited for the professor to tell me what I needed to know and took good notes during lecture. I only consulted the text when I was studying and reviewing for a test and I had not taken good enough notes to feel like I understood a specific part. Often, the science text in college, if I read it before class, it just confused me and made lecture really confusing. It was stressful, not helpful. For my law classes, on the other hand, I read the cases before class, almost always. Why did I choose to do this? I have no idea. It is kind of strange to read a text for a class in school and recognize yourself in the text.

Actions speak louder than words

On p. 43, Routman says that one of the five foci for reading instruction is demonstrating that the teacher is a reader. I think this is important because children learn by example. Most of the important things in life can only be taught by example. A child learns to have integrity, faith, courtesy, and other positive morals through example. You can talk at a child all you want, but if they never see you acting the way you want them to, the way you are teaching them to act, then the message will ring untrue. If a child does not see an adult teaching them to read as a reader, we have no right, as adults, to expect them to become readers.

The best teacher I remember having, the one who truly made me love the subject matter, was my AP Biology teacher in 11th grade. She had a BS in Microbiology. She knew her content, but she also appeared to consider herself a scientist. She loved her subject. She told us numerous stories about her experiences doing research and labs as a college student. She demonstrated to us that she was a scientist, and we loved the class and her all the more for it. Plus, I learned a lot more information--probably 10x as much as I learned in "baby biology," Ms. Keller's pet name for freshman biology. I believe the same thing is true for K-12 readers--if they see me as a reader, than they will learn more and see themselves as readers, and hopefully enjoy reading more, just as I enjoyed science more.

Bonding

"You must bond with my child if you want to teach her anything" Regie Routman quoted a speaker she had heard in her book, Reading Essentials. Before a child can learn anything from someone, that someone has to be established as a person to admire, a person who respects the child and who cares about the child. So often in classrooms of the 21st century, teachers are so caught up in meeting the standards that they forget about the very important human element that is part of educating another being.

This rings especially true for me because in my job at the MSEEC, I rarely got to know the children. Schools came on field trips and I taught kids for three to five hours, and there was really no relationship. In the summers, while conducting summer camps, I was able to bond with some of the campers, but especially those that came back to camp week after week. That was one of the reasons I wanted to go into school-year teaching with the same group(s) of kids--I wanted to know them better so I could more effectively teach them.

Another quote from Reading Essentials was about how we all find some children hard to love, but that does not mean we cannot bond with those kids who we clash with. In fact, no matter what kind of distress a child causes us, it is imperative to bond with them. In my field placement, I know there are certain students who I or my MT just don't really get along with, but I see that she has bonded with all of her students regardless. I hope I can do the same before my time with them is up.

A colleague also discussed bonding here.

I love my lab

Why teach tech

I support integrating technology into your teaching, but I also think that not everything that is valuable for students to learn must be taught via technology and I argue that some things are learned best without the presence of technology. However, tech 2.0 is very powerful for many students, and I do plan to integrate it the best I can in my instruction. However, I also know that many lessons I teach will not have a technology element because it is not my favorite thing in the world and sometimes, I will not have the energy to find a way to incorporate the use of technology in a valuable manner.

The middle school experience

Well, my middle school dyad experience is almost over, and I have mixed feelings about leaving. On one hand, I spent more time grading than interacting with students, which I think is less helpful to my personal growth. I am glad I am moving on to a different MT whom I see more eye-to-eye with. On the other hand, I wish I could spend more time in a middle school science classroom of a different teacher at the school, since MS science is my planned destination.

Next year, when I look at my 6th, 7th, or 8th graders and try to figure out what the heck to do about their behavior, I will be practicing trial by fire. Maybe I'll get really lucky and whatever district I am working for will have lots of extra helpful middle school behavior management. I plan to have engaging lessons so as to avoid behavior problems, but between now and next September, I need to figure out how to act tough and confident, cause if you show adolescents any fear or nervousness, they will milk that and make your life miserable. Not all of them, but a high enough percentage of them to make your days extremely difficult.

I know I want to teach MS science, the content, and I am OK to deal with the negative aspects of adolescents in order to get the positive interactions as well.

Making Assessment Count

Routman says, in CH 10, that "unless teachers know how to teach writing well, student writing will not improve." Her point, I think, is that no matter what kinds of assessment teachers do, if the teacher does not teach writing well, there will never be any improvement.

Routman emphasizes assessment FOR learning and improved instruction rather than relying solely on assessment OF learning. She makes valuable points when she states that most (80%) of student writing needn't be graded. She also argues that just as students need to practice reading without pressure to improve reading skills, they also need to practice writing to become better writers. I do not think my education gave me enough practice in writing. I agree with the principle of not all writing being graded, but at the same time, some students, without the pressure of grades, won't do anything. They'll say, well if I'm not getting graded than why do it when I could be doing something else more fun. Some people have intrinsic motivation to do well at schoolwork, and they don't need the grades, but some people never developed that. How do you teach students the importance of delayed gratification? I hope I can teach it to my kids, but I do not know how I will teach it to my students. Probably, like many things, something one has to learn by making many mistakes along the way.

Routman argues that too many teachers focus on only what will be tested rather than teaching the underlying skills and strategies that result in writing competency. I agree with this statement, but I also appreciate her paragraph later in the chapter that states teachers still need to teach students how to write to prompts, because although it is unnatural, it is also very common. Students will have to write to many prompts in their life: on standardized tests, on college applications, on job applications.

Letting go of perfection and impatience

Lamott, p. 182: "Your unconscious can't work when you are breathing down its neck. You'll sit there going, 'Are you done in there yet, are you done in there yet?'. But it is trying to tell you nicely, 'Shut up and go away.'" 

Lamott wrote this in her chapter on writer's block, and it is so true. The minute I start fretting over if my brain is done yet, if this sentence works right here, worrying about the assignment getting done by the due date, my unconscious works poorly. Exhaustion has a similar effect on me and my brain. That's why I call 11:30 my pumpkin time--I turn into a pumpkin; my brain stops working, it all shuts down, I get whiny and crabby and just can't think.  When I am trying to force something to come about more quickly than it wants to, when I am breathing down my unconscious's neck, I also turn into a pumpkin. I am less accepting of this pumpkin time. I get angry at my unconscious, and I need to find a way to let that anger go. 

I think students of mine need to be able to leave their unconscious alone as well, so that it can do its work. My unconscious, and my students' unconsciouses, does not need constant supervision, just like many children do not really need constant supervision. If you are always on top of your unconscious or a child about being productive or focused, it/he/she rebels, and washes away all creativity that it might have offered. It was suffocated, sheltered, and never had time to try its wings which really probably would have otherwise worked pretty darn well, but since it didn't get enough air, it has caved in on itself, given up the ghost. Sad, I think.

Hearts of Writers

On p. 159 in Lamott's Bird by Bird, she writes the following:
"They've gone from being four tense, slightly conceited, lonely people...to one of those weird little families....They all look a lot less slick and cool...because helping each other has made their hearts get bigger. A big heart is both a clunky and delicate thing; it doesn't protect itself and it doesn't hide. It stands out, like a baby's fontanel, where you can see the soul pulse through. You can see this pulse in them now." She later says something about this is the way writers have to be--and regularly mentions how close to our hearts writing is. 


I like this quote because it so eloquently describes what it is like to give wholly of yourself to things in your life, be they writing or relationships or whatever. I am one of those people who gives wholly at first, and if I am soundly rejected or denounced or if my vulnerability is taken advantage of in some other way, I hurt a lot, and take a while to heal. And if I get to a comfort level following a rejection, where I feel it is safe to put my whole self out there, and it is again rejected, I become very very timid. I have been lucky in personal and familial relationships--I have always been able to recover pretty quickly because I am convinced they really do still love me, but this has not been the case in professional relationships or in relationships I have had as a writer with editors or graders of some kind. 


I think the heart Lamott describes in her passage is the best one to have, overall, and I still have that heart with most things in my life, the more important things in life (family, significant other), but in some parts of my life, my big pulsing heart is still in pieces.

Middle School Read-Aloud

Well, today I taught my first whole-group lesson in middle school, and I did a read-aloud for it as part of my literacy class in my cert. program. The content topic was a science one, understanding what a system is and identifying systems described in the book. I also included some literacy instruction as part of it, focusing on imagery and especially the use of personification in poetry. The book was Sierra, by Diane Siebert. Sierra is a lyrical rhyming poem about the natural history of the Sierra Nevada mountains and ecosystems of the mountain.

My goals for the lesson were to explore a different way of writing about science (poetry) and for the students to identify systems described or mentioned in the book. I think I accomplished these goals pretty well, really.

The students were kind of disoriented when they walked into the class and 1/3 of the desks were arranged in a big circle with stools in the circle as well. I heard a lot of "What is this?" and "This is weird" and "What is going on with this?". However, being 8th graders, they seemed to handle it fine once they read the directions on the document camera (If your desk is in a weird place, please leave it there and sit at lab station 6, 7 or 8).

Each period was different. First period was asleep still and there was low participation in the discussion surrounding the book and questions I asked at certain stopping points in the book. Second period went pretty well. It's a smaller class (first and fifth are the largest) and it seemed like there was maybe 65 or 70% class participation in discussion. There were only 2 or 3 kids that never had anything to say.

Both first and second went faster than the rest of the periods; we got through the book and all the questions faster, and I am not exactly sure why or how that happened. I know that in third, fourth, and fifth I had to do more behavior correction than in first and second period. That is probably where the time went, but it is something to ponder.

Third period, it seemed like there was high engagement and understanding, but at the same time, in that particular class period, there are 5 or 6 boys that really dominate conversation and really set a tone for the rest of the class. These 5 boys are all high-energy, really bright, and class clowns. So, though they have a lot to say that is valuable, they wind each other up and get off-task being goofy or funny really quick and fast. However, they seem to also quickly get back on task once I call them on it or let them move or something. And they do get other kids thinking by being so outgoing and open to sharing their thoughts. It seemed like there was always more that people wanted to say than we had time for during third period, which I think is mostly good. I used more pair-share in 3rd period so students would all get a chance to talk, mostly to get the question answered and the topic covered faster. The thing about those 5 or 6 boys is they are really likable--it is hard to really get irritated by them, at least it was for me today. I did not let them get away with things, mind you, at least I don't think so, but it is tempting to just give them the rein they are seeking. I thought I handled them pretty well, and so did my MT.

Fourth period had a very interesting dynamic. Probably 96% of the kids in there are really bright, but they are also all high-energy and they get off on tangents easily. The students in fourth period seem really comfortable in their own skin and with each other--I think maybe they have honors English, social studies, and math classes all together and so they know each other better. When people know each other better, they talk to each other a lot more, tease each other more, mostly in good nature, not in trying to be mean. I would say there was maybe 98% participation in discussion in that class. They all seemed very engaged. However, the discussion at times got out-of-hand with multiple people talking at the same time and just too much, you know? It was intense, though fun for me. My MT thinks they were testing me, pushing the boundaries, and I don't feel that way as strongly as he does. I think they are all just busybodies and kids that need to move. Plus, the period is right after lunch, and that does not help their concentration so much.

Fifth period was the most frustrating for me. There were more attempts at gaining power, pushing my buttons--really seeming like they were trying to irritate me or get me riled. I did a good job of staying calm and keeping most of my emotion out of my voice, but I am sure the students sensed some irritation from me sometimes. How do you keep yourself from showing that? It is hard for me. Not frustration, just irritation. Some kids just bother you, so how do you avoid letting them know that? The discussion in that class was very, very slow. Not just because of behavior problems, but because there are a fair number of struggling learners in that class, though my two easiest to handle classes (first and second) have an aide and my hardest one doesn't, so I wonder what the 5th-period students' statuses are--IEPs, 504s, or just kids who have never tested into anything. My MT says there are a lot of struggling learners in that class, and I have seen the evidence of that myself, I didn't just accept what he had to say, but I wish I knew why the students struggled. I don't know the why, maybe I will by the end of this internship.

What went well in the lesson:

• Students seemed to enjoy the story
• Students were able to identify most of the systems mentioned/described in the book
• I gave them clear things to look for in the story and I also told them what I wanted them to be able to do
• For the most part, I would say students were pretty engaged

What did not go well:

• The flow was great in some periods, off in others. I am interested in how students felt about the flow, though not sure how I'll find that out
• Many students struggled with identifying phrases or words that embodied personification. They could identify them if I read personification phrases to them, but most could not recall the words and phrases without prodding
• My MT observed that I was not consistent enough with my discipline/management of students; he thinks the lesson was solid, which he agrees is the first step towards managing behavior, having a well-planned and engaging lesson, but I did not have consequences for behavior, I kinda just kept reminding students to behave (mostly in 4th and 5th period), and that does not work with all students. Some need consequences to correct themselves.
• I ran out of time to complete the whole lesson-I did not have time in all the periods for them to complete a quick-write, so I had them finish it for HW, and that does not give you the same feedback as a quick-write does.

That's all I have for now. I get to go read the quick-writes that were completed today now. That will be interesting. And Friday, I'll go pick up the descriptions of systems in their personal life, outside of school in expository, narration (story), or poetry form. They each were assigned this: Provide and describe an example of a system in your life, outside of school, using either expository writing, narration, or poetry. I even made a rubric! I'm so proud of myself.

We shall see what those things tell us about what they understand.

Writing: a idea-land of many purposes

Regie Routman's depiction of what writing is, what it should be, and how to teach it in empowering ways is a very different take on things. Many of her points are common sense, but from what I have seen of writing pedagogy and what I have heard teachers say about teaching writing, common sense has disappeared from writing pedagogy.  

Teachers fear teaching writing because it is such an enormous task.  Everyone needs to be able to communicate effectively with others, and they need to be able to do so at appropriate levels. Becoming an effective writer requires a lot of practice. There are many purposes to writing, and children and adults need to work on identifying what the purpose of different writing work is. Routman argues that because educators are caught up in teaching formulas and structures for good writing, they lose sight of the varying intents of different kinds of writing. 

For example, college admission and scholarship essays. I thought universities wanted creative writing, very descriptive and full of imagery. My Dad thought that colleges wanted me to use writing primarily as a way of communicating who I am to someone who has no context of me. I do not know exactly what they wanted, but I got in and I got scholarships using my Dad's formula, so it must have some merit.  I used to think that the purpose of all writing was to demonstrate how good at using imagery I was, because I have a special talent for creative writing and storytelling (which, by the way, I never demonstrate because I do not think that is what professors in education want to hear and because my senior year of high school, my teacher pounded on all of my creative writing, saying it was a waste of time and energy and effort and by golly that is not what they wanted on the AP test). My Dad helped me learn, more than teachers did, I think, that writing has many different purposes in different settings and contexts.  Not all students will have a Dad (or any adult other than their teacher) who is a good writer and who will spend  time helping them grow as writers. The effort he put into me helped me become a collegiate writer who fairly regularly wowed my professors.  Many papers in college (undergrad) came back with many positive comments and usually accompanied by verbal comments about how clearly I communicated my ideas.  

I think Routman's point about how if we want students to be able to write well, they need to see our own process of writing, because often we teach formulas that research has shown worked, but you are losing much of the thought and intent behind writing by just teaching children formulas or templates which they just have to fill in (the 5-paragraph essay, for example).  There is a place for the 5-paragraph essay, don't get me wrong, but that does not encompass the whole idea of writing nor does it illustrate the ubiquitous purposes of writing.  We teach kids what to write in school, but not really in life.  How many adults write 5-paragraph essays on a regular basis in their workplace? Not many, I don't think.  Yes they write things to persuade others to do things or to share information with others, but most of the time they are emails or conversations.  

Inventive spelling and word configuration

From readings of a text about phonics, I am convinced that inventive  or best guess spelling is helpful for children who are emerging readers.  Fox mentioned in her text that children often associate a word with one or two sounds, maybe three, and spell it that way.  Many children identify words solely by their beginning sound.  The next sound they rely on for reading and writing is the ending sound, and the middle sound--many of them vowel sounds--comes last.  

Best guess spelling seems like a valuable tool for growth in literacy.

I found it interesting that Fox seemed to dis word configuration cues and tools as helpful to literacy.  It came across in the book, I think, that word shape, word length, and letter shape have no value to literacy.  I think that Fox dismisses the significance of our sense of vision in learning to read.  

Brain rule #4 or so states that vision and sight supersede ALL other senses when it comes to our brain processing information.  If analyzing signals sent to the brain by the eyes and nerves along the way is the most important way humans process knowledge, than I think it is wrong to dismiss visual cues's importance as Fox seems to do on p. 73 of her text.  

Although it seems logical that the sound of words and letters is more helpful in learning to read, I do think that visual cues are important, perhaps more so than research has investigated.  Every author has opinions on things before they conduct research, and some of them pugnaciously resist changing those.  I think perhaps the importance of visual cues to reading is under-researched because those in the field of phonics are all about sound anyway.  

Emergent Readers

Reading response for Week 2
Article: Emergent Literacy, New Perspectives, by William Teale and Elizabeth Sulzby

This article was very informative.  My parents always said that reading to me as a young child had a huge impact on my reading and writing in school.  I always believed them, but it is nice to have a literacy professional say the same thing.  

What surprises me about this article is that experts ever thought that reading was simply a cognitive skill, and no more complex than that.  Literacy is crucial to active participation in most societies today.  Being able to communicate is our greatest blessing as humans; it is what sets us apart from other mammals.  

On p. 3, I was surprised by the statement that children seeing adults use functional literacy (the TV guide, newspaper, greeting cards) is significant in literacy learning.  A lot of what we read that is functional is considered literature trash, and thus its importance is dismissed.  

I was surprised by the evidence about students repeated readings of favorite storybooks is more than just memorizing the book.  Children are piecing together the words to make sense of the story.  I am pretty sure most parents rereading the same books over and over feel like they are shortchanging their child's reading education, but the article made it sound like it was a very important step in literacy development.  

I was pleased to read on p. 5 that interactive storybook readings have powerful effects on literacy development.  It is so much fun to read stories to children, and interact with them during the story.  I am glad that evidence has shown that it is important, and not a waste of time.  I also found the emphasis on expository reading on p. 7 as helpful.  It is nice to hear that reading informative books to kids is not necessarily boring.  The activities to incorporate with informational books described on p. 9 were very creative and seem to be appreciated by the children. 


The authors' emphasis on using labeling in your classroom to teach writing and reading was interesting.  Labeling and posting things in your classroom has a dual role: it is effective classroom management and it is also an educational tool.  I always thought it was just helpful to classroom management.  

5th Friday questions

Learned:
That there is a myriad of classroom management strategies and they have to fit your personality. I am not a quiet person, or an invert. I am an extrovert and can be pretty loud. We'll see what kind of classroom management I will use. I'll probably use the "If you are listening, do this action" a fair bit. I also learned that if something is important to you as an individual, you find a way as a teacher to fit it in to your instruction. Outdoor science experiments and active group building are important to me, and I will find a way to fit them in, I think, I hope, I pray. Maybe not the first year, but I will fit it in.


Still want to know:
I want to see more science lessons than I have seen so far. I have only seen one, and only the very beginning of it. I want to examine the contents of the kits that districts have and figure out how they use them in a meaningful way.


Anxious:
Seeing enough science taught. I wish I could do my entire placement in a middle school/junior high science classroom rather than only a couple months. That is where I want to teach. If I had done the secondary certificate, I would have had to do my main placement in a high school. Because I am doing my the K-8 certificate, I have to do my main placement in an elementary school. How come we don't, in WA state, have a middle level/middle school certification program? It's a unique age, and I wish I got to spend more time in that age classroom practicing. I am afraid I won't see enough science lessons at the middle level to do a good job as a science teacher my first year, despite my extensive science background.


Excited:
To start my placement in the junior high next Monday. I am really looking forward to it.

7th grade math

Good self management and classroom management strategy:
She always uses a timer that beeps loudly, timing herself and her students, so she makes sure to get through her entire lesson, because in her first year of teaching, the bell would ring and she would only be halfway through her lesson.

Cool assessment idea:
At the beginning of the year, as is common, she does a diagnostic math assessment to see where students are at, and in her room she has a whole wall dedicated to math concepts that kids should know.

These math concept chart thingies are grouped into 5 categories:
Data Analysis and Probability, Algebra, Geometry, Measurement, and Math Operations/Integers. These 5 categories are further broken down into specific math concepts. For example, under algebra, one of the concepts is recognizing and reiterating number patterns.

Under each concept, there are a ton of sticky notes with students' names on them. If the student got the question that had to do with that math concept right on the diagnostic math assessment, they get to put their sticky note up on the wall under that concept, and then she can see what a lot of kids understand and what few kids know based on what they got right on the diagnostic test. Throughout the year, as she teaches and assesses these math concepts (and perhaps they change later in the year, I don't know), when students show that they understand those concepts by getting test questions or other assessments right, they get to put their name on a sticky note up on the wall. The sticky notes are color-coded by class period (green notes for one, pink for another, etc) so she can easily see what she will have to spend more or less time on during each period. Pretty handy, I thought, for both assessment and student pride in their work.

Science and writing in a 4th grade class

Classroom arrangement:
In 4th grade, I think they do Washington state history and geography, and to help with that, she had a section of her wall with a map of WA on it and pictures surrounding the map from different places in WA. Some were geographically unique photos, some were significant history things, and from each photo, she had a piece of yarn that went to the location that photo was from on the map of WA.

She also had North and South written big and posted high on her walls in the room, and when she was passing papers, she would ask students to pass out papers to all the students on the North/South or East/West side of the room. What a great and simple way to help kids with geography and map reading. Talk about ingraining the vocabulary and what it means into their brains.

Cool classroom activity:
The teacher was teaching a writing lesson, and it was about verbs. The learning target, written on the board, was Interesting Verbs, and the point was to get students to use more descriptive verbs. To teach this idea, she used the verb came. Mrs. Smith came into the room was her sentence, and she put came in a "word jail" on the board. She just wrote it/drew it, but she did it with over verbs too, like said and did. To get her students to understand what interesting verbs were, she had them, as a whole group, come up with other verbs to put in the sentence, "Mrs. Smith came into the room." But first, she demonstrated what the sentence meant by coming into the room. As students came up with more interesting verbs, including dashed, stumbled, and others, she would physically dash or stumble or whatever after saying the sentence out loud. The kids were engaged because their teacher looked silly, and they came up with some great interesting verbs.

Classroom management stuff:
The teacher would say, if you can hear me, do a certain action (rub your tummy, pat your head, etc) and she would do a different action than the one she was telling them to do to see if they were really listening. She would say, "If you are listening rub your tummy." And she would pat her head instead of rubbing her tummy.

Another way she tried to get their attention was by saying something that didn't make any sense, like, "You will go get the supplies and put them on my toe," and if kids got up to go get supplies then she knew they were not listening. She also used proximity a lot.

Another thing she was doing which I could not decipher her system, was writing points, not tallies, but numbers, on the board under each table group and they were in different colors so maybe they were color-coded, I don't know. It had something to do with managing behavior and monitoring participation.

During the science lesson, she said at the beginning that if kids are goofing off with supplies, they get one warning, that's it, and then they are a spectator and cannot participate in the science experiment.

Randomly during the middle of the writing lesson, the teacher broke out in song "there's a hole in the bottom of the seat (clap clap) there's a whole in the bottom of the seat (clap clap) there's a hole, there's a hole, there's a hole in the bottom of the seat (clap clap) and then asked students what's on the hole (a log and would sing that), then ask a student what's on the log (and sing that)" and so on and so on. I am guessing it was some sort of break for the students, but I am not sure. The song didn't really make any sense, but the kids really enjoyed it.

During the science experiment, students are assigned one of 4 letters (A,B,C, or D) and each letter student has a certain job that day during the experiment, and these jobs are written on the board and she explained the jobs, and also told the kids not only were they supposed to do their job, but they were also supposed to remind other people to do their jobs too. It's a great simple way to assign jobs, but the jobs in a science experiment are not going to be the same for every experiment, and so it's a glorious way to not waste paper or time reorganizing groups all the time. Kids know their group number and their individual letter (they write it on their science notebooks in case they forget) and teacher does not have to do as much work.

Throughout class, if a student had the same thought as one that spoke out, they waved their hand silently at their side so the teacher could do some formative assessment and get the kids more engaged in direct instruction.


Assessment:
Before the writing lesson, she points out the learning target on the board, and at the end of the writing lesson, she asks each student to give themselves a 1,2, or 3 for where they are on the learning target. A 3 is "I got it, I'm golden, I can do this independently" and a 1 is "I need some time to digest this new idea and I don't quite get it." Great simple way to do some formative assessment about the learning targets.

Observations of a highly capable 2/3 class

Cool classroom activities:
Literature conferences with each grade separately. A very casual and engaging conversation about the book each grade is reading (2 separate books) with some guiding questions and almost 100% participation. Probably is easier to do with a group of kids who all love to read, but still, it was nice to see. The teacher exhibited excitement about the book and what was going on and the questions and so did the students.



Teaching cursive: the kids were working on cursive ts, and in order to help them know the right way to write them, she showed 3 or 4 bad ts on the board and talked to the class about why they were bad. Seemed like it would be pretty effective.


Fixing bad writing habits:
The teacher used the document camera to talk to the students about best way to grip their pencils when they are writing. She did this before the cursive lesson, and she took her time and showed students some common bad handholds and she gave them a good trick to make sure they grip the pencil right every time. She directed the students to pick up the pencil as if they were pinching it between their thumb and their first two fingers like a bird would grip onto something. Then, she had them flip the pencil 180 degrees, and then they all had the correct pencil grip. Hard to explain in words, I can show you if you want.


Corrective statements (part of classroom management):
She used proximity a lot, where you just walk and get close to the kid who is not paying attention. She always used a very calm voice, all the time, in her behavior corrections and her whole group attention getting signals. She said "I'll wait till you're ready," and the kids quieted down on their own.

The Elementary-Secondary Math Disconnect

I observed in two middle school math classes, grade 7, today. Something that I found very interesting is that the focus of the lesson was on remembering/reciting math facts quickly in order to be able to use them to solve arithmetic problems, and it was part of the curriculum, not an add-on.

From my observations in elementary school and from talking to elementary teachers, many curricula used in the elementary grades are based on problem solving and getting excited and engaged about math; sort of like they are trying to convince the students that math really is important, practical, and really fun. Math facts are not part of the curriculum, and in some schools, drill and skill is discouraged.

A professor earlier in the program bluntly told us that most math curricula adopted by school districts for the elementary level do not sufficiently prepare students for middle and high school math or practical life math. He said though there is value in those curricula, it is a teacher's responsibility to make sure students are getting their math facts down as well, because they need to know them. He said there is a place for drill and skill and memorizing multiplication tables and other basic arithmetic, and that teachers are obligated to add that into their math lessons even if they are not part of the district curriculum.

I asked one of the teachers I observed today, "Do most of these kids come into middle school not knowing how to do basic arithmetic?" She said yes, few know their math facts by heart and thus when they arrive at middle school and are supposed to be able to retrieve them fast in order to take the tests, they are shocked and you have to teach the math facts and basic principles of adding/subtracting/multiplying/dividing integers for a few weeks at the beginning.

So, for a few weeks every year at the beginning of the year in 7th grade math, even the challenge (Honors) classes, teachers do integer review. And though I did not observe a 6th grade math class, I am guessing they dedicate an awful lot of time to core arithmetic and math facts, because if they don't, the new middle schoolers can't handle the middle/high school curricula.

There is a place for both problem-solving and arithmetic in math, I think, just like most debates in education. There is a place for both phonics and whole language reading. There is a place for lecture as well as hands-on and cooperative group learning. There is a place for both drill and skill and cool exciting projects. There is a place for both mainstreaming of special ed students and seclusion of special ed students.