Learn Like a Pirate~Chapter 8

Awww, we're coming to a close of the Learn Like a Pirate book study with The Primary Gal!

We'll be talking about Empowerment today.

Empowerment is how we can get the students to take control of the classroom (some of which was mentioned in previous chapters), as well as how empowerment can get students excited for learning.

One way Paul does this is through Passion Time {also known as Genius Hour}, where students spend time in class working on their own projects.

If you put Genius Hour into the search bar on TPT, you'll come up with a bunch of resources to help you get started!

Paul also uses an acronym (sort of like a KWL, but better!) to help guide his students during the passion time project.

 There are other ways to bring empowerment to your students, through little things you allow them to do and take control of.

In order for these to work successfully, you need to truly believe in the process, and how you can empower your students.

There are definitely aspects of this that I am raring to go on-and some that require a little more thought :) .

It will be very interesting to see how this plays out in may classroom-and how the students react to it!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Learn Like A Pirate~Chapter 7

It's week 7 of the  Learn Like a Pirate book study with The Primary Gal!

Chapter 7 is about 21st Century Skills.
When I first saw the chapter title, I thought it would be all about technology and how we can use it.

Boy, was I wrong!

It's actually all about the social skills and character traits that students will need to succeed.

Paul has studied Partnership for 21st Century Learning, as well as Habits of Mind, mixed in his own experience, and blended it all together to create what he wants his students to practice and make their own.

This chapter was chock full of neat information-if you haven't bought the book yet, you really should. There's so much more there!

But for now, while you're waiting for your book to be delivered ;), these are the skills Paul focuses on in his classroom.

 

 

That's a lot of skills!

Paul also talks about the importance of reflection in this chapter, and how important it is for both teachers and students. 

We know as teachers how important it is for use to reflect-especially on our lessons-what went well, what didn't, how could we make it better, what things need to change, etc.

But it's also important to teach the students to reflect as well-it helps them be more aware as learners, as well as helping them make constant improvements to themselves.

Paul also does whole-class & individual goals and reflections-he uses his ePortfolios for this. 

He teaches his students to reflect using four easy (well, not easy!) steps.

1. Describe what happened {What did you do?}
2. Use one (or more) of these to focus on- Strengths/Weaknesses, Success/Setbacks, Hard/Easy {Leads the learner to look inward and really think about what happened}
3. What have you learned from this?
4. How has your learning improved?  How can you extend your learning past what's expected?

Using his students reflections, and his observations & feedback, he and the students put together a progress report to show their improvements-and to keep them accountable for these skills-since they're so important in life!

If you're curious about goal setting with your students 3rd Grade Thoughts has some great blog posts on the process.

This was a great, informative chapter! {This chapter also has some great info on how he runs his math block as well-like I said, you need to buy the book!} I'm excited to start some of these things in my class-we're going to take small steps. :)

I'll definitely be doing some goal setting next year (I'm thinking bimonthly goals, as well as a trimester goal), and we'll definitely be working on team work and collaboration.

What skills will you do with your students?

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Learn Like a Pirate~Chapter 6

Welcome to week 6 of the Learn Like a Pirate book study with The Primary Gal!

Chapter 6 is about active learning.

What is active learning?

Well, when students are actively doing things in the classroom!

This chapter was chock full of great ideas.

These are just a few of the cool things you could do in your classroom.

One thing about technology though...

Don't just use it to use it! It needs to have a purpose and be the best tool for the job.

This chapter got me very excited for next year-I'm think of ways to have more active learning in my classroom!

There are still some things that I might do 'passively'-I LOVE doing lectures on the American Revolution-and the kids get pretty excited as well because of the fill-in-the-blank foldables (and because I'm bouncing around the room demonstrating (sometimes with their help) acting silly :).

I can also incorporate some 'active' strategies to make this unit even better! (You know, depending on time and testing...this year we didn't have a lot of time to cover it)

Even fitting in one or two active strategies can make a unit/day better!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Learn Like a Pirate~Chapter 5

It's Learn Like a Pirate week 5 with The Primary Gal!

Chapter 5 is about responsibility.

 Now, my students do have responsibility-through weekly jobs (I only have 5, and we rotate through), and class-wide expectations, but after reading this chapter I realized that they could have so much more.

Towards the end of the year, I started giving them more responsibilities-mostly because my allergies were wicked bad that week and I was losing my voice :)

They THRIVED! I had students running my calendar (which is not easy to run!), reteaching friends some topics, as well as taking some little jobs off my shoulders-like putting out pick-up notes.

I am so totally giving them more responsibility starting at the very beginning!

I'll definitely be emphasizing that we are a class family, and that everyone is responsible for making sure things get done. After all,

Another thing Paul talks about is Literature Circles-which is like the ultimate responsibility for kids!

I've done Literature Circles in the past (at a different school), and the kids really enjoyed getting their book choice and talking about the book.

I'd love to do something somewhat similar this year, but we do guided reading, and my teammates (so far), like to meet with every group every day (that they can-our G&T kids only meet a once or twice due to timing). Which I so totally do not agree with (alas, I'm the lone ranger on this one, and have been outvoted in previous years).

However, we're getting a new principal (our old one was very insistent on meeting everyday), so that may change. PLUS, we have a ton more kids than we normally have (it's a bubble year!), 21-23 each (we usually have 15-17-and it totally makes a difference).

In my class alone, I have reading levels ranging from M to V! Although I think all kids could benefit from literature circles, I'd like to try it with my higher level kids first, and keep them with me, so we can meet as needed. It would also free up some time for double-dosing some of my lower students. We'll see!

If I can do some convincing (and depending on support personnel-they help determine the number of GR groups!), I'll definitely be doing Literature Circles!

I'm looking forward to giving my kids more responsibility and seeing what happens!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Learn Like a Pirate~Chapter 4

It's week 4 of the Learn Like a Pirate book study with The Primary Gal!

Chapter 4 is about improvement focus v. grade focus.

This is something I've been thinking a lot about recently, as I believe students need to make individual growth and improvement to be successful, not meet a blanket proficiency statement, so this chapter really resonated with me!

Too often, I see my students striving for that "A" on the test, but not remembering what they learned a week or a few months later, or not even caring about what they get.

We need to shift the focus of our students from the grades they receive to how they can improve themselves.

Some students will get paid for getting good grades (which I don't agree with), and others will be grounded for their grades (which I also don't agree with).

If there is a 'grade' problem, we should be working towards how we can improve upon that for the student!

Paul shows us that we can do this by giving feedback.

Feedback shouldn't be limited to teachers-some of the most meaningful feedback will come from peers!

Of course, we want the students to be able to see their growth, and how feedback has impacted their work.

Instead of having piles of papers on your desks-create a set of portfolios!

I've had writing portfolios for a few years, and I love seeing the changes in their writing from beginning to end.

Paul suggests having an ePortfolio-having it all online!

He does it through a blog (KidBlog, Blogger, etc. ) which has the ability for students to comment on each others work, but I think you could also do it through Evernote, (although that might be more teacher focused for data-see how I use it here!) or Seesaw would be another great option-and what I'll be attempting to use with my class this year (and I've already set up my class list for next year-I'm that excited)! I wrote more about it here.

Paper portfolios would work as well if you don't have the tech needed for ePortfolios. Our 5th grade has the students store all their work in a binder-that way, they can see the changes from the beginning of the trimester to the end.

I will definitely be focusing more on how students can improve-after all, the only person they're trying to beat is themselves. By constantly striving to do better, they won't be as dependent on the money of privileges they could earn for doing 'well'.

They'll be learning that you can always be better at something, and constantly reflecting on how to make that happen-which will (hopefully!) make them great members of society who work hard because they know it feels good.

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Learn Like A Pirate~Chapter 3

Time for Chapter 3 with The Primary Gal!

This chapter is all about peer collaboration. This was a GREAT chapter-there was a lot of awesome information!

This was also a great chapter because Paul mentioned some things I already do in my classroom-which felt like validation, and made me feel like I do know what I'm doing!

He talks about letting students work wherever they want-check! Partner work-check! Available student supplies-check! It's good to know that I'm already on the road to a student led classroom. :)

Another thing that I already do that resonated with me was

While I was reading this, it strongly reminded me of Responsive Classroom, which I've blogged about before.

I always start the year off with Morning Meetings, and they usually stay strong until the holidays (when we start switching for science and my schedule gets a little tighter-and this year I had a TON of kids in band and chorus (which takes place during our MM time), so it usually fizzles out around then. Hopefully next year will be different!)

I find this is a great way to build our community, as well as talk about different issues that may pop up.

One idea that that I LOVED that can be done at meeting time is

Which is giving everyone the same number of marbles, but having them divide up the marbles into different categories of things that they're good at (or not so good at). I love how this shows that everyone is smart in different ways.

I do talk about this in my room a bit- 'easy' is a bad word in my room. We talk about how while it might be easy for you, it might not be easy for someone else, and you could make them feel bad.

For example, someone left a comment on my blog on how crafty I am, and what else can I do. Now, I'm sure it was meant as a compliment, but I didn't read it that way. I felt like this person was judging me for being crafty.

I'll be honest-I am crafty! I love to dabble in different crafts, and seeing things that I create-plus is relaxes me. I'm pretty good at crafts-BUT, I am horrible with anything to do with athletics (or reaching things on high shelves! ;). My marbles are just allocated differently. But this person made me feel bad because their marbles weren't in a crafty cup-and that's not right. I will TOTALLY be doing this lesson with my kids next year! In addition to something not being 'easy', I hope it will encourage the kids to realize that they are ALL smart-some are just smart in different areas.

Another idea that I will totally be implementing next year is Responsibility Partners.

I love that kids will have a partner to help keep them on track, as well to talk to and clarify information. Plus, it will give them a chance to work with all different kinds of students (something I also do-since we can't always pick who we work with!), and become leaders.

Speaking of leaders-did you know that there are two different types?! I didn't!

This makes so much sense! I love how it is explained, and that we need both types of leaders to have a successful classroom.

I definitely had a lot of active leaders in my class this year-as well as some passive. And some who would rather sit back and do nothing at all (don't we all have those students?). In fact, one of my greatest joys this week was seeing one of my 'active' leaders become more group sensitive (sometimes the 'active' becomes bossy and overwhelming...), and suggest to the rest of the group that they let the student who had not picked anything yet go (and these two are not friends-there have been issues between them in the past). They did it so nice and quietly too. Be still my heart :)

Part of taking a leadership roll in the classroom calls for a why to get attention quickly-with

This has everyone stopping (even the teacher) and looking a the speaker, who will make an announcement, tell about a transition time, improving behavior or task, asking a question (after talking to the people at their group) or make a suggestion.

This reminds of my magic wand, which is kind of the same purpose. It will be interesting to see how the kids do with this. I love all of Paul's suggestions on times to use it (not in other classes or with a sub), as well as how to redirect those who may be using this inappropriately.  This is a great way to empower students (which is another chapter!), and get them to take more control of their learning.

Since students are working together, there are bound to be problems that creep up. The class I had this year was pretty good at solving partner problems without my involvement (Love that! I'm going to miss them next year...), but the year before....oh dear! We wound up implement some simple strategies to help with that-some that Paul mentioned!

I LOVE that Rock, Paper, Scissor is choice. Of course, you could teach your class Rock, Paper, Scissor, Lizard, Spock for even more problem solving strategies ;)

It's clear and simple, and kids can never argue with the outcome (of course, I then hear "best two out of three?").

Compromise is a great one too-it teaches kids that they can't always get it the way they want-but if they give a little, they may get some of what they want. This is something we'll definitely practice.

The choose kind strategy really spoke to me. Just let the other person go. They may be having a really bad day-and letting them get their way in this one thing may make their whole day brighter. It's like my student above-who 'choose kind' to make sure a student got a turn.

Paul also talks about competition, and how we win as a team and not against one another. I talk a lot about how the only person you're competing against in this class is yourself-striving to do better. You don't need to compare yourself to others-they're not you! Just keep trying your best, and you'll go far.

This chapter was chock full of information-and most of it easy to implement and use. It showed me that having a student led classroom may not be as far away as I thought it was. In small steps, this could definitely happen-and I'll have better students for it!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Learn Like a Pirate~Chapter 2

Time for Chapter 2 with The Primary Gal!

This chapter is all about the concerns teachers will have about implementing a student-led classroom.

As I was reading it, I was thinking that my mind was being read! I definitely had some concerns, and while I didn't have all the concerns that were listed in the book, I did have some.

Here were some of the concerns I had:

One of my major concerns was giving up so much control/choice to my students-and it looks like a lot of others had the same concern! This was the first one addressed :)

But the best part is that teachers still have (what I call) veto power over student choice. That made me feel better, that I'll have the final say.

The next one was letting the students make mistakes. I do point out my mistakes to the students, to help them realize that everyone makes mistakes (and sometimes they catch them before me!),  but I sometimes find it hard not to get involved when I see the students make a mistake-I need to take a step back so they can struggle through on their own. They'll be better for it!

With everything else that we have to do, this will require some planning. There may be more time spent initially, but I believe the time put in at the beginning will pay off towards the end-just like anything we do!

You don't have to jump in whole hog-take a step at a time. I often forget towards the end of the year, how long it took for us to get to the point where the kids are super independent. Just like with learning a new skill, we do a little at a time before we're super good at it!

I would have thought that giving the students more choice and freedom would have led to more disruptions-but I was wrong there too! Students actually more engaged and less disruptive. School has become fun again, and they have some power-so power struggles should (hopefully) diminish.

I also had some concerns about the shyer students, who would probably not be as willing to try and be a leader. As someone who is introverted (but not necessarily shy-and there is a difference), I expend most of my energy at school. I can only encourage students to try and take risks-they'll more than likely be happy about it in the end! (Like going to a blogger meet-up-they're a lot of fun!)

Above all, we have to remember that the kids are there to learn and have fun! So if it gets a little noisy, that's ok! :)

Paul also lists the benefits of a student-led classroom-which I love!

Looking at the benefits, it makes so much sense to try and switch-and if it doesn't work, it shows our students that it is important to take risks, and that not all of them pan out.

 This chapter definitely helped ally my concerns-and I loved the benefits the students got from it!

(Especially where it fits with Danielson-since that's our eval model and worth 80% of my 'effectiveness' rating...)

I'm definitely excited to keep reading, and see where this takes us!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Summer Reading

Even though I have 9.5  (+4 PD) days left until 'summer', I'm already thinking (and reading!) books for next year!

(End of June seems to be really productive for me school-wise-maybe because I have it fresh in my mind what I want to fix and the possibilities are endless?)

On that note, I'm linking up with Adventures of Room 129 for her summer reading linky!
Now, you can bet that I'll be downing the romance novels like candy. :)

So I thought I would focus on my professional reading instead!

First up is Learn Like a Pirate. The Primary Gal has a book study on this that I'm doing-I love reading different perspectives!

It was a nice, easy read, with some very interesting ideas about doing a student-led classroom. I enjoyed it (and took lots of notes!). I'll definitely be trying to incorporate some of the strategies next year!

I'll also be trying out Academic Conversations on for size!

I'm very interested in having more classroom discussions-and more thoughtful ones at that! I'm hoping this will be a good starting point!

I'll also be doing a reread of Guided Math, which I read for the first time 3 summers ago-and have a series of blog posts because it was a book study with Primary Inspired!

I'm not happy with the way my math block is running (and part of that was learning a new program this year), and don't feel like I'm reaching all the needs of my students.

I'm hoping to do an overhaul for next year, and I think rereading this will help me refocus on what I want to accomplish!

I'm sure that they'll be more books in there-after all, I'm a voracious reader (and wonder why some authors can't write faster so I can have new books! ;)-but those are the three I'm hoping to spend the most time with this summer!

What are you reading?

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Learn Like a Pirate~Chapter 1

It seems fitting that my 500th blog post is about a book study!


I'm joining with The Primary Gal for her Learn Like a Pirate study!

  Chapter 1 is all about the definition of a Student-Led Classroom.

As I was thinking about it, I realized that I try and include my students in the decisions we make-but I could probably be doing so much more!

I want my students to be truly independent problem-solvers, and thinkers, without having to rely on me for every decision.

This is something I think everyone needs to work on-to often, my students give up too easily, without wanting to put in the hard work and persevere! This is something we will definitely be working on next year!

I still have some concerns-as most teachers, I do like being in control-and I do think that there are some things that the teacher needs to have the final say in-but that's the next chapter!

This was my big takeaway from this chapter-and I agree wholeheartedly! If we don't have this, our classrooms can't run effectively-no matter what we do!

Even if you aren't on board with having a student-led classroom, this is something that I feel is non-negotiable as a teacher.

We're there to create a safe environment for our kids-and they need to feel this! This is something that every teacher should be on board with. It definitely helps your classroom run more smoothly when they do!

What are your thoughts on a student-led classroom?

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn

Wild Preferences

Ready for some Wild Reading?

Brought to you by:
Some wild thoughts:

I've also been working on a little freebie to go along with the book, and The Book Whisperer!

There is a graph (editable version included), as well as a reading tracker list, planning list and abandoned book list.

You can pick them up here or by clicking on the pictures.

Overall, I enjoyed the book-it gave me some things to think about, as well as reaffirming some things I already knew!

Thanks to Catherine for the book study!

Smiles and Sunshine,
Kaitlyn