My Story

One of my biggest struggles this year has been to get my first graders to do their writing. It is like pulling teeth. 

 

My school uses the Daily 5 model for reading instruction for grades one through three; The Daily 5 includes Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Word Work, and Work on Writing. For Work on Writing, students just write about any topic of their choosing for the allotted time. It's hard for me to think of a topic to write about sometimes, but for first graders? They act like it's impossible. Even when I give a topic (which most of the time I do give a suggestion), they whine and complain and tell me that it's too hard. 

My school is part of a network of schools called the Indian Mission School Network. A foundation called the Better Way Foundation helps fund the network and has asked each school to create a project that tells their "Community Story". These stories can be about anything from culture to language, ceremonies to a history of tribes. The kindergarten, first, and second grades at my school are working together on a project to simply tell about themselves. The kindergarten teacher at school introduced me to this new app to accomplish this called My Story. Students can become authors and create their own books on the iPad. 

For this community story project, each kid is going to make a book using the app. They will tell about themselves, their tribe, where they live and what they want to be when they grow up. Each student has drawn several pictures for their book, which I loaded on their books this weekend.

I just started playing with the app this weekend and it has some pretty cool features. First, the app allows you add as many authors as you want (as far as I can tell). So each student can have their own account. It's also fun because it lets you customize by taking a picture of each kid, so they can see themselves as authors of stories. Once you create an author, you then can add books. This is where the fun part begins. There are many ways to illustrate a story; kids can "draw" on the iPad with brushes of various colors, take pictures of their own surroundings or artwork to put in the book, or select from preloaded stickers and media that are in the app. Kids can add text or write freehand, or they can record their voice telling the story. Once a student is done with the story, a video of sorts is created to display what they've created. There are options to share both the video and the book by email, social media, etc. I think this tool could be really useful for even branding in a classroom. 

I am excited to use this app with my first graders. They are so pumped whenever they get to be on the iPads. I am hoping this will help spice up writing for them and it won't seem as much as a chore. 

The Value of Internet Access

Last Thursday, I came home from school to discover (much to my dismay) that our Internet was not working. I’m assuming that stormy weather late Wednesday into Thursday caused the issue. At first, it was just annoying, then it was an inconvenience, and now it is definitely a hassle. Yes. Day six and we are still without Internet. Because my roommates and I rent the doublewide trailer that we live in (yep, it’s a classy place), we are not the ones who handle things like Internet service. In fact, I have still yet to figure out who our Internet provider is.

I am really not writing this to complain (I promise!), just to relate my realization of how much I take advantage of Internet access. It’s a big deal! There is so much I do on the Internet that I don’t really stop to think about. Sending emails, checking facebook, searching for recipes, Skyping with friends and family. All with the click of a few buttons. It’s amazing, really. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. I needed to buy a plane ticket to go home in May and I had to stop at a Panera to buy it (free wifi)! I needed to access Dropbox and couldn’t. I got home after school today and realized that I would need to wait until I was back at school to submit this blog post.

All this to say: I am reminded of how privileged I am to have access to Internet. It’s something I take for granted that is really a luxury.  

There are a few websites that I normally spend quite a bit of time on that I wanted to share (on the off chance that any of you hadn’t heard of them):

Teachers Pay Teachers: This website is one of my absolute favorites! A huge community of teachers that share resources…. anything from craft project templates to math centers and science activities to phonics worksheets. Not only is there a variety of subject matter posted, but also you can find resources for any age group. As the name of the site implies, most of the resources cost a few dollars to download; there are many free resources, though (this is where I ‘shop’; with the ‘free’ filter on :) )

Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR): Many of my first graders started the year barely knowing how to read. For any of you teachers of younger elementary, I’ve found awesome research-based (free!) phonics centers and small group activities on the Florida Center for Reading Research website. I’ve seen my first graders’ reading skills grow by leaps and bounds after some basic phonics practice from this website!

Pinterest: Okay, don’t laugh. Everyone knows about Pinterest. This one is a no-brainer, but I wanted to include it because, before becoming a teacher, I saw Pinterest as just a waste of time. All my friends had accounts, but I didn’t get one until about two years ago. If you don’t have an account, you need to get one. There are so many creative people (teachers!) in the world. I have found so many awesome craft projects and center ideas on Pinterest. I love getting the insight of others in order to spice things up in my classroom.

Those are just a few of my favorites, but I would love to hear about any websites where you find good materials for the classroom!

Leading with Learning

For my second module, I researched how to select resources in order to use technology as a tool to lead with learning. I found a lot of really good resources to help teachers so I wanted to share them. I found a great essay called “The Importance of Still Teaching the iGeneration” by Thomas Philip and Antero Garcia. This article had some helpful reminders: “the context, not the tool, is what is important when making decisions about utilizing new technology within learning environments” (2013, p. 309). We seem to make the assumption that technology in the classroom leads to more effective learning experiences (I know I do!). While technology in the classroom can lead to these experiences, teachers have to take care to still lead with instruction rather than the tools.

It can be tempting to use technology in the classroom just because it’s available. There are so many neat ways to use technology, but teachers need to analyze devices carefully so that they are leading with learning and not the device. Philip and Antero warn, “powerful technological tools, in the absence of powerful pedagogy, detract from rather than contribute to learning” (2013, p. 313).

 It is essential that we start with the objectives in mind in order to lead with learning. Moss, Brookhart, and Long's “Knowing Your Learning Target” is an excellent resource: “the first thing students need to learn is what they’re supposed to be learning” (2011, p. 66). I really like the analogy that they used. They compare this idea to a global positioning system (GPS). A GPS can provide lots of information about where you are, how long your trip will be, and directions to your destination. But a GPS first needs to have an exact description of where you want to go. A learning target works the same way, in providing a 'destination' for students. Learning targets, unlike instructional objectives, are designed just for students. If students do not know what they should be learning, they can’t know whether they’ve been successful at the end of a lesson.

Once we grasp the concept of learning targets, THEN we can focus on how to best utilize technology as a tool. The authors explain that “each task [should] explicitly connect to [the] target” of the lesson. In the same way, any technology utilized in a lesson should be explicitly connected to the objective being taught. Technology should have a specific purpose for enhancing a lesson, and is not to be used solely as an attention-grabber. I found Philip and Garcia's thoughts on this right on point: “it is critical to shift from a perception of a technological tool as an inherent object of youth interest or as a surrogate for effective teaching to an explication of its particular affordances within a classroom context” (2013, p. 311).

With all this in mind, teachers should delve into selecting the appropriate technologies to use only when they will support learning. A tool should not be used without a specific purpose in enhancing learning. In “6 Tips for Choosing Digital Tools to Support 21st Century Student Learning”, Kimberly Tyson discusses the importance of helping students choose the right digital tools stating that “tools, when chosen carefully, help teachers support, enhance, and extend student learning” (2013). She gives several invaluable tips for selecting appropriate technology to use in the classroom. Research and time should be dedicated to the decision of what technological resources should be integrated into the classroom.  Tyson’s six tips are helpful and straightforward points that give teachers guidelines on selecting technology resources:

  1. Select tools that help students design and personalize their learning experience.

  2. Choose tools that support effective classroom instruction.

  3. Find tools that facilitate collaboration between students and teachers.

  4. Select digital tools that support students as they build and hone their curation skills.

  5. Introduce students to tools that help them get and stay organized.

  6. Utilize virtual tools that support blended learning models. (Tyson, 2013)

Although all six tips are helpful, tip number two (choose tools that support effective classroom instruction) seems the most significant. To me, this is another way of saying that tools are to be used as a means to an end, not an end in themselves.

            

But it’s easy to say this; it’s another thing to actually implement this idea. So then the question becomes: how does a teacher choose tools to support effective classroom instruction? Kelly Walsh suggests that the way to select the “Best Apps for Teaching and Learning” is to use a rubric. There are many rubrics online for evaluating the effectiveness of apps, but one in particular that I found really helpful was one that Walsh describes. It’s called the Evaluation Rubric for iPod/iPad Apps. Apps are ranked on their offerings in these categories: Curriculum Connection, Authenticity, Feedback, Differentiation, User Friendliness, Student Motivation, and Reporting.

Resources:

Moss, C. M., Brookhart, S. M., & Long, B. A. (2011). Knowing your learning target.

            Educational Leadership, 68(6), 66-69.

Phillip, T. M., & Garcia, A. D. (2013). The importance of still teaching the iGeneration: new

            technologies and the centrality of pedagogy. Harvard Educational Review, 83(2), 300-

            319

Tyson, K. (2013, June 11). 6 tips for choosing digital tools to support 21st century student

            learning. Dr. Kimberly's Literacy Blog. Retrieved March 30, 2015.

Walsh, K. (2012, November 25). Selecting the best apps for teaching and learning- use a rubric!             Retrieved March 30, 2015.

The Power of Brain Breaks

My first graders have so much energy! I don't know where they get it all, but it sure makes teaching difficult sometimes. 

I recently came across an article that talked about the academic benefits of getting students moving throughout the day. This is something that I've heard before, but I had forgotten. Thus, I've been trying a new tool in my classroom!

I recently started using a website called GoNoodle in my classroom. I'm pretty excited about it! The website explains, "GoNoodle helps teachers channel classroom energy with short interactive brain breaks. Desk-side activities help kids achieve more by keeping them engaged and motivated throughout the day" (gonoodle.com). GoNoodle is free and the brain breaks are "designed... to be healthy for the body, engaging for the attention, and beneficial to the brain in specific ways" (gonoodle.com). Most of the brain breaks are short, under 5 minutes, so you can make your brain break session as short or as long as you want.

When you create an account, you add classes. Of course I only have one group of students all day, but teachers with several class periods can have a separate account for each class within their overall account. Each class gets to pick a 'Champ', a virtual mascot who grows as kids do more and more activities on GoNoodle. This makes it more like a game with motivation and rewards. My kids love seeing their 'Champ' grow.

There are a variety of brain breaks in GoNoodle. Some are meant to be calming and relaxing, while some are energizing. Some even integrating core subject content. There are several channels to choose from. "Zumba Kids" gets students dancing to popular songs. "Fresh Start Fitness" and "Run with Us" are short exercise programs to get kids moving. These activities really get students motivated and ready to learn. "Maximo" is a character that leads kids through stretches. There are lots of funny and silly songs on the GoNoodle and "Kidz Bop" channels. "Brainercise" gets kids to focus on their coordination and the "Think about it" channel calms students with a series of thought provoking questions. The website recommends using one of these more focused activities before a test. An Indoor Recess channel provides longer activities. There is even a YouTube channel where you can upload your students' favorite videos to add to the preloaded videos great to use for brain breaks.

There is an option to upgrade your account to GoNoodle Plus. With the added games in the plus version, teachers can customize some of the games to go along with what is being learned in class! 

This has made such a difference in my classroom! I've noticed that my students' moods have improved and they are more alert. At St. Augustine, we start off the day with a morning run in the gym, but I've realized that my students really need something like this to start their afternoon after lunch. This is the most difficult time of day for my class and I've noticed great improvements with the use of GoNoodle! I highly recommend it!

Technology Integration on a Low Budget

For my first module, I researched technology integration. In today’s society, its nearly impossible to find an area of life in which technology is not present. Unfortunately, schools seem to be one place that is behind as far as utilizing technology to its full potential. But with the seemingly unlimited possibilities, technology needs to be integrated into our schools. Some schools are fortunate enough to have a BYOD or one-to-one policy. 

But St. Augustine, where I am the first grade teacher, does not have the budget nor the resources for this presently. We are not able to manage the expense of a device for each student at this time and the socioeconomic status of most of our students prohibits them from having an appropriate device. Therefore, I wanted to research what tools can be utilized/ technology can be integrated for schools with limited resources. For schools like mine, it can be challenging to find ways to integrate technology, but with time and planning, it is possible to implement changes in this area on a limited budget. It took me quite a bit of time to find good resources but two solutions I discovered are building interactive whiteboards and educational apps. 

In Digital Leadership, Eric Sheninger argues that “even in schools that might not have many technology resources, time and energy should be spent figuring out how to maximize what is available instead of making endless excuses for not moving forward” (2014, p. 45) This really resonated with me! I find myself making excuses as to why I can't use technology in my classroom, rather than finding a way around those issues. 

Although my school does not have a device for each student, we do have some technology at our disposal. I wanted to research ways that I could use what I do have to start with solutions that would cost very little. Each classroom in the school has 5 student iPads and a teacher iPad, a projector, and a desktop computer. I found a few interesting solutions that may seem obvious, but that I had never considered before.

When I was student teaching, the first grade classroom had a SMART board, an interactive whiteboard that allowed students the opportunity to engage further in class materials. I used the board for almost every subject, as it was a very effective way of getting and keeping student attention. I definitely took it for granted though. Unfortunately, I do not have a SMART board anymore :(. I discovered, though, an article by Keith Vallis and Peter Williamson in which they describe how a teacher can ‘build’ their own whiteboard. They explain, “Any computer can connect to a projector, and any software can be projected onto a wall. Hook up a Bluetooth-enabled pen tablet and a wireless keyboard, and you have an interactive brightboard—a setup with all the functionality of a whiteboard, at a fraction of the cost” (2009, p. 18). With the vast number of free applications available on Apple devices, this is a very cost-effective way to simulate the SMART board experience in a school like mine. For the price of one $3,000 whiteboard, a school can purchase 10 wireless pen tablets. The authors suggest that schools use this method rather than purchasing one whiteboard to share because “if a teacher is going to use it regularly, it needs to be at his or her fingertips” (2009, p. 20).

I also spent some time researching quality educational applications for use in the classroom. There are many useful applications that are free. Although I don't have enough iPads for all students to use, I have a good amount for iPads to be a center station. I have found that my students really enjoy practicing math facts and vocabulary in ‘Math Bingo’ and ‘Word Bingo’ during center time. 'Ollie's Handwriting' is an app that gives students an opportunity to practice their handwriting and it keeps them more engaged than just paper and pencil work. Although not free, another really useful application is Raz-Kids. It is an online-leveled reading program, so the program is differentiated for each student. This program would be for extra practice as a supplement to regular reading instruction. Obviously, there are countless other games that offer a fun learning experience or skill practice.

I spent a lot of time concentrating on the devices used, rather than the objective that these tools help my students meet. I've realized that I need to shift my thinking from leading with the device to leading with the learning. Which brings me right to the second module I am studying. I will be looking at resource selection and researching how to lead with instruction rather than the tool. Hopefully this will help me to shift my thinking. 

Sources:

Sheninger, E. (2014). Digital leadership: Changing paradigms for changing times. Thousand

            Oaks, California: Corwin.

Vallis, K., & Williamson, P. (2009). Build your own board: brightboards offer a cost-effective

            alternative to interactive whiteboards. Learning & Leading With Technology, 37(1),

            18-20.

Classroom Management Win!

I just wanted to start off this week by saying how grateful I am for all of the kind words of encouragement and awesome advice in response to my last post. Sometimes teaching can be overwhelming, but I am so thankful to have the support of such a wonderful community of teachers!

One of the suggestions I received from a few teachers is to look into using the app "Class Dojo". On this app, you can add your class roster. Each student gets a monster that can earn or lose points throughout the day, for good behavior or bad behavior respectively.

I started exploring the app this past weekend. It comes preloaded with a handful of behaviors. When you press a student's monster, you can either give 'positive' feedback or 'needs improvement' feedback. Some of the behaviors under positive are 'on task', 'participating', 'working hard' and 'teamwork'. Each of the positive behaviors earns one point. The 'needs improvement' behaviors include 'off task', 'disrespect', 'bullying' and 'talking out of turn'. Each of these behaviors makes the monster lose a point. What I really like is that you can add your own behaviors to the list. For example, a big problem in my classroom is having a bad attitude so I was able to add that behavior to needs improvement. On the other hand, I wanted to add 'good attitude' to the positive behaviors in order to encourage this disposition.

Not only can you keep track of student behavior daily with the app, but it also stores the certain behaviors that resulted in a gain or loss of points. I like that feature because I want to be able to go back and talk with my students about their behaviors in class, whether positive or negative.

You can also invite parents to the app, so that they can see how their child is behaving in class. For parents that want to stay connected more often, this is an awesome feature.

I started yesterday morning by explaining "Class Dojo" to my first graders. They were excited to have a monster, and, of course, they love anything that appears to be a game! Immediately, I noticed a difference in their behavior. We talked for a while about what they would have to do to earn points, and when we started doing our Daily 5 (Reading) centers, my first graders were more focused and stayed on task for longer. It was like a miracle! It's amazing that such a small thing can make such a big difference.

I have a behavior chart in my classroom and students earn tokens each morning depending on what color that they ended on the previous day. At the end of the week, we have token drawing to earn prizes. So if a student behaves well, they have a better chance of winning. But I think that they liked this better because it was very concrete and had a physical reward at the end of the day instead of having to wait all week.

I also usually struggle to get my students to participate in group activities. I love being able to provide a motivator for participating! Most of my students were eager to participate with the knowledge that they would earn a point for it :)

Throughout the day, obviously, there were some students who lost points for certain behaviors, but overall we had a pretty good day! My students were constantly asking about how many points they had; at the beginning of the day, I told them that if they earned 10 points by the end of the day, they would earn a prize (fun pencil or eraser, little notepad, etc.) (thanks for the suggestion, Becky!). My students were excited about trying to earn the points needed and it kept them on their toes all day.

Sometimes, I try something that will work for a couple days and then it will lose its effectiveness. I'm crossing my fingers that "Class Dojo" keeps producing such wonderful results!

My Biggest Challenge- A Cry for Help!

I used to think I was a really patient person. Sometimes, I don't know anymore.

This is my first year of teaching. After graduating with a degree in elementary education from the University of Tulsa, I moved to Nebraska to join the Magis Catholic Teacher Corps. I teach first grade at St. Augustine Indian Mission in Winnebago. And it has been quite the experience so far.

My first graders have such rough home lives. They all live in varying degrees of poverty on the Winnebago and Omaha Indian Reservations. Alcoholism and gambling are rampant. Most live in trailers and are constantly hungry. Male role models are all but absent in the community. One told me the other day that his dad pulls his mom's hair and is a bully. Another constantly has lice and itches her head so much that she has scars on her scalp. Another has 7 siblings and doesn't have a bed to sleep on. I could go on and on. Sometimes, all I can do is cry.

Most of the time, I feel more like their mother than their teacher.

I just want to love on them and feed them (I have a closet full of snacks that my parents donated!). But my job is to teach them. Which brings me to classroom management.

With this group of kids, it feels impossible. Because they do have such rough home lives, they have so many behavior problems. At least once a day, I have to call the counselor to come get a kid because they are throwing a temper tantrum or throwing chairs or crawling under the tables and disrupting the rest of the class. Most of the time, nothing really happens to set a kid off. Usually it's because they simply don't want to do their classwork... or they're just plain exhausted, even if they don't admit it.

Most days, I feel like I'm at the end of my rope by dismissal.

I love teaching first grade. But here's the problem. The majority of the time, I feel like I'm just putting out fires rather than doing my job. I am pretty strict- I don't let my first graders get away with much, and I keep a behavior chart. But for some kids, it just doesn't work that well.  So I've tried sticker charts, promising a fun activity as a reward. I've bribed, threatened, and pleaded. Of none of those things would I say, "Oh, let me tell you about this great classroom management strategy I use!" It is so discouraging.

I don't know what else to do, but I sure know there's more that can be done. This class has gotten me thinking- is there a way that I could be using technology to improve my classroom management? With everything out there, I'm sure that there are things that would help me with classroom management.

Secondly, I have heard over and over how important it is to document everything, but I have completely failed in that regard. I am so overwhelmed every single day by discipline issues that by the end of the day, everything has blurred together. I know there must be technology out there to help with this- any suggestions?

Teachers with more experience- this is my cry for help! I'd love any suggestions about classroom management you have. Please share your wisdom with a desperate first-year teacher!