A much needed break

I've had such a hard time trying to deal with what happened in Newton. My heart has been so heavy all week. I didn't want to watch about it (which is weird for me, normally I cope by buying right into the media frenzy) but I felt overwhelmed by the surplus of coverage for this event. I felt like screaming "leave the schools and teachers alone". I hated logging onto Facebook to see everyone posting about their solutions -arm all the teachers - take all guns away - stick anyone with depression in a box - and was super frustrated when even Pinterest was taken over (my escape to look at pictures of puppies, pretty houses, and classroom ideas). For the most part my students didn't say anything about it. Until today. 

We found out yesterday that there was a rumor about a shooting today at my school - they found the person who started it and there wasn't any truth behind it. But my students were not as convinced and asked me before opening the door for their classmates if it was safe and whisper asking to me before beginning their test "you lock the door, right?". It makes me so sad. 

I think the reason that this is hitting me so hard is because I would do the same for each of my students. And that scared me when I realized it. They are the reason I love my job so much. 

I hope that teachers everywhere in the country can enjoy a much needed break. Spend time with your families, away from your classroom, let the media circus die down, and come back to school in January both having missed your students and classroom and enjoy the rest of what should be a great school year. 

Why are the digitial natives so frustrated with digital testing?

So there is a HUGE push in both my state and my district for digital testing. We have a whole online website/program built by our district created for the purpose of testing online and having all that data instant and at our fingertips. I really appreciate it.

But I hear time and time again from the students grumbles and groans about not getting to test on paper.

Why? Is it really that much different on paper? For some students I think so. Especially those more artistic creative students, those with testing anxiety, and the ones at the bottom.

Linear thinkers go from front to back and then review answers. These students are probably unaffected by an online test.

Some kids get frustrated with taking a test front to back. They like to be inspired and distracted. They might start at the number 14 (their favorite for some reason), work forward, and then go to 28 and work forward, in some pattern until they finish their test.

And those kids that get testing anxiety, even just a little bit? They look at the first question and the inner monologue starts... "that doesn't even look familiar!" but after looking to the next page or starting from the back they find something they can easily answer and boost their confidence with.

Or the low students who use tools like underlining important words to help them read and comprehend a question? What do they do?

I agree we need to get these digital natives used to taking online tests, but we need to give them online test prep to prepare them as well as making our online testing friendly to students of all abilities. Add a highlight or underline feature with the mouse (or better yet- touch screen!) make it easier to switch between questions and add the ability to "circle" a question or an answer to come back to it. If those are things we are teaching our students to do to be successful, why do we take it away from them when it really counts?

Does your school/district do online testing? Do you feel it is adequate?

Christmas is here!

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*After making this photobook for my husband's mom and grandmother for Christmas (hence the huge surplus of their families photos - I promise - I have a family, too!) Shutterfly offered a $10 gift card if you posted it to your blog! Can't hurt - and the process of making the book was so easy! I chose the custom path since the "timing" of the pictures according to their information was making it hard for the one the website put together to put in order but I was very happy with how easy it turned out!

Flipping Out!

So I think I want to flip my classroom.

See what it is all about! Friday Institute on What is a flipped classroom

Seems neat right? I went to a training put on by my county and Discovery Education on Saturday and Lodge McCammon was the keynote speaker. He gave a really interesting talk but the most exciting part for me? How efficient flipping is. He gave this great example of a lecture he used to give that took about 70 minutes in class which boiled down to about an 8 minute video.

So I went home and tried it and made a pretty plain jane video on Heat Flow. I know - basic - boring - and it is weird how I talk out of the side of my mouth... (much more noticeable in the next video).

They are doing an online training so I applied for a spot! I made another video for that (this is the obvious side of mouth talking... have I really always done that? or is it just an under pressure type thing?) about why I want to flip.

Are you flipping? Are you interested? What made you do it/ What is stopping you from trying it?

The Circus!

Rotations. Centers. Stations. Circus.

I'm pretty sure all those words mean the same thing. Lots of planning at the beginning, lots of downtime at the end. And possibly one of the most beneficial things you'll ever teach your students to do.

I didn't start using stations (the word I use for them) until last year. They are usually always different (for example, I know some elementary school classrooms always have the same station activities with different content but in my room they almost never are the same activity) but always have some "same" features. These "same" features are what makes it so super easy for me and what I am hoping to share with you to help you make it easier for you.

1: There are always 6 stations and we always rotate in the same direction.
-no, they are not always six different stations, sometimes I only had three good activities  so each activity appears in the room twice and they only go to three of the six stations.
2: I never go through the entire directions for each station before we go to the stations.
-what a waste of time! How many people can remember directions for six separate activities (even three separate activities) when your immediate task is only to do one of them, and the last one you might not get to for two-four days from now! Also, this eliminates the student who thinks they remember the directions exactly from when I said it and executes something entirely different.
3: I do go through the "highlights"/"things to know" for this station.
-I teach science. We use glass beakers. We use hot stuff. We use smelly stuff. If there are any "make sure of..." or "be careful of...." parts of a station that is what I go through.
4: I give students 10-30 seconds to "clean up" and then a separate 10-30 seconds to switch. This time does not count against them for actually competing their station.
-This is important for giving the students those brain breaks that they definitely need.

When I first started doing stations I felt like a ringmaster. A bad ringmaster. I was so excited about all the activities going on in each ring that I was bad at explaining all the directions and got frustrated with my students assuming they knew what was about to happen. I realized that when you are watching a circus the ringmaster doesn't walk you through every thing that is about to happen he just gives you a preview. Here is a tiger - here is a ring on fire. Enjoy! I had to get better at giving the "preview" instead of a narration.

Those norms keep me and the students from being overwhelmed by the fact that there are 6 different things that we are all responsible for going on in one fairly small space for 23 people to be occupying.

I'll talk soon about how I plan my stations but figured it would make more sense if my norms had already been discussed.

Do you do stations/centers/rotations?What norms do you have?