Bold School- Book Review

I just finished reading Bold School by Weston Kieschnick, and I highly recommend you add it to your summer reading list!! His book is an engaging, fun, and easy read, but one that still leaves you self reflecting and challenging yourself!

I found myself saying YES! and AMEN! over and over as I read Bold School. "Blended" instruction + "Old" school wisdom = BOLD

Blended Learning can be scary and feel overwhelming, but I love how easy he makes it to implement blended learning in your classroom. He begins the book with breaking down the Bold School Framework that will be used with all of the high yield instructional strategies he shares. ALL teachers can benefit from this book!

The Instructional Strategies covered in the book are:

1. Interactive Video Method

2. Questioning/Socratic Seminar

3. Vocabulary Programs- One of my favorite chapters, especially since we are ALL literacy teachers!

4. Direct Instruction

5. Peer Tutoring

6. Concept Mapping

7. Worked Examples

8. Self-Assessment

9. Reciprocal Teaching

10. Problem Solving Teaching

11. Spaced vs Mass Practice 

Each chapter explains the strategy, has real life examples, tips for teachers, questions to make you think and reflect your craft, and Tech tools to move to Blended Learning in your classroom. I love the focus he also puts on rigor and relevance and pushing our students to Quadrant D. 

"Becoming a Blended Learning Master means knowing how to use technologies to move toward academic goals." Kieschnick makes this seem like an easy task and left me feeling empowered to teach others to do the same.

Do yourself and your students a favor

and go read and apply Bold School wisdom to your classroom!

Using Surveys to help you Reflect on Our Year

As another year comes to a close, I like to spend time reflecting on what went well this year and what I can improve, tweak, or change for next year.  

As I reflect on my goals, I also like to gather feedback using surveys from my parents and students. Surveys are a great way to elicit feedback anonymously. 

I always send parents a link to the survey the last month of school asking them for their thoughts on classroom activities, communication, academic learning, flexible seating, and any thoughts they would like to share with me regarding the year and their child.

Since you can't please everyone and some parents think I have the power to make decisions regarding the campus, I analyze the the data and look for trends and areas in which I can improve. 

This year, thanks to Lauren Bohm, I also had my students fill out a survey about my subject area, classroom activities, classroom culture, flexible seating, their feelings, and thoughts. My 4th graders did a great job of expressing themselves, and I loved their honest responses. 

Google Forms and Survey Monkey are both easy ways to create and send surveys for feedback. I love how you can look at results both individually and as a summary. 

The main take away from me from both my parent and student surveys is that building relationships is the most important!!! Which I knew! :) It was the main thing students and parents commented on. Take the time to get to know your students, their interests, and what makes them unique and then find ways to highlight and let them know you remember and care!!

Five Reflections from my 13th year as an educator:

1. Relationships are still Key

2. Writing Celebrations make writing relevant and are fun for students- I will definetly continue this!

3. Classroom community is best created spending time together discussing real world issues and allowing students to share what is happening in their life- MAKE time for it!

4. Blended Learning has transformed my classroom- I also want to improve and work on relevance and rigor of the activites students are completing 

5. Students crave for read alouds and independent reading- Grant this wish for them and allow them time to just READ

Make sure to take time for yourself this summer! Relax and recharge for next year!

Building A Strong Classroom Community

In addition to building relationships with my students, I believe building a strong classroom community among students is equally important. The way we have built a family culture in our classroom this year is through Fri YAY  3-2-1! This simple activity has changed our classroom this year!  Students learn new things about one another, cultivate trust, and create a learning environment that encourages risk and collaboration through be open with one another.

On Fridays, students write down 3 things they learned during the week, 2 things that went great during the week, and 1 thing they want to share with me or are looking forward during the weekend. Then, we sit together in a circle on the rug and share our 3-2-1. (Sitting in a circle is important because it encourages a sense of belonging and sharing.) These 15-20 minutes spent together are life changing!

I start the sharing and let students see me as a life long learner, overcoming obstacles or mistakes, and highlight great things they have done. Students can share one thing on their list or all of them. Other students are allowed to ask questions or share comments as long as they are respectful and kind. 

We have great conversations for the different things students share. I love how they begin to open up and share meaningful things and what is on their heart! Teaching and FriYAY 3-2-1 is much than just learning the curriculum. It puts students first and shows them how much you care about them!

You can use a cute form as below or any kind of paper as seen above. :) 

(Click the photo to make a copy of the 3-2-1 form.)

This is also a great self-reflection for students. It helps them to see all they learned and to find the positives in the week. I do like to collect their 3-2-1 sheets to read all of their responses, especially if they want to share something just with me. I will often write notes on the sheets before I hand them back. We learn so much about each other during this time. The students and I look forward to FriYAY each week!

A Book Review- Every Child A Super Reader

I thought I would share my notes and thoughts on a Professional Development book I just read with my PLN. I read Every Child A Super Reader by Pam Allyn and Ernest Morrell. (Click on any of the following pictures to access the notes I took while reading.)

The book is focused around the 7 Strengths that promote Super Readers:

1. Belonging

2. Curiousity 

3. Friendship

4. Kindness

5. Confidence

6. Courage

7. Hope

(Allyn and Morrell briefly touch on best practices, but this book is not focused on the components of Reading Workshop.)

The thing I love most about this book is I feel that these 7 Strengths can and should be nutured in across all grade levels and disciplines to help build social emotional well being in our students. I will be adding the 7 Strenghts to my vocabulary wall and theme wall. I will also be finding quotes that tie to the 7 Strengths. The 10 Fundamental Principles are important for us as educators to reflect on and make changes to our practices and classroom libraries as needed. 

(Click to see all 10 Principles)

One of my favorite quotes from the book states, "Every child deserves to know she belongs to the world of reading and the world of writing. Whether white or black, Latino or Asian, boy or girl-everyone and anyone can, will, and should benefit from a library as diverse as the world we live in." pg. 31

We must help our students see themselves in books. We must be purposeful with our read aloud selection and library choices. We must have a diverse books in our schools!!!

Allyn and Morrell also give practical advice on ways to promote the 7 Strengths in your classroom. Each chapter shares ideas for classroom activities, read alouds, technology integration, and ways to involve familes. 

(Click to see a few ideas for each strength)

I love the emphasis Ally and Morrell place on involoving families and educating them on ways to help their children connect the 7 Strenghts to their home as well. I think it would be a great idea to share the 7 Strenghts with parents when the year starts and continue to share ideas throughout the year via email, videos, newsletters, etc. 

The book is full of amazing assessment tools, rubrics, student goal setting, planning guides, and book lists. These book confirms my beliefs of building a community and that reading is more than just reading! 

What are you doing to ensure your students have the opportunity to become Super Readers?

Student (End of Year) Reflections

My students reflect throughout the year on many different assignments and their goals. I love to spend time with them reflecting on the things we accomplished during the year and set goals for the summer. This year I am going to let reflect on their favorites from reading and writing in Google Slides. I will share it with students in Google Classroom. 

Cover page-

Students can insert a picture from this year, take a picture of themselves with the webcam, or use remove.bg. 

You can easily edit the slides to make them suit your grade level, personal to your class, and your subject area. 

Student can edit the background, fonts, pictures, etc to match their style. 

Click here to view the reflection in Google Slides.

I think this will be a fun project for them to reflect on their growth this year and share with one another the last week of school. 

Jumpstart Summer Reading

I absolutely love having extra time to read more books off my list during the summer, and I love helping students create their own Reading List to jumpstart their summer reading!

I just implemented First Chapter Friday, where I read only the blurb and the first chapter of the book. While I read students soak in the chapter, and then turn and talk with their partners about their thoughts, questions, and if they want to read the rest. I make sure to choose a variety of genres, styles of writing, and authors. This helps ensure each student will find one book they might want to read or open the door to different genres and authors for some readers.

(Click the above photo for a copy)

Students can then scan the QR code and leave their thoughts to share with each other on our class Padlet. I love reading their opinions and emotions after only hearing one chapter. They can also add the book and author to their Summer Reading List paper or on Google Keep if they want.  (This is a great time to help students set up Google Keep if you haven't already. :)

(Click the above photo for a copy)

I will also host one last Book Tasting the last Friday of the year and give my students the opportunity to read many first chapters and add to their Summer Reading List. These First Chapter Fridays really build the excitement around reading! I have already have students buy the books from their lists, and it's not even summer yet!!

Since I know students can't buy every book on their Summer Reading List, I encourage them to visit the library and share one of my favorite apps Libby with them and their parents. You simply add your library card, and you instantly have the library at your fingertips!!

What is on your Summer Reading List?

Simple (to create) Digital Breakouts

I love using digital breakouts in my classroom, but have been avoiding making my own because I was intimated and figured it would be hard and complicated. Well, I was wrong and able to quickly create my first digital breakout that my students loved!

For me the easiest way to make one was to utilize Google Slides and Google Forms. Google Slides housed the clues and Google Forms had the locks. I uploaded both to Google Classroom for students to easily access. Here are the steps I followed:

5 Simple Steps to create a Digital Breakout

1. Identify the skill you want students to practice. 

For me this was dictionary skills in a fun and engaging way.

2. Decide how many locks/activities you want your students to apply their knowledge on (that will be how many slides you need and number of sections on the Google Forms)

You will create a new section for every lock you want your students to open. My last section was just a picture of "You Escaped!"

3. Create your number or letter codes

This was when I needed to be creative. Ask yourself, How can I have the answer be a number code or a letter code? and then plan your activities. 

4. Setting up a number code

This is an example of one of the lock slides that had a number code for my students to figure out.

In this video I show you how to create the number code in Google Forms. 

You will need to add a new question. Make sure it is short answer and required.

Next to the required tab, click the three dots and choose response validation. 

This is where you put in the correct code.

For a number code, choose number, equal to, type in the code, and your message if the answer is wrong. Then add a new section for your next lock code.

5. Setting up a Letter Code

This is an example of one of the activities for the letter code. I did tell them on the form how many letters.

In this video I show you how to create a letter code.

You will need to add a new question. Make sure it is short answer and required.

Next to the required tab, click the three dots and choose response validation. 

This is where you put in the correct code.

For a letter code, choose text, contains, type in the letter code, and your message if the answer is wrong. Make sure they know if you want upper or lowercase. 

Then add a new section for your next lock code.

Click on the pictures below for a copy of my Dictionary Breakout. 

***You must have the same dictionary for the answers to line up!***

Google Form Link: https://forms.gle/jGoHr2MzE8kpG2BT7

I hope this helps you take a leap and create a Digital Breakout of your own!

With a Digital Breakout the possibilities are endless and student motivation and engagement are increase while they are learning and applying new skills! It's a win-win if you ask me!

Please let me know if you have any questions!