tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76332071969505745662024-02-07T05:49:17.703-08:00Elementary STEMAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.comBlogger113125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-70357034376684721522019-01-13T15:56:00.002-08:002019-01-13T15:56:01.873-08:00I'm baaaccckkk...and I've got a new job!It's been a very long while since I blogged last...a VERY long while!<br />
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I was starting to feel like I didn't have much more to say that hadn't already been said, so I took a break...that break lasted much longer than I thought it would, but none-the-less, I am back at it.<br />
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Since I blogged last, I no longer teach 5th grade. I am actually no longer a classroom teacher at all! Last January (right about now), I transitioned out of the classroom and into to role of a specialist teacher. My district opened up a new special last year...STEM!!! What that means is I get to see EVERY student in my school once a week for 45 minutes. When I say every student, I mean every student! I get the KKnights (our pre-K students), our ASD students and our normal gen. ed. students K-5. That brings a whole new set of issues I never expected, which I'll map out in future posts.<br />
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While it was a very difficult decision (especially with the switch coming mid year), it was 100% the right choice for me. I absolutely love what I do, I mean who wouldn't love playing all day long?!?<br />
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I've now been in my position for 1 year...and I still feel like I don't know what I'm doing 😂, and that got me to thinking, last time I felt like this was when I started flipping my classroom. One of the things that was the most beneficial for me was to write about the process.<br />
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IF you are no longer interested in reading about my journey (as it's taken a very different path), I totally understand. If you know someone who you think might be interested in learning with me, please forward this blog on to them 😀<br />
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Much love and it's good to be back.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-34170440782325468012016-03-27T18:32:00.000-07:002016-03-27T18:32:46.489-07:00"You didn't make our egg hunt hard enough, Grandma!"<i>Disclaimer...this post has absolutely nothing to do with a flipped classroom, I just thought it was super awesome & I wanted to share...</i><br />
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<span style="color: blue;">"You didn't make our egg hunt hard enough, Grandma!"</span><br />
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Those were the words that my son said to my mother after our Easter egg hunt last year. My mom does an awesome job making our Easter egg hunt into a scavenger hunt each year. The kids love it, but obviously they were getting a little used to her normal hiding places.<br />
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Fast forward to this year...my mom is battling cancer like a boss, but she just didn't feel up to the challenge of an Easter egg scavenger hunt this year, she also didn't want to disappoint the grandkids, sooooooo. Enter my super techie/outdoorsy/nerdy brother-in-law Rex, who decided to take on the challenge, and holy cow did he do a good job!<br />
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Rather than do a normal scavenger hunt with clues, he decided that kids needed to work for their eggs. He planned out 4 different courses that all required the kids to use a compass, and measure their footsteps.<br />
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The kids started by figuring out how many of their steps equaled 100 feet. After that, he taught them how to read an orienteering compass. <br />
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They had to line the compass up to their "heading" degree, then align the compass so it faced north. <br />
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After that it was as simple as following the arrow the required number of feet to find their egg. I got to follow my 11 year old around, and it was so fun!! He got pretty good at lining himself up, and realized that it was really helpful to look for a target in the distance before starting to walk.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFHYSRFolcG9sFunECfMuUcsX2A39ETEOiXVERHQnsps9zk6U3zh1Xn9Gw8E9q5jVqx75KsrAI136RZWKRANAp8A-xV1a36Pp_sHKM_rBMVVBwP_gZwgxJCSnQQmGFivhis7xRTKfC1lE/s1600/IMG_0326.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFHYSRFolcG9sFunECfMuUcsX2A39ETEOiXVERHQnsps9zk6U3zh1Xn9Gw8E9q5jVqx75KsrAI136RZWKRANAp8A-xV1a36Pp_sHKM_rBMVVBwP_gZwgxJCSnQQmGFivhis7xRTKfC1lE/s320/IMG_0326.JPG" width="320" /></a><br />
My daughter and her cousin worked together (they are the youngest), while the older 3 all worked solo. The final stop...grandma :)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYPteqQEryqktoa7QQ7U744T7-ONBxMG9-RVr2jELOYyNFnWVGGJfgCYAYbUnlSP8glJ0un0FMQqcsWmD_S4MJ0fpHuZljE3MJwaLCycaAe6wWE6eeikwnDfLlCcWlAu-kxCzgYyDoXK4/s1600/IMG_0331.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYPteqQEryqktoa7QQ7U744T7-ONBxMG9-RVr2jELOYyNFnWVGGJfgCYAYbUnlSP8glJ0un0FMQqcsWmD_S4MJ0fpHuZljE3MJwaLCycaAe6wWE6eeikwnDfLlCcWlAu-kxCzgYyDoXK4/s320/IMG_0331.JPG" width="240" /></a>All in all I'd say it's going to be hard to top this experience next year!!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9jqNZlSh_5vtgirB2nHD4wg_jfsOUlqoEJBLr0w1gMpmNzG3QXYSZSuxKc0Y9cZL_knYqodiJLY8F1mufcxYWnBvha_Y5HRThULdwZktC_hPeikOUaBjV5tJwD6pS7ZpoA0ntx9yI33E/s1600/IMG_0329.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9jqNZlSh_5vtgirB2nHD4wg_jfsOUlqoEJBLr0w1gMpmNzG3QXYSZSuxKc0Y9cZL_knYqodiJLY8F1mufcxYWnBvha_Y5HRThULdwZktC_hPeikOUaBjV5tJwD6pS7ZpoA0ntx9yI33E/s320/IMG_0329.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5DjBDw7UHXE-_aMpr0PCNaoYcFf5MsomTTt9o0abQom308KubmQnspX0rBAtB-rg6UZ6vC4pYQ0RsCUXZkNwPC1IL3QzJ4-8xPQaR-Ih5i0uAznibssNQ7jo_s6VIc9SH9hGhRcJe-W0/s1600/IMG_0339.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5DjBDw7UHXE-_aMpr0PCNaoYcFf5MsomTTt9o0abQom308KubmQnspX0rBAtB-rg6UZ6vC4pYQ0RsCUXZkNwPC1IL3QzJ4-8xPQaR-Ih5i0uAznibssNQ7jo_s6VIc9SH9hGhRcJe-W0/s320/IMG_0339.JPG" width="320" /></a>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-11905697595969400282015-11-06T03:51:00.000-08:002015-11-06T03:51:19.175-08:00Learning Labs (aka my new favorite PD)Yesterday afternoon I had the opportunity to attend a learning lab. If you don't know what a learning lab is, I'll try to give a brief explanation. A teacher agrees to "host" a lab in their classroom. This means they will create a lesson (with the guidance of an instructional coach) and teach it in front of a bunch of other teachers (we had 7). Then everyone (including the host teacher) would reflect on the lesson with some noticings and wonderings. So here's what happened...<br />
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We all met after lunch for about 30 minutes to learn about our host teacher's lesson. What she was hoping for when she planned it, where her kids are academically, the make up of her class, what she's worried about, etc. We also set some norms for when we actually observed her lesson, like where to sit, if we're allowed to move to hear students better, should we talk to them at all, etc.<br />
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After that we spent about 55 minutes watching her teach her lesson...and it was awesome!<br />
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Her lesson was essentially teaching her 4th graders about the concept of inverse operations, which is typically a pretty dull topic. In our pre-observation meeting she told us that she was trying to focus on purposeful talk, and utilizing the Guided Release of Responsibility lesson planning model during her lesson. She also admitted that she personally has a hard time letting the kids talk as much as they should because she LOVES to teach, and she had in her head that teaching meant direct instruction. That's probably an exaggeration, because I've seen her teach, and I know she does a lot of things that aren't just direct instruction. At any rate, she acknowledges that she needs to be very intentional about letting kids work together and learn from each other more.<br />
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She started her lesson with a really fun hook, pretending to be a math magician (when in reality she was just using inverse operations to figure out a students starting number). The kids bought it, it was awesome! Then she let them struggle with how she did it. They worked in pairs that had been set up & were guided to use some "purposeful talk" cards that they have to help with their discussion. Eventually she stopped them and they worked through some of their ideas...still no one had it quite yet. Instead of just giving them the answer, she turned it back to the kids after they had a class discussion. I think she was noticing that a few were on the verge of figuring it out...they knew she worked backwards, but weren't getting the inverse operations yet. After turning it back to the kids, several of them figured it out. Then she moved them into groups to figure out her starting number. They worked together, and tried to practice their purposeful talk. Purposeful talk is really hard to do, but they were making an effort to talk math and help each other. After that, they gathered together again & she showed a visual with cubes of adding/subtracting fact families (knowledge they had from 1st-3rd grade). She had them write the "inverse" operations with a very simple example 3 + 4 =7. They got it...then she challenged them to moving it into 4th grade math and gave them a much harder problem...I don't remember the exact problem, but it was something like 643 + 395 = 1,038. Then she challenged them to show the inverse operations. All tried, many succeeded. Then she ended up doing some direct instruction with solving it, and visually connected the parts of the original problem to the parts in the inverse, proving she was right, it was like 28 little light bulbs went on at the same time. At that point we had to leave, and she sent the kiddos back to their seat to do some independent practice. We missed her wrap up, and I'm pretty bummed about it. Apparently she asked the kids why she taught them that...why in the world should they know how to do inverse operations. One little girl raised her hand and said, "because then we can always check to see if our answer is right." Whoa...they got it! <br />
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After the lesson was done, we all met together to debrief, talk about what we noticed, and often follow up with a wondering of our own. The discussion we had was so powerful. It reinforced something I've known for a long time, but tend to forget...<u>reflection is powerful</u>. I thought back and realized I started this blog to give myself a place to reflect on my teaching, specifically about my flipped classroom. In the past few years I haven't been very consistent about blogging because I wasn't sure what else I had to share. I started to think too much about my audience, and not enough about why I started writing in the first place.<br />
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SO, I plan to start weekly reflections again. Only this time it won't be about just my flipped classroom, I'm going to reflect on my teaching as a whole.<br />
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My next post will be about all the things I want to try now that I've experienced a learning lab ;)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-20110909350797729442015-10-19T17:44:00.001-07:002015-10-19T17:52:17.942-07:00Holy Changes Batman!!!There have been a LOT of changes in my district this year...I mean a ton. <br />
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<li>We are moving to a mastery system. </li>
<li>We are implementing a new ELA program. </li>
<li>We have a new instructional model. </li>
<li>We are starting learning labs. </li>
<li>We have mandated running records on every child. </li>
<li>We have a new spelling program that blows my mind (I'm not sure if it's in a good way or not)</li>
<li>Not to mention that I'm constantly revising & improving my math flipclass. </li>
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All that being said, I am really enjoying this year. Part of that may be that I am connecting really well with the majority of my class. Part of it may be that I am being hyper vigilant about being productive. But if I'm being honest, the biggest part of it is that I have a student teacher this semester. I LOVE having student teachers. I love learning from them, and helping guide them into becoming great teachers. I cannot speak enough to the fact that having 2 bodies in the classroom helps me reach double the students!!! It probably helps that I don't view having a student teacher as an opportunity to not be with my students, and hang out in the lounge. I view having a student teacher as an opportunity to double student contact. Thus far it's been fabulous!<br />
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Of course there are always things that aren't going so well...lots of little piddly things, but my big one is that I can't find enough time in the day to fit in everything I need to fit in. When I break down my mandated time to teach the core subject areas, my specials, my lunch, and my intervention time, I literally have 5 minutes to spare...and that doesn't include a time for Words Their Way, which is a totally new method of teaching spelling...here's what I know about it so far - it takes more than 5 minutes a day (okay, I know more than that, but I'm struggling to fit it in). It would be easy for me to quit/give-up/throw-in-the-towel/etc. Instead, I keep trying to tweak things just a little to make things run more smoothly. I haven't found the perfect schedule yet, but I'm confident that at some point I'll manage to get everything squeezed in that I need to...right?!? There's got to be a way!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-5698422162286028052015-09-14T17:33:00.002-07:002015-09-14T17:33:52.473-07:00If money & time were no object...my perfect PLC?If I could create a perfect PLC, what would it look like? I can honestly say I haven't really thought about it that much, which must mean my PLC runs pretty well. I probably should start with how we set it up. My grade level partner and I have common planning 3 days a week. Once every couple weeks we have a "formal" PLC, and talk about kids. We don't teach any of the same subjects (except reading), so our conversations revolve around that. We have "informal" PLC's pretty much every day when we run across the hall to share what we're doing that went well (or didn't go well).<br />
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Every month we have a half day where all the 5th grade teachers in the district get together. We have a plan for what we're supposed to accomplish, and there is <u>never enough time</u>. <br />
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I guess if I could live in a perfect world, I would have grade level buildings, so we could meet as a large PLC more frequently. I would also LOVE to get a chance to spend a day in each and every 5th grade classroom in my district, I know I could learn an absolute ton from them.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-41898963893497678932015-04-20T14:58:00.000-07:002015-04-20T14:58:03.621-07:00I Wish My Students KnewAfter my enlightening #IWishMyTeacherKnew lesson, it got me thinking, there are so many things that I wish my students knew about them. Things like:<br />
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* I wish my students knew that I dislike standardized tests just as much as they do.<br />
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* I wish my students knew that their score means <u>nothing</u> about the kind of person they are.<br />
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* I wish my students knew that they are not alone.<br />
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* I wish my students knew just how often I think of them when I'm not at school.<br />
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* I wish my students knew how much better they could be doing if they stopped talking so much.<br />
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* I wish my students knew that just because their parents didn't go to college doesn't mean they can't.<br />
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* I wish my students knew that there are so many of them I wish I could bring home with me.<br />
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I could go on and on and on, but I want to hear what you have to say...tweet it #iwishmystudentsknew or comment below.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-85842585882180620152015-04-20T14:56:00.000-07:002015-04-20T14:58:55.509-07:00I Wish My Teacher Knew...Recently, I read an article about simply getting to know your students. I've always considered my ability to build relationships with my students one of my strengths as a teacher. The article I read revolves around #iwishmyteacherknew. If you haven't heard of it, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/17/i-wish-my-teacher-knew_n_7087250.html" target="_blank">here</a> is one of many versions of the article.<br />
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My daughter's 2nd grade class did this activity, and I asked her if she'd be willing to tell me what she wrote. She said she wrote two things:<br />
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#1 I wish my teacher knew that my mom is home sick today. <i>I happened to have a sinus infection and was home for the day.</i><br />
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#2 I wish my teacher knew that I sometimes I still confuse my b and my d and that's why I write in capitals sometimes. <i>How interesting...I talked to her teacher about it that weekend (she's a friend of mine), and she said it was good information to get because several of her students will write in capitals, when they know they shouldn't.</i><br />
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I decided to try it out with my students...I would like to say that their answers shocked me, but they didn't. It did become clear that my class has a lot of father figure issues, amongst other things.<br />
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I wish my teacher knew...<br />
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"that my friends don't respect me for who I am."<br />
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"that my dad left me when I was 2 and I struggle because I miss him & I wish he could be with me."<br />
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"that my dad is in the Coast Guard and had to move to Washington."<br />
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"that I haven't seen my dad in 2 years, and he hasn't come to any daddy/daughter dances because he chose to live in DC with his wife instead of here with my & my sisters."<br />
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"that I barely see my dad & I wish he could get a new, better job so I could see him more often."<br />
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"that I never finish my lunch."<br />
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"that my mom sometimes argues with me about my homework because she won't help me with it."<br />
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"that I haven't seen my brother in 5 months."<br />
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"that I don't take my coat off because I'm always cold."<br />
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"that I'm afraid to go to Middle School."<br />
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"that I'm afraid I'm not going to pass 5th grade."<br />
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"that sometimes I feel left out by my own friends because I tried to talk to them but they ignored me, which made me sad."<br />
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and my most insightful post was...<br />
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"I wish my teacher knew that I goof off in class because I don't get a lot of attention at home."<br />
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Whoa.<br />
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If you haven't done this with your class I'd highly recommend it.<br />
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For Part 2 of this post please go <a href="http://flippedclassroom.blogspot.com/2015/04/i-wish-my-students-knew.html" target="_blank">here</a>.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-49797051522979858172015-04-13T17:32:00.000-07:002015-04-13T18:07:42.594-07:00Genius Hour...Passion Projects...Being InnovativeWhat does it mean to be innovative? To me, it means being willing to try new things, even if you don't know if they'll work or not. It also means being able to reevaluate and tweak things on a moments notice.<br />
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One thing I do that I consider innovative is my passion projects. I don't consider it innovative because it's a new idea. I consider it innovative because each time we do it, it looks different and unique, depending on my kids.<br />
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My students have done 3 different projects so far. I've found that my kids need to start with a little more structure in order for them to be successful with less structure (did that even make sense?).<br />
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For our first project my students all chose a dream job to research. They were totally into it, and loved sharing what they learned. For that project they didn't really have to make anything, rather write up their information and share it with the class.<br />
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For our second project the kids all chose a famous person or place. After writing their research report they had to choose the 3 most important facts they learned to share. Then (and here is where the innovative part comes in), I decided to bring in a giant tub of Lego's from home. I set them around the room and told the kids to impress me. They had to make something that represented their project. While they may not look like much, the kids had a blast and could explain in detail the creations.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-aSZj3eF-GI_p6X89ygd3rQ8hhFfPn9daoiZbRa_pctSM0S8_ej3JkcOHTudE2_uTKK579pd0MLT9VoKVN1UNrM4YdUbd14DOSNhZk_CRrIkemiXnA-BzfvLmd_hMmrRKg9UX-No_VFI/s1600/IMG_3484.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-aSZj3eF-GI_p6X89ygd3rQ8hhFfPn9daoiZbRa_pctSM0S8_ej3JkcOHTudE2_uTKK579pd0MLT9VoKVN1UNrM4YdUbd14DOSNhZk_CRrIkemiXnA-BzfvLmd_hMmrRKg9UX-No_VFI/s1600/IMG_3484.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tony Hawk</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdiri6RA6fwDxUNGceDoj2klJ1T02Kb_wXVL8TRdRB66BNJJ7BpY5-1KYG6pTFbnY1UwUXIfgYHlz5k2elvhppy06g599Uxb-0DXnwAgWrq7aUXPny4dbzThtKRq535m2aGEE4iShD7Ow/s1600/IMG_3464.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdiri6RA6fwDxUNGceDoj2klJ1T02Kb_wXVL8TRdRB66BNJJ7BpY5-1KYG6pTFbnY1UwUXIfgYHlz5k2elvhppy06g599Uxb-0DXnwAgWrq7aUXPny4dbzThtKRq535m2aGEE4iShD7Ow/s1600/IMG_3464.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Abraham Lincoln</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsaRkgc8ShpKy-wDTV28EMRJp49BgPTKIUIcjB4-UqoiaNlOkrnnmyneKYsbaFo_58CBoYqherL7vyxoAxS0zmk1aONg-Y0uyTvpHKDwnrZ3s8KjusSZVXTZWO5tH3JDjeICi_Ch2MZ0c/s1600/IMG_3466.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsaRkgc8ShpKy-wDTV28EMRJp49BgPTKIUIcjB4-UqoiaNlOkrnnmyneKYsbaFo_58CBoYqherL7vyxoAxS0zmk1aONg-Y0uyTvpHKDwnrZ3s8KjusSZVXTZWO5tH3JDjeICi_Ch2MZ0c/s1600/IMG_3466.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Muhammad Ali</td></tr>
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For our most recent project the students had to learn how to do something. This has been the most interesting so far. I had students learn to do soccer tricks, frost cakes, fold origami, code computer games, do a fishtail braid, and even make these crazy intricate bracelets. I was SUPER impressed by their work. The funniest thing was, my project (what I wanted to learn how to do) was an epic failure. I desperately want to learn how to whistle with 2 fingers...you know that loud shrilling whistle that some people can do? After weeks of trying, all I ended up doing was successfully spit all over the place! What was really cool was that my kids taught me some new tricks on how to make my normal whistle louder :)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD3al4ATjB0HqqiMKzUYibrnOwOMtoWQp8h3CPiC3ZzZqDhfuYsmU97v2e6OUqVnwHAY6wR-JCFJAGqB6uRpfFdn650Uu2ZeU0g9B-BMZXkAG5iBgS28mN-xScWSrqFrnjs2NfNGPLC1s/s1600/IMG_3672.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD3al4ATjB0HqqiMKzUYibrnOwOMtoWQp8h3CPiC3ZzZqDhfuYsmU97v2e6OUqVnwHAY6wR-JCFJAGqB6uRpfFdn650Uu2ZeU0g9B-BMZXkAG5iBgS28mN-xScWSrqFrnjs2NfNGPLC1s/s1600/IMG_3672.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Soccer Tricks</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAqVzI2BsFI88-CM0TtjOUQwA0lP-tWDU13erjtz8w75Ijuxg5QzX1ALRxSwrW3zXJKcFEfk8dZSBb42ByhuDFDNa1Bis6GAjUXd_JDbT3YzX6_i486vBM-ha_CQGzdcLJm4OPHdJ6aqE/s1600/IMG_3677.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAqVzI2BsFI88-CM0TtjOUQwA0lP-tWDU13erjtz8w75Ijuxg5QzX1ALRxSwrW3zXJKcFEfk8dZSBb42ByhuDFDNa1Bis6GAjUXd_JDbT3YzX6_i486vBM-ha_CQGzdcLJm4OPHdJ6aqE/s1600/IMG_3677.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Learning how to bake cupcakes</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOxpVMxfgvA1Z6adu6yUfnYJVTDiAChe4BuJKzxxbgZM9Yy6RNl_PsOEzbItrLFHI7md1ZWWxAOSezzvnddKybJvPfFTCj_w2lswb5DvG2T7IKD8RFKWd2YqPh_ZLyf-YwM16xyY-DHM/s1600/IMG_3678.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEigOxpVMxfgvA1Z6adu6yUfnYJVTDiAChe4BuJKzxxbgZM9Yy6RNl_PsOEzbItrLFHI7md1ZWWxAOSezzvnddKybJvPfFTCj_w2lswb5DvG2T7IKD8RFKWd2YqPh_ZLyf-YwM16xyY-DHM/s1600/IMG_3678.JPG" height="240" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Teaching the class how to make origami fingers</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYKc7Lk-4OiF-DX_mrAYgmCsCk4GXJnWC8pkCE0K6tZ_MfN5AQ8eyh1tlFHkWEhlSEZea3WRcGrK4QliiJDRrA8MdRCQEn37DJwi73rf7sS5h-9BtNCErYKpb7s4UjOUp6tW-81zd2v-s/s1600/IMG_3681.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYKc7Lk-4OiF-DX_mrAYgmCsCk4GXJnWC8pkCE0K6tZ_MfN5AQ8eyh1tlFHkWEhlSEZea3WRcGrK4QliiJDRrA8MdRCQEn37DJwi73rf7sS5h-9BtNCErYKpb7s4UjOUp6tW-81zd2v-s/s1600/IMG_3681.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making donut cats</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguhNn2_lBscBzNQnCZlHxZDATdpJsyvEyZ5MvaaaeOve9Wwnr7ZOVpNAk5sIK0HBM8f0rUVBEN0WdFqcxiTjfDw7CkGLISscOmB-ErU_fWRINGC0CFC_0vEFGPW4kMna-u_YU__vAqAJk/s1600/IMG_3682.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguhNn2_lBscBzNQnCZlHxZDATdpJsyvEyZ5MvaaaeOve9Wwnr7ZOVpNAk5sIK0HBM8f0rUVBEN0WdFqcxiTjfDw7CkGLISscOmB-ErU_fWRINGC0CFC_0vEFGPW4kMna-u_YU__vAqAJk/s1600/IMG_3682.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">They tasted amazing!</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-48946057935012258282015-03-09T17:33:00.002-07:002015-03-09T17:38:37.012-07:00Pushing My Students Beyond "Good Enough"My class using a rubric system for grading ELA and math...The scoring, be it the academic content or the behavior content, is essentially the same:<br />
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1 - I need help.</div>
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2 - I need some reminders.</div>
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3 - I got this (independently with no help).</div>
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4 - I can use this knowledge to impact others.</div>
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Student created content comes when my students are trying to push themselves from a 3 to a 4. There are a variety of ways they can do that...here are just a few:</div>
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<li>Review videos (my kids LOVE this)</li>
<li>Review games on Kahoot (my kids LOVE this too)</li>
<li>Create a board game (I have several laminated blank board games they can fill in)</li>
<li>Solve a "real-world" problem (I have at least 1 of these for each math unit)</li>
<li>Student choice (I always leave an option open where students get a chance to come up with their own idea for a project)</li>
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While not everyone has a chance get to this point, there are many who work really hard to get the opportunity. </div>
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I would love more ideas on what kids can do to show that they not only get it, but can push themselves deeper into the content, push themselves to do more than what is just "good enough".<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-21944226633708555832015-03-02T17:39:00.002-08:002015-03-02T17:39:43.749-08:0010/10 ProjectSo I'm sitting in Pittsburgh chatting with my good buddy David Fouch & he says to me. "You know what, I think we should do a project together." At first I thought he might be kidding because he teaches AP US History & I teach 5th graders, not to mention the fact that we teach in different districts...seriously, how in the world could we do a collaborative project with our students.<br />
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As it often happens, one comment leads to an idea, which leads to another idea, which leads to something awesome!<br />
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So here's the project...his 10th grade students will be creating some video lessons on topics in history (topics my students choose). My 10 year olds will watch, and complete an assignment (which his students will also be planning and giving feedback on...yeah me!).<br />
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In the meantime, my class will be learning about the elements of a good story and the historical fiction genre. Throughout the month of March we'll be reading <u>The Watson's Go to Birmingham - 1963</u> and the students will be writing their own historical fiction story.<br />
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Here's the catch...their story has to somehow connect to what they learned from David's class. So let's say they are interested in learning about the Olympics. When they write their story, it needs to somehow involve the Olympics. Maybe the main character is an Olympic athlete in the games, maybe the setting takes place in the Olympic skating rink...who knows???<br />
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When they finish their stories, we'll submit them to David's class (sometime after the AP test because lord knows he has plenty of material to get through before then), and they'll give feedback and help with any historical innacuracies. Then they'll have 2 weeks to perfect/illustrate/publish their stories.<br />
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The really fun part of this whole thing is that close to the end of the year my class is going to go hang out with his class for a day & share our stories.<br />
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Today we started learning about historical fiction AND story elements. Today David's class started planning their videos.<br />
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Today my class got SUPER excited because they found out that a bunch of 10th graders are taking the time to make something for <i>them</i>. Today David's class got all worried because they don't think they'll have enough time to make their videos perfect.<br />
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And so the 10/10 Project was born (get it, 10th graders and 10 year olds)...I'm just hoping it's as awesome as I think it's going to be!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-82165862013384704002015-02-09T17:40:00.001-08:002015-02-09T17:40:17.085-08:00Trying to Make it Fit...the Neverending BattleHow to fit it all in?<br />
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I find that I am much better and getting all my ELA content in over my math...so why is that? It's not because there is less material, it's not because I'm a better ELA teacher than I am a math teacher. I think it comes down to the fact that I teach ELA during all my other subjects.<br />
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We <i>write</i> about math. We form <i>opinions,</i> <i>arguments</i> and <i>support</i> about social studies topics. We <i>research</i> about famous people & places.<br />
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Bottom line, my students are reading and writing in all their core content areas. And what do I flip??? Math. It seems odd that the subject I flip (which opens up my in-class time), is also the subject I can never seem to get through.<br />
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I don't have the answer. I actually struggle with this. I struggle with it Every. Single. Day.<br />
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What I <i>want</i> to do is take several of my math units completely off the table, which would give me a couple extra months to really dig in to the rest of the material. What I <i>want </i>is to have the time (and resources) to create really in depth units that weave together science, social studies, reading, writing AND math into one beautiful inquiry...ahhhh, wouldn't that be awesome! Unfortunately, that is not my reality.<br />
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If I'm being 100% honest, I can't blame it all on the curriculum. I admit that a lot of the reason I don't get through all my math content is because my students waste <i>way too much</i> time during math class. We have math in the afternoon, and the students are often times very distracted. This has been a constant battle this year (and for many years). <br />
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As it is becoming painfully clear, I don't have the answer to this problem...I'd love some ideas from someone who does.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-62347860592868919232015-01-19T17:51:00.000-08:002015-01-19T17:51:00.740-08:00Willingness to be different...it's a game changer.Most teachers don't like change. I am one of those weird teachers who needs change to keep me fulfilled. For that reason I am constantly changing/tweaking/improving on how I run my classroom. I have found that my year if fairly cyclical. <br />
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I start off strong with some whole group lessons on how to actually watch a video. Then slowly, as the kids develop some independence, I let them take over the video & we start doing some whole class activities together in class. </div>
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Sometime around the end of the 1st marking period I end up needing to change up my day-to-day lessons. This year we moved into a math workshop format. The students did really well with it...until they didn't. As soon as they got too comfortable, they started to waste a lot of time, and do a lot more talking (about non school stuff) than is really necessary. For that reason, we had to change things up a bit.</div>
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Right now my class is a hodge podge of things. We're at the end of our most difficult unit of the year (seriously, could double digit division be any more challenging????). I have some students who have already passed their test & are working to push their grade up to an "exceeding excpectations" mark. I have some students who are still stuck, and are getting some help, and I have a large chunk of students who are taking their test. </div>
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I plan to have math discussion groups using my <a href="http://flippedclassroom.blogspot.com/2013/04/math-circlesdiscussion.html" target="_blank">math circles</a> format when we begin our next unit. We've done this for a few videos in the last unit & the kids did great.</div>
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What will I switch to when this stops being effective? No idea! When asked what makes my classroom successful, I think it comes down to my ability to change when I realize something isn't working. Change doesn't have to be scary, I'd argue that it keeps things interesting.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-39962574995984241742015-01-12T17:34:00.000-08:002015-01-12T17:34:07.931-08:002 brains (or 3, or 4) are better than 1 #flipclass #flashblogLast week my principal sent out an email asking us to prioritize what we want in regards to specials for next year. It seems like a relatively simple email, but looking at it made me realize that I don't know how to make my class work like I want it to work...there's not enough time. Not enough time for me to be with my students, and not enough time for me to properly plan what I want to plan. I quickly ignored my email (okay, I didn't <i>really</i> ignore it, but I definitely closed it down & moved on to other things).<br />
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The next morning one of our 4th grade teachers came in & said, "Did you get the email about specials? What are you going to say?" Hmmm, I thought, I am not alone. Then our interventionist came in & joined the conversation, and before you know it, the 3 of us were brainstorming possibilities, and instead of being all grumpy we began to get kind of excited about the possibility of doing something different.<br />
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Our big problem is that my district is moving to mastery based learning (which I 100% agree with), but we're not to the point where we don't move the kids on if they haven't mastered their learning. It's a very awkward place to be in. I know exactly where my kids are at, what they don't understand, and what they totally get, but I don't know when to fill in the holes they have, reteach what they're confused on when our day is so packed.<br />
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We talked about a number of things, and decided we should probably get more people involved in the coversation. So now we are planning big meeting with all the 3rd, 4th & 5th grade teachers...and the interventionists...and the resource room teacher. My hope is that all those brilliant minds will come together and come up with something awesome.<br />
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As I write this I am realizing how important it is going to be that we start off with a positive attitude. It's so easy to spend an hour complaining, which gets us nowhere. As of now, our meeting is scheduled for next week...we'll see how it goes!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-64482115147726062182015-01-12T15:29:00.002-08:002015-01-12T15:29:41.143-08:00Learning, Growing & CollaboratingSo my weekend started off pretty sweet. Thursday night a huge snow storm came through Michigan, and we got the notice that school was closed the night <i>before</i>. That rarely happens. Then on Friday my class was featured on our local news station as being the classroom of the week. If you're interested, you can see the short spot <a href="http://fox17online.com/2015/01/09/mrs-bushs-5th-grade-class-alpine-elementary-school/" target="_blank">here</a>. Then Saturday, I attended (and helped plan) the 3rd MIFlip conference, and it didn't disappoint. I was fully prepared for there to be a small crowd, since the weather in west Michigan was brutal the day before. As it turns out, we had over 70 people attend.<br />
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Steelcase was nice enough to host the conference at their Education Center...holy smokes is that an awesome facility! I kept trying to talk them into furnishing my room for me (for free of course), and I got no takers ;) Seriously, though, the venue was beautiful, and perfect for encouraging a collaborative feel.<br />
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David Tebo was our keynote speaker and he was unbelievably inspiring. A few things he said that really stuck with me were: Flipping done right is an incredible tool...notice he said flipping done <i>right</i>. That one little word is so hugely important. The second thing he mentioned was that we need to change the way we're doing things. Time has changed, but schools haven't. In my district we are going completely mastery based, eliminating seat-time from our graduation requirements. We are still in the very early stages of this process. As of now we're at a point where the teachers are being asked to real go outside of their comfort zone & people are uncomfortable...really uncomfortable. It was reassuring to hear someone outside of Kenowa Hills talk about what we're trying to do in such a positive way.<br />
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After the keynote I led an elementary session. I didn't plan any sort of presentation because I was hoping that we could have more of a discussion. It turns out that was a good plan because we had a great discussion and everyone had an opportunity to ask questions. <br />
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I spent pretty much the remainder of my afternoon working with David Fouch, a high school AP teacher from Forest Hills. We had this grand plan to do something collaboratively, and we tried to work through some of the details together. I will have a whole other blog post on that coming up, but I think it's going to be excellent!<br />
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To sum it up, I had another great experience at MIflip. I am always surprised by how much I learn, grow & get energized when I get together with other educators in a positive environment like this :)Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-55206024179970548062015-01-04T14:10:00.001-08:002015-01-04T14:11:03.582-08:00Interested in Flipping? Live in MI?Three years ago I was approached by Dan Spencer with the idea of starting up a Michigan based conference that revolved around the idea of Flipped Learning. Together, with a group of a bunch of other really excellent educators, we started MIFlip. Our goal was to create professional development that was a mixture of edcamp & informational sessions. It was also really important to us that it was FREE.<br />
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The past 2 years we were lucky enough to have MIFlip at Byron Center High School, and it worked out wonderfully. This year we were approached by Steelcase, who offered to host us at their Learning Center. I am beyond excited about it, and I can't wait to hear what this year has in store. For more information, please check out the <a href="http://miflipteaching.org/" target="_blank">link</a>.<br />
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Looking forward to meeting, learning and growing with all of you :)<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-52337516017769325832014-10-23T16:40:00.000-07:002014-10-23T18:45:29.742-07:00A lesson in caringSo this post is not meant to be a tear jerker...but it will probably end up that way, at least for me. This post is meant to be an inspiration to others to find time to spread some love, because it matters. This post is meant to educate others, because I've learned some things in the past few months.<br />
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To help you understand, I need to flash back a few months. At the beginning of the summer, my mom started coughing...a lot. She went in for an x-ray & they said she had pneumonia. She did what she was supposed to do, and the coughing went away. Then it came back. She went back in and they found a small mass on her left lung. I don't know about you, but when I hear "mass on the lung", I automatically assume lung cancer. The doctors thought that would be strange, because my mom has never been a smoker.<br />
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Three biopsies later, and she found out it is NOT lung cancer...this should be good news, right? Nope, not so much. It turns out that my mom has Stage 4 internal melanoma. Yeah, as in melanoma the skin cancer. This is where the education part comes in. My mom has never been diagnosed with melanoma, so how the heck did she get it on her insides. The doctors don't know. They <i>think</i> it may have come in through her eyes.<br />
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The silver lining of all this is that the cancer has not spread anywhere. It could have been so much worse. <br />
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I want to take a minute to try to explain how amazing my mom truly is. She has always, since day 1, been supportive and encouraged me to be happy with myself, just the way I am. She has always been a firm believer in the fact that our differences don't make us weak, they make us amazing. She is, and always will be, my role model for being a strong woman. She's pretty much a rockstar in my eyes (and I know I'm not alone). And lastly, she is a fighter...and cancer is going to be her toughest fight yet. She is now undergoing chemotherapy.<br />
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So fast forward to 2 weeks ago. One of my very best friends, Julie Hughes, also happens to be my daugther's 2nd grade teacher, and she started something called "Thoughtful Thursday". Every Thursday her class picks someone who needs a little pick me up and writes them letters, draws them pictures, etc. She got the idea from her friend Laura Doran, and I'm so glad she did! Last week they chose my mom. I was very excited when she told me because my mom is totally sappy & I knew she would absolutely LOVE it!<br />
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Yesterday my mom got her package delivered and she was super touched by the thought. I don't know if she'd want me to admit it, but I'm pretty sure she cried. It was a pick me up that she needed and so (dare I say it) thoughtful.<br />
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Here are some snapshots of some of the cards...so sweet!<br />
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So my whole point of this LOOOOONG post is to encourage you to spread some kindness. Take a minute out of your day and let someone know that you care for them, appreciate them, whatever. It means a lot and takes so little.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-3319459585310199382014-09-01T17:23:00.001-07:002014-09-01T17:25:02.985-07:00Before the Craziness BeginsLike many of you, my students will be coming back this week. I spent awhile in my room this weekend revamping my bulletin boards and trying to create a nice workspace for the kiddos. <br />
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The first shot is a panoramic from the front of my room, looking at the back.<br />
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One thing you need to know about my district is that we are the Knights (and our colors are black & gold). This year we have taken on the motto, "Protect the Castle." To me, that means we need to do whatever we can to have pride in our school. I'm transferring that into my classroom via our social contract. I explain our social contract as how we treat each other. Last year, when I introduced the social contract, I had my students split into 4 groups & each group was given a different question:<br />
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1) How do you want to be treated by your teacher?<br />
2) How do you think your teacher wants to be treated?<br />
3) How do you want to be treated by your classmates?<br />
4) How do you want to be treated when you disagree?<br />
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We then compile our answers & sign it. The signatures will go on white paper inside the castle, the ideas will be written along the outside of the castle on paper.<br />
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On the other side of the back of my room is my math board. I've written extensively about how I'm going to run my math workshop, but if you want more information, please check it out <a href="http://flippedclassroom.blogspot.com/2014/08/getting-ready-for-year.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://flippedclassroom.blogspot.com/2014/03/math-centers.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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In this picture you can also see a shot of my super organized bookshelf (heavy sarcasm) and another workspace option. I also have a lamp in the front & back of my room. I'm not a big fan of the fluorescent lighting, and tend to use other lamps instead.<br />
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The next shot is a panoramic taken from the back of my room. Notice there are 3 tables & 3 groups of desks. This year I'm going to give my students a chance to decide where they want to sit (desk vs. table).</div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">My school has developed a slogan that we all get behind. The slogan is "Be the Best You!" In the word BEST, each letter stands for something:</span><br />
Be a leader<br />
Excellent<br />
Safe<br />
Trustworthy<br />
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On our "best" board I'm going to put anchor charts & rubrics that we develop together.<br />
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The other board in that corner is going revolve around growth mindset. During our pre-school PD we learned and discussed growth mindset and grit. My plan is to explicitly teach both of those topics to my students this year. I'm sure I'll have more blog posts about that as the year progresses.<br />
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In the front of the room is my reading nook with my Grandpa's old chair that literally has the stuffing coming out of it, but it is too comfy to throw away. <br />
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We'll be using the Daily 5 this year to help teach different reading strategies. This bulletin board will develop as the year p progresses<br />
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While my room isn't perfect, and I'd love to do some more creative things with my classroom space, unfortunately I have a very limited budget. Until Steelcase decides they want to redecorate my room for me, this will have to do! <br />
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Here's to another awesome year, everyone!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-52370968704170464902014-08-10T09:23:00.007-07:002014-08-10T09:38:41.783-07:00Getting Ready for the Year!Like pretty much every teacher I know, I've spent some time this summer working on stuff for next year. There are always things that I want to try during the year, but it doesn't always work out because of time constraints.<br />
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Next year my school is starting our "Journey to Excellence" (J2X), which is our version of the RISC (<a href="http://www.reinventingschools.org/" target="_blank">Re-Inventing Schools Coalition</a>) model. In a very brief overview, J2X means that Kenowa is moving the standards based grading. This isn't anything new or revolutionary, but it is definitely a step in the right direction. The part of J2X that I think is really going to make an impact on students is the fact that students will no longer move on if they don't pass a standard. Every student will have a list of standards they need to master (80% of better) for them to progress from Kindergarten to 12th grade. To say this is hard for us to envision is an understatement, but we did a lot of work last year regarding rubrics, expectations, assessements, etc., and I think we're starting to see how it might work. Next year we are starting with math K-8, and 9-12 will pick it up the following couple years.<br />
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In preparation for the year, I started to compile all of the 5th grade documents in 2 spots. First, we have a google folder that is shared with the entire 5th grade. It is divided by unit. Each unit has all the rubrics for the student and teacher, different ideas for hands on activities, pictures, assessments, links to videos, etc. I also started compiling things into a folder so I could easily reference them. I took some pictures of the folder for unit 1 & put them below.<br />
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Before getting into that, I want to explain the stations I use during math, as I'll reference them in a second. I use the acronym MATH to guide our stations (each one lasts 15-20 minutes)<br />
M - meet with the teacher<br />
A - at your seat<br />
T - technology<br />
H - hands on<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is the first page in the binder. I found some math posters on TpT. If they pertain to a particular learning goal, then I put them in that tab, if they pertain to the whole unit, it is in the front. Since the whole 1st unit is on fractions, I put this at the beginning of the binder.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2rqgOYE5JOw5-m40VSs-YLVYpCOEA-3lblpEitIHz62TtXORbEB01P9QWpBKObpbHXAHgeH3kPGapvSJnMuWwS5tqHq2jcP_Ulg16glexLsQWjYqxL6MHgMAj34RSVlam2ywSW9dp9ns/s1600/photo+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2rqgOYE5JOw5-m40VSs-YLVYpCOEA-3lblpEitIHz62TtXORbEB01P9QWpBKObpbHXAHgeH3kPGapvSJnMuWwS5tqHq2jcP_Ulg16glexLsQWjYqxL6MHgMAj34RSVlam2ywSW9dp9ns/s1600/photo+2.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAZLfIJfzioiM6dbi3CLxlNh84S6Lmcxplpx4_rKuX4yIXYSriLwfwT1u07whoOtoYNU05k18ua4a4Z6AMLd_Cj_CxK-CpnM7q5H5EYpU-PN0SKEvqhQWYaLG1awlp-BYghMHYqQBzMYw/s1600/photo+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAZLfIJfzioiM6dbi3CLxlNh84S6Lmcxplpx4_rKuX4yIXYSriLwfwT1u07whoOtoYNU05k18ua4a4Z6AMLd_Cj_CxK-CpnM7q5H5EYpU-PN0SKEvqhQWYaLG1awlp-BYghMHYqQBzMYw/s1600/photo+3.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a><br />
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This is a snapshot of the tabs in my binder: </div>
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* Matrices * Homework Packets * Assessments * LG 1 (learning goal) - LG 8 * Inquiry Project * Technology</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAZLfIJfzioiM6dbi3CLxlNh84S6Lmcxplpx4_rKuX4yIXYSriLwfwT1u07whoOtoYNU05k18ua4a4Z6AMLd_Cj_CxK-CpnM7q5H5EYpU-PN0SKEvqhQWYaLG1awlp-BYghMHYqQBzMYw/s1600/photo+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAZLfIJfzioiM6dbi3CLxlNh84S6Lmcxplpx4_rKuX4yIXYSriLwfwT1u07whoOtoYNU05k18ua4a4Z6AMLd_Cj_CxK-CpnM7q5H5EYpU-PN0SKEvqhQWYaLG1awlp-BYghMHYqQBzMYw/s1600/photo+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAZLfIJfzioiM6dbi3CLxlNh84S6Lmcxplpx4_rKuX4yIXYSriLwfwT1u07whoOtoYNU05k18ua4a4Z6AMLd_Cj_CxK-CpnM7q5H5EYpU-PN0SKEvqhQWYaLG1awlp-BYghMHYqQBzMYw/s1600/photo+3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><br /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2rqgOYE5JOw5-m40VSs-YLVYpCOEA-3lblpEitIHz62TtXORbEB01P9QWpBKObpbHXAHgeH3kPGapvSJnMuWwS5tqHq2jcP_Ulg16glexLsQWjYqxL6MHgMAj34RSVlam2ywSW9dp9ns/s1600/photo+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><br /></a></div>
The matrices are our rubrics. I have the "student matrix" in this tab. It ha all the learning goals for the unit on one handy page. The students will all have one of these, and it is where they will track their mastery.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaI8qNdNqZObFhyphenhyphenhvAVSWX7STh86E5lkswdK3xU_f6XlH4AAI0PMKFVkESy3fz9yCL2LL5Wskmq9Ww6w9HfkWKCWxCj8LPTSv_sMSyXKEhPO7o2YU1j0YpaX1tBiQHtbr407fxICprfSo/s1600/photo+4.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaI8qNdNqZObFhyphenhyphenhvAVSWX7STh86E5lkswdK3xU_f6XlH4AAI0PMKFVkESy3fz9yCL2LL5Wskmq9Ww6w9HfkWKCWxCj8LPTSv_sMSyXKEhPO7o2YU1j0YpaX1tBiQHtbr407fxICprfSo/s1600/photo+4.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a><br />
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The next tab is our "homework" packets. Since I flip my math class, the "homework" packets are what they do during the "at your seat" part of their math centers. The other 5th grade teachers use this packet for homework.<br />
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Assessments come next. In this secion I have our pretest, 2 versions of the end of the unit test, and the study guide. They are all labeled according to learning goal. This is one area that I hope to change. Personal opinion: I don't think paper pencil tests are always the best way for students to show that they understand a concept. I am a strong believer in giving students a choice in proving their knowledge. At this point, the assessments are what they are, and I'm working with them.<br />
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After assessments comes the learning goals. Behind each learning goal is a teacher matrix. What's the difference between the teacher and student version? The student version has all the learning goals on one page. The teacher has all the students on one page, but each learning goal is it's own separate page. Eight learning goals means eight matrices. Behind the matrix is any activities that might be used during the hands-on station. The pictures below are what you'd find in the learning goal about finding equivalent fractions.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8T-JURoBbDkbeZlC4JCWHbq9eRxRm6dWb1GrnJQ4s_VTwyycAGj7KnVgAGwdlSZbrITxEMqOzHbaaGLE77_3F6f75SivySxhRQDNK4NYXw2-7lqWLMVo7uRwvFkyltny4-GxObTDa2eo/s1600/photo+5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8T-JURoBbDkbeZlC4JCWHbq9eRxRm6dWb1GrnJQ4s_VTwyycAGj7KnVgAGwdlSZbrITxEMqOzHbaaGLE77_3F6f75SivySxhRQDNK4NYXw2-7lqWLMVo7uRwvFkyltny4-GxObTDa2eo/s1600/photo+5.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFuW0qJ0W2VqHAPxXJtBeGiz6-NpeFAjPPduLx3pdVG-P6bF8RE5DqTAWXyvEbW__hkVvdAIR7ZX31-jXvash_0Ws_rk_qVLYzScVJIM1CNFZ9PT_vQvaPYU3k9mLI3vdwfJAI9g759g8/s1600/photo+1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFuW0qJ0W2VqHAPxXJtBeGiz6-NpeFAjPPduLx3pdVG-P6bF8RE5DqTAWXyvEbW__hkVvdAIR7ZX31-jXvash_0Ws_rk_qVLYzScVJIM1CNFZ9PT_vQvaPYU3k9mLI3vdwfJAI9g759g8/s1600/photo+1.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxQJVvV56zQ-hq5BaS_RGzrw0X5OI9rGmIiusmMaaW7_a1b7x31UvBw2lK9pZpMOr-x3Ewvq2pLT7KD91xkZIx-rIWbZtv3ZcbdCGRw1UtS57kZtkvClzUp6fD7tTqr3ckt65Ryq637iA/s1600/photo+2.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxQJVvV56zQ-hq5BaS_RGzrw0X5OI9rGmIiusmMaaW7_a1b7x31UvBw2lK9pZpMOr-x3Ewvq2pLT7KD91xkZIx-rIWbZtv3ZcbdCGRw1UtS57kZtkvClzUp6fD7tTqr3ckt65Ryq637iA/s1600/photo+2.JPG" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi25ssj3jDOo_HR2_9fbCdLQCv2i5Weu4U8kpXVDM89Fy58NZgkiNkfSs9vdtF_pBTec_3UfCynXbZYdG2VNU9fe53o7oqxHHclKqjQc02pLK35hOomAw1QilKjZsHKp4nBPrmaKxsRHxQ/s1600/photo+3.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi25ssj3jDOo_HR2_9fbCdLQCv2i5Weu4U8kpXVDM89Fy58NZgkiNkfSs9vdtF_pBTec_3UfCynXbZYdG2VNU9fe53o7oqxHHclKqjQc02pLK35hOomAw1QilKjZsHKp4nBPrmaKxsRHxQ/s1600/photo+3.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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The next section is an inquiry project. I like to try to do these at the beginning and end of the unit, but realistically that doesn't always happen. The inquiry project is a real world application of the topics in the unit. </div>
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The final section has to do with technology based games or videos that correspond with each learning goal. The google doc has direct links to all the sites. Eventually, I'll put a link on my class website to each unit, breaking it down by learning goal and having links right there...I'm not there yet ;)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVncIgfFoZ9VR0AN1eJqO2tWb_gKfqvqpZAmDNRCSoL-gKTeDZhi7nTzjWcrM_J34YJ7PNLUC48tDkQemaTbIwJ9ukMdybukhq1uA55-S7Xz_p21jcpFZ8cj_ZtF4LcIKKmtRO0QD8tsE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-10+at+12.16.13+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVncIgfFoZ9VR0AN1eJqO2tWb_gKfqvqpZAmDNRCSoL-gKTeDZhi7nTzjWcrM_J34YJ7PNLUC48tDkQemaTbIwJ9ukMdybukhq1uA55-S7Xz_p21jcpFZ8cj_ZtF4LcIKKmtRO0QD8tsE/s1600/Screen+Shot+2014-08-10+at+12.16.13+PM.png" height="275" width="400" /></a></div>
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So there you have it, there is still a lot of work to be done, but there is something about having things in order that makes me happy :)</div>
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<b>Monday Night</b><br />
After a 6.5 hour car ride to Pittsburgh, which was way more fun than expected due to my driving companions David & Doug, we arrived in Mars, PA. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I was bouncing in my seat like a kid seeing Disney for the first time. After checking into our hotel, we headed to the reception and the fun began. I got to meet so many of my Twitter friends that I had never met in person. I had so much fun having face to face conversations with my tweeps!!!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLXAUh-Gvi9_9Zsu6XEVFAdOUMHzfZ8pth3927IOawI0zpCk096MSdQfZar-UvYa69VhU9gtVuy5VZ__8xr53Okru0MyeBRq22KlBLjaWJCoGGffwuT1mYT_1KxEejomTbNWRLTHNPioY/s1600/2014-06-23+19.03.19.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLXAUh-Gvi9_9Zsu6XEVFAdOUMHzfZ8pth3927IOawI0zpCk096MSdQfZar-UvYa69VhU9gtVuy5VZ__8xr53Okru0MyeBRq22KlBLjaWJCoGGffwuT1mYT_1KxEejomTbNWRLTHNPioY/s1600/2014-06-23+19.03.19.jpg" height="178" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Andrew, Cheryl, Crystal, Lindsay & myself on the bus ride to Mars...what an amazing PLN I have!</td></tr>
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Then we loaded up on a bus to downtown Mars, where they literally shut down the entire main street for us (granted, Mars is a small town, but still it was pretty awesome!).</div>
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<b>Tuesday</b></div>
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Tuesday marked the first official day of the conference, and the morning (after a great keynote by Molly Schroeder) was spent networking with other educators in your field. I was able to connect with other elementary teachers, which I've wanted to do for quite some time. In the afternoon I went to Cheryl Morris & Andrew Thomasson's session on creativity. I learned about some cool new tools, like <a href="https://getkahoot.com/" target="_blank">Kahoot</a> and <a href="http://www.grammarly.com/" target="_blank">Grammerly</a>. We played an intense game of rock, paper, scissors, and I learned about the why puppets are an awesome addition to any classroom. My big takeaway was reaffirming what I already believe about students needing to be able to showcase their knowledge in a variety of ways, and that the traditional school setting is slowly killing the creativity in our students. </div>
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During lunch, all of the authors <u>Flipped Learning: Gateway to Student Learning</u>, signed the book for anyone who wanted us to. First off, it was so beyond exciting to see my chapter (written 2 years ago), finally in print. Secondly, signing books was so weird...there is no other word to describe it. </div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVVfDJaTWVLILkBi4JvxA6rQqmz29tasY93pKr2Wb7r1OJGcbsXE6XM9SJpWEKWpwOhiXmnktKSCebtUJ3RZ_fk2wj29_NBdQFlUg0erI0r5xf1FsVidhc2TtEnmeg4bYCrV39ETcWBk4/s1600/Bq6MXtNCYAEuxdY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVVfDJaTWVLILkBi4JvxA6rQqmz29tasY93pKr2Wb7r1OJGcbsXE6XM9SJpWEKWpwOhiXmnktKSCebtUJ3RZ_fk2wj29_NBdQFlUg0erI0r5xf1FsVidhc2TtEnmeg4bYCrV39ETcWBk4/s1600/Bq6MXtNCYAEuxdY.jpg" height="320" width="238" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">See, there's my chapter!!!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjam-7LggoM9uOalg9YtWNk9r5AiAW-2MMP6PS4BBHjOJ1lOZscyzsut__lASJwqrBs9S-hsk1_b1PC-AVvmVcgChjMavrXEqarx195v0bYsobplGsquWOtKHqSYTzYV5SK7aaq0XhX1VM/s1600/Bq6IOmBCAAExirP.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjam-7LggoM9uOalg9YtWNk9r5AiAW-2MMP6PS4BBHjOJ1lOZscyzsut__lASJwqrBs9S-hsk1_b1PC-AVvmVcgChjMavrXEqarx195v0bYsobplGsquWOtKHqSYTzYV5SK7aaq0XhX1VM/s1600/Bq6IOmBCAAExirP.jpg" height="235" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">All attending authors signing books.</td></tr>
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<b>Tuesday Night</b></div>
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We went to Carnegie Science Museum on Tuesday night for dinner and fun. It was an amazing time! Some of my highlights were: building things out of giant blue blocks, going to the planetarium for the first time in years, and of course dancing...Lindsay Cole, you've got some sweet moves.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggjaVNPAPRkG96F99LSFaYKQ7mbUDDF5oJodZh5-BPgtLYPcFf8t3YhGuhrWikXHJ70fjOZewEeXaZJNxPEw4Xy9AS7wHTIzCoNGpDH3Wa_IF2kaxptHEHKObBWOBNMUgof-Vf_5FEDso/s1600/IMG_5823.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggjaVNPAPRkG96F99LSFaYKQ7mbUDDF5oJodZh5-BPgtLYPcFf8t3YhGuhrWikXHJ70fjOZewEeXaZJNxPEw4Xy9AS7wHTIzCoNGpDH3Wa_IF2kaxptHEHKObBWOBNMUgof-Vf_5FEDso/s1600/IMG_5823.JPG" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lindsay Cole, (my dancing partner for the evening).</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUh14tFQvkOGoWRW4m483EXz_RcWVxyJvzXMDtw3XtoGmi3CELiD2FWHo2h1m_QpYdnrche0LMW8tLXNpqo3pL0YXu56ExQq_-Y1uja81n_XSUNIKVzdukatE_jI6-G-6fkja8z5OnIjw/s1600/IMG_5824.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUh14tFQvkOGoWRW4m483EXz_RcWVxyJvzXMDtw3XtoGmi3CELiD2FWHo2h1m_QpYdnrche0LMW8tLXNpqo3pL0YXu56ExQq_-Y1uja81n_XSUNIKVzdukatE_jI6-G-6fkja8z5OnIjw/s1600/IMG_5824.JPG" height="320" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Planetarium selfie</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZmgBWpjcZX3leoHr5V4UN0Mev6VhQnhWqm_NN0OSnEk-7xxbR3QTehqOVa3zsClCozQ2ztuiXtwZKF4qV_9Ij_wdSqcrc61K_PPkPP-fSjrxUo-ridK8rB_e_0UGn7rhjX6WRG6jzaG4/s1600/IMG_5814.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZmgBWpjcZX3leoHr5V4UN0Mev6VhQnhWqm_NN0OSnEk-7xxbR3QTehqOVa3zsClCozQ2ztuiXtwZKF4qV_9Ij_wdSqcrc61K_PPkPP-fSjrxUo-ridK8rB_e_0UGn7rhjX6WRG6jzaG4/s1600/IMG_5814.JPG" height="235" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Collaborative effort on the blue blocks #bettertogether</td></tr>
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<b>Wednesday</b></div>
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Wednesday, David Fouch and I presented at 8:30 on the power of collaboration. We didn't have huge attendance numbers because there was a giant storm the night before, knocking down power lines & making most attendees late. That being said, the conversation we had during our session was great, and we even got to hear insights from 2 educators I highly admire (via google hangout), Karl Lindgren-Streicher & Dan Spencer).</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Telling my story.</td></tr>
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The part of the conference I was most nervous about came at 11:00. The authors of the new book all had 5 minutes to "tell a story" about how flipped learning has impacted students. Not only was this the only session in that time slot, but it was also being streamed live to all the virtual attendees...literally hundreds of people. Of course, I was last, so I had to sit through 5 other amazing people telling their stories. When it was my turn, I took the stage & talked about a student I had this year. She had an extremely difficult year at home, bouncing around foster homes. I really connected with her, and was so sad to see her leave in June. On the last day of school she didn't want to give me a hug, but I understood. For her, I was her only consistent adult figure, and now I was leaving too. I was surprised later that day when I received an email from her. She very eloquently thanked me for being her mom this year, and letting me know that she would make me proud.</div>
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So, not only was I nervous, I knew that trying to verbalize this story was going to be a challenge. After explaining her background, Jon asked me about the email. All I could get out was that she thanked me for being her mom. I couldn't say more or I would've started crying. Thank goodness I didn't have to talk after that because I was spent.</div>
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My final session I attended was having courage to fail...another awesome session led by Cheryl Morris & Lindsay Cole. This really hit home with me because when I started flipping my class, I could have failed miserably, luckily that didn't happen. I certainly had my share of failures, but the key was that I learned from them, and used to them to make me better.</div>
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The last thing we did before heading home was find out where Flipcon15 was going to be...I'm not kidding when I say that my Michigan buddies & I were obnoxiously celebratory when we found it out would be held in East Lansing in 2015. I am already looking forward to next year and all the connections I will make at my next Flipcon experience.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-76118333244482519962014-06-01T04:40:00.002-07:002014-06-01T04:50:24.434-07:00My first Cardboard Challenge...7 months lateLast October I was perusing Twitter and I noticed a lot of people talking about a "Cardboard Challenge". I had no idea what it was about, but obviously it peaked my interest. I investigated further and found out that it was based on this kid, Caine, who built an arcade in his garage out of cardboard. From there, it snowballed into a movement of creativity. As my students are well aware, I like to use them as guinea pigs for new things I find, and this was no exception. That being said, I was sad to see that I missed the actual "day", but I tucked the idea away in my head for future use. <br />
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Fastforward to Spring Break time when I decided to make this idea into a reality. We started saving all the cardboard boxes from our cafeteria & storing them in my room. Side note: Holy crap! That was a lot of boxes and I am SO glad to have them out of my room. I didn't tell the students why, I let them ask me. When they began noticing the giant pile forming in our side room they finally asked, "why" and I said, "there for the Cardboard Challenge." And that was all I said. They wanted more details but I wouldn't give them. Then a few weeks ago I asked them to start bringing in duct tape for the challenge. Again they started asking me questions, again I didn't tell them. Finally, about a week before, I showed them the video about <a href="http://imagination.is/our-projects/cardboard-challenge/" target="_blank">Caine's Arcade and the Cardboard Challenge</a>. The excitement grew and grew while the video was playing. </div>
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Then I explained the rules:</div>
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1) No weapons</div>
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2) Must be school appropriate</div>
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3) You may work alone, in pairs, or in groups (max 4)</div>
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3) Impress me</div>
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After my experience this year, I will add a rule #4: no quitting if it doesn't work out.</div>
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The kids did awesome! We went to the gym so they had a ton of room and they had 2 hours to build. Then other classes came down and took a tour of the projects. </div>
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Things that didn't go well...one child got very frustrated that her house would stay standing. She took a break, but did come back in. While she was out, several other students tried to help her out, but her house ended up becoming a bear cave...win-win.</div>
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I had a few (very few) who thought rolling the duct tape across the floor was a better idea than building. I might have to make a rule #5: appropriate use of duct tape</div>
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Everything else was smooth sailing! I even had one incredibly helpful student )who is also very shy and didn't want to show off his project) and he helped me recycle the rest of the unused boxes while they were showcasing their projects to the school.</div>
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Overall, it was an incredible experience, and you could feel the creativity bursting out of the gym. We will definitely do it again next year, only next year we'll shoot for October and maybe expand it to both 5th grade classes. Below are some pictures that show off their hard work.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-77816388150492342292014-05-10T13:20:00.002-07:002014-05-10T13:20:42.815-07:00I DID IT!!!!In August of last year, I wrote a post about having deal with a <a href="http://flippedclassroom.blogspot.com/2013/08/a-teacher-coping-with-disability.html" target="_blank">hearing disability in the classroom.</a> First off, I got A-MA-ZING support from people after writing it via email, Twitter and this blog. I talked a lot about the frustrations and challenges that come with having a hearing disability in the classroom, and I mentioned that I had an item on my bucket list. That item was the Riverbank Run.<br />
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The Riverbank Run and I have a history. I trained for the Riverbank Run 5 years ago, and was unable to run it because of my hearing loss. I had woken up 1 week prior to race day with constant ringing in both ears. I was on a large amount of steroids to try to bring my hearing back. Because of those steroids, my immune system was very compromised and my ENT told me not to run...ugh. I had trained over 300 miles and was told to sit it out. <br />
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Since then I just didn't have it in me to try again, and if I'm being completely honest, part of me was afraid my hearing loss would get worse than it already was. I know there is no reason whatsoever for me to think that, but I thought it none-the-less.<br />
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I decided that this year was my year to try again. I roped my friend Megan into running with me, and in December the training began. We trained hard and ran a lot of miles, and today was the big day!<br />
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Last night I got my outfit picked out, my bib pinned on and my playlist ready. I loaded up on carbs and went to bed at a reasonable time. This morning I headed downtown and promptly realized I had forgotten breakfast <face slap>. Luckily a nice stranger gave me a banana. Megan & I lined up WAY in the back because our goal was not speed, it was finishing.<br />
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The gun went off and we started our journey. I felt pretty good through mile 8...which is when the hills began. My stomach started cramping (perhaps it was because I ate so little). Needless to say, it was going to be a LONG 2nd half of the race.<br />
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I ended up walking partially up many of the hills. God bless Megan for sticking with me because I was certainly the weak link in our pair. Miles 8-12 were a bit of a blur filled with stomach cramps, aching legs and sore feet.<br />
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Once we got back into downtown we rounded by the zoo. I very vividly remember a guy on a microphone saying, "less than 2 miles to go." I almost wept. Then we ran into Megan's family on the course and I got all choked up again. The emotions running through me when we got into downtown were all over the place. Pain, exhaustion, pain, excitement, pain and pride. <br />
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When we were about 1/2 mile away from the finish line, we found my family. I gave my husband a hug and almost started crying right there. My son decided to run the next stretch with me...seriously, I think he is who pulled me through...it was beyond awesome.<br />
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Then we saw the finish line, it was SO close!!! We grabbed hands, raised them in the air, and crossed together. All day we had been sporting our orange Fellow Flowers, which stand for "Fiercly United". I absolutely needed to be united today, because I don't know if I could've finished without Megan. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you Megan :)</div>
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So in the end, we didn't reach any of our goals other than surviving, but I'm ok with that. If I do it again next year, I will have lots of things to improve on. As it stands, I am pretty dang proud of what I did, and what we accomplished.</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-54096205180323354222014-03-25T17:45:00.000-07:002014-03-25T17:46:13.917-07:00MACUL Reflection (Day 2)While I had some nerves on Thursday because of the student showcase, they didn't even register in comparison to my nerves on Friday when I had to present myself. Normally it doesn't bother me to present to people. My apprehension came from the topic of my presentation, not the presentation itself. I didn't present about my flipped classroom, like normal. Instead I presented on a grant I received...a grant that totally flopped!<br />
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During Adam Bellow's keynote, he talked about "owning your failure", and I decided to take that idea and roll with it :-) So here's the skinny from my presentation...I received 6 ipod touches from MACUL to be used in my school to make virtual book reviews. Those book reviews would be loaded to Youtube, turned into a QR Code & put in the reviewed library book. Then they would be viewable to anyone who was interested in checking the book out. Sounds great, right? Whelp, it didn't turn out so fabulous because very few teachers participated.<br />
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I shared all this information in my presentation, as well as what I think went wrong and how I would change things if I were to do it again. Then I went on to the bulk of my presentation, which is what I'm using the ipods for now, because leaving them in the library not being used was blasphemy (at least in my mind)! I brought the ipods back into my room & started using them for some Augmented Reality, to assist in my students genius hour projects, and to make some virtual flash cards.<br />
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I was very transparent about my lack of experience with Augmented Reality, but I shared what I was doing, and I shared resources I used. From there the audience shared ideas, which was awesome!<br />
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I ended my session sharing a project we did as a class to boost building morale. My class has been inspired by Pharell's song "Happy" and wanted to create one for our school. They set up a schedule, and used the ipods to record each class AND staff member dancing. Then I spliced it all together using Camtasia. <br />
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You know how sometimes in your head something sounds awesome, but the end result doesn't work out (sort of like my grant), well this was NOT one of those times. I am beyond proud of this video and the work my kids put into it!<br />
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<a href="http://youtu.be/s5Owc2vBPBY" target="_blank">To watch our Happy video, click here :)</a></div>
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After my presentation was over (deep breath), I sat back and enjoyed the Lightning Talks. For those of you unfamiliar with lightning talks, the speaker talks for 5 minutes. They get 20 slides for 15 seconds each and they just GO. I had thought about applying for a lightning talk, but I don't know that I have anything as inspirational or motivational as what was presented on Friday. Topics ranged from being connected, to building relationships, to developing empathy, to expanding the walls of your classroom. I know MACUL 2016 is a LONG way away, but I'm toying with turning my post, <a href="http://flippedclassroom.blogspot.com/2013/08/a-teacher-coping-with-disability.html" target="_blank">A Teacher Coping With a Disability</a> into a lightning talk...I'm still not sure I will, it would be exceptionally hard to do, emotionally, but I definitely have it in the back of my mind.</div>
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All-in-all I think MACUL 2014 was a huge success. I learned quite a few things, and was inspired by many!</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-36499076379132699032014-03-22T09:23:00.000-07:002014-03-22T09:23:13.309-07:00MACUL 2014 reflection (day 1)Once again, I had the pleasure of attending the MACUL conference in Grand Rapids last week, and it didn't disappoint. There was a record number of attendees from all over Michigan (and even some from out of state). The conference was two days long, each jam packed with interesting sessions, and I am now going to attempt to make sense of them all!<br />
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On Thursday I started at Adam Bellows keynote, and it was AMAZING! So inspiring with humor thrown in. One of the points that really hit home to me was about owning your failure. He admitted when he'd made a huge mistake & realized that it was accepted when he was honest and transparent. That message resonated with me because I was going to be presenting on Friday about a grant I'd received that was an epic fail :( His message gave me the confidence to own my failure to my group.<br />
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Then I <i>tried</i> to get into Todd Nesloney's session on flipped classroom PBL, unfortunately it was CRAZY full & I couldn't get in...boo. I was really looking forward to meeting Todd and hearing about his classroom straight from him. Instead of that session, I jumped into the middle of a session on finding joy in teaching. It was reaffirming that sometimes it's ok to just take a break from all the curriculum and just do something fun with your students. I certainly need that reminder from time to time. <span id="goog_1120390122"></span><br />
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I had to bail on that session a little early because I was meeting 4 of my students who were a part of the student showcase. They were showing off their Weebly Websites & did an amazing job. For the most part, the students were a little shy at the beginning, but it didn't take long for them to relax and start talking to teachers. They even got to talk to Adam Bellow (not that they had a clue who he is). </div>
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After the student showcase I was able to make it to one more session. I chose a session on #20time with Nick Provezano. Again, inspiring, funny and motivational! I have genius hour with my students, so it was really interesting to see how it works at the secondary level as well. After that I was going to stay for a session on Google Apps, but it was crazy full and I had to leave to go to a district PD.</div>
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As this post is getting pretty long, I'll talk about my Friday learnings in another post. Stay tuned :)</div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-89282876377026424792014-03-20T18:51:00.001-07:002014-03-22T09:24:01.296-07:00Math CentersAround this time of year, I always start to evaluate what I'm doing in my class, and how I could improve upon it. If I'm being honest, I do that all year long, but it seems like it all comes to a head sometime around Spring Break.<br />
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I've been toying with the idea of trying to do my flipped classroom via centers, but I haven't been able to wrap my head around how to make it actually work in my room. Luckily, I attended an awesome technology conference last week called MACUL. One of the sessions I went to was on running a math workshop. For the life of me I can't remember who the presenters were, but I do know they were from Spring Lake, MI. There was a lot of good information shared, but my lightbulb moment came when they shared their acronym for their math workshop...<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">M</span>ath fact fluency<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">A</span>t your seat work<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">T</span>eacher<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">H</span>ands on manipulatives<br />
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I really liked the acronym, but I wanted to change it a little to fit my style more. I kept the math acronym, but changed some of the descriptions.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">M</span>eet with the teacher<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">A</span>t your seat work<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">T</span>echnology based math<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">H</span>ands on manipulatives<br />
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I'm planning each rotation to be about 20 minutes long, and I'm really excited about the potential for me to connect with students even more than normal :) I'll update after I've done this with my kiddos and let everyone know how it went!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7633207196950574566.post-27761589343865684092014-01-19T12:41:00.000-08:002014-01-19T12:41:31.057-08:00Highlights from MiFlip14Yesterday I was lucky enough to attend MiFlip 2014, and it. was. awesome. Steve Kelley and Zach Creswell kicked off the keynote with the top 10 tips on flipping. The keynote was filled with great advice, and lots of humor. Some of my favorite lines were:<br />
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"Teachers teaching in isolation is a travesty."<br />
"Can your students best work be found online? How about yours?"<br />
"Everyone is trying to create the same stuff. That's dumb. Collaborate."<br />
"If your comfortable with what you're doing in the classroom, then you're moving too slow."<br />
"Create, borrow and share"<br />
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"Tell your story, and if we don't have a story, then shame on us."<br />
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I think I could write a post about each and every one of these quotes.<br />
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I was also lucky enough to present with Erin Klein. To say it was an honor to share the podium with her is an understatement. She talked about her "internal" flipping that she does as centers in her classroom. My challenge now is trying to figure out how I can tweak that and make it applicable in my class of 5th graders.<br />
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So the keynote was awesome, presenting with Erin was awesome, but neither of those were my highlights of the day. My highlight came directly after lunch. As a member of the planning committee, we decided to have a student panel. One of the biggest worries many teachers have when beginning flipping is how will students/parents take it. So, I invited all the kids in my class, and 4 committed and showed up, parents in tow. I was so nervous...super nervous. You want to do something brave, put a bunch of your students on a panel to answer questions & tell them to be completely honest. Terrifying! I knew what I hoped they would say, but I had no idea what would actually come out of their mouths.<br />
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I was beyond proud of them and their answers. They handled themselves very professionally (at least as professionally as you can expect a 5th grader to handle themselves). They even wove some humor into their presentation. We finished our presentation a little early, so we joined in a session called "good teaching". When we went in, the group was discussing what you look for when hiring a teacher. They turned and asked my students and the students came up with some really insightful responses. They said that they wanted someone who was fun and would joke with them, and who was willing to try out new stuff because not everyone learns the same way. They even got a chance to talk about their Genius Hour projects, and their enthusiasm was contagious.<br />
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Just writing about the experience makes me smile...I am so proud of those kids.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02714977675738518983noreply@blogger.com5