Deskmats and Whiz Words

I have been busily preparing for the first day back at school. There always seems so much to do, and a lot of the jobs are fiddly. At least during the holidays I get the chance to play around a bit with these fiddly jobs and as I don't feel so rushed I find it takes all day to get the job done to my expectations.
Today I created files for my deskmats. These placemats are very handy. Last year I used them everyday as part of my morning routine and the students referred to them often during both literacy and numeracy activities. It is very useful to have the help right in front of them.
I have made a simple freebie version with the Whiz Words on a mini-poster. These could be printed two-to-a-page and glued inside a homework or writing book as a quick reference for some of the commonly used words.

My full placemats are available in three different fonts and in two formats. I use Queensland "qcursive" font which is a precursive font with exits and entries. It is great to have a handwriting model on their desks everyday. I also included a copy with a beginners font for younger students and a plain font for people who don't use the Queensland font. The PDF version is simple to print and all the hard work is done for you. If you would like to customise your deskmats, I have also created a PowerPoint version.

Does my classroom reflect my teaching philosophy?

Last weekend on Twitter, @whatedsaid tweeted an excellent question along the lines of "Does your classroom environment reflect what you believe about learning?"
At the time I thought this was an excellent question and wished I had time to do it justice in a reflective post.
As luck would have it, this week I was asked to give a presentation on a similar topic so I managed to create time to reflect on what I do and whether this matches what I say I believe.
Here is what I found:

Even though what I do, I could do successfully in a different system, my philosophy of teaching is based on my foundational belief in the dignity of the human person. I believe that every child is made in the image and likeness of God, and that every child deserves to feel safe, have fun and to enjoy learning experiences that suits their needs.

 Learners in my classroom are usually busy doing. Of course there are times when they gather to listen, reflect and recap, but I try to allow opportunities for hands-on exploration, discussion and experimentation as much as possible.

 I am very proud of the way that my students are able to speak about their own learning and why what they are doing is of benefit to their learning needs. This year I have implemented the Daily 5 program for the first time. I have found that this program which fits my philosophy well, provides a structure for my practice in Literacy, and that the students and I have been able to transfer the best parts of this practice into other curriculum areas.

 Right from the beginning of the year, I work hard to establish a sense of community through special shared experiences, predictable routines that highlight the identity of our class community and behavioural expectations based on mutual respect. A few years ago I convinced my school administration to allow us to move to a resources levy system instead of a text book list so that I can set up shared resources in my classroom. When students have individual belongings and pencils cases I find that usually by the end of the first semester, many of the twist-up crayons have been turned into pea shooters and half the class can't seem to find a pair of scissors when they need them. Since moving to the shared tubs, I have discovered that students are more responsible for the resources since they don't see them as belonging to them, but as necessary for our class community.

 If you spent a week in my classroom you would notice how much and in how many ways technology has transformed the way that I work with students in my room. I use my projector and laptop as an essential part of many of our routines. I use a bank of student laptops (shared among a few classes) for individual and collaborative activities. I use a set of shared iPads for a range of purposes, and use my own personal iPad and iPhone for capturing student learning on a daily basis.

 I try very hard to allow all learners to engage in challenging activities at an appropriate level by providing differentiated learning experiences and open-ended tasks. I use K-W-L charts and pretests to determine the students' individual and collective knowledge and interests prior to learning experiences and use this information to guide my planning.

 The General Capabilities of the Australian Curriculum are at the heart of what I do. I regularly reflect on how I am offering my students opportunities to develop in these capabilities.

Although I am restricted to the furniture I was given and a reasonably small classroom with no "break-out" space, I have tried my best to arrange the furniture to suit the kinds of experiences I want students to have in the room. I have set aside a large carpet area so all the children can gather in front of the IWB and so there is enough space for games and movement. I have arranged the desks into pods and students know that even though they have a "home desk" which houses their books etc, they can work in a variety of spaces within the room, sometimes for flexible grouping, sometimes by their own choice. In the corner, I have had the old whiteboard installed at floor height so that students can use this space to write questions, reflect on learning, practise their spelling or express ideas in pictures. The PE teacher has loaned us an exercise ball and students love to sit on this either at their desks or around the room. My teacher desk is pushed right into the corner of the room so it doesn't take up more space than it must. I rarely sit at it anyway. My students sit on my "teacher chair" more than I do. I'm always on the move!

I really do think that my classroom reflects my teaching philosophy. Of course it is a "work in progress" and changes as I reflect on how I can improve, and when I am inspired by other great teachers who share their ideas.

Does your classroom reflect your beliefs about learning? I'd love to see more ideas!

Black Hat, Green Hat: Thinking about 1:1 iPads

For the past few months I have been exploring the idea of 1:1 iPads in my classroom. I have read articles, listened to podcasts, played with apps, attended PD sessions and spoken with colleagues at other schools and institutions doing or considering similar programs. The recent QSITE conference at Coomera was an excellent opportunity to engage with other like-minded professionals and helped me to feel that maybe my dream is not as crazy as it seems.

My own friends and colleagues remain skeptical about the necessity of such a huge leap. My proposed experiment (and that is how I see it since we don’t yet have enough experience or data to prove that 1:1 iPads will have a positive impact on learning outcomes) is expensive. At about $500 for each student (to get a basic iPad2, a sturdy case and a handful of apps) could run to $12,000 for a class of 24 students.

Genuine questions arise about why do I think I need 1:1 (rather than a shared class set between a few classes or a small bank in my own class room – two legitimate alternatives that might be somewhat less expensive). Other intelligent queries relate to what would I do with all these iPads that I can’t do already, and is the teaching and learning in my classroom going to improve enough to justify the expense.

I have been grateful to my colleagues and friends, as well as parents in my current class and my principal who have asked me so many “hard” questions over the past few months as this “black hat thinking” is critical to me when I am refining my ideas and formulating my plans.

My principal is reasonably supportive of the idea but has many way-too-sensible questions about where the money is coming from and who is responsible for insurance, breakages and other problems. Those are the really “not-fun” parts of the project, and probably the reason that I am the teacher and not the principal, because at the end of the day I can hand those problems over to someone else (I hope).

So, to answer “That’s a good question” Number 1: Why 1:1 iPads?

Essentially, iPads are a personal device. Once you own your own iPad, you personalise the device to your settings, assign it your email, sign into your DropBox, Evernote, Twitter, Facebook etc. When you play a game with multiple levels, the device saves your settings. Due to the options that most apps provide for sharing files and creations, it is way simpler (particularly for young students) to have a personalised device.

A shared set of iPads is problematic for a teacher trying to do many pedagogically sound projects with students using iPads. In order for a student to continue working on a project they have started, they need to get access again to the same device they had last time. This can be problematic, particularly when different children require different amounts of time for completing projects.

Excellent applications for the iPad2 potentially use images, movies and sounds which are all saved on the individual device. Remembering exactly which device was used to take a photo three weeks ago at an excursion could be problematic.

To me, one of the biggest advantages of 1:1 devices would be that students would have access to the tools when they needed them. In a learner-centred classroom in which the teacher is responsive to the needs of individual students, the ability to use the right tool at the right time is paramount. I don’t always know a week ahead, a day ahead or even an hour ahead when my learners are going to be ready to use the device and for how long they might need it. Sharing the devices across many classes and being restricted by booking regimes and timetables can take the flexibility and spontaneity out of the classroom. If the devices are seen mostly as a “toy” or and “activity” then it is possible to “book in” some time but if these devices are seen as a “tool” to allow for learning, creativity and problem solving, then sharing the devices across multiple classes is inadequate.

Many people assume that “1:1” means that all students will be using the devices almost all of the time. Anecdotes and evidence from classrooms involved in 1:1 programs indicate that this is far from the truth. A 1:1 program allows teachers and students the flexibility to choose the right tool for the task at hand. If the iPad is the right tool for that student for that task, then they use the iPad; if another tool is the best choice, then that is what is used. It alleviates the over-use of the devices for meaningless or inappropriate tasks when teachers and students use the device for a task simply because “this is our hour with the iPads this week”.

iPads used effectively in learning are tools for discovery, creativity and communication. Students are not just game-players or users – they are designers and creators.

To get the files they create to the teacher from a shared device from many great apps can be a very complicated, multiple step process which means that with younger students, particularly, the teacher ends up with the job of chasing down the device, searching for the file and uploading it to the correct place. If this process took about 5 minutes for each of the 24 students each week, this time quickly adds up, and as they say in the business world, “Time is money.” I know my time is valuable and I want to make sure that the time I do have with students is spent on quality teaching and learning, not organising files.

Other “maintenance” issues such as uploading apps, maintaining the camera roll and daily charging are onerous tasks when needing to be done on multiple devices and knowing who is responsible for this maintenance on shared devices could cause some issues.

In a 1:1 program, these tasks could be passed onto the individual (with assistance from parents where necessary). Individually the tasks are not cumbersome, but en masse they are tedious.

I would propose that the 1:1 iPads were the responsibility of the individual (even if the ownership is retained by the school). Anecdotal evidence from the early 1:1 iPad trial in Victoria suggested that the introduction of the iPad program was a fantastic conduit for improving home-school relationship because the parents became very interested in what was happening in the classroom and were happy to assist in installing new apps and ensuring the iPad was sent to school charged.

Assuming that we were to purchase the base model iPad with 16GB of data, if every iPad needed to have every app that might me used by different students in different classes and year levels, and students and individual teachers would not be able to delete movie files and images that didn’t belong to them (in case it was something important), the devices could fill up quickly. Personal devices would assist students in establishing more thoughtful approaches to file management, even from a young age.

Personal devices would also allow teachers to install apps for particular students on the individual device only. Specific apps may be extremely useful to one or two children in a class but irrelevant to others so it doesn’t make sense to have a “one size fits all” approach to purchasing apps, because even at only $1.99 each they can add up quickly across a large number of devices.

That brings me to “That’s a good question” Number 2: Wouldn’t it be cheaper to have 1:2 or 1:4 or some other system?

After reading, reading, listening, discussing, reading, thinking, reading, discussing, listening and thinking a lot about the cost of a 1:1 Program compared to other models, I have come to the conclusion that once everything is taken into consideration, the cost of 1:1 iPads might not be that much more than the alternatives.

Schools instituting 1:1 programs usually have some kind of cost to the parents. Sometimes the parents are expected to buy the device themselves for specific use by the student at school (at least one Gold Coast school is using this model). Other schools charge a levy that means that the parents are paying for all or some of the cost over a number of years. Our initial survey of parents suggested that the majority of parents would consider paying some cost towards a 1:1 program for their child. Anecdotal evidence from colleagues at other schools is that most parents are generally happy to subsidise the program in some way.

I am not sure if as many parents would be happy to subsidise the program if the access to the device was shared.

My second point to defend the cost of the program would be to point out the “uncharged” cost on teachers in file management issues and maintenance like charging. Making sure that the iPads are locked away securely and being charged each night would be just another task to add to my never-ending list of things to do each day.

I would also suggest that the ability to purchase only the apps that are needed for a particular child could save money also. New apps could be purchased by a small group of children who are using it for a specific purpose and if the app is found to be useful to others, they can purchase it later. This could save buying apps that look good at first and then turn out to be not all they seemed.

Charging 100 or so iPads each night might not cost a fortune but I am sure this cost would add up over time. In a 1:1 program, iPads would be charged at home, meaning a small saving for the school in the electricity bill.

Not so silly question Number 3: Why use iPads with early years students?

My response to this question depends on the alternative being offered or the question behind the question. Some people think that technology use is a higher priority for older students; they should get access first. Many people are concerned that the students are too young for the responsibility that comes with using or owning an expensive device that allows them access to the big, wide world of the Internet. Some people think that laptops or iPods might be a more suitable alternative; and of course, for many purposes they might be right. Some people are concerned that when students have greater access to ICT they will not develop other skills such as reading, writing and the art of conversation.

I think that access to appropriate technology, when coupled with excellent pedagogy, is important for all students regardless of age. By suggesting that we use iPads in the early years (as one tool for learning) I am not detracting from the importance of technology for other learners. I’m advocating for the nurturing of responsible digital citizens and implementation of quality pedagogies that utilise technologies in meaningful ways.

The “fear factor” when it comes to trusting students with expensive hardware and access to the world of the web is massive amongst both parents and teachers. Some of us seem to cling to the hope that if we delay and limit access to ICT for as long as we can we will protect them (and valuable equipment). I am not proposing open slather and no supervision. I believe that as educators we have an important responsibility to teach (this is why we are called “teachers”) our charges to treat the equipment with care and respect, and to develop skills and awareness that will put them in a better position to make responsible and safe decisions when using the Internet. I fear that if we don’t take the opportunity to educate our students about Internet etiquette, cybersafety and responsible digital citizenship before they begin to access these things on their own, we are letting our students down.

Why iPads over laptops or iPods? iPads are a happy balance between being small enough to be easily portable and big enough to do some great stuff. They are reasonably affordable and quite robust. Having no keyboard or hinges means less parts to break. iPad apps are well-priced and easy to access. There is less “wait time” when powering up and the battery life is comparatively good. There are some things that are best done on a laptop or an iPod but the iPad offers enough flexibility for some very creative applications.

I would relish the opportunity to “play” in a 1:1 iPad classroom so that I can learn and discover some of the possibilities with my students. The “black hat thinkers”, while necessary and important, are not asking the “green hat questions” that plague my mind. What can I do with these devices? How can I embrace this technology to challenge and transform my own teaching so I am improving my own pedagogy, and therefore opening up a new world of possibility for my learners? How useful are these devices in monitoring the learning of my students? How will a 1:1 environment enable me to differentiate learning experiences for individual students? Which apps are going to help me provide opportunities for my students to think, create, design, develop, collaborate, explore and learn?

These are the questions I really want to answer. Now I am just asking for a chance.

Learning through Movement

We all know how hard it is to get kids to sit still for too long so it is great to get fresh ideas for teaching through movement. That's why it is so exciting to be part of the Move to Learn Linky Party at Minds in Bloom!
I am always careful to structure my sessions so we go from the floor to the desks and back again at least a few times so that we can regather and refocus as we need to.
A while ago I made this simple game to reinforce the difference between proper nouns and common nouns with my students.
It is basically a PowerPoint presentation that you play on the IWB or projector and the students bend low for a common noun, and stretch high for a proper noun (as in low for little letter and high for capital letter). Download it for free here.
It is simple to play and is a good brain-break at the same time as reviewing a key concept.

Other games I play with my kids to get them moving while I introduce or consolidate concepts are:
Columns, Rows and Cells: I use this for spreadsheets or tables. Stand tall with arms up high for columns, spread arms out wide for rows, squat (into a little box) for cells.
Head, body, tail spelling: To highlight letter shapes, I spell out a spelling word (usually the children can see the word on the board at the same time) and they stretch up for a "head" letter (such as b, d, k, l, h, f etc), stand normally for a "body" letter (such as a, c, e, o, u, m, n etc) and squat for a "tail" letter (such as g, y, j, p etc).
Obtuse, acute, right: To practise angle words, students make the shapes with their arms as I call out the words.
All of these games can be played quickly as a warm-up, review or brain-break, or as an elimination game, and best of all, they require no special equipment or preparation so you can use them any time.

Check out the other great ideas at the Move to Learn Linky Party

Term 2 Classroom Tour

I rearranged a few things over the Easter break and since I just love looking at photos of other people's classrooms and getting new ideas, I thought I would share mine, just in case I'm not the only one.

If you want to see my old layout, read this post: A Classroom Tour
Why the changes?
Well, I originally put my carpet square under most of my desks to absorb the noise. I am upstairs and on vinyl floors. Every time my kids get up from their desks or sit down again, there is a noise and it is heard downstairs. I had also wanted a large space at the back (side? not sure where the front of the room is...) near my display wall so it was easy to access. The problem was that I didn't end up with much floor space and during floor time when I really want them to be listening and focussed, they were cramped and distracted.
A big aim for me this term is to help them become more settled listeners. I am going to be reading Charlotte's Web to help build their listening stamina, and also introduce some meditative prayer.
I needed a big floor space, so now I have one.
The big floor space will mean that we can play more games and be more active too.
The drawbacks are that I have lost the "little spaces" around the room that were useful during read to self or if they were working in a group.
(And my downstairs colleagues will probably tell you that I am even noisier than before!)
I still have one little space at the back. So long as the teacher next door doesn't open the door and squash someone...

The big pink ball is on loan from the PE teacher. I am trialling it to see if it helps my kids with poor posture. The problem is that the novelty value hasn't worn off yet so it is a bit distracting. I think it might also be a tad too big for my Year 2s as well. If it is successful then I will look at getting a few of them. That should help with the novelty factor too.
Now my desks are in groups around the huge carpet square. There is not much space behind the desks but still enough for me to get to every child.

I am seriously considering changing my word wall completely. At the moment it is alphabetical but every time I need to change the back display I have to squeeze them over or spread them out again. The wonderwall and velcro dots make it pretty easy, but it would be even easier if I didn't have to do it!

I am also finding that they are really struggling with our grammar program. We are using a text, and while I loved this text in Year 4, it is really hard with Year 2 (partly because the new Australian Curriculum is harder too). There are too many new concepts being introduced before the last ones are consolidated. So... I'm going to rearrange my word wall with the words sorted according to the parts of speech instead.

This display has been up all year since about Week 2 but I have left it up until now because the students often use these "noun words" when writing. (And it looks great.) It has been more successful than the word wall. I'm just not sure if I can fit these anywhere else in the room to keep them. Maybe I will take them down and make them into a book.

So that's where I am at at the moment. Some of the changes are huge improvements but there is always a trade off. I am still happy with the feel of the space and it seems to be working - so far...

Parent Communication

Lorraine, from Fabulous Fourth Grade Froggies, is hosting a link party about Parent Communication and I thought I would join up, even though it is Friday night and just reading other people's run downs on all the amazing things they do is making me exhausted!

I totally agree with Lorraine's concerns about the possibilities of e-mail communication being misinterpreted. I am super conscious of this every time I type an email. I always worry that someone is going to take offence at something that was never intended to be offensive!
Having said that though, email remains my absolute favourite way of communicating with parents.
Since I got an iPhone two years ago, checking my emails on the run has become a habit. E-mail with most of my parents is reasonably quick and reliable, and since I have a good relationship with most of them, they will respond quickly if they are not sure about what I meant in a short message.
It is a problem for some parents that I like to communicate this way. I avoid paper copies because I am trying not to photocopy too much and I get frustrated by the number of notes left lying around the bag rack that will never make it home, despite the fact that each child has a special satchel in which to put notes and I always ask them to put their notes in there.
I e-mail the parents as a group at least once a week. I email the homework out on Fridays so that they have the weekend to do it if needed, and then it is due the following Friday. And I usually do an email about something we have been learning about in class, perhaps with some hints about follow up they might like to do with their own child if they think it is necessary.
The parents at my school are very dedicated to their children and are usually very busy, whether or not they work outside of the home or not. Between ballet lessons, rugby training and piano lessons, they and the students lead busy lives so a quick email is usually a good way to keep in touch.
Besides email, I have my class blog which chronicles our learning experiences and is a great way for parents to see what we are doing.
Each child also has a Reading Record book so the parents can record home reading, but I also use this book to keep their spelling and math test results in so parents can see these if they want.
I do occasionally make phone calls to parents, but I find that I am busy all day at school and then once I get home I am busy then too. Trying to find a quiet place to make a call can be a challenge!
I also get the chance to chat with many of the parents at drop off or pick up since many of them have little ones and they come into the school in the mornings or the afternoons.
So there you have it - not as formal and comprehensive as some of the amazing posts that I have read, but it works for me!

Being Prepared!

We start Term 2 in only a few days and then we have only six weeks until reports are due! We haven't even started back and the deadline seems incredibly close.

This year I am determined to be prepared, organised and ready so that I will avoid the usual stress that most teachers associate with writing reports.

I was pretty organised in Term 1 so I feel like I am well on the way already. Today I went into work and spent a little bit of time filing and organising the assessment pieces I have from last term (we write semester reports so it will be based on Term 1 and the first half of Term 2). It didn't take very long to get organised (about an hour??) and now I can see what else I need to collect before I write the reports.

I use a system that I have developed over the past few years for organising student work samples. I prefer to colleect them according to the assessment piece and then enter data into a spreadsheet for a summary and use the summary to write the first draft of the reports. I later sort the samples into a folio for each child so that I have this to give to parents at the Parent Teacher Interviews.

For the last few years though, I have been teaching bigger kids and they were able to do most of the filling of their own folios. I think it is valuable for them to be involved in the process. I am not so sure if this will work with my Year 2s and I will probably have to fill 24 folios on my own...

Here is a picture of the manilla folder system I use for the assessment pieces. I glue a strip with the students names down one side and then I can tick off whose pieces I have. Sometimes a student was away on the day I collected the work, or they didn't finish it, or they hid it in their desk. I can easily see if I need to follow anybody up.

I have recorded the name of the task or a description in blue at the top of the folder and written the key subject area in orange on the front, as well as "Term 1" in purple. If there is more than one subject assessed in one piece (lots of them include English...) then I write all of the relevant subjects down the side strip.

Inside the folder I have put all of the samples into alphabetical order so it should be easier when it comes to the folio filling job.

Here is a photo of one of the criteria sheets. I have tried to develop something that is simple enough for parents to understand (and older students) as well as having all the details that are required by my principal (links to Australian Curriculum documents etc).

I find this style of checklist to be easy to write, quick to mark and useful for showing more than one subject area on a page. There is usually enough space on the page to include comments about the work habits as well.
I am pleased with the basic design of these criteria sheets because I think they look neat in the folios and meet the needs of all stakeholders (students, parents, administration and me!).

How do you organise student work prior to report writing? Do you collect it by task, subject or student?
If you have any ideas, please leave them as a comment so that we can all help to make report writing time a little less stressful...

Teaching with the Brain in Mind

I have been reading plenty of things from the Whole Brain Teaching program and implementing the bits I like in my room.
I am so happy with the 5 Rules and the actions. My kids knew all the rules by Day 2 and are still keen to keep their dear teacher happy. (They keep checking to make sure that I am - they are so cute!)
I am also using Class! - Yes! with lots of success.
The Teach-OK! is not working as well as I would like. I think I need to work harder on this one.

My teaching colleague showed me an attention getter today that she had come up with and I told her how impressive it was because it is whole brain teaching too.
She has modified the usual "Stop, Look and Listen" sing-song (which most of my kids echo and then proceed to ignore) to a short, sharp, "Stop, Look, Listen, Think" with simple actions. I like the actions because the students actually do have to stop what they are doing and it seems to switch in their brain enough that they do turn and look.

I have also used a sing-song repeat to great effect with my Year 2s where I extend the Class-Yes! to an "Are we ready?-Yes" when we were doing repetitions in both Maths and in our science experiments.

If you haven't seen the Whole Brain Teaching site yet, I recommend it. If you are implementing the suggestions, which bits are working for you?