...a story of connection....I knew I wanted to be a teacher by the time I finished the first grade. While I don’t remember any of the teaching strategies that my first grade teacher, Mrs. Moore, used or any of the content even; she made such a profound mark on me that I knew when I was 6 years old what I was going to do with my life. What I remember about her class was that I loved being there. I remember she loved cows and had cow decorations all over. I remember that she talked to me and engaged with me about things that were happening in my life. I remember that I knew she liked me. My younger brother was hospitalized during this year as a result of having a stroke, so Mrs.Moore frequently entertained me after school during the times that my parents had obligations at the hospital. Reflecting back on Mrs. Moore, and adding in what I know now, I can see that Mrs. Moore excelled at relationship building and that set her apart from my other teachers. While I have always enjoyed school, that first grade year I remember with such fondness. The following year my younger brother (who made a remarkable recovery from his stroke) had Mrs. Moore for first grade as well. Over those two years, my mother and Mrs. Moore had developed a friendship. I remember going to her house to go swimming and being delighted that her house had an equal amount of cow decorations as her classroom. However, that year Mrs. Moore was diagnosed with cancer. While I do not remember the details of her cancer, I know it was quick moving as she passed that school year. Her funeral was the first I ever attended and I remember that despite my sadness, I wanted to be just like her. Flash forward many years, and I remember thinking about Mrs. Moore the day I walked in my college graduation with my bachelors degree and my multiple subject teaching credential. I remember smiling that I had completed it despite many people trying to argue me out of it because “teachers make so little money.” I knew from my first grade experience that I was not going into teaching for the money, I was going into to make a difference for kids. So bottom line, how are you communicating to kids that you like them? That they are valued? How do you create connection with kids? 3 Tips to Creating Connection 1. Greet them at the door and look pleased to see them. Not kidding. Kids want to believe that each and every day you are just as equally happy they are there as the day before. 2. Ask them questions and listen to the answers. For real. Ask them what they did on the weekend. Listen to their answer. Then ask a follow-up question. Remember what they told you on Friday about the weekend, then ask on Monday about it. 3. Be neutral in the face of crisis. Kids want to be heard. They want you to be on their side. When a student is reporting their version of events, be as neutrally pleasant as possible and seek to understand and make them feel understood. (ex: "Wow, yes. I can see why you felt so offended when that child looked at you funny. That must have been really hard.") Do you have tips? Share them in the comments! #bettertogether
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This past school year I tried something new in the mornings with my students for lunch count. In previous years, students had moved their little icon on the SmartBoard to mark what they were having for lunch, but I realized I wanted more information from them when they arrived. Since we are a GAFE district, I decided to utilize a Google Form for this task. As we started, I changed the questions every few days until I got to a set that I felt were accomplishing what I wanted. Here is a screen shot of what we used for most of the year. As you can see, from the data I got from this form I was able to complete my lunch count, but also, I was able to see how my students were coming into my classroom. I could instantly know if I needed to check-in with any students based on how they were feeling. Allowing them to set a goal for themselves was an interesting process. Some students started off by writing, "have a good day." Well, what does that really mean or look like? Over the course of the year, we worked on setting goals that were more clearly defined. Data Example:This snipit of my data shows you some of the goals my students were coming up with (names and id numbers have not been included). Is spelling great? No, but that wasn't the purpose of this task. Over time, my students grew to be thoughtful about the goals they were choosing. For example, you can see a goal in the data that says, "not scare students." That particular student had an outburst the day before that scared some younger students and we had met and talked about that. I could tell from this goal that he had really thought about our discussion and wanted to make a change. There are also a lot of "picking up trash" goals because our principal was making frequent morning announcements about the amount of trash at lunch. An unexpected result of the morning check in form was the practice of tech skills! I had my kindergartners through third graders working on this form. They "checked in" on desktops, Chromebooks, and iPads. I wanted to help them become fluent on many types of devices. And guess what? Even kinders can use a trackpad on a Chromebook! Have questions? Don't hesitate to ask! WT# is Twitter
Twitter. To some it is a big, scary word and to others it is a critical part of growing as an educator.
I have found Twitter to be an invaluable resource for my own growth as an educator. As a result, my students have benefited, my classroom has benefited and my school site has as well. I have had discussions with other educators on topics that we didn't agree on which caused to to do some serious reflection on my own practices as an educator. I had to ask myself, Why? Why was I doing what I was doing? Because it was always done that way? Because it was best for students? Why? I think this practice of engaging in conversation and then reflecting is vital to our practice as educators. The ability to connect with teachers around the world opens up an endless amount of possibilities for us as educators and for our students. At my own school site, I have seen another teacher (@MViTDiTeach) connect her class with other classes across the United States in a very visual way. Talk about creating meaningful learning experiences for students! In the book, Innovator's Mindset, by George Couros (@gcouros) states, "Today, isolation is a choice educators make." A choice?? Why would we choose this? If we are to be preparing our students for jobs that do not yet exist, how can we justify isolation? I don't think we can. Kids deserve more. |
Ventura County Teacher of the Year 2016.
On a journey: Special Ed Teacher, Mentor, EdTech Advocate, Book Nerd, Knitter, Risk Taker, LA Kings Fan, #Whole30 lover, #SVTChat, GCE Level 1, Daring Greatly Categories
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