On July 29 I had the privilege of giving an EdTalk at the California Teacher's Summit to 350 educators at the Cal State Channel Islands Campus. Since my word of 2016 is Risk, I couldn't very well say no! This teacher's summit happened across California at 38 different sites. At the beginning of the day, the MC asked all beginning teachers to raise their hands and probably 75% of the room raised their hand! I was floored that this many new teachers were willing to give up a Friday during their summer for professional development. I spoke on my passion of collaboration and connecting teachers through the use of Twitter. In this talk I focused on how Twitter changed my classroom and how it changed me as an educator. While the 3 points I hit were homework, genius hour, and flexible seating, there were many other things that have changed in my classroom thanks to Twitter and my PLN. If you are interested in connecting or have questions about Twitter, please don't hesitate to ask!
For more information on the Ca Teacher's Summit: cateacherssummit.com/
Connect with me on Twitter @teachermsjamie
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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! I was recently asked to write about my philosophy of teaching and this is what came out.
-Philosophy of Teaching- When I think about my views on teaching, I keep coming back to the students. I believe that teaching should be student-centered, but what does that actually look like in a classroom? My classroom transformed into a flexible seating classroom this school year, which means students have choice on where the sit to work. Their choices range from yoga balls, wobble stools, a standing table, and much more. (See images here: http://goo.gl/aEp2D2 ) I also believe that being student-centered allows students more choice over their own learning so I began doing Genius Hour. Students self-select topics they are interested in learning, research them, develop presentations, and then teach the class about their topics. Another way I enabled students to have more choice was to start using digital portfolios with them. Sometimes I ask them to blog about specific topics, but how they choose to do that is up to them. Other times, students self-select topics or work samples to blog about. (Example: http://andreslearning.blogspot.com/ ) I believe that by making my classroom more student centered, I am able to more frequently highlight the strengths of my students and as a direct result of that, students are excited about school and their self-esteem goes up. I believe that teachers need to consider the students holistically in their classrooms. I do this in my own class by doing direct instruction weekly on growth mindset in order to address social-emotional needs of my students. I also have ceased assigning homework out of respect for my students and their families. I do not own the time my students have with their families, and value the concept that parents should get to determine what happens in their own home. I see the rewards of teaching on a daily basis. Frequently students enter my program after being “kicked out” of their previous school or feeling like they have failed. One of the greatest rewards I receive is when student’s perception of school is shifted from “I can’t” to “I love this school!” I am equally as excited as my students when they realize that their words are powerful and they don’t need to hit or tantrum to communicate they don’t like something. My students are the reason I teach and do what I do. I believe that my own views about teaching are demonstrated in the value I place on student connection. If a student doesn’t feel a connection with you, then nothing I have discussed will have impact or meaning for them. How will you connect this week? Connection is the glue that allows everything else to come together for a student. How will you connect this week? |
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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