I want to tell you the story of Andrzej. He grew up in a repressed communist country where freedom wasn't available. In school he had to follow the rules if not he would be in trouble and so would his father. Every child was expected to learn in exactly the same way. He had a dream and thought every day how to make it work but had heard of another way in the west. He had to be clear and have positive self-talk and make a plan. He needed to adapt to the environment. He wanted to be free so he broke away and left the country on an old motorcycle he build with no plans to return until he had an American passport. He came to the USA knowing it was possible and then worked everyday to make it a reality.
I invite you to think of this success metaphor at Bloomer. It's an opportunity to reflect and know that together you and your team can make a difference. How? with a dream or vision. Next a Plan. You need to break free of old habits and make each day better than the last.
Last week I was observing Carol Bigley and reflected on how she embraces feedback and then implements it right away. The result has been that her students are now scoring over 70% proficient. She takes each day at face value and then works to improve. She had her learning intention and success criteria posted and broken in to meaningful slices of learning as outline by success criteria. She had her students independently working and using conferring to provide feedback as they worked. This description of her lesson is the basic formula of clarity, differentiation in the workshop and feedback delivered. She continues to break the bonds of previous paradigms and reflect on how her kids are reacting to her teaching.
I also watched Heather Humbert who is also moving away from whole group teaching. Heather's goals during feedback are to ask question or prompt kids using the success criteria as a guide. She knows that giving them this feedback as they work is most powerful. The goal is to provide feedback and catch kids where they land after releasing students to the full standard or learning intention.
You are not repressed like Andrzej. You have choice, voice and a brilliant mind. He also had these qualities and used them to make a new way. Use them for the betterment of your achievement. If you have ideas collaborate and use them as fuel for discussions during PLC. Don't wait. Your students only have this year to learn your grade level curriculum.
I wanted to write a blog this week in reflection and support of Ukraine who is also moving toward their dreams. The people insist on democracy and excellence and reject repression. They are not standing idly by. They are taking action.
I would really like to continue working on keeping my math lessons tight and less than 20 minutes so students have time to show their proficiency with independent work, and catch students where they fall. This will also help guide what things I need to mention at the end of workshop during our whole group discussion. I also write my learning intention in the form of a question, so I can ask students and they can also use the language of the success criteria.
ReplyDeleteI have chosen to adapt my teaching practices by putting more focus into conferring with students as they are working independently. I am looking for students to use our LI and SC in explaining their progress. I am also using our LI and SC to drive my feedback comments. I am beginning to see a shift in student ownership of their work by hearing kids use the SC and LI in our share time as well as when communicating with me about their work.
ReplyDeleteI continue to strive daily to keep the teacher talk to a minimum and really increase the student talk/work. Tightening that whole group lesson isn't always the easiest nor am I always successful, but when I am, I have noticed that the table work and the conversations that come with it are very rich. This also enables me to work with those tables and confer more along with working with my lower kiddos. I have also noticed that it is increasing the tolerance my students have for working together as a table group. This is not a strength of this class and they struggle with working cohesively with others. This has been another goal of mine and one that I am seeing improve with this approach.
ReplyDeleteI also like to look over DFA's as they hand them in. This allows me to confer with students and provide that feedback right away. It also allows me to capture their true thinking. Sometimes they just need to hear themselves say it out loud in order to catch their mistakes/confirm their thinking.
Cutting teacher talk has enabled me to hear more of what the students are thinking and wondering as they work. I think they are more engaged in their learning. I have to remind myself to limit my talk, stick to the LI/SC, and then walk the room watching and listening for understanding, misundertandings, participation, and teamwork. They have grown in understanding each other and helping each other, which builds their trust in each other.
ReplyDeleteI use flexible grouping during different stages of a unit. Through careful observation of students' progress, pace, and strengths I rearrange their seating, partners, and group work to maintain the pace appropriate for them while differentiating.
ReplyDeleteI have been working on less teacher led time and more of the student led, I've been trying to keep my lessons within 15 minutes before releasing the students to go out on their own. I have noticed that the more this is happening the more able my students are to solve their own problems and have productive struggle without giving up the first moment they don't get something right away.
ReplyDelete~Megan M
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