Leaving Trails and Markers

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."

        Ralph Waldo Emerson

As the New Year has gotten past the first fifteen days I feel some days are blazing new paths. There was regression after the long winter break and it has nearly taken seven school days to get us back to the level we were before the break. It would have been frustrating had I not seen some parts of what had been learned laying along the student's "neuro path."

While there were weeds of television, over growth from video games, and clutter from lack of structure and routine, we were able to see the seeds or sprouts from lessons prior to the break. Once we saw that they were there it wasn't a matter of re-teaching, but promoting growth. Some needing more nourishing and tenderness than others, but the challenge was to help the student to see that they could remember. They did understand the concepts and ideas we had learned and discussed in September, October, November and December. They did know, they just needed to de-clutter all that had happened during the break and pull just a little harder from the brain. The excitement when they realized they hadn't really forgotten was worth all  of the effort.

We could have just done some re-teaching of the goals and objectives and considered it done. But having discovered that deep down they really did remember, they really did grasp the concepts and we just needed to help them pull the weeds and clean up the garden to get it back to full function generated that "success" emotion we all needed to have during this cold, wintry, time in January.

Now we are on track and we are leaving markers along the way in preparation for the upcoming two-week Spring Break. These markers are songs, limericks, or other ways of allowing the students to recall the lessons quickly and by just starting the marker.. they will finish it. I have even employed a picture of my basset hound, "Agent Gibbs" with a call-out giving a rhyme of the day about our lesson. (They have been quoting him at lunch, so I know it's working.)

I am encouraged as move from now to Spring Break that we will not have the same level of regression that from the cold dark winter. Spring shall break forth and we will leave a trail from which we can all recall that which we've learned along the way!

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Communicating differently...Listen Carefully.

I will return to the classroom filled with my students on January 7th. Yes, I'm lucky to have such a long break. But the truth is I miss them. I miss each of them for different reasons. I miss their smiles, their excitement when they are engaged in learning, their frowns (and some screams) when their choice boards show that "work" is involved before they get their preferred activity. Yes, I miss all of that.


As I reflect on these things I also remember the comments in the halls from other teachers: "Oh, I couldn't do what you do all day long." or "How do you deal with the yelling and screaming?" I just look at them and I smile. Truth is, I don't hear the yelling or screaming or whining or any other of the protests as they are presented. I hear each of my students on the autism spectrum when they do "yell" to really be saying, "I'm overwhelmed, "I need you to help me" or "I don't know what to do, please help!"

My students don't articulate these words exactly, but they do communicate, they can tell me with their body language, their eyes, and the looks on their cherub faces. Their verbal abilities may manifest in what others would call "yelling" or "screaming". I call it communicating and when we as teachers learn their "language" we can engage their minds and they learn.

Yes, learning is sometimes messy and almost always loud in my classroom. I wouldn't change it for anything in the world.

Sometimes classroom management (or lack thereof) can stress teachers. Sometimes teachers get overwhelmed, tired and cranky, too. The website SmartClassroomManagement.com by Michael Lisin is a great resource for help when we need it. A recent posting of the "5 Ways to Be A Calmer, More Effective Teacher" can help us all with tips and techniques to remain focused and calm all day.

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CEC Tools of the Week Site

The Council for Exceptional Children has a great additional website titled "Tools Of The Week.Org"  

It consists of several tools (pdf files) which any Exceptional Educator can use for lesson planning, idea generating, or reviewing for assessment on lessons already used.

The tool of the week can also be emailed to you if you subscribe (which I do) and will arrive in your in-box for your review. They are also easily saved in Google Docs, in case you don't have time to review them for your immediate usability.

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Interactive Resource for Math Standards

    

       A Professional Learning Module from the Leadership In Mathematics Education which includes their goal to: Network, Communicate, Support, & Motivate offers the following interactive module for “Illustrating the Standards for Mathematical Practice.”

          This is a great resource for understanding math education in the implementation of Common Core Math Standards. 

Click on the link for the interactive site: http://www.mathedleadership.org/ccss/itp/index.html

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PARCC Prototype!

Mathematics Core Tool Box  for Common Core Standards has a resource for a set of PARCC multipart prototype tasks which represents the initial release from a larger set of prototype tasks developed as part of a collaborative project between PARCC and the Charles A. Dana Center at The University of Texas at Austin, the University of Arizona, the City University of New York, Agile Mind, Inc., and a select group of experts.  

Click on the link: http://www.ccsstoolbox.com/  then select the drop down “Resources for Implementation,” then on the sidebar click on “PARCC Prototyping Project.” This site offers samples for elementary, middle and high schools. 

Thanks to my district for sending out this link to the resources from CCSS Tool Box. 

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Passion Driven?

Are you driven by your passion? Or is the day-to-day activities draining your energy and making you less creative and less passionate about teaching?  

Author, Angela Maiers posted on her blog in January 2012 (yes, almost a year ago) about "The 5 C's of Passion Driven Leadership."   

I was looking through the internet for some professional development while off for winter break and I came across her blog. 

While she was primarily talking to school leaders (administrators, principals, school boards, etc.), I am reminded that we are the leaders in our classrooms. While we hope those in the Administration would follow her "5 C's", and have "passion driven conversations," we definitely should do this in our classrooms. We are leaders. We must be passionate leaders initiating these conversations each and every day with our students. We must model these conversations and these attributes to teach our students their learning can become passionate. As a result we will  develop life-long learners. 

Take a look at Angela's blog post and see what I've discovered in leading with passion in 2013 - Happy New Year!

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Math, Math, Math!

Math is sometimes difficult to learn as well as teach. These resources were sent to us by my school district. 

I wanted to share them (plus remember where they are when I need them again!). 

They are all excellent resources for the various grade levels and contain interactive games, pdf lessons, and other media types. 

Learn Zillions  
Zillions of lessons- includes Math as well as other subjects. Can be filtered by grade level.


Lessons:

Kindergarten: K.G.1,2,3-
In this unit, students are introduced to the idea of shapes through a read-aloud session with an appropriate book.

They then use models to learn the names of shapes, work together and individually to locate shapes in their real-world environment.

1st Grade: 1.OA.7,8-This lesson encourages students to explore another model of subtraction, the balance. Students will use real and virtual balances.

Students also explore recording the modeled subtraction facts in equation form.

2nd Grade: 2.MD.7- In this unit, students explore the relationship between pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. They count sets of mixed coins, write story problems that involve money, and use coins to make patterns.


3rd Grade: 3.NF- or 3.NF additional In this unit, students explore relationships among fractions through work with the length model. This early work with fraction relationships helps students make sense of basic fraction concepts and facilitates work with comparing and ordering fractions and working with equivalency.

4th Grade: Performance Task 4.NF.1- 

Leapfrog Fractions

5th Grade: 5.MD.1 Students learn the basics of the metric system. They identify which units of measurement are used to measure specific objects, and they learn to convert between units within the same system.

6th Grade:6.EE.1-4 Online game- Late Delivery  

7th Grade: 7.RP.1,3- Online Proportions Lesson  

8th Grade: Impact of a SuperStarThis lesson uses technology tools to plot data, identify lines of best fit, and detect outliers. Then, students compare the lines of best fit when one element is removed from a data set, and interpret the results.
Online Games by grade levels from MathChimp

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