Day two of the conference focused on looking at ways to transform math classrooms to make them more personal. Jim McLure and Jean Garrity, from the Institute for Personalized Learning, CESA 1, provided the afternoon keynote. From there, the conference attendees learned more grade level specific strategies for personalizing learning in their own math classrooms. All of the afternoon breakout sessions were run by amazing teachers from Elmbrook! I was proud to be one of the six teachers sharing their expertise in this area.
Since this presentation, several classroom teachers have reached out to us, looking for some of the docs I shared. We wanted to use this blog post to share a link to my presentation and to invite others to email us with questions, concerns, or feedback. Within the Google Slides you will find links embedded throughout. We look forward to hearing from you!
Earlier this month, Angela and I, along with two 2nd grade teachers from Swanson, presented at The Institute for Personalized Learning's 6th Annual Convening Conference. We have attended this conference the past several years, and have had the good fortune of presenting the last two years. Convening is a wonderful opportunity for teachers and administrations to come together to discuss the many aspects of personalized learning in the classroom. There were people from all over the country at this year's event, and many teachers from Southeastern Wisconsin shared the amazing work they are doing in their classrooms.
T.E.A.M Togetherness & Inspiration Station
Our presentation this year introduced teachers to Learning Models. Learning Models are a personal assessment tool we use in our classroom. This summative assessment is a fun, student driven approach. Students think deeply about the standards presented, and they are given choice in how they demonstrate proficiency towards the standards. The provided rubric outlines their opportunity to aim for exceeds and supports them as they take ownership over their learning.
Angela and I were thrilled to see the number of people in attendance. We had close to 100 attendees, eager and excited to learn more about this tool. After a brief introduction to our personalized learning environments, we walked our participants through how we use Learning Models to provide more student voice and choice in assessment at the primary and upper elementary level. We shared several examples, across subject areas, along with student exemplars. After our introduction to this assessment tool, attendees were invited to choose a topic, plan, and develop a Learning Model of their own that they could immediately implement in their classroom. Teachers brought their own device, along with curriculum materials, and we were on hand to support them in this process. We LOVED this workshop model!
As we floated throughout the room, the energy and enthusiasm was contagious. I absolutely loved listening to the ideas of others, and supporting fellow teachers as they created their own Learning Models and rubrics. I was quick to grab my own piece of paper so I could jot down new ideas learned, and even used the opportunity to network with fellow educators. It was such an amazing 75 minutes!
Thank you to The Institute for Personalized Learning, for giving us the opportunity to share our knowledge! We always walk away from this conference feeling energized and excited for all the amazing work being done!
September...the most exciting and exhausting month of a teacher's year! What an amazing start to the year we have had in TEAM Togetherness! We are loving getting to know our little darlings! We are still adjusting to switching from end of the year 5th graders to beginning of the year 4th graders (WOW...what a difference!). Kate and I are constantly giving each other permission to slow down and breathe! They are so young, but really have come so far in the first 3 weeks of school!
As we start with a brand new group of kiddos, one of the most important things we do to launch our year is team building activities. These activities take time, but the resulting conversations and foundation building is critical to our personalized learning environment.
Many of our students are coming to us never having been in a set up like ours (2 teachers, one big space, 50+ kids, no desks, etc.). They are also "big 3rd graders." Many do not know how to communicate their needs clearly, collaborate, solve problems, give feedback, or persevere when things get tough....YET!
Starting on the first day, Kate and I provide our students with purposefully planned team building activities to help build this sort of foundation. Our hope today, is to lay out some of the big ones we have used, as well as the resulting conversations, as well as how it has connected to the underlying rules and beliefs in our environment. So, hang on....we've got A LOT to share!
Have you read this book?? If not, you totally should check it out! She also has other great ones that have similar themes! We used this book on the first day of school to launch a conversation about how we are all unique and bring different skills and talents to Team Togetherness. It is a hilarious book about the exclamation mark that doesn't feel like he fits in anywhere. He tries to be like everyone else (and fails hilariously), but in the end, as you can probably imagine, he learns how his own skills are special and necessary.
After reading the book, we introduced the kids to 5 different posters--one for each punctuation mark--period, comma, question mark, quotation marks, and exclamation mark. We didn't give them much direction, other than to think about which mark best represents them. We, then, asked them to move to the poster they felt was the best representative of themselves. Once there, as a new small group, they brainstormed ways that they "mattered" to Team Togetherness.
After they had filled their posters with ideas, we came back together as a large group and shared out. We created an anchor chart to hang in the room to remind us of our ideas. One of our darlings, in our grand conversation, said "So, we really need ALL of us to build up Team Togetherness!" <sigh of happiness> Out of the mouths of babes...
Our final thinking anchor chart
ACTIVITY #2: PUZZLES
You'd think that jigsaw puzzles would be easy or "baby-ish" for 4th graders, but let me tell you, it was fascinating to watch! Kate and I bought ten 100-piece animal jigsaw puzzles from the dollar store (totally worth it). We, then, divided them into 5 person teams. The directions were simple: complete the puzzle in 10 minutes. Easy?? Not so much! They all thought it would be, but it turned out that everyone had their own idea on how to solve it!
As teachers, it was absolutely fascinating to us to see which groups did what. Which ones started on the carpet, then realized a flat surface would work better. Which started with the edges. Which started with the main picture. Which group had 5 kids working on their own little parts, not really putting them together to make one. After 10 minutes, we had NO ONE complete their puzzle (we really expected this result...10 minutes really isn't THAT long ;)
We, then, came together as a large group, and discussed what went well and what didn't. What strategies helped you be more successful? Again, we charted our ideas.
After our grand conversation was done, we let them go back and finish their puzzles! Surprisingly (not really), they were far more successful :)
ACTIVITY #3: CUP TOWER CHALLENGE
Our next activity fed the engineers in our room! We bought small, plastic cups from Target. We gave each group about 40 cups to work with (no way did we need that many in hindsight!). Again, fairly simple directions: build the tallest, free-standing cup tower that you can. Again, totally fun to watch. Many kids gave up or showed frustration (every group's tower fell multiple times!), others worked really well together. Kate and I walked around with a meter stick and our microphone, calling out the tallest height of the moment.
Then, it was time for our grand conversation (sensing a pattern here??) This time, we really emphasized perseverance and positive communication when things don't go well. It's not just WHAT we say, but HOW we say it to each other.
ACTIVITY #4: TOOTHPASTE CHALLENGE
This was a new one for us this year, but was by far, one of my most favorites! We gave each group a large tube of toothpaste (again, purchased at our favorite, local dollar store!), a styrofoam plate, and one toothpick per person. The only direction we gave was "We want to see which team can squeeze and empty their tube the fastest." Now, of course, that wasn't really the ultimate task, but this part was SO fun and MINTY! (our room smelled fantastic!)
Squeezing the toothpaste OUT!
Now came the REALLY fun part...we told them that they now needed to put the toothpaste back IN to their tubes using their toothpicks! Our direction was met with "What?? Impossible! I wouldn't have squeezed it all out had I known that!" and more hilarious whining! What ensued was a messy disaster of fun learning!
ATTEMPTING to put the toothpaste back in!
Once the giant mess was cleaned up (yes, it makes a giant one, but so worth it!), we read the familiar book Have You Filled a Bucket Today?. Then, we discussed the challenge.
The biggest connection...our words are like the toothpaste! Once they are out of the "tube", you can never really get them back in. We used this as a platform to discuss "choosing kind" at all times, how our words mean something, and how they make a difference!
ACTIVITY # 5: SPAGHETTI TOWERS
This one is probably familiar to many of you...it has been all over Pinterest and other blogs for years. Consider it an "oldie, but goodie!" There are hundreds of different versions out there. There are cutsie directions pages you can download when you search. There are even STEM connections to this one. For us, we kept it more simple. It wasn't so much about the activity, but the work and communication that went into it. We gave our students 20 mini marshmallows, 20 sticks of regular spaghetti (no linguine here!), and a roll of clear tape. We gave them 20 minutes and told them to build the tallest, free-standing tower possible. Only rules, once a piece of spaghetti or marshmallow was broken, you would not get a new one. And, it had to stand on its own...no taping it to the table or wall!
We were most surprised by the lack of success on this project, but it really turned out to be a great teachable moment. They REALLY struggled with this one for some reason. We had a number of friends just give up and watch. We had a tremendous conversation about perseverance and failure. We hadn't anticipated doing it with this one, but the timing was just right. We also shared the now super popular Rube Goldberg video and used it to talk about failure.
We spent the majority of the time discussing how the only true failure is when you stop trying. And how the little boy in this video saw his failures as opportunities to make things better. He was EXCITED by the number of failures he had!
Even though we went into the spaghetti challenge thinking we would discuss more about collaboration, the personal needs of our group took us in a different, magical direction. So, despite the "failure" of most of our groups in building a successful spaghetti tower, we were all "winners" with our new understanding of failure!
ACTIVITY #6: OUR CLASSROOM QUESTIONS
One of the last activities we did during the first 2 weeks of school was ask our students 6 questions:
What should kids in our class be doing to make sure our class runs as smooth as possible?
What do you hope to learn this year in XXth grade? (insert your grade here)
What will YOU need to do this year in order to be successful?
What will Mrs. Sommerville & Mrs. Patterson need to do this year in order to help Team Togetherness be successful? (insert your own name/class here)
Our class should be _____ every day!
School is important because ________!
We put these questions on 6 different sticky note anchor charts around the room. We, then, divided the kids into 6 starting groups, each armed with a pencil and sticky note pad. This was a silent activity. We set the timer for 3 minutes. During those three minutes, they needed to answer their assigned question on sticky notes. After the 3 minutes were up, we rotated to a new poster.
Once all groups had rotated through all 6 posters, we met for one of our final team building "grand conversations." We logged all of our best ideas into a doc.
Wow...just looking over that list again gives me goosebumps! They are so insightful and honest! <heart swells with happiness>
We used this document to look for trends and ideas. We, then, wrote our first draft of our "Social Contract." In Team Togetherness, our social contract is the norms we agree to function by. The kids word it and discuss what should or shouldn't be a part of it. Our next blog post will focus on the social contract, as well as technology contract that the kids wrote, as well as the consequences they came up with.
Now, these 6 activities are not "the end" of team building in our space. We try to incorporate at least 1-2 per month for the remainder of the school year. It is always good to "norm" yourself and re-experience something to bring those ideas back to life! Others we are saving "in our back pockets": Saving Fred, a different cup/rubber band challenge, more great picture books, Lego challenge, The Day the Crayons Quit (a great book!), and more!
In Team Togetherness, team building activities are not only fun and memorable, but they have a much deeper meaning. For us, they are integral in the development of our classroom community and norms. They are powerful teachable moments.
How do you develop community in your classrooms? Do you have other ideas to share? We'd love to learn with you!
So...we survived the first week! It has been amazing (& exhausting) starting fresh with a brand new class of little darlings after finishing our 2 year loop with our last group. We have done so much this week, and of course, a lot we didn't get to. A blog post will be coming soon about the first week bumps and celebrations.
This year was definitely new for Kate and I. For starters, we had to pack up everything prior to the end of the school year. And, when I say everything, I mean EVERYTHING! Our entire classroom had to be boxed up and put into trailers behind our building. Why? You might ask...we are now the COOL teachers in an air conditioned building! HOORAY!
The absolutely GINORMOUS crane putting one of the units on our roof!
That being said...while we now get to wear a sweater in September, this project came with many challenges. The number one challenge for us teachers being that we could NOT get into our school for the entire summer! I don't know about you, but I typically try to get in once a week throughout the summer to complete small tasks. I only stay for a few hours, but it helps me build up to the "big reveal" at meet and greet in August.
The summer was winding down, our anxiety was winding up, and we finally found out we could get into our classrooms on Monday, August 24th!!! <sigh of relief> Meet and Greet was pushed back to August 31st! That is not much time, people! This is was we walked into:
The double room PILE we walked into!
EVERYTHING we owned was piled on top of each other and on blue carts. Our giant pieces of furniture were tipped upside down, smooshed, and in the wrong half of the space. My anxiety flew through the roof when I walked in. I gasped. I called Kate (who was on her way). I panicked. Then, I took a deep breath and dug in.
The first few hours were just spent trying to unload the 8 blue carts full of boxes and books. Once those were out of the room, we had a little more space to work with. Kate and I stayed until they kicked us out (well after 9PM) that first night...and the second night....!
It took us all week (and a lot of sweat and sore muscles), but we finally had this:
Not only did we get everything set up, but we (of course), took on some extra projects (because...seriously...we didn't have ANYTHING else to do ;) We're sick...truly sick... :)
Project One: Repainting the dry-erase tables! These tables take a beating throughout the year. Here is a link to our original blog post from last year when we painted them for the first time! Since then, they have been scuffed, chipped, and "shadowed." A little sanding, primer, and new paint...and voila! We have beautifully white tables, ready for the writing! We even added a 4th table this year! I added 3 coats of the dry erase paint this year (vs. two last year) with the hope that they will hold up a little better. We'll see!! Regardless, it is a great way to cover up old, beat up tables! The kids LOVE them!
BEFORE...scuffed, chipped, and nasty! We sanded all the tables down first, then primed them with a latex primer.
AFTER! 4 beautiful, white, shiny tables that are ready for the writing!
Project Two: Spray painting ugly stools! We had about 8 of those old, art room stools at various parts of our room. They were different colors of metal. They had rust spots. They were, needless to say, UNATTRACTIVE! So, a few cans of spray paint later...and we have beautiful, shiny stools that really POP in our room! Here is a link to the brand we used! We chose a lime green and turquoise color (sorry, couldn't find the exact colors on Home Depot site).
We did choose gloss colors (there is a matte finish, as well). Had we had more time, we would have sprayed them with a clear protective coating, as well. Maybe we still can sometime before a long break....we just ran out of time! It was such an inexpensive upgrade to our room! Our peers were so "wowed" by our simple change, that there are now MANY different colored stools floating around our school :)
Project Three: Overhaul of the classroom libraries! We have the gift of having a fiction and nonfiction library in our room (a pleasant side effect of combining two classroom libraries into one!) We love our books. Our kids love our books. BUT....they are HORRIBLE at putting them away! None of our labels matched either. So...we made some new labels that went with our chevron and chalkboard theme! We are in LOVE with how organized it all is now!
You can grab the book bin labels for FREE by clicking HERE!
We used different colors for different kinds of books--blue for chapter book series/authors, purple for genre sorted books (historical fiction, fantasy, mystery, etc.), red for picture books, and green for all nonfiction! We also put numbers in the corners of the labels. Each book is labeled with a matching number to help each book end up back in the right place!
Whew....it was A TON of work, but we made it just in time for "Meet & Greet"! Our families are amazing and our new little 4th graders (such a change from end of year 5th graders!) are so energetic and eager!
We will update soon with the different team-building activities we have done to better get to know our kiddos. We have some fun ones to share!
This summer, Kate and I have been diving into the Canvas Learning Management System. We will definitely do a post about that one soon, as it is a fantastic tool, and we are eager to see how it works with our kiddos/families.
That being said, there is one "downside", if you want to call it that--It is definitely "built" for older kids. Meaning, it is not "cutesy" like us elementary folks love. No fun fonts. No fun images. Dry to the viewer.
Kate and I have figured out some work arounds to "spice it up" some and "cute-y-fy" it for our elementary friends. The easiest way has been to make buttons, banners, and other images ourselves to use within the program. Our tool of choice for this is Powerpoint! So, let's dive in and learn how!
Before we begin, just note that this process can be used for any image you'd like to create and save! I will be making "buttons and banners" in this tutorial, but I also use it to group pictures for this blog! The possibilities are virtually endless, and you'll be so thankful to have this tool in your back pocket!
Let's make a button. Make sure when you open Powerpoint, you delete the preset text boxes they give you in their slide templates. You want to be working with a completely blank slide. The first thing you need to do is pick the shape of your button. I will start with two different shapes in my screen shot, so you can see both ways.
Next, you need to decide on the color or pattern of your shape. You can use solid colors, patterns, gradients, or even images that you upload (We like to use digital paper files that we have saved!)
First, select the shape you'd like to change, then go to "Drawing Tools", and select "Shape Fill".
At this point, you can either add a text box (BEGINNER LEVEL), or really jazz it up (INTERMEDIATE LEVEL). I'll show you both :)
Adding a Text Box: You can use whatever font, size, center, etc. just like you would with any other text box you would create!
Ready for the "Fancier" version?!? :) We LOVE to use fun clip art! One of our favorite clip art sources is MyCuteGraphics. Seriously, friends, they have the BEST school clip art! And most of it is FREE (yes, you heard me...FREE!). They also offer paid clip art with their small business, Whimsy Clips. Just type what you want (we typed "Math") and you will be rewarded with pages of things to choose from! Just pick your image, right click, and copy! Then you are ready to paste it into Powerpoint and resize! We used the same text box as the circle button!
You can also play with the borders of your shape! You can make them dotted, a different color, 3-D, or more! Select your shape and go back to "Drawing Tools" (where you found the fill colors). Select "Shape Outline" and start playing around! There are SO many options to choose from! You could even select "Shape Effects" to make them 3-D, glow, and more!
The final step, is to save it as an image. This is an image you can use later and insert anywhere (projects, Google Docs, blogs, or even to spice up CANVAS, like us! :) To save it as an image, you need to make sure that all parts of the image you want are selected. You can use a "Marquee Drag" by selecting a point above and outside your completed image, then dragging to the opposite corner. If you don't know how to make that work, you can click a part, then keep holding down "Ctrl", while you select other parts, until all of your layers are selected. Then you double RIGHT-CLICK, and select "Save as Image." We like to save our images as PNG files. The benefit of this option is that they are higher quality and they do not have a white background! Save them to a folder or elsewhere in an organized way, so you will be able to find them when you need them!
That's it! Now you are left with an awesome image that you can use anywhere!!
The same process can be used to make "banners" with directions like this example below (to be used at the top of web pages, documents, etc.):
We hope you found this helpful! Like I said, we use this tool ALL the time for so many different reasons! A couple of ways we use this:
Buttons for CANVAS (Our newest venture)
Creating class schedule labels for your whiteboard or bulletin board
Creating a custom image for a tool you are creating (packet, math exit slip, reading response sheet, etc.)
Grouping images for a blog post
Picture collages you'd like to print
ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES! Have fun exploring the many ways you could use this to meet your individual needs!
Ahhh....summer! Filled with family time and recharging! This summer, Kate and I have had lots of opportunities to meet with our new 4th Grade Team, as well! Lynn hosted us at her beautiful home (and fed us an exorbitant amount of delicious food) and we were able to spend 12 glorious hours together, "talking shop" and finding our "groove" as a new collaborative team!
(Kate is taking this picture:)
We had a two page list that we have been working through. We still have a few more hours left from our summer work proposal to meet, but we certainly have accomplished a lot thus far!
One of the things we felt strongly about as a new teaching team was to establish a united front for our classroom families. While Kate and I have been teaching in a personalized learning environment for the last two years, our team mates are just starting their personalized learning journeys! Kate and I will still be team teaching, and the rest of the team is eager to dive in and provide the best possible environments for their students! We all will be 1-to-1 with Google Chromebooks (and a few iPads each), and we really want to share, collaborate, and work together on all that we can.
However, due to the nature of our team-teaching environment, some things may just look a little differently in my and Kate's space! One thing we DO NOT want is a feeling of "us vs. them." We do not want our students or families to perceive our new team as a "have and have not" scenario. We want to make sure we start the year off on a united front, which means COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION, COMMUNICATION! One of the first things we did is create a "Team 4" logo.
We will, again, be taking on the T.E.A.M. acronym (Together Everyone Achieves More). Each classroom took on a letter of the acronym. Kate and I will, again, be "Team Togetherness" (as we have been for the last 2 years :) So our new team we will now have
Team Togetherness
Team Exploration
Team Aspiration
Team Momentum
We will use this logo for all 4th grade team communications! Each homeroom also has their own log for their personal communications and use. We want all students and families to see themselves as a piece of a larger team. We want to send the message that we work together and are part of one larger entity.
We are also going to be sending out a Team 4 Postcard to all of our incoming students this August! This will highlight all of the amazing things that will be happening across the entire 4th grade!
Now that Kate and I are into "year three" of this personalized learning journey, our school families are more familiar with the teaming environment option at the different grade levels. When we first started way back in year one, we sent out an additional letter explaining the concept to parents, in addition to the kid postcard. Even with that, plus "principal chats" from our amazing leader, we STILL had lots of parent questions! So, no matter where you are on your own journeys, be prepared for that! Things to help ease parents' minds that you can communicate early (in your intro letters or at "meet and greet") could be:
How you will regularly communicate with them! Kate and I offer weekly newsletters, Remind, daily Facebook posts, and a classroom website. We are in the process of exploring CANVAS, which is a learning management system that would help to consolidate some of those items! Stay tuned for a future post on this, as we are still learning/building!
Offer a PIN night ("Parent Information Night") where you can go over aspects of the curriculum and answer more questions. Any time you can get more face to face time with your families will help them feel more comfortable
Invitations to observe! Our first year, Kate and I opened up our classroom for 3 full weeks and allowed parents to sign up to spend time in our space. This was CRITICAL in many of our parents really getting a full understanding of what we were about!
Or more! With so many tools out there, it is easier than ever to communicate with families!
Stay tuned, as we are planning on updating on how we are using CANVAS, as well as how we are going to set up our new 4th Grade Learning Lab! Exciting stuff ahead!
Welcome to our journey in T.E.A.M. Togetherness! We are team teachers in a personalized learning environment in the great state of Wisconsin. We (Angela Patterson & Kate Sommerville) teach all day together, and we share 50+ amazing 4th graders. We began our journey over the last two years with our kiddos in 4th grade, and loved them so much that we kept them for 5th grade. We are now starting over with a brand new group of learners! We believe in differentiation, choice, mistakes, second chances, collaboration, and community. Our environment is set up to support the many different learning styles and personalities that we are so fortunate to work with every day. We utilize one-to-one technology via Google Chromebooks and love learning from our students and peers. This blog is our way of sharing the amazing things we are doing, learning, and "failing forward" at! Thanks for visiting!
