Day 20- Building the Frame

So yesterday and the day prior, my posts were spotty due to poor internet performance.  Today's post shall be much better but hopefully brief.  By better I mean some more resources, by brief I mean short.

As I mentioned yesterday, lesson planning is important.  It allows you as a teacher to create a map of where you want to head with your students.  We can't all just "wing it."  Some teachers can do this a few times over a year and get by; but, if you are really into teaching and learning, it is recommended to be well planned for the kids.

Once you have an idea, how do you put it onto paper.  There are several different models to follow: gradual release, 5-E, lecture and copy, etc.  You know the drill.  Every one has a different model that they prefer to use.  Personally, I don't care what model you use as long as you are writing something down in an understandable format.  Sticky notes could be used, if one places them in a specific order to show how the lesson will flow.  They won't work if you just jot them down and put them on the back of a worksheet.

I have worked at several schools that have asked teachers to use a certain template.  I like that idea.  Being asked to use a template provides a challenge.  Take what you know and show it in a different way so if someone wants to read it they can understand your thinking for the lesson.  I used to grumble, "I am a science teacher and I need to use the 5-E model...blah, blah, blah."  Then I realized that the template I was asked to use could be made into a 5-E model by moving some parts around.  When I asked if I could do that, my principal gave me the go ahead and it worked.  I never looked back.

Planning lessons is important for multiple reasons.  First and foremost, it is fair to the kids that depend on you to give them the knowledge they so yearn for each and every day.  Two: it will help you, the teacher, think things through so when something goes wrong with the lesson you have a way to think through to fix it.  Three: it will keep you the teacher happy.  As you progress from year to year, you will have an encyclopedia of work that you have accumulated and you can easily pull from and change in order to meet your students' needs.  You can then start your own blog and share that information with educators around the globe. :)

For some related articles and resources, I created a Symbaloo webmix.  If you have not tried this tool yet, I recommend you check it out.  It is a great way to organize websites in such a manner that it is easy to access.  It is easy to update and share websites.  We are using it in our school to provide professional development, so why not use it here in the same way.  Think flipping your classroom.

Check it out here:
Lesson Planning Tips and Resources

Thanks for reading. Please feel free to comment.

Day 19- Begin with end in mind

For the second day in a row, I am having difficulty utilizing the internet with my laptop.  It is frustrating.  My other device is currently updating its operating system so I am once again posting from my phone. Again...awesome.  While this is a hiccup at least there is some access. More on that next week.

Today's lesson tip is to begin with the end in mind.  Think about what you want your students to achieve and then work backwards from there.  A teacher can start with the unit assessment, look at state standards, or even create a project.  But in order to get where you want to go it is important to start with a destination.  If not, how will know you got where you wanted.  Mind blown?  Try typing that. ;)

So once you have your destination start planing the best route to get there.  Sometimes the route can be long and have plenty of interesting stops.  Other times the route needs to be short and to the point.  That is the beauty of planing the lesson.  You get to pick the route depending on your students.

Finally, follow the route to reach your destination.  Then start planning for your next adventure.  I am not sure if this is analogy or allegory, but I hope it is easy to understand. Watch your passengers to see if you need to go faster or slower and once you get there... see if they actually came with you and plan form the next stop or figure out short cut to get back to where you need them.

I will find some proof this week. Enjoy your night. BTW: #wmmschat tomorrow

Day 17- Student Engagement

As I posted earlier this week, we are nearing a time in the school year when students and teachers start to get a bit more comfortable with each other.  Some folks might say that we are in the waning phases of the "honeymoon" period.  Others might say this is when students have a tendency to "show themselves."  I look at it as students and teachers getting comfortable with each other.  The excitement and prestige of the the beginning of the year is wearing off and it is now time for us, as teachers, to keep the feeling, the rush, the excitement from the beginning of the year going for as long as we can.  We should keep figuring out ways to keep students engaged and motivated for as long as possible.  Let's keep the ride going for as long as we can.  Keep the wave of excitement and eagerness flowing until we need to reinvent what we are doing again.  So with this idea in mind, we will turn our focus to a few very easily researched articles on engagement and motivation.


The first few articles are from Edutopia blogs.  Funded by the George Lucas Foundation, I get to hear a lot about them on NPR and local radio stations.  The first article is just a resource list to several other articles.  I haven't read them all, but I will.  The articles are organized by how you can use them which is located at the top of the article underneath the headline banner.  Their second article is yet another list of links to more articles.

The next article is from the Marzano Center for Learning Science.  If you don't follow them on Twitter, you might want to.  Great ideas and great resources.  The article gives teachers five VERY EASY ways to keep your kids interested.  I like the idea of mild controversy and competition.  Every once in awhile we do need to keep kids on their toes.

So to you I query: Are motivation and engagement separate or linked together much like the "DNA" of keeping kids interested?  My thoughts are not important but alas, I will provide you with THREE resources for student motivation.

Te@chthought is a great site to provide teachers with ideas and help answer some questions one might have.  This article provides a list of "21 Simple Ideas to Improve Student Motivation."

The next two articles come from Mindshift KQED blogs. One provides some more simple methods for how to motivate students while the second gives a bit of deeper exploration to the idea of motivation.

When it is all said and done, how you want to keep kids engaged and motivated is up to you as a teacher.  You get to make choices.  If you want to keep the positive vibes going then read the articles above and get some ideas to keep it flowing.  If you would like to slow things down for now and then pick back up later in the year, read the articles then.  Or better still, find your own resources and feel free to share them here.  If you don't want the read the articles, well, I can't force you.  I can just say best of luck and I hope it all works out in the end.  I just wish that I had this many resources at my finger tips when I first started in this gig.

And now for something completely different...almost.

#WMMSCHAT

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

4-5 PM EAST COAST
(questions subject to change)

Welcome to #wmmschat, please introduce yourself and tell me how you keep yourself motivated.

Q1) With the school year coming into full swing, what changes are you noticing in your students level of enthusiasm?

Q2) What is the difference, if any, between student engagement and motivation?

Q3) What are some signs that your students are not engaged in your lesson?

Q4) What are some signs that your students are fully engaged? (What does the engaged class look and sound like?)

Q5) Agree or not and explain: To increase engagement, I must increase the challenge of my lesson?

Q6)  What is one simple task, you do to get student's quickly engaged in the lesson?

Q7)  How are you going to sustain interest in your class for this year?  What are going to change?

Enjoy the weekend.  No post tomorrow.  Go Orioles!!!