A Bone to Pick with Behavior Management Tools

Let me start off by saying this post will offend people. I'm sure some of you are already turned off by the title of my blog. So let me say this, please read everything I am going to post and thoroughly think through what I'm saying before getting defensive or offended. If you would like to have a conversation afterward, let me know and I would happy to have a civil conversation about it.

So let's jump into it. Behavior Management Tools. I say Tools because I'm talking clip charts, letters on the desk, dojo points, etc. Anything that you can visibly see that shows a student is a "behavior problem". I need to write about my feelings because I recently joined a group on Facebook of other fourth grade teachers and many of them I don't know. I don't want to be that person who writes on all their posts trying to make them question what they're doing.

 Picture this, you're getting in your car with your child after school. You ask them how their day was. They respond with, I got on blue today. That's it? You're excited because you made good choices in class today? That's the take away? What did you LEARN? Now don't get me wrong, if they've been making bad choices, maybe this is the accomplishment, but they're not excited about anything else? Houston, we have a problem. Where's the excitement for learning??

My main problem with these tools is simple, it's demeaning and disrespectful to the students as human beings. Let me explain. Our job is to cultivate a love of learning in students where they will find a passion and become so engrossed in it that they move on to become productive members of society using that passion somehow. Right? So when is the last time your boss publicly reprimanded you for making a mistake? A mistake. That's what we're talking about. Most students get punished on these tools because they made a bad choice, they made a mistake. Rather than talking through this mistake with them, we punish them. What do we do when they make a mistake in reading? Punish them? Of course not. So what makes behavior and social emotional skills any different? Aren't they learning those as well.

So I want you to ask yourself, if my boss/principal reprimanded me the same way I do my students, how would I feel? I don't know about you (and I think I have a pretty good idea), but if my principal had a clip chart in her office and moved my clip down when I made a mistake, I'd be embarrassed and ashamed. Why didn't she approach me about this mistake and make sure I understood why it wasn't appropriate? Because I clearly misunderstood something regarding her expectations. In the same turn, if she showed me or my parents a page at the end of the week that had all my positive and negatives, I would feel defeated. No one likes their mistakes and faults pointed out on a regular basis.

We need to start approaching our students behavior and social emotional status as something that needs to be learned and achieved. Not something they should have known better. We need to learn to correct behavior in ways that isn't embarrassing and disrespectful to students. I can guarantee you that most of you with children can ask your kid who in their classroom causes the most behavior issues in class and they'll give you an answer, because most teachers make it glaringly obvious who makes the most mistakes in behavior. And let's face it, we are all still human and make mistakes. It's life so let's give them strategies for combating and correcting mistakes.

Why Are We So Quick To Label Students?

This week we got our class lists! Which was exciting for me for two reasons. One, it meant I could start labeling things! Two, it was my first look into the names that I will be spending the rest of the school year with. (However, if I haven't expressed it on here before, I loved my last class and I'm not ready to let them go!) I'm excited to start my third year teaching! For one, I never thought I would make it here. I had to overcome so much I wasn't totally convinced I would ever reach my dream of being a teacher. I thought I would have to resign myself to the fact that I would make do with the corporate world and training in lieu of teaching. For another, it means I'm at a point where I feel a little more comfortable to try some new things while still keeping the things that have worked for me in the past couple years. So why the title of this post? Yesterday, I was having lunch with some coworkers and a couple of retired teachers from our school. As with most teacher conversations, the talk turned to the new year and some of the students we will be seeing this year. As talk turned to one student in particular, one of the ladies immediately began to voice the fact that she considered this student ADHD. When I asked her why she felt that way, she mentioned that he liked to move around. I in turn told her I had interacted with the child before and didn't feel as if he had ADHD at all! Now, I haven't had him in class so I can't be for certain but I can tell you that I have my experiences with ADHD and I am pretty good at spotting genuine cases rather than any child who can't sit in their seat for an hour. By the way, WHO WANTS TO SIT FOR AN HOUR?? Not me! I can't sit still without being engaged for more than 20-30 minutes before I turn to other forms of entertainment. My motto for the beginning of the year is to not ask other teachers what they think about their former students because I want to get a good non-jaded opinion of them. Now, I'm not claiming that I'm the best and can solve any student's issues with my magical ways, but sometimes the dynamic between myself and a student may be different than a former teacher and student. I will at some point within the first month consult a former teacher if I'm having trouble getting to the bottom of something with a student, but maybe I can find what best engages them before that point. Again, not claiming I'm all knowing, but shouldn't every student have the chance at a fresh start at the beginning of the school year? Last year, I read the student profiles a couple weeks into school and scoffed when I saw that one child was prone to throwing fits when he didn't get his way. The same child I already shared a love of reading with? I came to realize that this student was bored with regular school because he functioned at a much higher level than most students and didn't see the point in mundane tasks. Um, who can blame him? I gave this student alternative lessons and had him tested for gifted; wouldn't you know I never saw him melt down as indicated in his profile? Again, it comes down to the dynamic between the teacher and student. He probably won't always mesh with his teachers the way he did with me, but I hope I gave him enough tools to be successful in the future. So as we start the new year, stop labeling students before you get to know them! Find out what makes them tick and see if you can help bring that into their learning. I'm not saying we can't ever label students because sometimes it's necessary to label them to get them the help they need in their learning, but sometimes we just need to know out students better rather than slap a label on them. Creating engaging environments isn't always easy but school shouldn't be like it was when we were there. The jobs these students will have won't be the same ones that are available to us today. They're going to see a different future and we need to prepare them for it!

Buncee!

So I'm really excited to share Buncee with my PLN! I learned about Buncee from an awesome abassador in Andover, KS during EdCampKS. It is a presentation tool for teachers and students and it is going to be one of my favorites and an easy go-to! One of my favorite features is that you can easily search in the app for pictures and stickers without having to worry about copying, pasting, and copyright.

Here is the Buncee I created for my students for the first day of school:


One of the things they are going to do is create a Buncee to introduce themselves. They will have the option of sharing it with everyone in front of the class, but all of them will be turned into QR codes for a bulletin board in our classroom.

I also love the Teacher Dashboard where you can assign Buncees and have them turned in on the website. Really great! I think I'm going to use Buncee for student book reviews, a quick and easy way to share what they think about a book with their fellow students.

Click here if you want to give Buncee a try! You can also comment or tweet me if you want more information!

PodStock 2015 - SteamPunk!

So I've had a whole day to process and my mind is still reeling with all the things I would like to do from PodStock but I would like to sit down and write out some of my thoughts. Hopefully you can follow this!

MakerSpaces
So I was really upset not to make it to PreCon which was a giant MakerSpace but I wasn't sure I could afford it and I wasn't sure if I could ask to go. However, there were a lot of opportunities to see and hear about MakerSpaces. The best way I can explain a MakerSpace would be a place where there are a lot of materials for hands on learning and creating. For example, in a MakerSpace a student could learn to sew a bag or they could learn to make a circuit. I would love to bring this idea into my classroom but I don't have the room to put MakerSpace in my class so I've thought of some options.

My first thought is to slowly acquire materials and consumables and keep them in containers in my room that can be easily accessed and brought out. Also, I would offer to let other teachers use the materials if they wanted. The only thing about this is that I would have to get permission to get rid of some old curriculum materials and I don't know how that will go over. My other option would be to ask about creating a MakerSpace somewhere in our school, but I'm not sure we have the room to have a designated space right now. We are in the process of getting some additions because of a bond issue but I'm not sure how that would work right now. I'm thinking the portable MakerSpace would be the best option.

I think to get materials and consumables, I'm going to ask parents for donations of anything they might already have they might not be using. I'm also going to research grants and see if there any I could get to help with finding.

Grants
I went to a great session about getting funding through grants. The presenter made grants seem easy and accessible if you're willing to put in the effort to write them. She also talked about letting your students help and I love being able to have them have a little say in some of it. I plan to look up a few because I would like to get some funding to create the MakerSpace I mentioned above as well as getting funding for some video equipment. The presenter also mentioned a grant for funding to go to conferences. One of the coaches in our district and I started discussing the possibility of applying for that grant to go to a couple different conferences. I'm excited about the possibilities.

Videos
One of the first sessions I went to was about videos in the classroom and the presenter had a lot of great ideas! Here is the link to his presentation which has some good ideas. I could see a lot of his ideas being easily implemented in the classroom.

One of the other sessions I did not attend but was told about talked about a morning video they put on for their school. This was interesting to me because last year I took our morning news and started doing a weekly recorded video instead. However, after watching their videos I feel like I could teach some students to produce these videos every day. All I need is a good MacBook for video editing and maybe a camera if feasible. Here is a link to their YouTube channel. I do wish I would have gone to this session, but I'll take the link and run with it!

Also looking into starting a Periscope channel to show what we're doing in the classroom.

Lego's
There was a session on Story Starters using Lego's. I had learned a little bit about this during EdCampKS but I was excited to see a little more. Now, there is a Lego Story Starter kit you can buy with software, but it seemed expensive and the software does my little good with only my laptop as a computer and all my students using iPads. So here is my thinking, I'm going to put it out there on the school Facebook page that I am looking for Lego's that anyone would be willing to donate they're not using. If I don't get many, I could probably look into grant writing for that or do a Donor's Choose project.

Final Thoughts
So many things rattling around that I'm having a hard time concentrating on anything else! I am planning on starting my classroom layout this coming week. Stay tuned for pictures of my desk-less classroom! I might also be on Periscope this week as I start shopping for my classroom. Check out my Twitter for those videos!

After Thoughts of EdCampKS

So I went to my first EdCamp last week! Can I just say, WOW! What an incredible learning opportunity! Some of the people I met talked about being addicted and traveling to multiple edcamps and I might be joining them with that one! So I'm taking a moment to right down my thoughts a couple days post-edcamp.

The connections
If you don't already know this, I love being connected on Twitter to so many wonderful educators and learning from so many of them. I got to meet some of them the night before via a Tweet Up at a local bar and grill. (EdCampKS took place in Andover, KS) The conversations that got started that night got me so jazzed for the next day! It was great to be able to put faces to some Twitter handles (why yes, we wrote them on our name tags!) as well as make some new Twitter connections for the future. I actually led a session on Twitter to get some newbies started!! We also tweeted our learning all day which just enhanced what we were doing that much more.

The learning
EdCamps are all about what you put into them personally in order to get something out of them. I was excited to jump into conversations and talk with other educators who were just as passionate, if not more so, than myself. I came away with so many ideas that I don't even know where to start! Let's just say that I plan on talking to my new principal about ditching our bulky desks and going with a choice seating for students. I also just submitted a DonorsChoose project to get some coding robots (Dash and Dot) and some creative circuit boards (Makey Makey). Both were in the MakerSpace room along with some other things that I would like, but I'm doing a little bit at a time (and if you haven't figured it out, my little bit is relative to others).

The opportunities
I won't say I don't have ambitions to do more in my profession, and some might say education was a silly move if I want to do more but I don't want to be an administrator. However, I would love to move into something where I'm helping other teachers with integrating technology in the future. This EdCamp gave me opportunities to make some connections and put myself out there so others could see how passionate I am about what I do. A couple things coming out of this EdCamp, I'm in the process of becoming a Buncee ambassador (be prepared to see some learning videos soon) which I am really excited about. I am also talking to the coordinators of EdCampKS about expanding and doing another location out in Dodge City the same day as the other one next year but more opportunites for those who can't travel quite as far. I'm really excited about this and will probably continue posting about it as things come up.

That's all I'm posting for now! Stay tuned for what I'm up to this summer to be ready for next year!

Teaching Like A Pirate - Passion

So I've been reading the Teach Like a Pirate book by Dave Burgess. I love that the book is focused on passion and how that should motivate your teaching. Being a couple weeks into summer, I needed a little motivator to start working on some of my summer projects. So my goal this week is to list out some things I want to accomplish to make my school year better and more engaging for my students. I have many ideas rolling around in my head and I know if I work on some of them now, I'll be more likely to implement them when the school year rolls around.

So my mini-post for tonight is to ask what you want to work on this summer. My passion is technology both as a personal and a professional passion, so I'll be working on some things to make my technology use in the classroom run a little smoother as well as just having some things ready so I'm not scrambling when I remember to do them during the school year. I'd also like to learn a little more about whole brain teaching in order to up my classroom management and engagement. I know my students this year spoiled me with their behavior and I know I'll have to try some new things next year.

So leave me a comment about what you want to work on OR tweet me @jmill517. Maybe we have some similar passions and can put our heads together over some things!

Things I did this last school year!

Since I didn't blog AT ALL this school year, here are some of the highlights that will give you a glimpse into my classroom.

Mystery Skyping
This was the BEST experience I ever had with students and plan to do it again next year! We Skyped with other classes around the country (and a couple from another country as well) to ask yes or no questions to find their location. My students loved seeing this on our schedule for the day and couldn't wait to find out their jobs for the upcoming one! We learned together what worked best and over a few Skypes created a list of jobs and roles to make our calls run smoother. By the end of the year, my students had Skyping down to a fine art. I can't wait to explore the globe with a new class next year! Here are some pictures of my students during our Skype calls (one job was a photographer).




We also had a map we colored in so I'll try to add that picture as well so you can see everywhere we connected! This was a great way to get my students familiar with map skills as well as let them experience collaboration!

PBL (Project-Based Learning)
Last school year I went through some professional development for PBL or Project-Based Learning. This type of learning gives students questions to guide their learning but becomes very student centered and directed. They are experiencing learning hands on and even were able to fins ways to connect learning to their own passions. While I don't claim to be an expert (or any good at it really), I do enjoy incorporating PBL into my lessons when I can. While at the elementary level with curriculum that needs to be covered, it doesn't happen frequently but I like to put it in there when I have the chance. This tends to lend itself best to science and social studies at the elementary level but it is a great way to incorporate reading, writing, and sometimes math into those subjects. This is also a great time to work on group skills! I'm still refining my PBL lesson skills so here are some pictures of some of the projects we did!


We did way more projects than that but I wasn't great about taking pictures, and that's going to change because this blog will be filled with videos and pictures next year!

Skype in the Classroom
I already mentioned how we used Skype to Mystery Skype with other classes but we used Skype for some other things as well! We had a Skype call with a museum in North Carolina after an animal adaptation project. The lady was great and showed them some great animals with interesting facts! Look at how engaged my students were!

My goal is to use the opportunities on Skype in the Classroom more often next year. If you haven't checked it out before, go here. Just look at all the teachers trying to connect! I did a lesson this year, but I'm going to try and make a more specific on next year to hopefully draw some people in! I have some ideas, and am still refining them.

iPads in the Classroom

I am extremely fortunate to have 1:1 iPads in my classroom. I will dedicate another post to discussing all the ways I use them in classroom. Hopefully highlighting my favorites in individual posts. Until then, check out my slideshow under my Twitter feed to see my favorite apps.