The last two weeks have been a blast.
First of all we've been working on our latest project; Bridge building! I wanted a fun project that still involved some math so here's what we did...
The first things students did was watch two videos from Discovery Education about how bridges are built in the real world and some neat examples of bridges across the globe.
Students then formed their own groups and had to come up with a construction company name, logo, and slogan. They also had to complete three blueprints of the bridge they were planning on building.
After submitting their blueprints, and getting them approved, students had a budget of $1.5 million dollars to create their ultimate bride. They were only allowed to use Popsicle sticks and Elmer's glue.
- each posicle stick cost $5,000
- each bottle of glue cost $50,000
- each color of paint was $3,000
- each marker used to color was $1,000
Students had to stay within budget and create a bridge that they thought could hold the most weight. The bridge also had to be at least 16 inches long and 4 inches wide.
After creating their bridge students also had to create presentations. They were going to act like a really company and submit a "pitch" to me to convince me to buy their bridge. Their presentation had to have their slogan, logo, company name, company history, bridge costs, an estimate of how much weight they think it will hold, and pictures of work along the way. The kids did awesome!
After everything was completed (they had a little under 2 weeks) they presented their presentations to me via Google Hangout (because I had to be at home that day). It was so cool to see my students do their entire presentation via Google Hangout!
When I came back that next Monday we broke bridges! We piled weight on top of the middle of the bridge until the bridge broke. The highest holding bridge lasted to over 250 pounds!!
The other activity we did for a day was a #youmatter activity. If you're on Twitter you may have seen the hashtag #youmatter that was created by Angela Maiers (@AngelaMaiers) She has also created www.choose2matter.org and http://choose2matter.org/general/the-launch-of-the-quest2matter
It pretty much exists to remind people that they are noticed and someone appreciates them. And I thought what a better time to do this than Teacher Appreciation Week!!
So I got with my students and we made a giant wall of chart paper in the hall and wrote the hashtag #youmatter at the top. We taped a box of markers to the wall and sent an email out to teachers encouraging them to write #youmatter notes on the wall (my students also wrote #youmatter notes on the wall). I worked on tweeting notes that were written during the day with the hashtag. Each one of my students also wrote a letter to a former (or current) teacher that they wanted to thank for the impact they had on their lives. After writing the letters the students hand delivered them to the teachers. I can say that there were quite a few tears shed.
It was a great day and one where the students got to recognize accomplishments of teachers and just flat out tell them thank you and that they matter. It was awesome.
So to Angela Maiers I say, THANK YOU. You have inspired me greatly and I hope to continue to push my students and fellow teachers to remind other that #youmatter. Also, if I'm not mistaken, today (May 15) is Angela Maiers birthday, so you should send her a "Happy Birthday" tweet :)
Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
EdCampWaller - April 28th, 2013
Wow, what a whirlwind weekend. This weekend Waller hosted it's first ever EdCampWaller! We had over 200 educators from all over Texas!! Several of whom drove over 7 hours to be there. To say that it was an incredible day is an understatement.
The idea of EdCampWaller came from when Stacey Huffine (@TechNinjaStacey) and I attended EdCampDallas in September last year. We fell in love with the idea and knew we had to bring the concept to our area of the state.
So the planning began on the drive home from EdCampDallas and we've been working hard since. We had over 55 sponsors that provided us with wonderful door prizes for our attendees. From a entire school license to Flocabulary, Houston Astros tickets, free Blue Bell Ice Cream, Camtasia Licenses, 2 Google Nexus 7s, a ByteSpeed Netbook, tons of shirts, and so much more. We're proud to say that every single person walked away with several door prizes!
The day was incredible! As people arrived they were greeted with smiles as we checked them in on iPads from their registration on EventBrite. They then got free goodies from companies like Google, Remind101, Claco, Premium Outlet Mall (in Houston), Evernote and many more. Participants also were provided with a free light breakfast of bagels from Panera Bread and bottled water (Thank You TCEA and AnswerUnderground)
As people entered the auditorium they were able to see all the awesome door prizes up on stage and the giant blank schedule in the back of the auditorium. The schedule filled in quite quickly! We were a little nervous ahead of time that maybe the schedule board wouldn't fill in, but I think we got a great variety of sessions for every hour! Some have debated whether or not our EdCamp was in the true EdCamp style of all sessions being discussions and round table environment. I agree that that is something we can definitely do better at next year! There were some traditional presentations (which EdCamp founders sometimes frown upon) but in the end all I heard was how much people learned, and to me that equates to a success. Is there work to be done to make our edcamp better?? OF COURSE! So we greatly appreciate ALL the feedback we've received!
We also had a group of Student Council members selling snacks and drinks to participants.
Now when it comes to attending sessions, I truly wish I could have cloned myself. There were WAY too many great sessions I wanted to attend.
I lead a session during the first time about Flipped Classroom and PBL. It was awesome mainly because I got to lead it with 5 of my students! The room was beyond packed and my students were a little overwhelmed and nervous but they did awesome! And we got some great feedback. It was my students first time presenting in front of teachers and they rocked it!
I also got to see a session lead by Fayettville Students and man they were incredible!! Some great conversations happened in that room! Another overflowing session I caught some of was the Teach Like a Pirate session lead by Chris Kelser (@iamkesler). All I could hear was great ideas being thrown around by the entire room. If there was any session Saturday that was very in the EdCamp mindset it was definitely this session!!
There were even more incredible sessions that I could just be writing for hours!
The only real complaint we heard about the day was that ever annoying WiFi! I think what happened was somehow there was a "limit" set on the WiFi and it kept kicking people off. I'm not sure if that's what happened but it is definitely something we are fixing for next year.
200 teachers from all across the state of Texas came together on Saturday. 75% of whom had NEVER been to an EdCamp or much less any conference. And from the feedback we've already received from a survey LEARNING HAPPENED! And teachers got connected with other passionate educators from around the state!
So in closing, THANK YOU to everyone who attended. Thank you to Waller ISD and Superintendent Danny Twardowski for allowing us to use the Waller ISD facilities. Thank you Rosa Ojeda for doing a ton of prep before and on the day of. Thank you to the entire EdCampWaller planning team. EdCampWaller was a great success because of EVERYONE involved. Powerful things happen with passionate educators come together. EdCampWaller is proof of that! Can't wait for EdCampWaller 2014!
By the way check out this awesome video the ever incredible Andrea Keller (@akbusybee) made of the day! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i7jyzDOdCU
And Two sessions were recorded (Genius Hour and PBL; with @iamkesler and @cfanch)
Fancher PBL
Part 1 -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej8ivhkMBxo
Part 2 –http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKeFaif9-b8
Part 3 –http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS8aZDhxZQ8
Kesler Genius Hour
http://ustre.am/QDwx
Please join in on this GREAT document created by Mindi Vandagriff (@mindivandagriff) and Amy Pratt (@apratt5) They said they would love to have notes from every session, so please feel free to add yours and keep the link to refer back to.
http://ow.ly/kvCNX
And you can check out our slideshow by visiting http://cellblock.com/watch.htm?id=mWyCzcGeTyBfYdccSTkG
Interested in attending some other EdCamps in TX?
The idea of EdCampWaller came from when Stacey Huffine (@TechNinjaStacey) and I attended EdCampDallas in September last year. We fell in love with the idea and knew we had to bring the concept to our area of the state.
So the planning began on the drive home from EdCampDallas and we've been working hard since. We had over 55 sponsors that provided us with wonderful door prizes for our attendees. From a entire school license to Flocabulary, Houston Astros tickets, free Blue Bell Ice Cream, Camtasia Licenses, 2 Google Nexus 7s, a ByteSpeed Netbook, tons of shirts, and so much more. We're proud to say that every single person walked away with several door prizes!
The day was incredible! As people arrived they were greeted with smiles as we checked them in on iPads from their registration on EventBrite. They then got free goodies from companies like Google, Remind101, Claco, Premium Outlet Mall (in Houston), Evernote and many more. Participants also were provided with a free light breakfast of bagels from Panera Bread and bottled water (Thank You TCEA and AnswerUnderground)
As people entered the auditorium they were able to see all the awesome door prizes up on stage and the giant blank schedule in the back of the auditorium. The schedule filled in quite quickly! We were a little nervous ahead of time that maybe the schedule board wouldn't fill in, but I think we got a great variety of sessions for every hour! Some have debated whether or not our EdCamp was in the true EdCamp style of all sessions being discussions and round table environment. I agree that that is something we can definitely do better at next year! There were some traditional presentations (which EdCamp founders sometimes frown upon) but in the end all I heard was how much people learned, and to me that equates to a success. Is there work to be done to make our edcamp better?? OF COURSE! So we greatly appreciate ALL the feedback we've received!
We also had a group of Student Council members selling snacks and drinks to participants.
Now when it comes to attending sessions, I truly wish I could have cloned myself. There were WAY too many great sessions I wanted to attend.
I lead a session during the first time about Flipped Classroom and PBL. It was awesome mainly because I got to lead it with 5 of my students! The room was beyond packed and my students were a little overwhelmed and nervous but they did awesome! And we got some great feedback. It was my students first time presenting in front of teachers and they rocked it!
I also got to see a session lead by Fayettville Students and man they were incredible!! Some great conversations happened in that room! Another overflowing session I caught some of was the Teach Like a Pirate session lead by Chris Kelser (@iamkesler). All I could hear was great ideas being thrown around by the entire room. If there was any session Saturday that was very in the EdCamp mindset it was definitely this session!!
There were even more incredible sessions that I could just be writing for hours!
The only real complaint we heard about the day was that ever annoying WiFi! I think what happened was somehow there was a "limit" set on the WiFi and it kept kicking people off. I'm not sure if that's what happened but it is definitely something we are fixing for next year.
200 teachers from all across the state of Texas came together on Saturday. 75% of whom had NEVER been to an EdCamp or much less any conference. And from the feedback we've already received from a survey LEARNING HAPPENED! And teachers got connected with other passionate educators from around the state!
So in closing, THANK YOU to everyone who attended. Thank you to Waller ISD and Superintendent Danny Twardowski for allowing us to use the Waller ISD facilities. Thank you Rosa Ojeda for doing a ton of prep before and on the day of. Thank you to the entire EdCampWaller planning team. EdCampWaller was a great success because of EVERYONE involved. Powerful things happen with passionate educators come together. EdCampWaller is proof of that! Can't wait for EdCampWaller 2014!
By the way check out this awesome video the ever incredible Andrea Keller (@akbusybee) made of the day! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i7jyzDOdCU
And Two sessions were recorded (Genius Hour and PBL; with @iamkesler and @cfanch)
You can
view them by visiting these links
Fancher PBL
Part 1 -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej8ivhkMBxo
Part 2 –http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKeFaif9-b8
Part 3 –http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IS8aZDhxZQ8
Kesler Genius Hour
http://ustre.am/QDwx
Please join in on this GREAT document created by Mindi Vandagriff (@mindivandagriff) and Amy Pratt (@apratt5) They said they would love to have notes from every session, so please feel free to add yours and keep the link to refer back to.
http://ow.ly/kvCNX
And you can check out our slideshow by visiting http://cellblock.com/watch.htm?id=mWyCzcGeTyBfYdccSTkG
Interested in attending some other EdCamps in TX?
EdCamp San Antonio (July 15) - http://edcamp.wikispaces.com/edcamp+San+Antonio
EdCamp Fort Worth (July 27) - http://edcamp.wikispaces.com/edcamp+FortWorthTX
Friday, April 26, 2013
State Testing Results!!
Ok so I know I didn't blog last week! My bad! What we did last week was that my fifth graders were given third grade TEKS (our state standards) by a 3rd grade teacher that the 3rd graders were low in. My fifth graders created games, presentations, whatever for those TEKS, and then on Thursday of last week each group of fifth graders got a group of 4-5 third graders for 45 minutes that they had to re-teach that TEK too. The kids had a blast and were so professional!
This week was amazing, because we got our results from our STAAR (state) Test that we took about 2 weeks ago. If you have been following my blog you know that I have been Flipping my classroom this year. Then in October I made the decision to move to completely Project Based Learning and not to teach even ONE test formatted question. I had a thought that my students could preform well on a test without ever being "taught the test". And what's even better is my principal totally supported this endeavor.
Now that's not to say I quit flipping. All the lessons were flipped (done at home) and class time has been spent completely on project based learning with no test formatted questions and no worksheets. Now before I continue I must admit, that two weeks before the test I was asked by my district to teach some test formatted questions. We are a recognized district, and it understandably made them nervous that I hadn't taught any test formatted questions. So for about 5 school days we worked on Test Formatted Qs and it was PAINFUL (you can read about it in one of my previous posts).
But 95% of my instruction was not test formatted. I focused on making sure that my students were mastering our state standards through hands on learning and inquiry based activities, never even talking about or considering a state test.
So to say I was nervous about our scores is an understatement. I was terrified. I had a LOT riding on our state scores. In Texas, assessment scores are tremendously valued and looked at. So I knew we were being watched closely by our district and other 4 elementary schools.
Well we got scores back this week.....out of my 75 students, 72 passed! That equates to a 96% pass rate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was elated. I have NEVER scored that high, even was I was "teaching a test". I also had 22% commended (and one perfect score!)! To say I was excited is an extreme understatement. And I was finally able to tell my students yesterday how they did (had to wait until after we took Science STAAR this week). They were jumping up and down, screaming, everything! And they were also pumped because for the first time we were the top scoring school in our district too!! Now our district did awesome with STAAR scores this year, but my kids wanted to be at the top of the heap (because only one exam, out of about 8 exams, have we actually been on top). So when we found out we had the highest scores we were thrilled!! We even scored above the district average!
Now I have two weeks before 5th grade has re-takes, and then those three students of mine will get to re-take their exam and if they all pass we'll be at 100% passing!
I am just so thrilled to finally have DATA PROOF that the Flipped Classroom and Project Based Learning WORK if done correctly! You don't have to teach a test, or teach test formatted Questions to get your students to be successful. I've been preaching that all year, and now I finally have data to back me up!
My students are learning deeper, gaining more knowledge, and making memories more than they ever would have had I taught them a test all year. I focused on our standards and worked from there! So now, it's time for us to celebrate :)
*** If you would like to learn more about my Flipped Classroom or Project Based Learning I have a Webinar coming up with Sophia.org on May 7th at 6pm CST and you can register for it here http://www.eventbrite.com/event/6037667827
This week was amazing, because we got our results from our STAAR (state) Test that we took about 2 weeks ago. If you have been following my blog you know that I have been Flipping my classroom this year. Then in October I made the decision to move to completely Project Based Learning and not to teach even ONE test formatted question. I had a thought that my students could preform well on a test without ever being "taught the test". And what's even better is my principal totally supported this endeavor.
Now that's not to say I quit flipping. All the lessons were flipped (done at home) and class time has been spent completely on project based learning with no test formatted questions and no worksheets. Now before I continue I must admit, that two weeks before the test I was asked by my district to teach some test formatted questions. We are a recognized district, and it understandably made them nervous that I hadn't taught any test formatted questions. So for about 5 school days we worked on Test Formatted Qs and it was PAINFUL (you can read about it in one of my previous posts).
But 95% of my instruction was not test formatted. I focused on making sure that my students were mastering our state standards through hands on learning and inquiry based activities, never even talking about or considering a state test.
So to say I was nervous about our scores is an understatement. I was terrified. I had a LOT riding on our state scores. In Texas, assessment scores are tremendously valued and looked at. So I knew we were being watched closely by our district and other 4 elementary schools.
Well we got scores back this week.....out of my 75 students, 72 passed! That equates to a 96% pass rate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was elated. I have NEVER scored that high, even was I was "teaching a test". I also had 22% commended (and one perfect score!)! To say I was excited is an extreme understatement. And I was finally able to tell my students yesterday how they did (had to wait until after we took Science STAAR this week). They were jumping up and down, screaming, everything! And they were also pumped because for the first time we were the top scoring school in our district too!! Now our district did awesome with STAAR scores this year, but my kids wanted to be at the top of the heap (because only one exam, out of about 8 exams, have we actually been on top). So when we found out we had the highest scores we were thrilled!! We even scored above the district average!
Now I have two weeks before 5th grade has re-takes, and then those three students of mine will get to re-take their exam and if they all pass we'll be at 100% passing!
I am just so thrilled to finally have DATA PROOF that the Flipped Classroom and Project Based Learning WORK if done correctly! You don't have to teach a test, or teach test formatted Questions to get your students to be successful. I've been preaching that all year, and now I finally have data to back me up!
My students are learning deeper, gaining more knowledge, and making memories more than they ever would have had I taught them a test all year. I focused on our standards and worked from there! So now, it's time for us to celebrate :)
*** If you would like to learn more about my Flipped Classroom or Project Based Learning I have a Webinar coming up with Sophia.org on May 7th at 6pm CST and you can register for it here http://www.eventbrite.com/event/6037667827
Friday, April 12, 2013
Archery, Mosaics, and XC, OH MY! Week 27 April 8-12, 2013
Man what a great week!
So on Monday I wanted to do something different. Our After School program has had archery equipment for a while, and I am the certified Archery Instructor for the program....so I thought, how can I use this in Math?
So I went out, set up the targets and equipment and then got a piece of chart paper, drew it into spaces and put a math problem in each space. So in other words, I taught them archery, and as they shot they would have to solve the problem that their arrow landed in to earn their team points. The kids had a blast and so did I, even if it was CRAZY windy!
So on Monday I wanted to do something different. Our After School program has had archery equipment for a while, and I am the certified Archery Instructor for the program....so I thought, how can I use this in Math?
So I went out, set up the targets and equipment and then got a piece of chart paper, drew it into spaces and put a math problem in each space. So in other words, I taught them archery, and as they shot they would have to solve the problem that their arrow landed in to earn their team points. The kids had a blast and so did I, even if it was CRAZY windy!
The on Tuesday we started a Mosaic project I found on Pinterest. Again, it's one of those ideas I found on Pinterest and then totally transformed it to fit my class.
Here's what my students did....they were given a piece of large chart paper. Then they were given a ruler and had to decide if they were going to make their squares 1 in by 1 in, 1.5 inch by 1.5 inch, or 2 in by 2 in.
After they made that decision they went and got construction paper to begin cutting their squares to make a mosaic self portrait of themselves. This took QUITE a while because I was continually going around making sure they were actually measuring and making squares instead of a bunch of rectangles. It took two class days for each class to finish (which totals to about 2 hours); and some students had to have a working lunch or take it home to finish it.
So after everyone was done, on Thursday we did the math with it! First they had to write a fraction displaying how much of each color they used. Then they had to simplify those fractions....yes some of them had VERY large denominators (that we normally don't work with in 5th grade) so I let them use calculators when simplifying the fractions (hey, we use calculators as adults!).
After they wrote and simplified their fractions, then they had to determine the perimeter of their shape (depending on what measurement they chose to use at the beginning).
And after they determined the perimeter of their picture they had to determine the area of their shape (not counting the eyes, hair, or neck).
It was a lot of math, but it was really fun! And afterwards we got to display them in the hallway. Since my kids are now Minecraft addict they were all commenting about how much their people look like Minecraft characters, which I found pretty funny.
This week was also fun because the students got to use their devices, and QR codes to do a warm up using SMART XC (extreme collaboration). The kids scanned the green QR code, answered the question, then scanned the black QR code, which connected them to the SMARTboard, and they typed in their answer. Their answer then shows up on the board somewhere and after we have a bunch we can see which one is correct! And what's great is I can choose for the information to be anonymous so no kid has to worry about being made fun of if their answer is wrong. Thanks to @RafranzDavis for showing me this!
So it was another great PBL week, with still no test formatted questions. We're learning AND having fun! Couldn't be better!
Friday, April 5, 2013
STAAR Week! Week 27 April 1-5, 2013
So this week was finally the time. The time for our state standardized test (or STAAR).
So Monday we had a last minute review where I mainly just talked with the kids about setting a goal and not stressing out about the test. I haven't mentioned STAAR much this year because I think it should be treated just like any other exam and not given all this extra attention too.
Tuesday we took the Math. We have four timed hours to take it so we took it from 9am-1pm. The kids seemed to work really hard, but I had 3 kids finish in the last 10 minutes! Talk about stressed!!
Then Wednesday we took the Reading STAAR. The reading is also timed for four hours.
Talk about two terrible days of testing! I was soooo bored just walking around for four hours monitoring my students.
Thursday and Friday we did something different. Our After School program has purchased this lego for Education set, so I borrowed it. Thursday my students build lego robots from the set using the directions and plugging it into a computer and making it work. Then Friday I had the students create their own working robots from their imagination and not from a book! They had a blast and really got to learn while playing! It was great! I have some cool project ideas for next week that I'm excited to blog about :)
Also, for the next two weeks (starting Monday) I will also be tweeting for the twitter account @PRIschoolyear please feel free to follow the account and check out my tweet as I take on a new endeavor with PRI!
I also forgot to blog about last week how we played a review game with QR codes. The kids would scan the code, answer the question, then find the next card that had the answer at the top. It was a blast!
So Monday we had a last minute review where I mainly just talked with the kids about setting a goal and not stressing out about the test. I haven't mentioned STAAR much this year because I think it should be treated just like any other exam and not given all this extra attention too.
Tuesday we took the Math. We have four timed hours to take it so we took it from 9am-1pm. The kids seemed to work really hard, but I had 3 kids finish in the last 10 minutes! Talk about stressed!!
Then Wednesday we took the Reading STAAR. The reading is also timed for four hours.
Talk about two terrible days of testing! I was soooo bored just walking around for four hours monitoring my students.
Thursday and Friday we did something different. Our After School program has purchased this lego for Education set, so I borrowed it. Thursday my students build lego robots from the set using the directions and plugging it into a computer and making it work. Then Friday I had the students create their own working robots from their imagination and not from a book! They had a blast and really got to learn while playing! It was great! I have some cool project ideas for next week that I'm excited to blog about :)
Also, for the next two weeks (starting Monday) I will also be tweeting for the twitter account @PRIschoolyear please feel free to follow the account and check out my tweet as I take on a new endeavor with PRI!
I also forgot to blog about last week how we played a review game with QR codes. The kids would scan the code, answer the question, then find the next card that had the answer at the top. It was a blast!
Thursday, March 28, 2013
EdCampFSE - Week 26 March 25-28, 2013
First off I have to say I work with some pretty incredible people. So I heard about the whole EdCamp idea last year when I attended EdCampDallas. I fell in love with the idea so much that now I am in the midst of planning EdCampWaller for our area. When explaining what an EdCamp is to one of Reading Teacher partners, she said "Wouldn't it be cool to do that with kids??". And from that idea EdCampFSE (Fields Store Elementary) was born. So thank you Jean Marki!
We took our spring benchmark about a month ago. From those results, the students who earned commended spent the last three weeks creating a 15-20 minute presentation over our state standards that were scored lowest on the Benchmark for Reading and Math. We didn't give them any instructions besides...
- Make a 15-20 minute presentation
- It must be hands on
- It must include technology somehow
The commended kids took the idea and ran with it. They worked during our class in groups of 2-4 every day, while I was able to teach my other struggling students.
It all built up to this week. Yesterday afternoon I met with the groups that were to present. We sat down together and created a schedule for EdCampFSE. We had a total of eight sessions planned throughout the day. We also sent out an email to about 20-30 other educators in our area but only heard back from two. So thank you Lauren Crites (our District Reading Specialist) and Terry Garrett (our campus Assistant Principal) for also leading sessions during our EdCamp. Us teachers were very hands off and only there to monitor, take pics, and add advice.
By the way, these are FIFTH graders. They did INCREDIBLE! Sure there were some presentations that struggled but these kids haven't had a lot of presentation experience I had kids that used Google to create and share presentations with their entire group. Kids that created games to play with their group. Kids that took their group outside to measure things on our school property, kids that used a presentation tool called Presefy which allowed them to stream their presentation to every students device....and they came up with all these ideas completely on their own! We've worked really hard to build creativity, independence and sense of fun and learning in our students and it is really showing more than we ever imagined. In all honesty, who cares how are kids do on their state standardized test, our kids are LEARNING!
The kids also had a blast learning from each other and getting to CHOOSE what sessions they wanted to attend....we had sessions...
- Poetry Please - all about poetry
- Lights, Camera, Drama - about the different types of stories we study in 5th grade
- Got Organization? - about organizing your story and cause and effect.
- Bac Bac - about identifying and working with prime and composite numbers
- Simplify ME! - about simplifying fractions
- What are the Chances - about probability
- PA Hunt - an outside scavenger hunt about perimeter and area
- Yummy Fractions - about adding, subtracting, and converting fractions
- The Future is NOW! - about predictions
- Graffiti Wall - this session was designed to have kids write inspirational messages and reminders for their test next week.
- ESL - lead by our AP about using dictionaries and how to work through a test if you're an English Language Learner
- QR and Reading - This session was lead by Lauren Crites about using QR codes and how to prepare for the Reading Test.
The kids were rockstars. They were super professional and their sessions were better than some adult presentations I've been to. Yes they were short (less than 20 min) but honestly with 5th graders that's about all the attention span you had!
We also hosted a "Presenter Lunch" where the students were able to eat lunch and get a free dessert with us if they were a presenter and at the end of the day, just like a real EdCamp, we gave out door prizes and had a SMACKdown where the students shared their favorite parts of the day!
I know we are already planning a second EdCamp for the end of the year, except that all the sessions will be kids presenting about things they're interested in. One of our state standards in 5th is to teach researching, so when we teach that we're going to have kids research something they're passionate about and present about it.
Here are a few pictures from our day...BTW I also recorded all the sessions and will upload them and post the link soon! (Hopefully in the next week!) Feel free to leave any comments below!
We took our spring benchmark about a month ago. From those results, the students who earned commended spent the last three weeks creating a 15-20 minute presentation over our state standards that were scored lowest on the Benchmark for Reading and Math. We didn't give them any instructions besides...
- Make a 15-20 minute presentation
- It must be hands on
- It must include technology somehow
The commended kids took the idea and ran with it. They worked during our class in groups of 2-4 every day, while I was able to teach my other struggling students.
It all built up to this week. Yesterday afternoon I met with the groups that were to present. We sat down together and created a schedule for EdCampFSE. We had a total of eight sessions planned throughout the day. We also sent out an email to about 20-30 other educators in our area but only heard back from two. So thank you Lauren Crites (our District Reading Specialist) and Terry Garrett (our campus Assistant Principal) for also leading sessions during our EdCamp. Us teachers were very hands off and only there to monitor, take pics, and add advice.
By the way, these are FIFTH graders. They did INCREDIBLE! Sure there were some presentations that struggled but these kids haven't had a lot of presentation experience I had kids that used Google to create and share presentations with their entire group. Kids that created games to play with their group. Kids that took their group outside to measure things on our school property, kids that used a presentation tool called Presefy which allowed them to stream their presentation to every students device....and they came up with all these ideas completely on their own! We've worked really hard to build creativity, independence and sense of fun and learning in our students and it is really showing more than we ever imagined. In all honesty, who cares how are kids do on their state standardized test, our kids are LEARNING!
The kids also had a blast learning from each other and getting to CHOOSE what sessions they wanted to attend....we had sessions...
- Poetry Please - all about poetry
- Lights, Camera, Drama - about the different types of stories we study in 5th grade
- Got Organization? - about organizing your story and cause and effect.
- Bac Bac - about identifying and working with prime and composite numbers
- Simplify ME! - about simplifying fractions
- What are the Chances - about probability
- PA Hunt - an outside scavenger hunt about perimeter and area
- Yummy Fractions - about adding, subtracting, and converting fractions
- The Future is NOW! - about predictions
- Graffiti Wall - this session was designed to have kids write inspirational messages and reminders for their test next week.
- ESL - lead by our AP about using dictionaries and how to work through a test if you're an English Language Learner
- QR and Reading - This session was lead by Lauren Crites about using QR codes and how to prepare for the Reading Test.
The kids were rockstars. They were super professional and their sessions were better than some adult presentations I've been to. Yes they were short (less than 20 min) but honestly with 5th graders that's about all the attention span you had!
We also hosted a "Presenter Lunch" where the students were able to eat lunch and get a free dessert with us if they were a presenter and at the end of the day, just like a real EdCamp, we gave out door prizes and had a SMACKdown where the students shared their favorite parts of the day!
I know we are already planning a second EdCamp for the end of the year, except that all the sessions will be kids presenting about things they're interested in. One of our state standards in 5th is to teach researching, so when we teach that we're going to have kids research something they're passionate about and present about it.
Here are a few pictures from our day...BTW I also recorded all the sessions and will upload them and post the link soon! (Hopefully in the next week!) Feel free to leave any comments below!
Monday, March 25, 2013
I hate STAAR - Week 25, March 18-22, 2013
So, yes I know, the title to this post is very negative. But it's very true. STAAR (or the state-exam for Texas) is crazy. Now, honestly I'm all for testing. I think our students should be tested for what they know and have learned that school year, but WAY too much emphasis is put on the STAAR test and it's results.
Here's why I say that...
This year I've turned my Flipped Classroom into a completely Project Based Learning environment. My students are learning at a much deeper level than ever before, and we're having a blast! My scores have increased, and remained very competitive with the other five elementary schools in my district. My entire team (I only teach math and social studies) have discussed the huge difference we've noticed across the board in our students' understanding as we've all began to move to PBL.
BUT regardless of all the work I've done, I was still informed that I HAD to teach test formatted questions to make sure my students were prepared for the STAAR test. Now that drives me insane. Why should I have to teach formatted test questions when my students are performing fine on all exams by NOT teaching formatted test questions. I'm teaching my state standards, and that's what I should be doing. But, on the other hand, I kind of understand. Scores are very important to my district (as they are with most districts). We were a recognized school district last year. But me not teaching test formatted questions makes my district nervous, cause they want to be guaranteed good scores, which in turn means I have to teach a test for a few weeks.
So this week, that's exactly what I did. And it was HELL. I hated it, the students hated it, and no one could understand why we were doing this. But I did as I was asked. What I find even more humorous is the fact that I was told to use a Pearson book to get all my Questions out of, because Pearson wrote the test, so the Pearson book is a good indication of what we'll see on the test.
Well that's what I did. And half of the questions I found in this Pearson book WEREN'T EVEN ON GRADE LEVEL (they were a grade, sometimes two grade levels, higher). It's kind of hard to teach test formatted questions when they questions I'm being asked to pull have math that the students won't be introduced to until 6th or 7th grade.
I guess we all forget that Pearson is a very large company, and a very large company whose only concern is to make money. So yes our State paid them millions of dollars for our State Exam, but they are a large company who makes the same review book for all the states but just changes the state standard wording. It is beyond frustrating.
So I guess I'm done venting. I taught the way I used to teach, last week. The style of teaching that almost made me quit my career last year. I taught a test. The kids hated it. I hated it, and I was quickly reminded why so many of our students are "checking out" mentally from school. Because it's not fun, and it's become an environment that isn't preparing them for a future where standardized tests are not part of a career. I can't wait til next week when we take the test and then I can get back to teaching them their state standards by doing different projects and hands on activities where the knowledge will stick in more than just to bubble in the correct answer.
Feel free to leave comments below!
Here's why I say that...
This year I've turned my Flipped Classroom into a completely Project Based Learning environment. My students are learning at a much deeper level than ever before, and we're having a blast! My scores have increased, and remained very competitive with the other five elementary schools in my district. My entire team (I only teach math and social studies) have discussed the huge difference we've noticed across the board in our students' understanding as we've all began to move to PBL.
BUT regardless of all the work I've done, I was still informed that I HAD to teach test formatted questions to make sure my students were prepared for the STAAR test. Now that drives me insane. Why should I have to teach formatted test questions when my students are performing fine on all exams by NOT teaching formatted test questions. I'm teaching my state standards, and that's what I should be doing. But, on the other hand, I kind of understand. Scores are very important to my district (as they are with most districts). We were a recognized school district last year. But me not teaching test formatted questions makes my district nervous, cause they want to be guaranteed good scores, which in turn means I have to teach a test for a few weeks.
So this week, that's exactly what I did. And it was HELL. I hated it, the students hated it, and no one could understand why we were doing this. But I did as I was asked. What I find even more humorous is the fact that I was told to use a Pearson book to get all my Questions out of, because Pearson wrote the test, so the Pearson book is a good indication of what we'll see on the test.
Well that's what I did. And half of the questions I found in this Pearson book WEREN'T EVEN ON GRADE LEVEL (they were a grade, sometimes two grade levels, higher). It's kind of hard to teach test formatted questions when they questions I'm being asked to pull have math that the students won't be introduced to until 6th or 7th grade.
I guess we all forget that Pearson is a very large company, and a very large company whose only concern is to make money. So yes our State paid them millions of dollars for our State Exam, but they are a large company who makes the same review book for all the states but just changes the state standard wording. It is beyond frustrating.
So I guess I'm done venting. I taught the way I used to teach, last week. The style of teaching that almost made me quit my career last year. I taught a test. The kids hated it. I hated it, and I was quickly reminded why so many of our students are "checking out" mentally from school. Because it's not fun, and it's become an environment that isn't preparing them for a future where standardized tests are not part of a career. I can't wait til next week when we take the test and then I can get back to teaching them their state standards by doing different projects and hands on activities where the knowledge will stick in more than just to bubble in the correct answer.
Feel free to leave comments below!
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