Changing the World by EMPOWERING my Students

I have been reading other blogs tonight and seeing the pattern of choosing "one word" to really focus on this year.  This couldn't have come at a better time as I wrestle with getting my big Global Project ready to launch.  My "word" has everything to do with my students, the teachers near and far that I connect with each day and my own children.  My "word" this year is to empower.  

I have been encouraging my students to create positive change not only in our local community, but on a global scale too.  Before the break, I began showing my students a documentary titled Living On One.  It is about four college students that flew to Guatemala to see what it would be like to live on just one dollar a day, for 56 days.  There are six 5-10 minute episodes on the most pressing issues Guatemalan people face everyday.  My students were enthralled with these videos and asked me every morning if we were going to watch another episode.

Emily with my class.

I then invited an amazing young woman into our classroom that lives near us who is running Maison Ke Kontan Children's Home in Port Au Prince where seventeen children currently reside. As well as running the Children's Home she also sponsors over ten children and families who are living in extreme poverty and gives these children an opportunity to attend school.   She also supports a tent city consisting of 76 people where she provides clothing, food, and medical treatment as well as a remote village in the mountains of Montrouis where she personally sponsors a family of nine and provides care packages, medical care, clothing, and food for other Haitians in the village.  Twenty two year old Emily Hime was gracious enough to come and talk to my class about her journey, her passion and why she is moving to Haiti indefinitely this February.  

I am so proud of my students for wanting to create change.  We have decided as

Two children who are in Emily's care wearing our
school t-shirts.

a class to support Emily and her non profit organization Hime For Help.  Before the break my students were brainstorming ways to raise money and how to share and ignite other children to "Be the Change" using social media.  Now this is empowerment.  When my students are showing commitment to act for the common good and problem solving for a better future.

I am going back to school tomorrow with an arm full of mentor texts to share with my students about empowerment and changing the world, one person at a time. 

I can't wait to continue this journey and to invite you to also encourage passion and possibility in your students.  Stay tuned for a Global Project that will empower your students to create, innovate and problem solve in the service of a better future.

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Need an Authentic Audience for Math? Use Twitter

For the past couple of weeks my 2nd graders have been learning about data management.  This past week they have learned about collecting data through surveys, how to create bar graphs and how to analyze the data they have received.  For their culminating activity I asked them to create a question about "favorites."  Once they had their question, I had them tweet it out on our classroom Twitter account (@mrswideensclass).  I then retweeted the questions on my professional Twitter account to try to get enough responses for them to collect their data.  After two days, we had about 10 questions that had a sufficient amount of responses.  The next step was for the children to find their questions on twitter and tally the results.

After the student tallied the responses they created a bar graph to show the data.  I then had the students take pictures of their work and had them use Pic Collage to show their work.  We did this because we try to respond to everyone that has responded to our class on Twitter.  My class wanted to share their results with the people that answered their survey.  After my students created an image in Pic Collage they saved it to the camera roll and responded to everyone that took their survey with the picture of the results and a quick message.

First, I want to thank our PLN for responding to the questions.  The children were so excited to see all of the results.  What a fantastic and different way to collect surveys that are real and authentic.  It is also a fantastic piece of assessment that my students enjoyed, were engaged and eager to complete. 

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Students Show their Thinking with the Drawing Pad App

Today in our quest to find more out about habitats.  We discussed that there are different types of habitats.  I thought we would get through all of the habitats in one literacy block.  Boy was I wrong!  

We first went over our first essential question which is:
What is a habitat?
Students were able to articulate that it is where an animal lives and that a habitat needs 4 things for animals to survive:

1. Food
2. Water
3. Shelter
4. Space

I then introduced the students to the idea that there are different habitats and different sets of animals live in each habitat. We talked about the five major habitats, e.g. arctic, desert, ocean (coral reef or tide pool), rainforest, and savanna.

I then wrote the following questions on the board:

1. What types of animals live in the arctic habitat?
2. What kinds of plants?
3. What colours do you see?
4. What does the landscape look like?

Ultimately, I wanted students to understand that each habitat contains certain characteristics.

I then handed out the iPads and told my students that they could draw and annotate a picture of an arctic habitat with the information they learn from the video clip I was going to show them.  I then showed a video from brainpopjr about arctic habitats.  We actually watched it twice, once to watch it, then I played it a second time as they finished their pictures.  When they were finished their picture, they saved it to the camera roll and  published it to their blogs.   

Here are two examples:

Due to how long this activity took, my teaching partner and I have decided to break the kids into groups and give each group a different habitat to learn about tomorrow.  (brainpopjr has 6 different habitat videos)  We will then have the groups create something to show their learning on the habitat they research and share it with the class.

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Using Padlet to Introduce the RAN Graphic Organizer

We are starting a new Inquiry Unit on Animals and we are in the  "Immersion phase" of the inquiry circle.  Which means, I am inviting curiosity, teaching background knowledge, and inviting students to wonder about different animals.

One of the things that I want my students to include in their Inquiry learning is what their animals habitat is.  I also wanted to introduce them to a new graphic organizer called the RAN strategy, which stands for Reading and Analyzing Nonfiction.

A RAN chart is a lot like a KWL chart.  However, the students start with prior knowledge then after reading or watching something about the topic they move their sticky to a new column based on if their information was right or if it was a misconception.   The chart also still contains a New learning column as well as a Wonderings column.

I took a screen shot of part of a RAN chart and used it as the background to the padlet wall. See what a padlet wall is here.   I then chirped the url of the padlet to the students iPads and had them fill in what they thought the word habitat meant. See what chirp is here.

We then watched the following habitat video and I had students fill in the the New Learning column.

After we watched the video clip we went back to the What I think I know column and moved those notes to either the Confirmed or the Misconception column.  Here is what our padlet wall looks like now:

If you would like to see the padlet live the link is http://padlet.com/kristen_wideen/RAN

Tomorrow I will be giving students a piece of writing on habitats at their reading level.  I will have my students use the RAN strategy using sticky notes and a graphic organizer.

Here is a link to some RAN graphic organizers I found http://www.myteacherpages.com/webpages/mkiva/files/R.A.N%20Writing%20Frames.pdf from Marianna Kiva's website if you wanted to try it out in your own class.

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Worksheets Are NOT Part Of How My Students Show Their Learning

This past Saturday I was fortunate to listen to George Couros speak at EdCampSWO.  One thing he spoke about that really resonated with me was how his niece has pages and pages of homework to do each night.  As I looked at the picture of his niece, I responded with this tweet:

I am not a fan of worksheets or homework.  I think reading is the most important homework for my students and my own children.  

My students just finished their inquiry projects about bats.  We created the list above just a few weeks ago before my students chose how to show all of their research and learning.  I find when you give your students the choice on how to show their learning you get better projects and happy and engaged children.

I am going to share some of their projects, however, I also want you to know that I feel that the process is much more important than the product.  I don't correct their spelling or have them redo their posters if there is incorrect information.  This is THEIR work, not mine.  We talk about the content and feedback after they present.  I am always amazed on how much they know about their inquiry when they get the chance to present.  It is always far more than what is in their book or on their poster.

Presenting usually takes two days.  I split the class in half.  Half the class stands by their projects, presents their information and answers questions.  While the other half of the class listens, asks questions and takes notes on new information they learn.

Here are a few of the projects that were shared on bats:

iMovie

A book created on Book Creator

Posters

Board Game

These projects not only cover science and literacy curriculum but also are rich learning tasks that promote critical thinking, presentation skills and self-confidence.  I am positive that worksheets and huge amounts of homework do not.

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Not your Traditional Classroom, Not your Traditional Teacher

Our classroom at times looks chaotic, messy and noisy.  Well, it looks this way MOST of the time.  Visitors to our school have different reactions.   Just last week we had a visitor into our school that spent some time in my classroom and the 5/6 classroom.  She was a retired principal, worked for the ministry, and had been in and seen many classrooms throughout her career.  When we debriefed at lunch, she said, "I don't know if I could do it how you all do it  everyday."  Our classroom is a buzz of excitement and engagement everyday, a lot of the time you may not even see my teaching partner or myself because we might be sitting on the couch giving feedback to a student, or in a corner on the carpet with a small group reteaching a math concept or at a table listening intently to a group of students trying to figure out their next steps in their inquiry project.  I assure you that this chaotic  looking way of teaching is not only working in our classroom, our students are excelling in our classroom.  Next time you walk by and assume that we have no control over our class, come in, sit, watch and talk to the students.  You will be pleasantly surprised what you will see and hear from the buzz in our classroom.

I am not a traditional teacher and I am proud of that.

I don't have a fancy mark book.

I don't make cute worksheets.

I don't teach from a textbook.

I don't teach in themes.

I don't use technology to say I use it.

I don't have my students in rows or even desks.

I don't have perfect bulletin boards that I have bought from a teacher store and plastered all over my classroom.

I don't have a quiet classroom.

I do teach my students to colour out of the lines.

I do encourage collaboration.

I do a lot of one to one or small group instruction.

I do let my students sit at tables, lay on floors, and sit on comfy couches.  (Why do students have to be uncomfortable to learn?)

I do have sticky notes, Evernote spreadsheets, shared google docs with comments, grades and next steps for my students.

I do know my students, I know their strengths, weaknesses, what sports they play and what motivates them.

I do use technology in ways that are innovative, engaging and different.

I do care about the learning journey more than the pretty final product.

I do give my students choice, in who they want to work with, what they learn about and how they learn it.

I don't have a quiet, pretty and neat traditional classroom.  I have a student centered classroom that promotes creativity, individuality, problem solving and collaboration.

I do what I feel is best for the students I teach.  I strive to be the teacher I would want my own children to have.

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Making Math Meaningful and Fun

We all know that when kids are having fun, they are happy, excited and engaged.  I see many math classes with students sitting quietly listening to the teacher bark at them at the front of the room with all the kids staring blankly out the window with their boring text book open on their desk.  Does this sound familiar to you?  I had to share what we have been doing this week in math and hopefully it will inspire you to add a bit of fun into your math routine.  We are currently learning different adding strategies, this is what we have been up to:

Monday:

Related Facts:

Students created number trains with linking blocks.  I had students sit in a circle as I poured out hundreds of linking blocks onto the carpet.  I would yell a number and partners had to make as many number trains as they could that equaled the number that I yelled out.

Students then were given a number and had to make as many number trains as they could that equaled the number I gave them.  When they finished their trains they took a picture and tweeted it out.

Tuesday

Students learned about fact families.  Pairs of students were given an iPad task card to complete a task and were instructed to put it on their blog when they were finished.  

Download here

Here is a completed sample using the app Draw and Tell instead of Explain Everything:

Wednesday

I took the students outside for a quick game of "Even Steven and Odd Todd"  I wrote Odd on one wall with sidewalk chalk and the opposite wall with Even.  I then placed chalk at both walls.  I had my students stand in the middle and I called a number.  They had to yell out, "Even Steven" or "Odd Todd" depending on the number I called out.  When they got to the correct wall they used the chalk to record the number on the wall.

We then headed indoors to learn about the strategy of doubles plus one.  We did a quick whole class lesson and then I gave students an odd number of counters.   I asked my students to circle the doubles and leave one left over.  I also asked them to create a number sentence to go with their picture.

When you create thoughtful tasks for your students to do that combine movement, manipulatives, collaboration and fun you will always have students asking, "When do we have math?'

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