Nomination time!

It's time for the sixth annual Edublog Awards to honor the best education blogs on the web. With over 100 edublogs in my Google Reader, choosing just one for each category was a daunting task (especially for Best Teacher Blog, since there are so many excellent ones). It's also challenging to determine which site falls into which category (can a 30-something blogger qualify for a 'Lifetime Achievement' award?) and what to do about those outstanding sites that don't have a corresponding category (how about a 'Best Administrator Blog', for which there would be an obvious nominee?) After much deliberation, I've narrowed down my nominations as follows:

Best individual blog: Notes From the School Psychologist
Best individual tweeter: Angela Maiers
Best group blog: Hobo Teacher
Best new blog: Look at My Happy Rainbow!
Best teacher blog: Organized Chaos
Best educational tech support blog: The Blue Skunk Blog
Best educational use of video/visual: Musings From a Not-So-Master Teacher

Congrats to all nominees--I so appreciate the amazing content you produce and am grateful that you take the time to share it with us on the web.

Gratitude

Friends, family, God...I am grateful for all these things, too (except maybe the fish, although you gotta admit that was super cute). My husband and I are having a wonderful Thanksgiving at my parent's house in Florida. Hope each of you are enjoying your time off to relax and reflect. Have some carbs for me.

Quick Checks for the End of a Lesson or Day

Do you ever wonder what students are taking away from your lessons? Do you question whether they're internalizing the concepts you've taught? Ending your lesson or school day with a 'quick check' is a fun way to help students retain what they've learned and help you determine what your kids will need the following day. Here are a few ideas that work with a wide range of grade levels:

Informal reflection questions: After you’ve taught your lesson, have students answer a reflection question with a partner or group. You can walk around to hear individual student responses and then call on a select few kids to share their answers with the class. I like to have kids discuss with their teams, and when they hear the bell or clicker sound, one volunteer from each team summarizes what the group talked about. Ideas for questions include:

-When will you use this strategy again to help as you ___ [read, add, etc.]?
-If we had a new student in our class, what would you tell him about __?
-When will you use ___ again when you're not in school?

3 Things Poster/Calendar: At the end of the day, have kids work in groups to brainstorm the three most important things they learned that day. Teams can then write their ideas on sticky notes to attach to a poster (or write directly on the poster). You can also use a large desktop-style calendar. This is a good way to help children differentiate between ‘important’ and ‘interesting’, which is a mistake they often make when identifying main ideas and supporting details. Encourage children to focus on the things that they will probably need to know later on. At the end of the month, talk about what you've learned. Bind the posters together to make a class Big Book. You can also choose the three most important things for the week and/or month and circle
them.

Learning Timeline: You can record important classroom events on adding machine paper (yes, they still sell it!) that is taped in a long strip across the wall. Each day, have the class discuss the most important things you’ve done or learned that day, and have a student volunteer write the date and activity on the tape, drawing an illustration to go along with it. You could already have the date written out for uniformity. The assessment value is in the class discussion, but the timeline itself will provide a record of student learning and help children see how they are acquiring new skills.

Exit Tickets: Also called ‘Your Ticket Out the Door’, these are small scraps of paper that students use to write what they’ve learned after a lesson. Children hand them to you when leaving for lunch, specials, or dismissal. You can change the exit ticket topics to fit the purpose of your lesson. Some prompts I've used include:

-How will you use addition to check your work from now on?
-Name the planets in order from the sun.
-How can you tell the difference between a square and a cube?
-Give one fact and one opinion about dogs.
-Name two things you will do differently in writing tomorrow after learning about capitalization.

These ideas are taken from my book The Cornerstone: Classroom Management That Makes Teaching More Effective, Efficient, and Enjoyable. I'm currently running a week-long Black Friday SALE that's starting today: free Priority Mail shipping. If you've bought a copy from me before and are purchasing this one as a Christmas present or other gift for a teacher you know, I'll refund five bucks of your total cost. Just let me know in the Instructions to Seller box (you can also specify a personal message to the recipient that you'd like me to write inside the book).

Works-For-Me Wednesday

Third grade teacher Robin Huddlestone is in a tiny portable classroom with little room to spread out her desks. She likes her current arrangement, but had a huge problem with kids copying each other's answers and being unfocused during independent work times. She collected some old science fair displays that were hanging around the teacher's lounge and used them to create mini-dividers between the kids' desks. "It gives students the perfect amount of privacy without isolating them," she says. "They can still work cooperatively when needed, and for major projects, the boards can easily be lifted away."





Do you have an idea to submit for Works-For-Me Wednesday? Take a photo of something that's working in YOUR classroom (anything you've done to help organize or manage your classroom and/or improve instruction) and email it to angela [at] thecornerstoneforteachers [dot] com. I'd love to feature your idea here on an upcoming Wednesday!

Teacher lolcats get a reality check

Ah, the lolcats go to skool, a much beloved and long neglected feature on this blog. Enjoy. (In case you missed them, you can check out administrator lolcats, parent-teacher conference lolcats, professional development lolcats, visiting district supervisor lolcats, and lolcats take a standardized test here.)

Pardon this interruption in our regularly-scheduled educational programming

Veteran's Day. Another late night flight back to Fort Lauderdale. The young Hasidic mother next to me on the plane smiled at the wilting bouquet I was cradling carefully on my lap. "I can't believe you're traveling with flowers. The hassle...I'm not sure I'd bother."

I smiled back. "They were a surprise from my husband when we went out to dinner the other night. I just left him behind in New York, and couldn't bear to leave the flowers, too. I'm holding on to every piece of him that I can."

A tinge of sadness came over her face, and she fell silent. It was an awkward moment that I fully expected, and allowed. It occurs regularly when strangers and family and friends contemplate a couple being separated by 1,000 miles for more than three years.

What she didn't understand--what no one seems to understand, really--is the way the distance has distilled our relationship down to only the most critical parts, clearing away the superfluous clutter so that only the truest expression of love remains.

Finally I have the words to explain this.

Flying with flowers is the perfect embodiment of the bond in our long-distance marriage, an element of the purest form of its beauty, a tangible expression of how much every word and every gesture we share is filled with significance. The space between us has created a fragility making each exchange more precious. From the very beginning, we learned how to be fully present in the moments we share and never take the gift of companionship for granted. Our hours together have always been numbered. And we live our lives differently because of that.

To pity the inconvenience of our constant travel and the inevitable bouts of loneliness we experience is to miss the miracle of the love that has thrived, not despite but because of our circumstances. We have learned the true meaning of the word CHERISH. And now that our season of being apart is finally coming to an end, we can be certain that we know how to hold on. Every moment we are flying with flowers.

Your thoughts: how does parenthood affect the practice of educators?

Every now and then, a student's parent will ask me if I have kids of my own. They always look a little disappointed when I reply "not yet", as if I don't understand their struggles as well as they'd hoped. I'm looking forward to starting a family soon with my husband, and I wonder a lot about how the experience of parenthood affects those who work in education.

Musings of this sort are what makes my personal learning network (PLN) so invaluable. What an amazing experience to be able to toss this question out via social media and get replies from educators all over the world. I started these conversations a month ago and allowed the initial responses to shape the way I pursued the topic later. I went to my Facebook fans and The Cornerstone yGroup first:


I received dozens of thought-provoking responses, most of which hit on at least one of four categories. Here are the main ways becoming a parent has affected the way these teachers view their students:

1) They have increased empathy toward parents AND students. Katrina Andres Murphy wrote: "I think I have more patience for individual personalities. My expectations are now more in line with their development. I also understand that this little person is the whole world to these parents. They are sending the best they have to school. They are not leaving the good ones at home. :-)"

2) They are less frustrated about students not completing homework. Many teachers who used to get angry when homework was repeatedly missing have a new understanding and don't let it bother them once they become parents themselves. Angela Rodriguez Gibson shared: "...I can see how homework might not get done. I understand not being able to miss work for conferences. I understand that everyone thinks their child is a genius and an angel. I also understand the frustrations of the school system."

3) They hold a new and deeper respect for individuality. J from the Cornerstone yGroup says: "Since becoming a parent, I've also learned that kids are who they are--even with the best parents in the world. Just because a child has issues (whatever they may be), does not necessarily mean it is due to poor parenting. At nearly 2 years, my child is super high energy, busy, into everything. I can't even imagine what he will be like in kindergarten!"

4) They develop a truer sense of the importance and ultimate mission of teachers. Marcella Martinez: "...Being a teacher and having your own kids in school you realize what kind of teacher u want for your kids. Now I try to be that teacher to my students."

So does being a parent make you a better teacher?

Cindy Rice Magruder says yes. "I think being a teacher has made me a better mother and vice versa. I am a better disciplinarian, more patient, and more understanding of those issues that kids may have at home. I am thankful everyday that I have that insight!! The children I work with often don't have a strong support system at home, so I feel like that motivates me to be a better mom and teacher to those kids!"

And Laura Jewell Qualley agrees: "...I have learned to relax about certain things, like homework that doesn't get done, and I am also much less critical of both parents and children in general. Parenting is hard, and working full time on top of it is often a crazy life. I think being a parent has made me a better teacher, and being a teacher has made me a better parent."

But not everyone feels that simultaneously playing the role of parent and teacher is beneficial. Heather Mason responded on Twitter with a link to a brutally honest post on her blog, Teacher in Transition. It's an interesting read about how parenthood may make you a better teacher, but the effect might not be reciprocal: "I want to be good at both. I know that it must be possible, but I just can’t seem to find the balance; the fulcrum keeps moving. Some days I am the better parent and falling behind as a teacher; others I am a better teacher but missing my kids in the process. I am always at the top of the see-saw waiting for the big drop."

What are the implications for teachers without kids of their own?

Developing a greater empathy for parents and a deeper understanding of children's individuality is an important goal for any teacher, and those of us without kids should start disciplining ourselves in this area now. A good place to start is by reading the smashing blow of humility that is cleared delivered by John Spencer on his blog as he concludes that with 3 kids of his own, he can no longer complain about parents: "Is it possible that the confusion and terror I feel about things like sickness [of a child] are what many parents feel about things like homework and grades and independent projects? Is it unreasonable for a parent to assume that the teacher should be more knowledgeable than the parents on issues of classroom management, assessment, instruction and motivation? Yet, I've seen many teachers who not only request, but demand that parents serve them and fix any potential problems. I'd be offended if the doctor called me in and said, 'Your child is sick. I want you to come up with some solutions at home and bring me back when he's well.'" [Be sure to read the post comments, especially the one by Teacherfish who shares a mortifying lesson about the demands of parenthood.]

What are the implications for policy makers and those in other out-of-classroom positions?

Melanie Williams Weber, a teacher and parent, shares "I've begun to notice more of the limitations of the school system. I see how much my kids (6 and 4) learn through natural interactions and how simplistic school learning standards are."

In some respects, aren't kids capable of learning so much more than what we're expecting them to learn? And in other respects, aren't we demanding too much of them? Parenthood clearly affects the way teachers teach. But does it affect the way educational change is created? I tossed this question out on Twitter:


It's that second question that I'm wondering most about now, and hoping to get more responses on. How did parenthood affect those who created the No Child Left Behind Act? Do any policy makers have young children or grandchildren who must be subjected to the culture of testing and obsessive accountability they've created, or are they bowing out with private schooling? Becoming a parent seems to produce deeper empathy and purpose in the lives of teachers. Is there any such effect or correlation with education policy makers?

What are YOUR thoughts on parenthood and education?

Book Review: Dinah Zike's Notebook Foldables

When I happened upon a display by some lady named Dinah Zike at a conference, my first thought was Holy cow, this is what I've been doing in my classroom for YEARS! Finally, someone's established the value of these activities and was smart enough to make some money off it!

As it turns out, I AM SERIOUSLY LATE, because Dinah is the guru of foldables: I tossed her name out on The Cornerstone yGroup and got rave responses; I discovered multiple discussions at the AtoZ Teacher Stuff forums including some info on free foldables; and I opened the supplemental resources for our district's new reading series and there she was again, partnering with McGraw-Hill! Clearly this woman is unstoppable.

A page from the foldables book included with our district's reading series.

In case you've been hiding under the same rock that's had me sheltered, foldables are multi-dimensional graphic organizers that can be used for skill reinforcement, practice, and/or information gathering. They're unique because they provide a kinesthetic tool for learning (which is extremely important for younger students and rather hard to incorporate when teaching abstract skills such as reading comprehension). The concept reminds me a bit of the Alternatives to Worksheets book and it's sequel, which have molded my teaching style more than any other resource book (remarkable, since I rarely meet anyone who's even heard of the series). Dinah Zike has a similar idea that is--dare I say?--even MORE effective in helping students organize and analyze information.

From "Notebook Foldables": the five tab vertical.

Dinah's reps have graciously allowed me a review copy of any book in her collection, which was tantamount to giving an empty plastic bag to a kid in a candy store and hollering "Fill 'er up!". After much deliberation, I settled on Notebook Foldables For Spirals, Binders, and Composition Books. It's designed for grades 4-college, but since I've already tried many of the ideas in the primary grade books, I thought this 'big kid' version could offer some unique ideas I could adapt for my third graders...and I was far from disappointed.

From "Notebook Foldables": layered notebook.

I really can't say enough good things about how engaging the foldables are for kids, and how effective they are in helping kids organize, comprehend, and retain information. I like to display one student's foldable on a bulletin board in the classroom, so when I ask questions months after a unit, the kids can reference it. I taught a habitats unit once in October and asked the kids about ocean ecosystems in February. No one remembered until I said, "Think about the foldable we did with blue paper: you drew fresh water ecosystems on one side and salt water on the other..." and immediately five hands went up. I pointed to the sample on the back wall, and eight more hands went up. That's how powerful these things are.

Freshwater/saltwater ecosystems foldable in blue (upper right-hand corner).

The Notebook Foldables book, like many others from Dinah, even came with a companion CD featuring printables. The Dinah-Might Adventures site has some free ideas which are also worth checking out.

Have you used foldables (from Dinah, or your own creation)? Any good ideas to share for graphic organizers, manipulatives, or worksheet alternatives?