January 2012 Reflection
As I prepare to ponder and write my thoughts, questions and simmerings, I cannot help but smile. It’s everything and anything. What I mean - is that each month I gather these pieces of knowledge - not always knowing where they are going to fit, but always knowing that they do fit - somewhere. Sometimes it will happen during the weekend, but occasionally it will happen after leaving. These are the best. I will be planning a lesson, brainstorming with students and all of a sudden Wham!!! Knock me over with a - well whatever. The point is sometimes it sneaks up on me. An example - during our meeting last month Byran shared his choices form and how it went in his class. At the time I was pretty sure this would not apply to me since I have high school students. I have four 5th grade students for reading and writing. Duh me!!!
I dug through my papers and searched for the one he so very nicely emailed to us. I looked it over and changed it up to fit my class - it’s funny how something I felt was not very relevant to me - was so relevant. We have used the choices for two complete weeks and it has worked so well. I know it won’t always be smooth, but my kids love it. It has helped enormously with one particular student with behavior problems. This student is extremely intelligent but has little patience for his fellow students. Now, he can go like gangbusters, and always completes his work before anyone and gets computer time. As I sit and observe my students, I cannot help but smile. They love the choices. On Friday, we are making a new choices form and each student gets to think of one for the list. They are very excited about this.
Another tidbit was the list of sites you have us. It was wonderful to work with our peers and explore some of them. It was amazing to have others to brainstorm with as we sorted through this learning. I was able to come back to my school and apply this learning immediately. I used the Prezi for my American Lit class. I have a unique group of students in this class. They immediately latched on used this to demonstrate their learning. Score!!!!
Our reading for last month was a good read. In The Classroom of Choice, I was pleasantly surprised with the number of activities that are relevant to me and my students. There were some that I already use in my room, some that help me define the activity more clearly, and some that are wonderful resources. One activity that I have used was the portfolio. Our last meeting, as well as the brainstorming with our community, led me to the idea of websites for my students. My 10th grade students are each creating their own website. Their sites will include learning from our novel, as well as career papers, resumes, etc. OMG!!!! I wasn’t sure how this would go over, but as usual, I was floored with the creativity, commitment and the classroom management. As a group, we decide what is important for our sites. This led to us talking about our journals and how they wished they would have had this in 7th grade. I had most of these students in 7th grade and I gave them back their journals. What a moment of joy for all. They were so funny. Some read aloud and we laughed and laughed. One student said, “Hey, too bad we didn’t start our sites in 7th grade. We would have everything from school in one spot.” Hmmmmmm . . . . . I thought we might be on to something. I don’t have 7th grade English , but as a department, even as a school, students could gather and apply their learning to their own site - their portfolio - online. This is nothing new, as I am trying this for my learning. I don’t know why I’ve never thought about my students doing the same. So, I shared my site, my thoughts, my fears, and my frustrations with my students. For some reason this really resonated with them. The next thing I knew, students were helping me and each other. The few students who were really worried about this journey, began to see it as that, a journey and not an assignment. We have a new phrase in our class -
Participate in the process.
Hmmmmm . . . . . I wonder what made me think of that phrase(lol). We also listen to our novel as a group on audio. This has worked well with this class. I tried it a few years ago and it didn’t work so well. This is a tough class (students) and we have tried many things and I think maybe I am on to something, They need the freedom to create their own learning. What does this feel like to me?
Wait . . . .something just popped into my head. Lately there are so many things we have learned and applied - I can’t even remember where this came from. Giving up the power. I am sure it came from our community or reading. I will have to check. I better write this while I am thinking about it or it might be lost forever. I feel that is one of my problems with this class this year. I wanted everyone to come to class, be seated, and start teaching. This class is notorious for being loud and obnoxious, as well as finding it sooo difficult to remain on task. By letting the students take charge (not of my classroom, but their learning) each student has given themselves the power to succeed. I know this sounds a little cheesy, but it is really true. Some have taken baby steps while others have scoured mountains - it has been the same - each student engaged with the content.
Okay, so back to my previous question. Letting the students have freedom to create their own learning. So far - to me it seems or feels messy, loud, peaceful, scary, quiet, mind-blowing, and finally right. Maybe thats not the word I want. I am still searching for the word. I’ll be back later. I have thought of another word - comfortable. That is how I feel. At least for today. Comfortable. As I think about this I think of how I want my students to feel. Comfortable. At ease, relaxed, safe. Words to ponder. Sorry - now I have to have a list of words that I want my students to - something - searching, craving, eager, wanting, seeking (many are similes) wondering . . .
Next! I have to move on because I could sit and think and write forever. So much that I forgot my original thought. Dang, I hate when that happens. Later. Well, this has become an interesting day. The students have ITEDS during the morning and I have them at the end of the day. I am not sure quite what happened. Our freedom led to outbursts and misbehaviors during class. I waited until after class to address the two students, something new for me. I usually address at the time and always makes it worse. I asked one student why he made the choice to ignore my request to close computers for about 12 minutes. He refused and after class he said he was downloading something to his iTunes. Ahhhhh . . . . well that makes perfect sense. Who in their right mind was want a student to engage in class rather than uploading tunes. lol I explained the better response of “Hey Mrs. Heiden I am downloading something on my iTunes. Could I leave it open and put it on your desk?” He said, “Oh, I never thought of that.” I guess what I am slowly getting to is the difference or addition of technology and how students have not learned anything in regards to etiquette of the use of all of this technology. Yes, most are intelligent enough to have the basics, but the little things that they assume is what is lacking. Once my student realized that I don’t have a problem with acknowledging his need for tunes, he realized that it was okay - that I was on his side. The final information was these two young people are now dating and I concluded that one was trying to impress the other. Oh the lives of young people. This is one of my goals - listen, observe, and reflect. Makes life much easier - if I don’t react instantly to misbehavior and listen and observe it usually leads to more reflective responses from the students. Well, I certainly didn’t know this was leading to this new insight. I love this. I cannot wait to keep practicing. I have to through relevance back into the conversation. This is something that keeps coming back. I am reminded as I read our books and articles. I will end here - Relevant, Relevant, Relevant!!!!!
I dug through my papers and searched for the one he so very nicely emailed to us. I looked it over and changed it up to fit my class - it’s funny how something I felt was not very relevant to me - was so relevant. We have used the choices for two complete weeks and it has worked so well. I know it won’t always be smooth, but my kids love it. It has helped enormously with one particular student with behavior problems. This student is extremely intelligent but has little patience for his fellow students. Now, he can go like gangbusters, and always completes his work before anyone and gets computer time. As I sit and observe my students, I cannot help but smile. They love the choices. On Friday, we are making a new choices form and each student gets to think of one for the list. They are very excited about this.
Another tidbit was the list of sites you have us. It was wonderful to work with our peers and explore some of them. It was amazing to have others to brainstorm with as we sorted through this learning. I was able to come back to my school and apply this learning immediately. I used the Prezi for my American Lit class. I have a unique group of students in this class. They immediately latched on used this to demonstrate their learning. Score!!!!
Our reading for last month was a good read. In The Classroom of Choice, I was pleasantly surprised with the number of activities that are relevant to me and my students. There were some that I already use in my room, some that help me define the activity more clearly, and some that are wonderful resources. One activity that I have used was the portfolio. Our last meeting, as well as the brainstorming with our community, led me to the idea of websites for my students. My 10th grade students are each creating their own website. Their sites will include learning from our novel, as well as career papers, resumes, etc. OMG!!!! I wasn’t sure how this would go over, but as usual, I was floored with the creativity, commitment and the classroom management. As a group, we decide what is important for our sites. This led to us talking about our journals and how they wished they would have had this in 7th grade. I had most of these students in 7th grade and I gave them back their journals. What a moment of joy for all. They were so funny. Some read aloud and we laughed and laughed. One student said, “Hey, too bad we didn’t start our sites in 7th grade. We would have everything from school in one spot.” Hmmmmmm . . . . . I thought we might be on to something. I don’t have 7th grade English , but as a department, even as a school, students could gather and apply their learning to their own site - their portfolio - online. This is nothing new, as I am trying this for my learning. I don’t know why I’ve never thought about my students doing the same. So, I shared my site, my thoughts, my fears, and my frustrations with my students. For some reason this really resonated with them. The next thing I knew, students were helping me and each other. The few students who were really worried about this journey, began to see it as that, a journey and not an assignment. We have a new phrase in our class -
Participate in the process.
Hmmmmm . . . . . I wonder what made me think of that phrase(lol). We also listen to our novel as a group on audio. This has worked well with this class. I tried it a few years ago and it didn’t work so well. This is a tough class (students) and we have tried many things and I think maybe I am on to something, They need the freedom to create their own learning. What does this feel like to me?
Wait . . . .something just popped into my head. Lately there are so many things we have learned and applied - I can’t even remember where this came from. Giving up the power. I am sure it came from our community or reading. I will have to check. I better write this while I am thinking about it or it might be lost forever. I feel that is one of my problems with this class this year. I wanted everyone to come to class, be seated, and start teaching. This class is notorious for being loud and obnoxious, as well as finding it sooo difficult to remain on task. By letting the students take charge (not of my classroom, but their learning) each student has given themselves the power to succeed. I know this sounds a little cheesy, but it is really true. Some have taken baby steps while others have scoured mountains - it has been the same - each student engaged with the content.
Okay, so back to my previous question. Letting the students have freedom to create their own learning. So far - to me it seems or feels messy, loud, peaceful, scary, quiet, mind-blowing, and finally right. Maybe thats not the word I want. I am still searching for the word. I’ll be back later. I have thought of another word - comfortable. That is how I feel. At least for today. Comfortable. As I think about this I think of how I want my students to feel. Comfortable. At ease, relaxed, safe. Words to ponder. Sorry - now I have to have a list of words that I want my students to - something - searching, craving, eager, wanting, seeking (many are similes) wondering . . .
Next! I have to move on because I could sit and think and write forever. So much that I forgot my original thought. Dang, I hate when that happens. Later. Well, this has become an interesting day. The students have ITEDS during the morning and I have them at the end of the day. I am not sure quite what happened. Our freedom led to outbursts and misbehaviors during class. I waited until after class to address the two students, something new for me. I usually address at the time and always makes it worse. I asked one student why he made the choice to ignore my request to close computers for about 12 minutes. He refused and after class he said he was downloading something to his iTunes. Ahhhhh . . . . well that makes perfect sense. Who in their right mind was want a student to engage in class rather than uploading tunes. lol I explained the better response of “Hey Mrs. Heiden I am downloading something on my iTunes. Could I leave it open and put it on your desk?” He said, “Oh, I never thought of that.” I guess what I am slowly getting to is the difference or addition of technology and how students have not learned anything in regards to etiquette of the use of all of this technology. Yes, most are intelligent enough to have the basics, but the little things that they assume is what is lacking. Once my student realized that I don’t have a problem with acknowledging his need for tunes, he realized that it was okay - that I was on his side. The final information was these two young people are now dating and I concluded that one was trying to impress the other. Oh the lives of young people. This is one of my goals - listen, observe, and reflect. Makes life much easier - if I don’t react instantly to misbehavior and listen and observe it usually leads to more reflective responses from the students. Well, I certainly didn’t know this was leading to this new insight. I love this. I cannot wait to keep practicing. I have to through relevance back into the conversation. This is something that keeps coming back. I am reminded as I read our books and articles. I will end here - Relevant, Relevant, Relevant!!!!!