Monday, October 1, 2018

Today's Content:

• STEM: Problem-Based Learning

• Rigorous & Relevant Instruction: Unpacking the TEKs

• BOLD Literacy: Book Talk - Scythe by Neal Shusterman

The second six weeks has officially arrived, bringing with it fall decorations, lots of rain, and continued learning and instruction here at NRMS.  Check out some of the great things happening and maybe even find a few ideas for yourself and your classes.

Falcon Focus: Problem-Based Learning in the STEM Classroom 

One key area of focus for STEM (Science - Technology - Engineering - Math) is the Problem-Based Learning model.  During the first six weeks, 7th grade science students tackled a PBL that challenged the students to learn about physical and chemical changes by solving a mystery. (6.5D I can identify the formation of a new substance by using the evidence of a possible chemical change such as production of a gas, change in temperature, production of a precipitate, or color change.

7.6B I can distinguish between physical and chemical changes)

The entry documents for this PBL

The "problem" for the 7th graders? A giant cake had gone missing, and it was up to the students to utilize their knowledge and observations of physical and chemical changes to identify the "mysterious white substance" and correctly match it with a suspect.

Students made predictions and recorded their observations as they tested the various powders, leading up to a final analysis of their results to identify the culprit.  

STEM learning challenges students to make predictions in order to pull them into the learning process.

Students carefully test the samples to try to determine their identities and match them to the crime scene "evidence".

 Falcon Focus: Unpacking the TEKs 

Robin Asaff leads her students in unpacking the TEKs.

Our Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills, or TEKs, guide us in planning at the right rigor and relevance levels for our students' learning; but did you realize that our standards can also be a foundational learning tool for your students?  

It's important for our students to process what they're learning and to develop their metacognative skills (thinking about their thinking).  Explicitly unpacking the TEKs does this by making the content and skills relevant to them.  "The state of Texas says we have to learn this - so what does that really mean?"  By closely examining the TEKs with our students, we are able to point out essential academic vocabulary.  Our discussions can be turned into valuable anchor charts and elements of a word wall. 

Students create a similar TEK dissection in their journals, where they can individualize their notations to deepen their understanding. 

7th grade math will use this guide to support students in their upcoming PBL.

For additional information and examples, check out the resources below.

• Unpacking the Standards (Slideshare) - https://www.slideshare.net/sknight/unpacking-standards  
• TEK Breakdown in Science (YouTube) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4Op2TxSwss  
• Unpacking the Standards (YouTube) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYprTv90avQ 

Falcon Focus: Book Talk - Scythe by Neal Shusterman 

Finally, time for your regularly scheduled book talk.  This one is brought to you by Kathy Harvell.  

Scythe is the first novel in a series by Neal Shusterman.  It is also on the Texas Star Reading List.  It may be your new favorite book!  

Hear from Kathy below.

If have any questions or would like some help implementing these or other strategies, please let me know.  And remember...

It's a great day to be a Falcon!

Tuesday, September 4, 2018

Today's Content:

• BOLD Literacy: Reading, Reading Everywhere!

• Instructional Coherency: Help With All the Things

• Campus of Learning: #ObserveMe

Thank you so much for a great second week of learning and instruction at NRMS!  The 2018-19 school year is off to a Falcon-tastic start, and there is so much great work going on already.  Keep on reading to celebrate the hard work of your peers and students and to gain some insight into different instructional priorities.

Falcon Focus: Reading, Reading Everywhere! 

In Birdville we are very focused on Building Opportunities for Literacy Daily, and Falcons have embraced the chance to read, write, think, and discuss.  

All around campus you can catch glimpses of students' and teachers' reading lives, and listen to them sharing in a culture of literacy.  

See below for examples of reading displays, book talks, and other suggestions.

Students cozy up with a good book where ever they can.

Student book talks help students spread the word about reading.

Book displays help students (and teachers) find their next great read.

Brittany Joyner invites students to share their book suggestions.  She also encourages them to read Lone Star Readers by celebrating their progress and reading alongside them.

The Lone Star Reading Program invites students to read their choice of 10 books from a list, after which they get to attend a catered luncheon with an author.  This year, the guest of honor is Jason Reynolds, author of Long Way Down and Ghost.  Want to read alongside the students as well?  Check in the library for this year's list!

Faculty and staff get into the reading fun with a variety of different texts.

Looking for a good book to read?  Below, Sherryl Dickey shares a book talk over the book she just finished, I'll Push You by Patrck Grey.

 jklj

Falcon Focus: Help With All the Things

During our back-to-school professional learning, several teachers led us through instructional campus expectations.  Extra thanks to: Robin Asaff, Lindsey Cato, Felicia Cherry, Kylie Cranford, Teresa Davis, Jonie Dodson, Beverly Goodman, Kathy Harvell, James Hollis, Lori Liles, Karen Sanchez, and Amy Thornton for their leadership and hard work.  

All the presentation materials used can be found in our NRMS Google Classroom, but I've also included a link below to the folder.  There are also a few additional resources to support you with "all the things".  Click on the red titles to get to the Google folder.


Monday, August 13 Professional Learning - In this folder you can find:

• Falcon Culture 2018-19
• Culture of Literacy
• Tier 1 Priorities & Instructional Coherency
• Literacy Strategies
• Continuous Improvement Expectations
• Workshop Model & 5E
• Building Vocabulary

Thursday, August 16 Professional Learning - In this folder you can find:

• Google Classroom for Beginners
• Google Classroom for Experienced Teachers
• Plan-Do-Study-Act
• Making Your SMART Goals Smarter
• Behavior Intervention Strategies
• Mission Statements: Defining Purpose

Instructional Coherency Documents - This is the list of campus instructional expectations for all of our departments.  We will be developing them for Special Ed and Electives through our PLC work this year.

Continuous Improvement Google Site - This Google Site includes examples and how-tos for all of the Continuous Improvement pieces.  I will continue to update it with relevant examples from our campus.




Falcon Focus: #ObserveMe

#ObserveMe originated from the collective realization of many educators that there was an opportunity to learn from each other.  In a Twitter Chat in 2016, one teacher posted the idea of inviting other teachers into their classroom to give targeted feedback. Other educators and groups such as @Robert Kaplinsky and @Teacher2Teacher jumped on this idea and turned it into the movement that it is just two years later.

To participate, determine two to three goals that you are working on in your classroom.  Create a short Google Form that visitors can complete in order to collect your feedback.  Finally, post an invitation to others to come on in and share their observations.  

Jonie Dodson is participating in #ObserveMe this school year.  She has shared her editable #ObserveMe sign here.  She would appreciate you stopping in to share your thoughts about her classroom!

Want to read more?

Robert Kaplinsky started the #ObserveMe movement with this blog post in 2016. 

One year later, Kaplinsky wrote a post reflecting the #ObserveMe movement and different "tricks" he wish he had known at the beginning.

Jennifer Gonzalez, creator of the blog Cult of Pedagogy, wrote a piece on why we need to observe each other. 

If you decide to participate in #ObserveMe, please let me know!  I love visiting classrooms, and would enjoy offering feedback.  I will be creating my own #ObserveMe as well.  Be on the lookout for a sign on my office door!

If have any questions or would like some help implementing these or other strategies, please let me know.  And remember...

It's a great day to be a Falcon!

Monday, October 23

Today's Content:

• STEM: Problem-Based Learning

• STEM: The Engingeering Design Process

• Continuous Improvement: Implementing PDSA - a Review

We know we're a STEM campus.  We know that our math and science colleagues worked diligently last year to learn a large amount of coursework, complete several observations, and run-through various instructional trials.  We know science - technology - engineering - math.  But have you had a chance to see what STEM truly means for our students?

This Falcon Focus is dedicated to illustrating the different ways we are a growing STEM campus, and to hopefully spark some cross-curricular ideas for the future.

Inquiry, one of the main pillars of STEM education, encourages students to have voice and choice in their own learning of content, learning method, and/or product.  By capitalizing on the natural curiosity of students, inquiry creates the intrinsic motivation that fuels student learning.  Need an example?  In Kelly DeLeon's class, students needed to learn about different rock properties, so they designed their own property tests. Check out the video below...

OK, so technically the student has his vocabulary mixed up; "malleable" means that it bends, not that it breaks.  However, that was an easy fix.  His explanation and demonstration indicates deep learning, the goal of STEM education.

This exploratory learning method is quite opposite of the traditional instructional model (where students "sit and get"), so to foster this inquiry-driven environment, there are three main components:

• Domain 1: Creating an Environment for Learning
• Domain 2: Building Scientific Understanding
• Domain 3: Engaging Students in Science and Engineering Practices

So what does that mean for our students? What kinds of things will our students be talking about?

Falcon Focus: Problem-Based Learning (PBL)

In Problem Based Learning, students are presented an authentic problem to solve via an entry event that includes a guiding question.  Students conduct a needs assessment, recording on a chart what they know about the problem, and what they need to learn in order to solve their problem.  In order to solve their guiding question, students have several different workshops, where they learn the necessary information and skills to solve their problem.  So, the guiding question drives the learning.

7th Grade Math recently started a problem-based learning unit on personal finance.  The entry event?  Students fast-forwarded 10 years into the future to 2027 and their hypothetical graduation from Falcon University.  Upon receiving their diplomas, each student learned about their degree, decided upon an appropriate career, and set about making financial plans for their lives.

To answer their guiding question, “Based on the current financial trends, how can I create a financial portfolio that will allow me to be a financially responsible citizen?”, students have received their first paycheck--and their first deductions.  (They are shocked by how much money comes out of paychecks.  Ha ha!)  They've also learned about net and gross pay, used various percent applications, and created family budgets.  

As students continue through the PBL, Five Star Ford will be visiting to educate students on purchasing their first vehicle.

For their final presentation, students will be creating a PSA on how to be a financially responsible citizen. Be sure to ask the 7th graders about their new lives as "adults"!

Falcon Focus: The Engineering Design Process (EDP)

Often Problem Based Learning includes engineering an actual solution to the problem.  In 6th grade science, students have used the Engineering Design Process (EDP) to design and build toy prototypes.

In their entry document (see the image to the right), students were challenged to design a toy demonstrating motion and multiple energy transformations.  The finished prototypes will be tested by their target audience, Sally Frye's awesome 3rd grade classes at Snow Heights Elementary.  Those students will determine which toys are the "best".

To get started, students explored different toys that demonstrated motion and energy transformations.  They used their science journals to sketch and record observations about the various toys.  Naturally, this led to discussion about the types of toys they might want to create themselves. Watch the videos below to see how the exploration went.

  

Students then set to work, learning all about motion and energy transformations in workshops that would enable them to design and build a toy that demonstrated all of required concepts.

Students are now in the production phase.  They are using recycled materials for toy parts, as well as
bringing some items from home.  Many teams have also utilized our 3D printer to create parts for their designs.  Most importantly, students are having deep conversations about their learning, as they problem-solve and work on solutions.

Later this week, they will be creating video presentations that explain the concepts demonstrated in their toys, and it will all go to Snow Heights.  Students have thoughtfully considered their 8 to 9 year old audience, tapping into their resourceful creativity.

Be looking for their prototypes to show up in the display cases sometime after Thanksgiving, once they've been returned from Snow Heights.

Falcon Focus: Implementing PDSA - a Review

Hopefully you have your Plan-Do-Study-Act system in place in your classroom.  But in case you don't, or if you're in need of a refresher, here are the resources that we used last year to get started.

PDSA in Jonie Dodson's Class

PDSA in Josue Martinez's Class

By clicking here or on the picture below, you can access our PDSA Smore.  The Smore will walk you through how to set up (or tighten up) the PDSA process in your classroom.  It includes specific instructions to get started, tips to keep it simple, and example pictures and video.

If you'd like to view some campus examples, you will want to visit my blog entry from March 2017.  To visit that post, click here or on the picture below.

Finally, to view the original Leaders of Learners PDSA presentation from last January, click here or on the image below.  That presentations includes district rationale and even more examples.

If have any questions or would like some help implementing these or other strategies, please let me know.  And remember...

It's a great day to be a Falcon!

Monday, September 18

Today's Content:

• Building Literacy: September Book Sampling

• Classroom Management: Stoplight Warning

• Campus Culture: Building a Community

With so many great things going on around campus, I can hardly keep up!  Here's a look at a few activities from the past couple of weeks that you may want to add to your your own instructional toolkit.

Falcon Focus: Supporting Literacy

For some of our students, reading is a channel they are hesitant to cross.  Some have failed to find a reason for reading, lacked a personal connection to stories and articles, experienced failure with texts beyond their current capacity, or just been flat out bored (thank you, test-taking passages).  In order to truly build literacy, we have to open as many doors as possible to help students realize the variety of available material, to read for a variety or reasons, and to possibly, maybe, even (ahem) like it.

Two weeks ago, 6th grade ELAR classes laid the groundwork for building reading lives for our students through a book sampling.  Hosted in the Learning Commons, students were greeted with a cafe-style atmosphere. Tables were adorned with books of all types, and soft piano pop filled the silence.  Students were then invited to select a book, read silently for about five minutes, and decide if they wanted to take the book "on a second date".  As with real reading, students had the freedom to decide if a book was a match or "not [their] type".

Peer sharing is one of the best ways for a new title to catch on.  A few times during each class period, students were invited to give book talks over the selections they felt were recommendation-worthy.  Check out two enthusiastic students promoting their finds below.

Want to support students in their reading lives, too?  Talk to kids about what they are reading.  Read a few books from the Texas Star List (click here to see the list).  Post your own "Read" and "Next Reads" lists in your room.  And definitely add your reads to the Teacher Shelfie display in your pod and in the library (coming soon!).

Falcon Focus: Classroom Management

When addressing off-task behavior in the classroom, calling out a student often leads to escalation and confrontation.  Finding a non-verbal strategy that works is essential for smooth behavior redirection.  Kelly Stubblefield is using one such approach to let her students know when they are off-task, to give them an opportunity to correct their behavior, and to assign a consequence, all without saying a word out loud.

The process is simple.  

1. If a student is off-task, drop a Stoplight Ticket off at his/her desk, with the student name, date, and behavior description filled in (green light).  
2. If the student continues the behavior, walk by and initial the second warning (yellow light).  
3. If the student still continues, then a d-hall is assigned (red light).  
4. Regardless of the level reached for each warning, collect all issued tickets at the end of the class, and you have instant documentation.

 If you'd like the Stoplight Tickets for yourself, click here for pdf or here for an editable Word doc.

Falcon Focus: Building Community

Finally, the teachers of the 8th grade pod are getting to know each other better through the Pod 8 Spotlight.  Stephanie Maupin set up the board to highlight each of the teachers in the pod with photos of the teacher and answers to some interview-style questions, including the teacher's birthday, his/her favorite meal, and the one place he/she would like to travel.

This month's teacher spotlight is Greta Parr. According to the board, Mrs. Parr is inspired by Mother Teresa and loves Garth Brooks, James Taylor, and Def Leopard equally.

Want to know more about her?  Drop on down to the 8th Grade Pod workroom and check it out.

If have any questions or would like some help implementing these or other strategies, please let me know.  And remember...

It's a great day to be a Falcon! 

Wednesday, August 23

Today's Content:

• Continuous Improvement: Getting Started with Mission Statements

• Falcon Welcome: Celebrating Our New Campus

Welcome back Falcons!  It has been a long time coming, but 2017-18 school year is finally here.  We have much to anticipate, and much to celebrate.  Let's get started!

Falcon Focus: Getting Started with Mission Statements

As our classes get underway, several teachers have asked for assistance with Mission Statements.  Mission Statements are critical to effective continuous improvement, so you definitely want to consider this in your first few weeks of instruction.  

Here's your Mission Statement refresher, in three easy steps.  

Step 1:  Why write a mission statement?  As a group, we must know and understand our purpose. Only with clear goals in mind can we align our attitudes and actions to achieve group success.  Putting our mission into words helps us and our students stay focused on the reason for being in our classes - to learn, of course!  Everything in your class should ALWAYS come back to your mission, and involving the students in that process helps them take ownership in their own learning.

Not to mention it is a district and school expectation, so there's that, too.   

Step 2:  How do I write a mission statement?  There are three key questions that your students and you need to consider and discuss:  1) Why are we here?  2) What do we have to do well together?  and 3) How will we make it happen?  These questions help students narrow, refine, and articulate their thinking on why we are at school in the first place, and how we can achieve the goals we set forth.

Need more guidance?  Check out this Google Slides presentation; it will walk you through the Mission Statement writing process.  Feel free to make a copy and edit as you see fit.

Example Mission Statements

Step 3: Now that we've written our mission statement, what do we do?    A mission statement should be a cornerstone of your classroom culture, a mantra.  Revisit it often.  Students (and teachers) should use it to help guide their actions rather than hinder their learning and classroom environment.  If students know it well enough, they will even use it to keep each other in check.  

Click on the links below to view two examples from last year of students interacting with their mission statements.

Mrs. Grosenbach’s ELAR Recites Mission Statement

Mrs. Hutson’s ELA Recites Mission Statement

Falcon Focus: Celebrating Our New Campus

It has been an amazing start to the year!  Students are learning their way around the building, and our new space is a new beginning for everyone.  Please enjoy a few pics from the first few days, and if you have something to celebrate, share it on Twitter using #NRMSProud.  (Just be sure to check the photo permission list before posting students' pictures.)  Let's share our story with the community, and let them see the great things happening at our school.

PD Shenanigans

NRMS Ribbon Cutting

1st Day Excitement

If have any questions or would like some help implementing these or other strategies, please let me know.  And remember...

It's a great day to be a Falcon!