Thankful November, day 2: Professional Development

On day 2 of Thankful November, I'm pausing to be thankful for professional development.

The professional development I'll be attending later today is sure to disappoint on so many levels.  Some professional development "trainings" are like that.

However, I've also had the opportunity to attend some really good professional development courses that have expanded my pedagogical understanding of concepts.

Explicit Phonics

In fifth grade, I didn't think I had to teach phonics.  I figured they can read, they're fine.  Then I took Explicit Phonics, which was offered in my district.  The beginning section of the course focused on long and short vowels, blends, digraphs, and short words.  Useful for some, but not applicable to my whole group instruction.  However, the second half of the course focused on affixes, roots, and blending through multi-syllabic words which is totally appropriate for upper elementary.  We worked on flexible decoding strategies and tried it in our classrooms.  

Like most things, it got better with practice.  

I then learned about the workbooks with Words Their Way. I was familiar with the WTW program, which is a collection of word lists with specific phonics skills attached.  I much prefer this approach to spelling than the traditional 20 words of the week that are associated with thematic units.  

What I didn't know is there are five different student work books.

I ordered "D" and "E" off of Amazon.  The word lists are appropriate for my ELL fifth graders and the format is student friendly.

I take ten minutes a day of reading instruction to do explicit phonics with my fifth graders.  By the beginning of November, we've covered the six syllable types, long vowel patterns, inflectional endings, and some affixes.  

The instruction is broken into four or five day mini-units and put into powerpoints, some of which are available {here}.  I'm in the process of adding more as I revise them based off of my students' understanding of the skill.

I'm glad I took professional development on explicit phonics for the upper grades.  It makes my reading instruction better and helps my ELL students.

Nonfiction in Focus

{Last month}, I took a course on nonfiction reading and integrating it with writing.  The course was crammed into three days, but I loved the information on blogging and merging nonfiction with writing.  In elementary school, there should be a 50-50 split between fiction and informational text, but our Reading Rangers program doesn't always reflect that.

It's sometimes a challenge to integrate informational text into a reading block that is heavily slanted in favor of fiction, so this course gave us some ideas about integration with writing.

This also made us examine our reading and writing pacing guide.  Quite frankly, they shouldn't be viewed as separate most of the time.  Reading and writing should be integrated together in a more natural way, which is something we're looking at in upcoming units.  (I say we here because Mrs. H took the course with me).

Text-Dependent Questions

I'm in this course {right now}, it's finishing up by the middle of November, and I'm loving it.  The text for the course is by Fisher and Frey, who are some of my favorites.

Yes, I have favorite educational researchers, don't you?

The course is giving me a lot more information about structuring close reads in my classroom.  Once I'm done, I'll synthesize my learning and blog about it, so stay tuned!

Technology Endorsement

A few years ago, there was an opportunity to obtain a technology endorsement for free by taking courses at Nevada State College.  I had to pay for the courses upfront, but if I earned a B or better, was reimbursed.

The four courses went over the basics of jing, edmodo, wordle, and other web 2.0 tools.

I can't recall the specifics, but it was a year-long professional development and I learned that it's not enough for me to use the technology, I need my students to understand how to use it appropriately because I've got to make them digital citizens.

Mount Vernon Teacher's Institute

As a history nerd, the idea of studying George Washington's life and staying at Mount Vernon was thrilling.  I applied and was accepted in the summer of 2012.  It was an amazing opportunity and you can learn more about it {here} or {here}.

MEMTA

Summer 2012 was a busy one because once I got back from Mount Vernon, I almost immediately headed back to the East Coast to attend the Mickelson Exxon Mobile Teacher's Academy.  MEMTA pairs with NSTA and focuses on science instruction in 3-5th grade classrooms.

Oh, and I met Phil Mickelson.

 Learn more {here} and {here}. 

{DENSI}

The Discovery Educator Network Summer Institute is a week long adventure in learning and connecting with other educators.  My brain frequently feels like it's ready to explode from all the strategies and I still haven't implemented all the ideas that are swirling around in my brain.

I've had some amazing opportunities to learn more and become a better teacher.  I'm thankful for the opportunities to grow as a person, challenge my preconceived notions, and continue to learn new things.

What are you thankful for?

Historical Assembly

Our fifth graders had an awesome opportunity today!  In partnership with the Mount Vernon teacher's association, we had a special presentation.  A historian pretended to be William Lee, man servant to General George Washington.

For an hour, our fifth graders were completely engaged in learning about history.

It was a wonderful sight to see.  

Adding joy

I can't take credit for this gem, but I love this, a lot:

I can't wait to share it with my munchkins!

I also showed them this today to start off our landforms & space science unit:

Can't beat that selfie!

George Washington's Teacher's Institute

Two summers ago, I had the awesome opportunity to spend a week living on the grounds of Mount Vernon and studying the life of George Washington.  

Yes, living on the grounds.  A five minute walk from the mansion :)

As a history nerd, it was phenomenal to get to have breakfast on the lawn of Mount Vernon, watching the sun rise over the Potomac River.  As a tribute to General Washington, we also had several bottles of wine on the Piazza.  Hey, George & Martha entertained nightly and had a full bar, so it seemed the best way to honor his excellency :)

(In all honesty, we did have to let secret service/security know we were going out there at night...seeing how Mount Vernon is a national treasure and all...)

We had bald eagles fly over our end-of-institute dinner.  That was just a surreal experience!

We had private tours and got to see areas of the grounds that are normally closed to the public...like the basement!

We also engaged in historical role play and learned so much about George Washington as a private man.

The fact that George Washington had his own distillery and made his own whiskey makes me just respect him that much more!

On one of our first nights, we also had an outing to Washington DC where I got to see this for the first time:

(I've been to DC a few times, but this was one of my favorite trips!)

Our culminating experience was participating in a private wreath laying on his tomb:

It's a phenomenal experience and I highly encourage you to apply!

That's What He Said

I'm an advocate of integrating technology into the classroom.  I'm a "technology native" (as opposed to an immigrant) and whole-heartedly believe students must learn how to use different types of tech to be competitive later in life.  However, they've still got to learn critical thinking skills and I don't believe technology can replace teachers.

I earned my technology endorsement from Nevada State College and love using tools like kidblog, prezi, voki and more in the classroom!

I just stumbled upon this idea:

Naturally, my mind went to "that's what he said" comments...but here it could actually work in an academically appropriate way!

Simply insert speech bubbles in word over an image and tada!  Great group activity with minimal technology (for those who are hesistant about using tech).

This could be great to talk about multiple perspectives and as a culminating activity.  Easily differentiated and can be used with lots of academic subject areas.  What a fun way to add some joy back into the classroom :)

Enjoy!  Happy teaching :)

Week 7

This week in whole group reading, we were working on main idea, supporting details, alternative perspectives and inferencing.

We used the passage "we were here, too" (grab it for free here) and the kids did a great job.

First, we made a list of people we associate with the American Revolution:

 I was really proud of my students for acknowledging that slaves were important.

They read the passage with their table teams:

They also were working on their metacognition and recording their thoughts and predictions on paper:

They did a really great job with this activity :)

They were also shocked to learn that George Washington had slaves, but we talked about the historical context and how he treated his slaves.  I think I blew their minds with that fact though!

They are also working on fluency passages in small groups as a station/center:

One person watches the timer (the passage is to be read for one minute).

One person reads.

The other listens and provides meaningful feedback in the form of buddy coaching.

They have made some great growth on their words per minute (WPM) for their Aimsweb RCBM probes!

Also in stations, they were working on sorting different scenarios into survival elements:

(The groups that did this are reading Hatchet and Hunger Games, so survival is one of the themes of their novels)

Students then analyzed my sort and added suggestions on how to improve it or add cards to sort.

I like that they help me improve my centers and then have more input, thus more investment :)

(As a side note, you can see one of my polka dot rugs and my polka dot center bucket in these images...I love polka dotted things!)

American Revolution

If I had to pick a favorite social studies era to teach, it would be the American Revolution :)

Last summer, I had the privilege to represent Nevada at the Mount Vernon Teacher's Institute which was hands-down one of the best professional developments I've ever attended.

We spent a week living at Mount Vernon and learning all about the life of George Washington.  Since I studied political science and political theory, this was a dream come true. I got to be surrounded by so much history and engage in amazing conversations with other like minded history nerds :)

However, reality set in: it's hard to get fifth graders excited about history.  So with a little help from this video, they were hooked.  We did a four week unit on the American Revolution and analyzed primary source documents (the Declaration of Independence & the Constitution) to look at text features and text structures.  We analyzed multiple perspectives with the help of this graphic organizer snagged from pinterest.

We read a plethora of informational, historical nonfiction and picture books, including some of my all-time favorites:

 

My students picked a side, researched their person, then had a "meet and greet" with other persons in the colonies.  

We then re-enacted battles outside, highlighting the difference in fighting styles.  The redcoats lined up and had to remain linked to their partner as they marched down the field.  The rebels were free to work independently, simulating gorilla warfare. 

We then compared and contrasted the uniforms, weaponry and fighting styles.

Students analyze maps of the colonies and create their own battle plans.  After the war, I had students work in groups to create a new government, linking nicely into the Continental Congress and the founding of our country.

I wish I could teach social studies all day long :)