My students always had to ask me when they could change seats, then wait another week before I actually changed them. I treated it as an inconvenience, a waste of class time. Plus, it messed up my system for distributing papers.

But changing students’ seats is beneficial, and there is a good time to do it. Instead of waiting for the end of a grading period, change your seating chart each time you begin a new chapter or unit. There’s actually a good reason for it Keep reading »

New Year, New Semester
The custom of every New Year is to commit ourselves to a resolution. That’s why the gym is so crowded in January. When I wrote my new year’s resolutions for 2010, I made sure I set professional goals, too. One of them was to continue writing this blog.

In the spirit of the New Year, and with the imminence of the new semester, perhaps it is time for all of us to set new goals and make new professional resolutions. Maybe your New Year’s resolution will be to try a new strategy in the classroom. Keep reading »

Speaking Silently
Watching the beginning of Mike Lupo’s American Sign Language class is a cool experience; I’ve never seen so much discussion with so little noise. I guess that’s the nature of sign language.

What was really cool was seeing students communicate in sign language for thirty minutes. Mr. Lupo signed questions about students’ Thanksgiving activities, and students responded in sign language, demonstrating knowledge of vocabulary, sentence structure, and other concepts an outsider like me wouldn’t readily perceive. The goal was basically to get the students to communicate in the specialized language of the course.

Isn’t that what so much of our content instruction is about? If our students can talk about poetry in the specialized language of the poet—or something close to it—then haven’t they developed some level of competence in that field? And if a student can talk about physics in terms of mass and force and newtons, then haven’t they become, in some slight way, junior physicists? And if they can’t communicate in this language, have they really learned what they need to know?

Mr. Lupo’s class was a clear reminder to me of just how much we broaden our students’ understanding of the world by broadening their vocabulary, whether in American Sign Language or in the specialized vocabulary of another content area. On the more practical side, students cannot succeed on end-of-course tests without competence with the language of the subject. Check out some of the phrases they might encounter on EOCs:

• “y varies directly as x”
• “initial upward velocity”
• “amino acids are synthesized into proteins”
• “evolved from a common ancestor”
• “equal access to public recreational activities”
• “special interest groups”
• “factor of production”

So what?
That’s a tough question. I think the answer is that we must think like language teachers (sounds like SIOP training, doesn’t it?). If we want to assess our students’ comprehension of our particular areas of study, then we have to assess their communication skills in that field. More specifically, we have to incorporate into our instruction writing tasks that require students to communicate in the content and the language of our fields. Answering “C” on the multiple choice test is not enough.
Next time you find yourself talking in the language of art, music, economics, grammar, ecology, or geometry, and your students are responding in the same language—or something like it—know that they are learning. That’s what foreign language teachers like Mike Lupo do every day.
If you want any ideas for teaching content vocabulary, just ask.

flinchm.rose@pitt.k12.nc.us

It’s that time of year: bake holiday cookies, shop for holiday gifts, wish for the arrival of holiday break, and frantically review for exams.
With only four days between holiday break and our first exam day, most teachers will soon be starting to review, if they haven’t started already. A lot of teachers make review a regular part of assessment. Ms. Byrne puts questions from past units on tests and quizzes. Mr. Hill has been giving mini-quizzes to help him determine what his students need to review and to hold his classes responsible for all information taught throughout the semester.
If you plan on putting together some kind of in-class review activity, let me know; I would be glad to help. I can help you create interactive lessons on the Smart Board, or get you started with CPS clickers. I can even help you figure out what to review to best prepare your students for their exams.
Please don’t hesitate to ask me to create something FOR you or teach something WITH you.

I am spending my third consecutive day in the auditorium of St. James Church learning about Thinking Maps. Actually, I am being trained to be a trainer, which means I have one more strategy I’m begging you to try.

So who’s ready?

First, let me say this: I doubt 120 high school teachers are going to jump at the chance to sit through hours of training. I know us better than that. I’ve got a different proposal—read on. Keep reading »

For a short week, a simple idea. I stole this one from Tracey Moore, who stole if from someone else.

After you fill out your seating charts, laminate them. Even better, buy a laminate sleeve for each seating chart and put a sheet of cardboard inside behind the seating chart. You can write on the laminate with wet erase markers, making it easy to record data during a class session and wipe it away later. Here are a few of Ms. Moore’s uses, and a couple suggestions of my own, for the strategy:

• Record absences and check in/checkout times.
• Make marks for class participation (times you called on a student or times a student responded correctly).
  Record discipline infractions, warnings delivered, or even observations of positive behavior (on-task performance, raising hands rather than calling out, listening attentively).
• Record homework and class work completion.

Obviously, you don’t want to write extensive notes on these sheets, and you will have to transfer the data elsewhere. You’ll also have to clean them daily or weekly. And you’ll want to use them consistently, but I imagine if they become a part of your routine, they will keep you organized and help you record and recall important information about daily happenings in your class.

“Expert performers…are nearly always made, not born.”

Natural Talent
In their book Superfreakonomics, Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner tackle a vast array of intriguing topics, from the economics of prostitution to the algorithms that identify terrorists. Citing Dr. K. Anders Ericson, they write, “The trait we call natural talent is vastly overrated.” What determines success, according to Ericson, is deliberate practice.

Deliberate practice has three key components: setting specific goals, obtaining immediate feedback, concentrating as much on technique as on outcome.

Deliberate Practice
What does this mean for teachers? Keep reading »

Out of Time

It can be difficult—sometimes impossible—to find time to learn and try new instructional strategies and technology. When you aren’t in the classroom, you are preparing lessons, filling out paper work, dealing with discipline, monitoring hallways, attending meetings and grading papers. Let’s face it; sometimes it would be easier if someone just did some of the work for you.

That’s where I come in. Keep reading »

When we talk about effective instructional strategies, we talk about cooperative learning, simulations, graphic organizers. We talk about projects and Socratic seminars and problem-based learning. But on Pitt County’s list of 28 strategies for effective instruction, you won’t find the word lecture anywhere.

In Will Wiberg’s African American History class last week I was reminded just how effective a good lecture can be. Keep reading »

A big part of my training for this Instructional Coach job is technology-based. I can’t say any of the training sessions have made me an expert, but they have introduced me to some of the finer points of some pretty cool programs. A number of our teachers already use of range of software to aid their instruction. The trouble we often have as classroom teachers is finding time between attending IEP meetings, filling out PEPs, and grading stacks of papers to explore and implement these programs. I hope that’s where I can help. Keep reading »