Education Galaxy Q & A

Last week, a teacher from another district reached out to me with a few questions. I thought I'd share my answers here in case anyone else can benefit from this quick Q & A.

1) How do you ensure that good work ethic is being used and strategies are being shown?
I could never guarantee that strategies were being shown since I was typically working with a small group while students were on Education Galaxy. At the beginning of the year, students would take the diagnostic assessment (down one level). I’d print their report for them, and they’d keep it in their files (I had a file organizer pocket chart for each class). Students were taught they could only work on their yellow and red (some study required/critical need) skills. As they finished a task, they were asked to write their score beside the skill on their report. At any given time, I could pull a student’s report out of their file to track that they were on task and being responsible. At middle of the year, students would take the diagnostic assessment on grade level, and we’d follow the same procedures as above.
2) How often do you utilize it in the classroom?
After completing the diagnostic assessments, Education Galaxy remained a constant in my stations. The number of tasks required depended on the student and their individual needs. Usually students would be asked to complete 1-2 lessons per week.
Occasionally, I’d also assign the whole group a lesson especially if our district unit test data showed that a skill was low across the board.
3) What is the home use like for your students?
I never required home use for my students; however, there is always a family or two that requests extra things to do at home. To accommodate this request, I’d send a list of skills we’d already taught/learned in class and asked families to only focus on those skills. I didn’t want them spending time on anything we hadn’t touched on in class yet. I also kept this list posted in my classroom for those students who completed the lessons required based on their diagnostic reports and wanted to know what else they could practice.
4) What do you guys use to motivate the students?
We didn’t have to do much to motivate the students since they already loved the program so much! Ed Galaxy would occasionally show up with treats for the class if a student reached a certain status. My partner teacher would offer prizes/treats for students who had earned a certain number of stars. What you offer would depend on the interests of your students.

I’m sure I’ve missed something. My new role doesn’t allow me to use Education Galaxy anymore, but I LOVE it and think that it’s an amazing tool for students and teachers!

Feedback & Tough Love

"You can fight change, adapt to change, embrace change, create change, or lead change. No matter your choice, change is not going away." - George Couros, Innovate Inside the Box

#InnovateInsideTheBox

I'm currently participating in a book study with Innovate Inside the Box by George Couros and Katie Novak. This book has got my mind going 90 to nothing every time I pick it up. I have all these incredible (okay...maybe they're not INCREDIBLE, but still...) thoughts that make me want to bring this blog back to life. Then life gets in the way, I lose my thoughts, and the blog doesn't get done. I need to make more time for this.

While I was on a flight this past weekend, I read the chapter "Master Learner, Master Educator." It got me thinking about all the feedback I've received during my sixteen years of teaching as well as made me realize that one of my biggest passions as an educator is having the opportunity to spread the joy of life-long learning with others - student AND adult learners! My top 5 strengths include Input, Restorative, Learner, Achiever, and Deliberative. I joke that I'm just a big nerd, but I love to learn new things and pass along what I've learned to those around me. But I digress...

A teacher, who also happens to be a parent to one of my students this year, approached me in the hall today to thank me for being amazing. She went on to say that her son was really enjoying being a part of my class. She couldn't have known how much that quick little piece of feedback meant to me. Of course, not all feedback is quite so easy to receive.

During my reading of the chapter mentioned above, I kept recalling a conversation I had with another colleague (also a parent to one of my students at the time) nearly eight years ago. I went to this teacher with a question not only because I trusted her opinion, but I also thought she'd be on my side with the issue at hand. For several years, I sent home the same multiplication packet (packet...*shudder*) over Thanksgiving break. We were just beginning to learn the concept, and it was meant to help students with their memorization and fluency. My thought process was they'd have a week, and I thought it would be easy. A couple parents complained, so I went to seek this teacher's opinion and was looking for her to support me sending this assignment home. BOY, WAS I WRONG! In the most polite way possible, she let me know she also hated that I was sending the packet home. Her family was planning to go camping over the break, and doing homework was not something she was looking forward to putting on her camping itinerary. If I'm being honest, it was hard to take in that bit of feedback, but it was so necessary for me to hear and learn from! If my memory serves me correctly, I believe I made that packet optional that year. I'm not sure I ever required it to be completed again. (Sidenote: Because my own children were still so young and didn't have their own busy, little lives, I didn't realize just how precious our weekends and week long breaks would be. I've definitely learned the error of my ways now!)

Feedback isn't always easy! Sometimes you seek it out yourself, and other times it just shows up in your inbox. Sometimes it will make you downright angry. Give yourself a minute to be upset, but then ask yourself, "What lesson am I meant to learn from this?" 

No matter how it is received, feedback is necessary for growth as an educator and learner. Looking back over my years in the classroom, I've made a LOT of mistakes. I'll likely make a lot more, but I'm looking forward to every learning experience that crosses my path. This journey just gets better and better. 

Thank you for being the leader I didn't know I needed.

As I'm gearing up to switch roles in my educator world, I'm feeling extra reflective so here I sit.

Principal # 1 

Thank you for being the leader I didn't know I needed. From the very start, you challenged me. If my mind serves me correctly in my older age, you didn't want to hire me. I was fresh out of college, and you were certain you wanted someone with experience. After a little convincing from the fourth grade team that I had previously worked with for six weeks as a long term sub, you finally caved and gave this local girl a chance in a classroom of her own.

I always felt like I had to work a little harder than the teacher next door. I had something to prove as my mindset during those first few years definitely sounded something like, "Oh? You think I can't do this? Well, watch this!" I even remember you telling me that I wouldn't be a "good" teacher until I had at least 3 years of experience under my belt. At the time, I admit that I was a little insulted. However, when I think back to that moment, I now understand what you meant. My four year degree didn't mean that I knew everything there was to know about teaching. I still had a lot to learn...and still do!

Thank you for being the leader I didn't know I needed.

Principal # 2

Thank you for being the leader I didn't know I needed. By the time you came along, I thought I had this fourth grade teacher thing all figured out. Was I ever wrong! You taught me what it meant to be part of a true, professional learning community. I began to see the importance in leaning on my teammates for their strengths rather than see my own skills as inferior to theirs. I realized that I, too, had things to offer my teammates where they fell short.

Of all my principals, you were probably the most like me. Numbers and data make sense. They're concrete - black & white if you will - and it's easy to create a plan, to turn the numbers into goals, and give myself something to work toward. This is probably why it was so easy to get along with you. The lessons you taught me are invaluable, and I will carry them with me throughout the remainder of my career as an educator.

Thank you for being the leader I didn't know I needed.

Principal # 3

Thank you for being the leader I didn't know I needed. After my first two principals, I was sure that I had finally found my groove. I was rockin' and rollin' in my fourth grade teacher world, but then you came along and turned my world upside down. You were the extrovert to my introvert. You showed me the value in being a connected educator. I had no idea (well, maybe I had a little idea) how to get connected with literally hundreds of educators that would change the way I teach forever. As a result, I had even more to offer my team, and we're all better for it.

You are everything I am not, and you pushed me to step FAR outside my comfort zone. You trusted me to take on things other leaders had not. You empowered me to be more than just a fourth grade teacher. It wasn't always easy to balance #allthethings, but your confidence in me made me realize I could handle it. I am forever grateful for your mentorship and friendship.

Thank you for being the leader I didn't know I needed.

Future Principals

I can't even begin to imagine what you'll have to teach me, but I am surely looking forward to it. It just keeps getting better.

I hope that if my future holds a principalship of my own, I will take a piece of all of you with me and be the leader that my teachers don't yet know they need.  

Always Learning - Always Revising!

Fourteen years. That's how long I've been teaching fourth graders. No two years are ever the same. Of course, that means no two years' lesson plans look the same either! We're always evolving in order to meet the needs of our students. 

Yesterday, my team attended a training session titled, "Writing Strategies for Special Needs Writers."  After sitting through the training, I believe most of the strategies would be good for all writers - especially at this particular age. 

I was glad to walk away with a few new strategies in my toolbelt and immediately went to work making changes to our expository planning document. 

We added the box for drawing their thoughts/brainstorming. Why didn't we think of that before? I even used this page with my students today, and the KIDS LOVED IT! How great it was to spend 5 minutes or less drawing our thoughts on a prompt (today's prompt was about your favorite time of year) and then talking about how the pictures connect to the main ideas. Fantastic and SO EASY! 

Of course, my biggest take away might be this quote:

"I don't teach writing. I teach writers." 

Who knows? Next year, our planning document might look completely different. It'll all depend on what works for the kids. What works for your writers? I'd love to see some of your ideas!

What's your why?

As an educator, have you ever thought about WHY you do what you do? I'm willing to bet that you don't do it for the money or summers off. If you're like me, your WHY changes throughout the years.

Becoming a mother changed my 'why' in ways I could have never imagined. Not only that, but my relationship with my students began to change. I became more caring and nurturing toward kids that weren't even mine, yet they were mine. They'll always be "my kids." The amount of patience I had with my students grew infinitely! When I had my second child, I began to really see my students for the individuals they were rather than a classroom full of 20-something kiddos that were all ready to learn at the same pace and in the same ways.

When my personal children became school aged, my teaching changed once again. I have one child who just "gets" school. Things typically come easy to her. My other child has to work a little harder and longer to achieve mastery. We could blame it on age (being one of the youngest in the grade) or gender, but what good would that do?

On the way to school this morning, I was listening to comments like this:

I hate this!
I'm scared!
I'm not good at this!
Why do I have to go?
I don't want to make new friends!

...all because he was invited to attend a club in the early mornings for students who benefit from a little extra time working on their academic skills.

My immediate reaction was to talk about growth mindset and how we have to change our mindset when we're faced with things we don't want to do. That task may seem terrible at the time, but it's really set in place to HELP. Teaching a kid how to have a growth mindset is challenging, but I'm going to keep working at it!

Teaching students who are all ready for instruction at different levels is HARD, but my kids make me want to do better and BE better! My kids - the ones I birthed and the ones I teach on a daily basis - are my why. I want them to feel successful, but I also want them to realize that their versions of successful don't have to look like everyone else's.

Apps, Extensions, and Add-ons...Oh my!

Have you ever really taken the time to see what tools are available to you in the Google Web Store? I'm not even sure I'd know where to begin if it wasn't for an instructor or two sharing their expertise with me. Today, that very thing happened. I was able to sit in a class with many other educators from our district to learn from TCEA's very own Dr. Bruce Ellis (@drbruceellis).

I took PAGES and PAGES and PAGES of notes, but I'll spare you and only share a few of my favorite tools I learned about today.

Rewordify (rewordify.com)

Have you ever found an article that you wanted your students to read, but the reading level wasn't quite appropriate for all of your students? Rewordify is just the thing for you! It's so easy to use! Simply highlight, copy, and paste the section of the article that might need to be reworded. This tool will either re-word the hard words, or it will put synonyms in brackets next to those tougher vocabulary words. Settings can be changed by clicking on "Settings" in the top right-hand corner of the page.

For an example, I copied a recent blog post from my principal to see how it would change her words. Rewordify found 19 (NINETEEN!) hard words and gave me simpler synonyms. Sometimes, as adult readers, we forget which words are still hard for our kids, so I can definitely see this tool being useful this year with my fourth graders. I'm already picturing finding a passage/excerpt from a book that would be great for Guided Reading and using Rewordify to help support some of my lower level readers.

I also asked myself why I didn't know about this tool when I was going through grad school. It would have made all those journals so much easier to understand!

Timer Loop (app found in Google Web Store)

This app actually made me think of my Camp Gladiator trainer and how often she gets distracted by a camper who's asking questions while the rest of us are dripping in sweat waiting for her to change the exercise. She says one more minute, but what really happens is we're left hanging for three minutes which isn't really that long unless you're in the middle of doing bear crawls. Ha!

Timer Loop would be perfect for when your classes are going through stations/centers/guided reading groups. You can set up the timer for a specified work time and transition time, and it will continue looping until that station time is up.

I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to not having to keep up with my timer during my rotation period. Timer Loop is going to be a time saver!

Google Tone (extension found in Google Web Store)

How much time do you spend creating QR codes or shortened URLs for your students? This tool is going to CHANGE YOUR LIFE! Google Tone allows you to broadcast any URL to other computers within earshot. This would be amazing for students working in small groups or at the teacher table. I could also see Google Tone being used during research units. When a student or teacher finds a good resource, all they have to do it click on the little blue megaphone extension in the toolbar to share it with everyone else's computer who might be sitting nearby. I will most definitely ensure Google Tone is added to all of my Chromebooks at the beginning of the 17-18 school year!

Appear.in (app, extension, and a website - https://appear.in/) 

Last, but certainly not least, I want to share Appear.in with you. I wasn't successful getting the app or extension to work, but the website worked fine. This is similar to Today's Meet, but with a video conferencing piece to it. My table group at today's class discussed a few different ways we could see this tool being useful:

* Students can meet with students in other classrooms (book studies!) or even at other campuses. Our GT teacher was especially excited about this possibility since it would give her GT students the opportunity to confer with like-minded students across the district.

* Teachers could plan with grade level teachers all over the district without having to leave school! We all know we already don't have enough time in the day, but how great would it be to quickly share an idea "face to face" from the comfort of your own classroom?

* Parent Conferences/Open House - As a teacher who is also a mom, I can appreciate how some parents simply can't get away or maybe don't want to drag little ones up to the school for a meeting. Appear.in is a perfect alternative! You can have a conference over the computer, and the parent can leave their napping toddlers in bed. It's a win for everyone! Also, we have an Open House scheduled for September. We invite parents up to hear more about academic expectations, homework requirements, and behavior policies. It's also a great time for parents to ask any questions they've had over the first few weeks of school if they haven't already been asked and answered. We could broadcast our presentation, and parents who can't leave the house can still participate!

I'll save some of my other favorite tools for another time. If you have suggestions about how you'd use any of these tools, I'd love to hear them!

I don't know about you, but I'm getting increasingly excited for the 2017-18 year!

A day in the life...

Today, I was given the opportunity to help complete some tasks that our campus principal has had on her "to do" list this summer. I went to school this morning to review the list with her. In my head, I was thinking, "I can totally finish this in a few hours! This should be a breeze."

Boy. Was. I. Ever. Wrong.

As a teacher, I'm sure you've asked yourself what your principal does all day not only during the school year but during all those summer weeks when we're not even in the building. Now that I've been given this little sneak peek, it's clear that she has no trouble keeping busy!

There were only eight (8!) things on the list. After about six(ish) hours of work, I was able to complete three things on the list. I plan to knock out at least one more of those jobs after dinner.

Please don't think I'm complaining. I'm actually grateful for the insight to an administrator's day. What I've accomplished today took a lot of work and time, but I'm proud of the products that came out of that effort. I can't wait to keep learning and growing in my role as a teacher and an aspiring administrator!