Poetry

Poetry through the Senses:

Throughout the course of my teaching experience, I have noticed a major challenge facing teachers of creative writing is how to motivate their students to write poetry. While teaching my own students Writer’s Craft at The Hill Academy, I decided to take a different approach to teaching poetry. Many of my students, being high school level elite athletes, we very much into music. When I gave them their assignment poetry though music a lot of them were confused. Very few every looked at lyrics from their favourite songs as poetry. This unit turned out to be a big hit, students were exploring and finding new meaning to old and new songs all while being motivated to create their own poetry.

In our grade 3 class, we found that many of our students had never even been exposed to poetry. So we decided to take the approach of exploring poetry through the senses. Students have been asked to look at various photos, listen to certain pieces of music and poetry readings online. From there, we would explore through their senses how it made them feel, what they would picture in their mind, how it would taste, sounds they would hear, scents they would envision, and a feeling of touch they may experience. Students took this approach to a level we never imagined, coming up with creative pieces of writing they were proud enough to share with the school. We created anchor charts to post on our literacy board with ideas the class had come up with over a course of a few lessons students could draw on.

On of our most successful lessons was poetry through music; we had the students listen to a piece of music and come up with words and adjectives to describe them to later turn into a poem. Here is one student’s work:

"Funeral at night, I feel sad now. When I cry I taste salty tears in my mouth. When I am in the dark room I feel lonely. When I walk in the room I see broken glass". 

These were some of the words this student brainstormed while listening to the piece of music: 

mystery, dizzy, sad, cool, tears, salt, dance, funeral, scared, boom, broken glass, fight, sharp, red, black, dark, mission, peace, God, creepy, spy 

As we move forward in this unit the students have developed a love and appreciation for poetry. Some of the things we found to be very successful during this unit were:
- creativing a motivating atmosphere; moving desk so students have a sense of privacy at the beginning; dimming the lights; putting on music
- create a positive free share environment; allow students to pass if they do not feel comfortable; positive and descriptive feedback; making students feel assured they will not be exposing themselves. Luckily, our students are wonderful at accepting all and each others differences so this was very easy for us
- offering a number of models of poetry to encourage students there is no right or wrong way to express themselves; exposing students to a variety of styles or coming up with new ones

Technology in Intensive Support D.D. classes

It has been such a privileged to spend time in this TDSB D.D class. In such a short time I have learned so much about creating an effective, inclusive learning environment for students with special education requirements. This particular classroom is known in the program as a model class and it is very evident why. This teacher is so organized and provides a stable, consistent structure to her students.

As I have spoken of so much in my previous posts, technology is so important in providing quality, relevant education and that does not go unnoticed in this class. This amazing teacher uses it to engaged her students and has many different programs to suite each student’s individual education plan.

This student is working on developing her ability to identify colours. Both of these activities allow for that. After successfully completing one, she was able to move on to a more advanced activity that used matching colour to the actual words. Even more challenging due to the fact that all of the colours begin with the letter B. This activity allows the teacher to formatively assess the student in order to move properly scaffold for the next activity.

This is just one example of the many activities available using assistive technology devices to expand student learning. This teacher uses many other games and software to suite each individual education plan of her students. 

Modifications and I.E.P in DD class

This past week I was invited to spend time in an Intensive Support Developmentally Delayed classroom in the TDSB. A lot of boards strongly believe in integration rather than segregation, this program however, provides its unique students the best of both worlds. The first being one on one academics and life skills development with their highly qualified specialized teachers and education assistants.  Secondly, students also receive integration with school activities allowing them to develop strong peer relationships. Students in this program have severe to moderate developmental delays, which requires the teacher to develop academic programs geared to their individual needs using an Individual Education Plan (I.E.P). Students in this program also exhibit various levels of behaviour, which is why there is an importance in keeping students busy and engaged in activities suited to their needs.  

In this class, the teacher bases her lessons around a theme. From there, she creates activities that suite each students individual learning objective and goal. The theme at the moment is endangered animals. Here is an example of a modified writing activity suited to each students individual need:

Each of these students are at a different level in terms of their writing and this activity was modified enough to have the students working on the same thing within the same theme but at their own level. 

At the same time, each of these students are working on another modified activity in order to suite their individual need, yet still focused on the same theme. One being development of fine motor skills and matching letters to letters spelling out the animal seen in the picture. The other being a student recognizing the animal in the picture and being able to identify it by matching the written word beside. This teacher has so many amazing ideas in order to develop activities based on students individual education plan all while they are developing and furthering their skill level.  

Here are some of the key things I learned that are extremely important to the success of these unique students and why such a program is necessary: 

Routines: Structure and predictability give these students a sense of stability. In the class I was in, this teacher takes special care in communicating with parents on a daily basis using a communication folder in order for them to establish similar expectations at home in terms of not only basic routines but also behaviour. For example, encouraging their child to use full sentences or picture exchange to express needs and wants.

Manipulatives: We all know hands on learning is one of the best forms of learning for most students, however it is necessary for all children with developmental delays. Manipulatives such as alphabetical letters, wooden blocks, plastic shapes are materials that help these students understand different concepts because they are being provided with a tangible example. Handling manipualtives also improves gross, cogitative and fine motor skills, something many of the children in this class need practice with.

Expression and discussion: Multiple learning strategies are taken strongly into consideration when planning activities. These students work best when they can express themselves and be involved in the learning process. For students that have difficulty communicating, they are given picture cards and symbols to express their needs. In addition, basic sign language is used in order for students to be active in expressing their feelings and wants. These students are most successful at any task when they feel confident and comfortable sharing their feelings with adults and peers. 

Literacy Resource for Parents!

    During the March break I had the opportunity to attend a workshop for teachers that provided ideas, resources and lectures about the importance of communicating with parents to excel student learning. In all of the primary classes I spend time in, it is usually evident which parents spend time working with their children and which do not. I believe some parents simply just don’t know what to do, which is why I want to share this piece of information I took from this workshop.

   Literacy is a huge focus at all school boards. One of which I am deeply involved in during my time in all of the classrooms I volunteer in. This was a printable we were handed out and one that would be so easy to send home with parents in student agendas that needs little explanation:

For the Grade 1 class I spend time in, I put together a short explanation to send home with this print out to parents so they have an even better idea of how they can help their children reach new reading goals. Here is a couple points from my note:

1. Read out loud to your child daily: read books yes, but also read out loud street signs, labels in the grocery store, episode names on tv shows; words you both see around you in daily life
2. Rhyme: read poems and books that rhyme: Dr. Suess books are a great start. Make games out of finding words that rhyme (many of which can be downloaded free as Apps on smart phones and tablets). Make up silly nonsense words that rhyme with your child’s name – this can even be done with friend’s names on the way to school!
3. Ask questions: when you read stories talk about what you read; make predictions come up with alternative endings; what do you think will happen next? What does the picture tell you may happen? Did this character make a good choice? Would you do the same thing or something different? What was your favourite part of the story? Etc. the list is endless once you start!
4. Have books in your home: use the library resources available at your local library, here at Davis, or from family and friends. I have also gotten plenty at local thrift stores for $0.25-$1.50 in great shape for children in my life. Don’t be afraid to check them out.

   We are really hoping we will see change in our students reading habits now that this has been sent home as a resource for parents. It is not only teachers that can help a student achieve new goals; it is also having an open curriculum awareness with parents and care givers to communicate these visions for success of their loved ones.

Classroom Management

   Teachers are always talking about effective classroom management. Personally, effective classroom management begins with the environment the students are in. Standards and expectations must be set at the beginning of the year with clear consequences if those are not followed.

   In our SK class we have the glitter bottle; the glitter bottle is something students use as a reflective, calming tool while they take a break from the other students to refocus (this idea was originally seen on Pintrest). This glitter bottle is very easy to make and is very effective for the little ones to calm them down. Once the glitter settles at the bottom of the bottle, students will have a quick reflective conference with their teacher and be back to focused work. Here is a link to a video tutorial on how to make a glitter bottle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=687Ww8Y3oeM 

Our Grade 1 class is full of talkers and for this we have a few different methods. Our most effective is our voice level poster. Following a lesson as a group we decided where our check mark belongs on our voice level poster. Students are reminded of this if they get chatty during their work. We find it to be very effective especially because we discuss it as a class before students are sent back to their desks (again, this was an idea adapted from Pintrest). Here is what ours look like: 

   In our Grade 3 class we have a lot of group work; as a group bonding and team building activity every time students switch seats they come up with a group name and poster that hangs from the ceiling. Points are awarded to each group on the positive points board for on task behaviour, cooperation and effective group work. At the end of the month, points are tallied and the winning team gets extra technology time during literacy (our students love the smart board so this is very motivating). Here are some photos of our class’s posters:

There are many different styles of classroom management; these are just a few of ours that we find to be effective. 

Partner Reading

     As I’m sure many other teachers out there are, I am a huge fan of Pintrest. When in doubt about something it is so easy to pop a key word into Pintrest and get hundreds of ideas from other exceptional educators out there. As of lately, we have noticed many of our students are forgetting some of the expectations we have during partner reading. In the past we have sat down and discussed with our students success criteria for acceptable partner reading. However, we have never had an anchor chart posted in the classroom to remind students of this. Here is where Pintrest comes in; rather than use Daily 5 time going over success criteria with the students again, we found this anchor chart on Pintrest created it prior to the morning bell and simply went over each point with our students. Here is what we created and went over with students:

We now have a new anchor chart (and after reading this blog you will know we are a huge fan of anchor charts) to post near our literacy and Daily 5 wall to remind students of different ways to do partner reading.

Partner reading is important for the following reasons:

• it is a cooperative learning strategy that allows students to work together and encourage each other while reading an assigned text
• it allows students to take turns reading and providing each other with feedback, asking questions and making predictions together as a way to monitor comprehension. 
• it provides a model of fluent reading and helps students learn decoding skills by offering positive feedback
• it provides direct opportunities for teachers to observe students as well as offer individual or partner conferencing 

Personally, as an educator, I feel it absolutely necessary to never stop learning.  I believe a huge part of that is not only working with your partner teacher, but also being able to share your ideas as well as research and embrace others. Pintrest is a site worth signing up for as a teacher because it will guaranteed you never stop learning.

www.pintrest.com 

Geometry Culminating, Grade 1

   Geometry

   In our Grade 1 class we have been working on our geometry unit intensely the past few weeks. Students have been working on identifying common two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional figures as well as classifying them by their attributes. They have done many independent and group activities to be able to recognize symmetry as well as relating shapes to other shapes. For them to become more comfortable with using mathematical language to represent and describe each shape we had them work in groups to build castles with physical blocks in the classroom.

   As a culminating task, our students created a riddle book of two-dimensional shapes and three-dimensional figures. Each student chose a shape and created a riddle using a folded piece of paper. As the person who was attempting to solve the riddle unfolded, they would get another hint (attribute) of the shape. As they continued, they would have to guess the shape before it was revealed at the base of the folds. Here is an example of a students work:

   Students loved this activity and each person in each group had to choose a different shape, reporting their choice to the teacher. When the students were finished their work they were able to share with their table group. With all the completed work, we made a book for our classroom and laminated it. This was a wonderful activity and the students loved the idea of making their work into a classroom book for our library.  

Here are two links to SmartBoard geometry games that we also had the students explore:
http://www.math-play.com/shapes-game.html
http://www.math-play.com/geometric-figures-game/geometric-figures-game.html
http://tvoparents.tvo.org/activity/stacking