Spring 2014 - third year in cycle 1, third year in 4th grade
Jim Smart
A lot of good teaching comes down to a series of choices about pacing, variety, and awareness of what is best for the students at any particular time. Now that Im settling in to fourth grade, I feel wiser about when to end or extend and activity, when to leave something for another day, and when to seize the moment. Sometimes you need to completely switch up what the students are doing and where they are doing it. I love the self-contained classroom, where I am free to make choices and changes that will benefit the students. I feel like I am finding my stride in fourth grade and settling into a good thing.
The world is changing fast; technology is changing the way we live and work, and there are so many implications for my students and what they need to learn. There are more and more choices and options on my pallet. Every year involves a lot of new activities, apps, skills, and ways of teaching. More and more, the students are in charge of their own learning. The old sage on the stage we grew up with is far away in the rear view mirror. Inquiry learning is transforming the way we do everything; I love the challenge of that. I love turning over my classroom to my students, and being more of a mentor and helper, and individualizing instruction more every year.
My writing program is probably the best example of individualized learning in my classroom. I have developed a system where students have specific writing activities assigned to them in the first half of the year, but towards the spring students learn to choose their own topics and publish them. In addition to sharing their writing aloud regularly, finished pieces go into sheet protectors where they are displayed before going into our folders; the students love to read each others work.
During Writers Workshop I am constantly working with students on their particular needs. Some of my students have very sophisticated skills; they write dialogue and use rich vocabulary. Others struggle mightily with punctuation and spelling, and turn in work with no capital letters or periods. I have developed our writers workshop time to meet their various needs, and keep everyone improving and growing in their ability to express themselves. Technology may change the ways we can express ourselves, but humans will always need to learn to communicate effectively.
More and more, my classroom is centered around project-based learning and inquiry. My assessments often involve some sort of publishing, sharing, or posting work for all to see. I have built shelves for the students work that wraps
around our Castle Hall pillars, and each child has a personal bulletin board on a pillar. Ive combined and adapted several ideas into my Smart Notes, which serve to keep the parents informed and help the children to aim high.
My cycle one goal this year was to force myself to learn a new program or app. In the fall I leaped into Explain Everything. I borrowed a class set of iPads and dove into a new activity that I hadnt done in previous years. Over the years I have gotten comfortable trying out new activities. I remember how the teacher I replaced at Punahou many years ago spent hours showing me her file cabinets, four giant tall ones full of files; her main idea was that you should do the same things every year, pull out a certain folder every October at the same time, etc. I have never found that to be a useful model for me. I am glad I got rid of all those folders and bulky cabinets! Each year is a new adventure. I anticipate that the pace of the changes coming to my classroom and education in general will only increase with time, and Im happy about that. I get bored repeating the same thing too often. Im proud of my flexible approach, always evaluating what I do, fine tuning and trying new things.
My students learned a lot about digital literacy this year, especially movie making. I split up my camp video footage into 25 folders so they could each make a unique movie. Once they finished that first movie, they had more freedom to choose from all of the footage, and make any kind of movie they want. Its important to hold everyone to clear expectations while also having meaningful extension activities for those who finish early. We also learned how to make stop motion animation with our modeling clay, which brought out a lot of creativity, imagination, and problem solving. Im unsure about where we are all going with technology, but I know its going to be exciting, and I want to be a part of it. I know I could adapt to iPads in fourth grade, or other platforms, and I look forward to incorporating GoPro cameras next year. I am confident that I can adapt to any new kind of technology, and I know one thing: The future is full of amazing possibilities. A special focus for me has been my Math Journey, which started by mastering the EveryDay Math program. I attended all of the Math Hui meetings and went to an
awesome workshop on Mathematics in the City, which is the Cathy Fosnot math program in New York. I observed other teachers teaching her way, and taught a unit myself called Muffles Truffles. I have ordered several other activities for next year, and I am looking forward to attending Cathy Fosnots workshop in August. I enjoy these new ideas, but I still love the way that EveryDay Math anchors the curriculum; it has a wonderful clarity that is organized in a way that works well for students and parents.
There are some concerns with Fosnot math and project- based learning. Some students do not spend their time well, and need a lot of help making good choices. Some students passively watch their teammates actively create, build, research, and explore. Some students disengage from the intellectual work and cede it to others while they do something like color in the bubble letters on the groups poster. So as waves of change and educational revolution sweep over my classroom, my task is to keep the right balance for each student individually. I love the challenge of keeping a diverse group of fourth graders engaged, interested, and active.
During my second observed lesson this year, my goal was to show a full range of student activities, moving the kids around within the classroom and varying what I ask of them. Starting at their desks with a brief pre-test on the computers, students joined together on the carpet to discuss our new vocabulary words. There was a lesson during which students were expected to listen attentively, followed by a creative challenge: each student had to make a slide for one of the vocabulary words. This is a noisy, busy process where students think of sentences and get their friends to be in photographs that illustrate their word. Mr. Nagel was invited to be in a couple of the slides!
This part of the hour was very noisy and active. As the finish their slides, students settle back to their seats. The final part is when I share all of the slides with the students so they can get familiar with the vocabulary words and see what their friends have done. I always try to include some sort of publishing or sharing element to any project, and students use these slides like flash cards as much as they like. So hopefully this was an hour where I took a part of the curriculum that could be dull (Wordly Wise vocabulary words) and made it multi sensory. The kids moved around, alternated between quiet listening, active collaborating, and created a real product that is useful to themselves and others.
At the finish of my third year in my new grade level (now not so new), I feel grateful and happy that I made the change from middle school. There is just something magical about these nine and ten year olds. I enjoy spending my days with them, and I feel I have the right skill set to help them learn and grow. I look forward to many more years in the fourth grade, the just right Goldilocks grade. I will continue to work on pacing, variety, and new and innovative worthwhile experiences and activities for my students.