Taking 5 about an Innovative Mindset

We were incredibly fortunate that George Couros was able to share his innovative mindset with Grand Forks Public Schools! I was a tish excited (I only read his book 4 times in 3 different book studies!) Here we are, just a book studyin, on summer vacation (can you say INNOVATIVE TEACHERS? ) I loved spending time with this group. There is nothing more energetic than spending time with people who share a passion for innovation!

And here I am with Mr. George Couros himself. He's every bit as fun as you'd imagine him to be. 

It was this quote that hooked me: 

I mean, really. Does compliance not sum up a traditional mindset? I serriously dislike that word. I also dislike when we, kid professionals, put kids in a box and mass produce society robots. 

I have four grown children- two with learning deficits who have persevered and survived a flawed system.  My four children could not be more different. From their taste in music to their interests and strengths, and they are all on a life path that is both fulfilling and challenging.  All are in leadership roles where fostering relationships is critical. I have so much respect for them. They, thankfully, have beat the system.

  

I now have two perfect little grandsons (ages one and two). There is seriously nothing that compares to the love a grandma has for her little boys. At one and two, Jaren and Toby are becoming little people with interests and personalities. Toby is two. He loves to help me clean! His dad says he's going to be a janitor some day, I disagree. He's going to be an inventor, an engineer, an author, some sort of creator. He loves to figure out how things work. He is fascinated with moving parts and making things change.  He is a lover of stories and anything hands on. He's usually carrying his football and dead front and center watching the Vikings game with grandpa. He's sweet and caring, shy- always says please and thank you. He searches a youtube app for his favorite shows, taps his folder on my iPhone to play his games, and knows how to get his favorite songs off of my music app.  He's a thinker! Jaren is one, is lover of books and puzzles, is a quiet thinker, but a loud talker.  He likes to drive his car on the gravel roads- yes, he drives it.  He plays fetch with the dogs, nuzzles the cats, and fills their water bowl. I cannot fathom school wrecking their little innovative minds.  I feel responsible, as a kid professional, to advocate for them. Simple as that. They deserve a system that values the following:

And so... I'll share. I'm not, in any shape or form, a teacher with all the answers. In fact, I'd be the first to admit that I am struggling. Every day, I think about everything I should have done, dream about what I could have done, ask myself what I could do better next time. I know I need to change how I teach and that building relationships built on trust is crucial! 

I have a mindset. I have goals. I have a vision. I also know I can't do it alone. There has been an increase in energy since Friday's PD. People are reflecting, questioning compliance, and collaborating.  It's a start. 

How do we keep this momentum? We could start by sharing what we do with each other and others both inside and outside our district, by asking other teachers and students for honest feedback, and by continuing to empower kids to make choices and decisions about their learning. By trying things and constantly asking yourself, "How can I make this better?". 

Reflecting on an Innovator's Mindset... (It hurts to watch this!)

This is painful to watch.  I can't even watch it.  I actually couldn't hear it so I dropped it into iMovie to turn the sound up... but it's still too soft.  I suppose I spoke softly so nobody in the school would hear me recording.  

It is so hard to watch yourself on video! Well, here it is. On my blog for the world to see, should they happen to across it on a google search... because I'm most definitely not posting it to twitter.

Words

Today, I was reminded of how important our words are.  Something was said, my heart sank, and I was distracted for a good 10 minutes until I could self-talk myself into feeling better.

I wondered how many times I made a student feel like this, and was never aware?

Part of our job is coaching and providing feedback.  Encouraging feedback when positive decisions are made and supportive feedback when negative decisions are made.  We preach "Growth Mindset" and encourage students to accept feedback as a way to stretch  thinking and revise their work for the better, that failure is a chance to try again and improve. Kids should understand that and accept it, right? Perhaps, I'm wrong?

Why did this comment get to me?  It upset me because it was said carelessly, without regard to the history or truth behind it, it was an empty statement. There was clearly no intent to help me improve or grow - just a blanket statement that was meant to do nothing but probably gives this speaker a chance to say something.

What did I learn from this? RELATIONSHIPS are so important! TRUST needs to be established, so that when the tough things need to be said, they are said with love and respect. And those on the receiving end don't perceive it as a negative comment but trust that it's intended to help them grow.

Relationships are a two-way street. Perhaps, I need to be the one to reach out and communicate why the statement crushed me, or perhaps I simply need to just get over it and realize that we're all human and say dumb things sometimes.

2015-16! Time to commit to weekly posting on this blog!

It's a new year and 2016-17 is off to a great start! Our staff members each made an introduction video for the new bunch of trailblazers. Check out the playlist here.

And here we are venturing into year 2 of our new school with a bit of spunk. We welcomed a new 5th grade teacher, Mr. Knight. Life is good!

Daniel (the 5th grade newbie, Chad, Me, and Kelly)

I really miss last years 5th graders, but these new kiddos are incredibly easy to love! We set up a green screen photo booth and parents had the option to take a picture with their 5th grader at open house. What a fun way to see kids interact and be silly with their families.
Here is the slideshow:

We all jumped into flexible seating head first. We've had to tweak a few things... change out uncomfortable stools for more comfy ones, get rid of certain desks for tables.. etc.  The kids made rules for the seating and things are beginning to feel familiar.  

I do need to assign seats at during carpet time. A few boys are rolling around the ball chairs, and army crawling on the floor... so not cool, but I am confident we'll soon get this figured out.

Since I'm type A about keeping our room picked up and free of clutter, there are some rules regarding their supplies. All supplies are either in a labeled drawer or a cubby.
This is how we organized them...

Glue bottles, tape, expo markers, and extra supplies (pencils) are stored in community drawers. There is actually quite a bit of room when supplies are organized.

Here are a few pics of the classroom:

I'm excited to get started with Readers Workshop, Writers Workshop, and Genius Hour! Our blogs are set up at this address: Mrs. Thiery's Classroom Blog . Please stop and visit.

We'll also be tweeting @MrsThierysClass and #TrailBlazeOn. We'd love to connect!

Making Writing Fun Again!

Writing used to be my passion.  I wrote all the time- I journaled, blogged, revised stories, poured my heart into poetry, and turned the hardest events of my life into problems for my made up characters.

So it wouldn't surprise you to know that teaching writing also used to be my passion.  I can recall stories authored by kids as far as 20 years back. Why? Because it was hard. Because they poured their sweat and soul into stories that were created by them. Because they were passionate about what they were writing about. They had choice. Choice in character, choice in setting, choice in problems, and choice how to end the story.  They chose the genre. They chose the audience. They chose how to publish.

Writing is a window into the soul of the writer. I could tell a lot about a student based on their writing. I could tell when a kiddo needed to be a hero, needed to be heard, or needed a friend. I learned who was friends with who, who had pets, or what sports they played. I learned who needed their voice to be heard, who needed a hug, who needed a snack, and who needed warm clothes in winter.  I used to love teaching writing.

So what killed the joy?  I joined a district literacy committee. Why? I thought it would help me grow as a writing teacher.  I thought I would share my ideas and gain ideas from others.  I don't know what happened, but the light and spark disappeared from my classroom, and it disappeared from my personal life too.  I stopped journaling. I stopped blogging. I stopped writing.

I don't mean any disrespect toward the hard work of our literacy committee. They are amazing people who work incredibly hard. I think what happened was that the students in my class didn't like being told what they had to write.  It was forced. It was dull.  It was all non-fiction writing. Was I the only teacher on that committee who felt this way? I tried to make it fun. I tried to make it applicable. I tried.  I failed.

This year started out the same. We were given a timeline. September was response journaling, October and November were informational article writing, December was essay writing. The kids groaned when they wrote. I was torn.  How do I remain subordinate to our district, but fix this mess?

Over Christmas break, my son, Jordan and I were discussing his job.  With an English degree, he had recently landed a short-term technical writing position within Amazon. Technical Writing? Why hadn't I thought of that earlier? Kids have been writing 'How to' stories since first grade. It wasn't on our timeline, but what would it hurt? What could we write about? It had to be something authentic. It had to be something engaging. It had to be something that they had never done before. And then I remembered the Makey Makeys.  I had four kits in my room.

On the first day back from break, I asked kids to find a youtube video that explained what a MakeyMakey was.  They curated, and we watched a few. I then asked them to find a video or manual online that would teach us how to use them. They did and again, we discussed it. I brought out the kits. They were so excited. For a week, I let them play during writing time.  They were creating some really incredible things. Then it hit me. We need to create a manual that shows other people how to create what we were creating. We read manuals and came up with an anchor chart. We built our Makey Makey taking pictures of each step.  We then uploaded the pictures into our google drive and brought them into a google doc. From there, they wrote. We drafted, revised, then published and laminated them.  Our school purchased 20 Makey Makeys for our school, and our manuals are in the box with them.

Here is Brooklyn and Alivia's example of a 'How to" with Makey Makeys:

How to Make a Piano Play Using Water

These instructions will show you how to play a piano with water using a Makey Makey kit.

Materials:

• Computer

• Makey Makey Board
• USB cord
• 6 Alligator clips
• 5 small paper cups
• water
• www.makeymakey.com/piano

1.Get all your materials together.

2.Fill your five small paper cups with water about 1 centimeter from the top.

3.Arrange the cups in the same position as your Makey Makey board (We are not using click part of the Makey Makey board).

4.Connect the bigger end of your USB cord to your computer and and the smaller end to the  Makey Makey Board.

5.Connect one alligator clip to the up arrow on your Makey Makey Board ( in the two holes) and the other side to the cup that represents the up arrow.

a.The clip that is on the cup has to be touching to the water.

6.Connect another alligator clip to the left arrow on your Makey Makey Board (in the two holes) and the other side to the cup that represents the left  arrow.

a.The clip that is on the cup has to be touching the water.

7.Connect another alligator clip to the down arrow on your Makey Makey Board (in the two holes) and  the other side to the cup that represents the down  arrow.

a.The clip that is on the cup has to be touching the water.

8.Connect another alligator clip to the right arrow on your Makey Makey Board ( in the two holes) and  the other side to the cup that represents the right  arrow.

a.The clip that is on the cup has to be touching the water.

9.Connect another alligator clip to the space button on your Makey Makey Board ( in the two holes) and  the other side to the cup that represents the space button.

a.The clip that is on the cup has to be touching the water.

10 . Take the last alligator clip and connect it to any “Earth” hole. You will have to hold the other end when its time.

11.Go to the website www.makeymakey.com/piano.

12.Hold the alligator clip that is not connected to anything and touch the water to play the piano.

13. Enjoy

If you have any questions: contact Brooklyn Bergeron or Alivia Norris at Discovery Elementary in Mrs. Thiery’s 5th grade classroom or email BrooklynB754@mygfschools.org

 

 

Next we watched TED talks, found patterns, and researched what made a great TED Talk. We created our anchor chart then shared our passions. We also brainstormed ways we could use our passions to make our community a better place. We wrote, revised, and published a TED talk.  We memorized our speeches, videotaped them in front of a green screen, and uploaded them to our youtube channel.
They were so amazing!

From there we researched issuses in our community and brainstormed topics for a Public Service Announcement.  We watched PSA's and determined their catch phrases, we learned what persuasive language sounded like.  We wrote our anchor chart then got to work researching our topics. We wrote, revised, and published our PSA's on a POWTOON. Again, they were amazing!

Now with a month of school left, we are free to write narratives. Our curriculum consists of personal narratives, memoirs, and biographies. These are all awesome genres, but so are historical fiction, science fiction, fantasy, and fairy tales. Why do we take this choice away from kids? "They need to learn to write non-fiction," we're told at Professional Development. "5th Grade is just a tough year, as they become acquainted with the curriculum in prior grades, it'll get easier."  The truth is there is no buy in.

Next, I needed to teach the elements of a narrative and I need them to remember them. What to do?

I borrowed 6 Spheros from Monte Gaukler at Schroeder Middle School. Again we played with them. While playing, one of the kids said... "hey it's like it's red when it's mad and blue when it's cold." Then they started naming their spheros.  Then it hit me... write a narrative with the sphero as the main character.  I taught the components of a narrative, gave them a graphic organizer to brainstorm, and they put themselves in groups and created a narrative.  Next we wrote the narratives, revised them, and finally published them.  We created a setting that the sphero could travel through, then PROGRAMED the sphero to roam through the setting, pausing to act- either shake in fear, turn a color to represent a mood, run fast or jump, or stop.  The students then practiced reading their narratives and timed their voices to match their sphero program.  It WAS AWESOME!!!!

Here is abby, Ayana, and Quibby's narrative brainstorming looked like:

Use this template to brainstorm for your Sphero Narrative

Group Members: Abby and Ayana and Quibby

Spheros name: Ethan

Title of Narrative: The Island

Setting: On a Island

Conflict: Can’t Get off the Island

Resolution: Gets Off The Island

Theme: Everybody Can Do Anything

Characters: Sphero, Pigs, Tiger, Wolfs

Rising Action Events:

1. Boat Crashes
2. He finds a village and they give him food and seeds. Weapons.
3. He explores the island then he finds food and then it was a trap and he fell in.
4. He stays in the trap and  can’t find a way out.
5. He looks at the animals and they help him find a way out.
6. The animals become his pets.
7. He builds a hut.
8. Then he makes a garden and starts to build a new life.

Climax: He starts jumping like crazy thinking of a way to get off the island.

Falling Action Events:

1. He starts to build a boat.
2. But he doesn't want to leave his animals.
3. After he finishes his boat he loads all of his stuff in and leaves but he goes back to get his pets and goes back to America.

Here are some pics from the process:

Flexible Seating

We did it!  Our classroom is 100% free from assigned seating.  I've wanted to do this for years, but I just didn't know how to manage it in an intermediate classroom. I am so thankful to Kayla Delzer for working out the kinks in her second grade classroom and letting us observe for the morning. We have standing tables, low tables, desks on wheels, desks in a semi circle.  We have ball chairs, wiggle chairs, barber shop chairs, cubes, wobble cushions, and pillows.

     
     

Classroom Jobs

So I think we finally have a system figured out for classroom jobs. A job is anything that needs to be done so that our classroom can run more smoothly.  Anyone can do a job- there is no applying or a teacher-boss mandating that the job get done.  As I set up the classroom this fall, I thought about things that I do each day that could be done by kids rather than me.  Jobs such as returning library books, organizing the library, sharpening pencils, tweeting happentings etc came to mind.  The funny thing is as soon as I started asking myself if what I was doing could be done by a student, jobs were popping up daily.  Weekly, we were making a chart and adding kids names beside the job.  Anybody can add their name to the job so we may have 3 people wanting to return library books.  That's fine. The three of them then figure out a system for taking care of that job for the month.  At the end of the month, we revisit how things are working out. Sometimes kids resign because the job isn't a good fit.  Many times kids switch jobs and that's great!