Charmed, I’m Sure

Have you ever met a little 6-year-old boy with Super-Powers?  Or, perhaps a better question would be: Have you ever met a little 6-year-old boy who didn’t have Super-Powers? Many boys this age are full of energy, excitement, enthusiasm, and beans. Yes, a lot of BEANS! Some of these children also have very little self-control and a great deal of impulsivity.

So, when a 6-year-old boy declares with excitement to a 10-year-old boy in the bathroom at lunch, “I’ve got Super Powers!”  The best answer probably would not be, with an attitude, “No, you DON’T!”  So, of course, you probably won’t be surprised to hear that the 6-year-old boy had to demonstrate his karate-chopping Super Powers to the 10-year-old (or should I say, ON the 10-year-old boy).Continue reading “Charmed, I’m Sure”

First Self-Reflection Conferences

The first term reporting period is upon us.  In the past few weeks, I have reflected on and  written about my struggles with assigning letter grades to my students.  By putting my concerns and struggles out there for all to read, many of you gave me wonderful support and suggestions.  Thank you all so much!

While I do not really want to give out letter grades to my students, and squash much of their self-esteem, I am required to assign letter grades based upon their achievement relating to the Prescribed Learning Outcomes (PLO’s) we have been focusing on this term.  French is not an easy for inner-city students, many of whom struggle with their first, and often second languages. For many of my students, French is the third language they are learning.  So, with the help from many of you, I am approaching reporting and grading differently this year.  It is not about ME, the teacher, and what I think about how they have worked this term. The emphasis is on the STUDENTS, the learners, and about how they perceive their own learning.  They have each reflected on their learning and will have a large say into what their letter grade will be each term.

Today we completed the first Self-Reflection conferences with some of my students from my two Grade 5 French classes.    To be completely honest, I was a bit worried about how it was going to work.  A few questions kept running through my head:

  • Would the students really take this process seriously?
  • Would they all just give themselves A’s?
  • Will I have enough time to complete these conferences?
  • Will the process really be meaningful?
  • What will the parents think?
  • What will the other teachers think?
  • Will this work?????
  • Am I doing the right thing?Continue reading “First Self-Reflection Conferences”

The Primary Pad Buzz

After hearing about one of our teacher’s experience and witnessing the excitement of the students, I knew I wanted to give PrimaryPad a try with my own classes.  It went really well, for the most part.  The second class I tried it with went much better than the first class though.  I think that my being pretty sick with bronchitis when I first tried PrimaryPad with my students, probably wasn’t the best decision because I still wasn’t thinking as clearly as I should have been.

Let me tell you a little about PrimaryPad first and then tell you a few things to keep in mind if you decide to use this tool with our classes.

PrimaryPad can have many users typing all at once (I had 9 groups of three students typing together). Each group of students could type their name and choose their colour. If done correctly, each group/student would have a different colour.  This makes it easier to identify who is saying what. I typed in 4 questions. The students read the questions and wrote their group’s answers to each of the questions.

PrimaryPad has a backchannel that the students can use to chat as well. This is a great option for when the students finish an assignment they are working on, they can go to the chat feature (on the bottom right). My students LOVED this feature!

A few things to consider and/or remember when using PrimaryPad…Continue reading “The Primary Pad Buzz”

A Lesson in Persistence and Collaboration

One of our Grade 5 teachers tried something new a couple of weeks ago. It turned out fabulous, but not without a few hiccups.  Her class is studying the environment, so she wanted to have her class collaboratively answer a debatable question regarding farming salmon.  With the help of our Teacher-Librarian, she and another Grade 5 class were going to explore the question together (from separate classrooms) – collaboratively answering the question in groups of 4, crowding around laptops.  With some frustration, they tried to connect the kids into a Chatzy group.

It didn’t work the way they wanted it to.  Many of the students had difficulty copying down the special code they needed to get into the chat.  This collaboration can be so powerful, meaningful, and motivating to everyone, but especially students.  The teacher continued her goal of having the students involved with the collaboration, until the bell rang for recess.  Even though the bell went for recess, and the students didn’t get much time to explore the question in their groups, you could hear the buzz and excitement in the air.  They were beyond excited and engaged in their learning.  Off the students went outside for recess.Continue reading “A Lesson in Persistence and Collaboration”

My Grading Moratorium Story

At what stage of the abolish grading game are you?

I am at the beginning stages of abolishing grading.  As a Vice-Principal in an inner-city elementary school Surrey, British Columbia, I spend 70% of my admin assignment teaching.  30% of this teaching assignment includes being an Intermediate Prep teacher.  Each class comes to me for 100 minutes each week.  During this time, their classroom teacher is given “prep” time to prepare lessons, mark, etc…   I teach French to 2 Grade 5 classes and Health and Career Education to a Grade 5/6 class and a Grade 6 class. I have not given any grades this term, but I have given students ongoing feedback on the work they have been completing.

Why do you want to or why did you abolish grading?

I care too much about my students not to abolish grades!  Being a primary teacher for much of my career I haven’t had to give letter grades a lot.  However, whenever  I have taught intermediate grades, giving letter grades has always been a real issue for me.  I feel that grades put undo stress on students and do nothing to help their learning. In fact, it has been my experience that grades actually impede learning (and attitude toward learning). There has been too much focus placed on these letter grades and not enough placed on the process of actually learning, retaining and really understanding what is being learned, instead of memorizing and forgetting.  This has been what Alfie Kohn has found as well. Recently, I read an important article of Kohn’s, The Case Against Grades.  This article substantiates all that I have thought about grading and giving letter grades. Continue reading “My Grading Moratorium Story”

Be Present

Be Present (and so will they)

(My version of “Build it and They Will Come”)

There is a little boy in our school who is a runner and a hider.  He runs away from his Grade 1 class regularly.  He leaves the classroom when something is wrong: usually when he has been disciplined.   We, at the office are usually called to go find “Robert” (not his real name).  He has shown us his many hiding spaces, so he usually isn’t too difficult to find.  I will often get down on the floor with Robert, sit next to where he is hiding, and just talk with him in a calm, kind voice.  He needs to be listened to.  He needs to know that we care about him.  Once I have connected with him on this level, then we are able to go for a walk, talk some more, and then make our way back to his classroom.

Yesterday was a bit different.   Yesterday’s incident made me think a great deal about this little guy, even more than usual. Without going into details about what happened yesterday, I’ve thought a lot about how to help students like these: to keep them with us – both physically and emotionally.  The work our school has done with Colleen Drobot, on attachment, has emphasized the importance of the children’s emotional well-being, nurturing relationships with them and those will, in turn, be difference-makers when working with children like this.  This way of thinking could be applied to all relationships in our lives: personally and professionally.

If you are a teacher, a parent, a spouse, an employee, an employer, focus on the now and try to…Continue reading “Be Present”

I’m Back and On the Mend

I’m Back!

I have been unwell for the past week.  Apparently, it was time for my yearly visit with my friend Bronchitis, with a bonus stopover from Sinus Infection. Misery loves company, don’t you know.

This is how I looked, I’m sure:

While I did manage to get myself in to work on Wednesday and Thursday, being laid up for much of the week provided me with the opportunity to think about and reflect upon many things. Some of these will make their way into future blog posts, while others will remain in me for future reflection and growth.

Here are some of the topics I would like to explore in my blog in the near future (I’m including them here so that I have a place to remind me what I wanted to write about):

–          My version of “build it and they will come”

–          A Lesson in Persistence and Collaboration 

–          My Experience with Primary Pad

–          My blog post for The Grading Moratorium

–          Our Visit to Apple Canada – Richmond (to take             place on Tuesday)

So, stay tuned, I will be back often this weekend (between naps, that is, as I am still recovering – bronchitis always hits me pretty hard).

Letter Grades Pt. 2

If you read my last blog post, you know how much I am struggling with giving out letter grades this term.  I received some great advice and many blog posts to read in relation to this very topic.  It was exciting to read other people’s ideas.  If you happened to be a fly on the wall when these posts were being read, you would have heard me talking to my computer screen. “Exactly!”  “Yes!” “Great idea!”  were some of the words/phrases you would have heard. It was like these fellow educators were in my head and saying exactly what I have been thinking for the past while.  I wasn’t alone.  In fact, I was in pretty good company!

Today was one of the days I teach my two Health and Career Education classes – a Grade 5/6 class and a Grade 6 class.  I knew I had to address the topic of letter grades with my students now – even in just a some small way.  So, I went to class today with a list of the 3-4 Prescribed Learning Outcomes (PLO’s) we’ve been working on this term (they have already seen these earlier this term, but I wanted to remind them and have all the PLO’s on one sheet for them).  Continue reading “Letter Grades Pt. 2”

My Struggle With Letter Grades

Much of my teaching experience, prior to becoming a vice-principal was teaching primary students. When teaching primary students, we do not assign letter grades. Instead, we look at each prescribed learning outcome for each student on a continuum of learning: not yet within expectations, approaching expectations, meeting expectations, and exceeding expectations. I very rarely indicated a student was “exceeding expectations”, unless a child is quite far above in certain reading, writing, or math learning outcomes.

When I became a Vice-Principal, I had the opportunity to teach a variety of classes, some of which had to be given letter grades. I wasn’t all that comfortable giving letter grades, but I did it the way many teachers did at that time – gather many, many assignments, and give them each a score (I had a 1-4 levelling system – not letter grades), then add them all up at the end of the term and then average them all out, etc…  and come up with a letter grade for that subject.  This was not the worst method, but it was still not great.  That was 5 years ago. I’ve learned a great deal since then and have not taught/assessed this way this year.Continue reading “My Struggle With Letter Grades”

Soft Eyes and a Warm Voice

On Friday, for the Provincial Professional Day, a group of us from our school heard the second part of the workshop by Colleen Drobot on Supporting the Inner City Teacher. Specifically, her workshop was entitled: “Working With Immature, Sensitive and/or Stuck Kids”.  The second part of her workshop she presented was called: “You’re Not the Boss of Me!”  During our day with Colleen, she presented slides from Gordon Neufeld’s material, based on Developmental Attachment Theory.

Colleen talked about how many teachers/schools typically “discipline” students and why these methods often do not work.

“Six Methods of Discipline that do NOT work with stuck kids:

  1. Demanding the child take something or someone into consideration.
  2. Teaching a lesson through experience, including sanctions and consequences.
  3. Applying Pressure.
  4. Raising alarm
  5. Making the Child Accountable.
  6. Demands to get along with each other. Continue reading “Soft Eyes and a Warm Voice”