Lessons in Early Literacy

As a former middle school ELA teacher, I loved developing the critical thinking and analysis skills of reading, the sophistication of expanding voice and depth in writing, the development of integrated communication skills, often taking for granted the complex work of early literacy learning.  After all, students came to me understanding (for the most part) how to construct words, sentences, and paragraphs.  They came to me with decoding, fluency, and comprehension skills.  My job was to build upon that foundation...but I spent way too little time understanding the construction of those skills.  When I reflect upon that former 8th grade teacher, I wonder how much better I could have been if I understood all the parts that build the whole of a highly literate student.

Kindergarten:

Small group instruction in writing - translating spoken language into print

Small group instruction in reading - fluency practice
A fist pump for a job well done!

Running records...of the 100 words read, teachers gauge accuracy for instructional advancement.

Multi-sensory supports for letter recognition and word construction 

Building word families

Helping Dr. Morgan spell cow

Partner reading - evaluating recipes 

Students with stamina - spending 20 minutes on each reading task while teachers provide small group instruction

Merging writing with social studies as students build a teddy bear city

Students reading aloud

 First Grade:

Using Post-it notes to identify important parts of the story

Running records - recording student accuracy while reading aloud

Students write riddles for their peers to solve

 Third Grade:

"Three Tabby Cats" adapted from Three Billy Goats Gruff, a student-created story complete with editing

Don't Lose the Person in "Person"alized Learning

You here the buzz a lot.  What's the next big thing in education?  According to major initiatives and funding sources, it's personalized learning, but what does that mean?

Here's what personalized learning looks like in Lindbergh.

1)  Relationships with students:  Relationships where we know our students as learners, leaders, and humans.

2)  Engaging learning:  Engaging students through authentic learning that gives them the opportunity to create and design in relationship to priority standards.

3)  Differentiated instruction:  Differentiation is personalization, providing student choice, remediation, and enrichment through individual, small group and computer-based instruction.

As personalized learning continues to be pa hrase thrown out in the educational world, it's important to note there are a multitude of definitions and implementation structures applied to it.  And, you'll hear both advocates and opponents to those various definitions.  Like most things in education, it's our task to find the balance of meeting student needs and retaining high expectations for universal learning for all students.

Hanging with the "Littles"

Permasmile - that's what occurs when I spend any significant time at ECE.  Not only are they so.darn.cute, but they also are doing important work - the important work of play, curiosity, language development, spatial understanding, and so much more.

Personalized play:  swinging, spinning, biking, balancing...

Elaborate designs and stories 

The building blocks of learning

There's a cat down there!

A Peek into Elementary Classrooms

Getting comfortable in our work environment

Math workshop station

Differentiated small group instruction in math workshop

Processing whole group learning opportunities

Real leadership defined

Collaborating independently during math workshop

Math workshop station directions

Student routines and directions for learning centers 

Differentiated small group instruction in math workshop

Inspired by Katniss Everdeen

"Launch"ing New Programs

As a district, we continue to prioritze college and career readiness for students, and that means being purposeful in STEM programming as early as elementary school.  Last year, Sappington's fifth graders were the first to experience PLTW Lauch; this year, K-5 students are experiencing the program at Concord and Dressel through one of their block classes.  Through these pilots, we've been able to accommodate the need for additional class options for larger schools while gaining valuable input to further more universal and integrated K-5 programming.

A Kindergarten Example:  What structure will keep the big bad wolf from blowing down your house?

Students plan and design a structure to withstand the wolf's strength.

Testing their design - yes, that's a wolf attached to a leaf blower!

They can't even contain their excitement.

Future engineers build structures that withstand the force!

Reflecting on their design and its ability to withstand the force.

 A Third Grade Example:  How do varied natural forces result in increased erosion?

Students simulate forces of wind and collect the sand that's eroded, measuring and recording the data.

Students simulate the force of glaciers to collect more data.

What we see above are low tech examples of PLTW Launch...stay tuned to see how computer science is embedded in the program.

Engaging the Secondary Student

This weekend, I attended a block party and ending up talking about my favorite subject...teaching!  One poor neighbor (a teacher from a different district) had the misfortune of sharing with me his opinion on structured engagement techniques for high school students, and we had a little "discussion"...yep, I'm that fun at a party!

Here's the truth...I was that student in your high school class.  The one who always looked to be paying attention, nodding and smiling at all the right times, cramming just before the test so that I could show mastery of what you taught, writing well enough to bypass real understanding while appearing knowledgeable, silently hiding behind that student who was bound to earn a 36 on their ACT and willing to participate in class.  Ask how much of that learning I retained...at least one of my AP tests revealed the truth.

Requiring engagement from every student in the classroom is necessary.  It's necessary in order...

• to build individual accountability
• to build social skills
• to ensure every student understands
• to expand perspectives

The list can go on and on, but check out how we engage our secondary students, and reflect on your student engagement practices.

Students take turns doing the work while their partner praises and coaches using the technique "Rally Coach."

Make students move!  Having students physically move to another location in the room for a demonstration or mini-lesson before they apply their learning resets their brains and prepares them for their next task. 

In small groups, students work to solve problems, creating solutions that apply their learning.  

Use space differently - sometimes the novel is engaging.  Writing on the desk or using vertical space gives student a new perspective.

Peer practice - students take turns practicing their student-led conference and get feedback from their partner.

Group sharing - after students reflect individually, give them a chance to share to expand their thinking.

In teams, students become the nucleus, racing to various parts of the room to learn about mitochondria and DNA structures to complete their puzzles.  (I might have messed up the details of this - sorry Mr. Edwards!  One could suspect that science was one of those subjects where I "hid" as a high schooler.)

Students rotate through stations with specific individual and group tasks.  In this station, students research various types of faults and instruct their team.

While students work in stations, teachers can pull students for small group instruction that allows for formative assessment of understanding.

Lindbergh Teachers STEMitize!

STEM Teacher Quality Initiative (STEM TQ) is a regional effort to develop teachers who can provide quality STEM learning experiences in their classroom. This year-long professional develop program focuses on creating STEM capable teachers who pass on their knowledge through their curriculum.  A cohort of Lindbergh teachers (K-8) are participating in the program this year.  

The teachers participating in the program are learning how to STEMitize their lessons to enhance the learning and help the students become STEM capable learners.

While attending a two week introductory institute, our teachers engaged in many ways to help bring the learning alive through a number of experiments, seminars and field trips.

 Castlewood State Park

Participants spent time with a scientist from The Nature Conservancy working on problem solving and the integration of water, erosion and risk management. They spent the morning in the stream measuring for stream bank erosion and how to mitigate the damage.

 Newton's Laws in real life

Participants built mousetrap race cars to experiment and demonstrate some of Newton's Laws of motion. They took our new learning and applied to the physics of racing and topped it off with climbing into the race cars at Pole Position and put that learning into action.

 MilliporeSigma - Curiosity Lab

MilliporeSigma - Curiosity Lab

What is chemiluminescence and how does it happen? The group worked with scientists from MilliporeSigma on big ideas like how energy is absorbed or released in chemical reactions. Reading about it is one thing, watch a video is ok but when they had hands on with the chemicals it all came alive.