Celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King

We celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday on Monday, January 15. He was so instrumental in showing us that all of us have worth. He celebrated humanity. My favorite quote is that he hoped we would judge a person's merit by what he/she does, not by the color of his/her skin. We've come a long way and still have further to go. One way to help your class celebrate MLK's birthday and learn about him is through this learning packet found on Teachers Pay Teachers - The Teaching Files. https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Martin-Luther-King-Jr-No-Prep-Lessons-with-Literacy-Activites-for-Grades-2-4-720156 

Happy Columbus Day!! Celebrate by using one of these No-Prep products--just check for your grade level and go to my store (www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Teaching-Files) to see these and other great products!

What To Do Now That School Is Out

School is out for many school districts and while everything is still fresh in your mind, it's a good time to do some reflection. What would you want to reflect on now - when you just get out of school and want/need some down time? Well, you can think about your year as a whole. Did you get to effectively teach everything that you needed to teach? If not, why? Did you spend too much time on other lessons because your students just needed more time? Did you not have the resources ready for a lesson so you didn't have everything you needed to teach it? Is there something you can think of now that might help for next year? Or do you just need to put that on a back burner for now? If so, put it somewhere you can find it later in the summer so you can work on it. 

 The same concept applies to individual lessons - were there lessons that were winners? If so, why? What did you do in those lessons that were your best lessons. Maybe you'll begin to see a pattern if you are looking at several lessons. Then ask yourself if you had lessons that were not up to par. If so, why? And importantly, what would you do to change those lessons. Can you identify strategies you used in effective lessons which weren't in these lessons (or for some reason didn't work as well)? Make notes so that when you are ready to think about changing those lessons, you'll remember exactly what needs to be changed and maybe even you'll think now about some strategies you can use! 

 Reflection is a very effective strategy that can help you teach more effectively. There have been many studies that show it improves instruction. Actually, studies show that reflecting can make the difference between an ok teacher and a master teacher. And it also helps teachers from getting burned out. So think now and promise yourself that next year you'll reflect after each lesson!

Visit my TPT store at www.teacherespayteachers.com/Store/The-Teaching-Files  to see products for Social Studies, Math, Language Arts, and Holidays.

This Back To School Math Whiz can be found at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Math-Back-to-School-Packet-for-Grades-4-5-818317

Why We Do What We Do (And What We Can Learn From Knowing)

Have you ever wondered why you did something in a classroom on sort of spur of the moment? It could be an idea that comes to you during a lesson and it could have been something you planned (although you are more likely to know why you did something you had planned). This might have been something in classroom management, discipline, a different teaching strategy, the way you interact with students or any of the other classroom factors that needed a decision you hadn’t planned for.  Maybe you said to yourself – I wonder why I did that? Or, how did I know to do that? I remember as a very new teacher, I would try something for a day or two for classroom management and decide it wasn’t working like I wanted, so I tried something else for a couple of days and so on. It bothered me that I wasn’t being consistent (I knew that consistency is a key component of effective classroom management). But I questioned myself about being consistent with something that wasn’t working. So I had some thinking and reading to do to find what would work for me. My decisions, of course, were based on what I knew about my students and what fit me as a teacher. But what other factors influenced what I did?

Quite simply, I chose some of the things I did because I had seen another teacher during field experience do something similar. Some things I chose because they were the opposite of what I had seen some teachers do that didn’t seem quite right because I was not comfortable with the effects it had on students or didn’t accomplish what I thought I would want to accomplish.  Questioning myself about why I was doing what I was doing, I began to realize that it ultimately came back to my beliefs. 

For example, I believed that students would remember better when they were interested in what they were learning versus what they were not interested in. 
And I believed that when students were engaged in learning and enjoying what they were doing, they would learn more and remember better. 
I also believed that if students knew I respected them and wanted them to succeed and have a good school year, they would more likely engage in learning rather than engage in talking. 

And it was those beliefs that were driving the decisions I made in the classroom. It took some time to flesh those beliefs out – to put them into words. And eventually, I was able to ask myself questions such as if I believed students should be engaged in something relevant, how I might use that belief to structure and plan my lessons. In graduate school, I learned that what I believe is really my philosophy about education and pieces of the puzzle began to come together.

Another thing I did early on, was to go to a couple of the textbooks I had in my education courses and some new education journals to see if my beliefs made sense with what I had learned. For example, I found what was considered to be developmentally appropriate in my Educational Psychology textbook. I also found in that text and others that students remember what is relevant and meaningful to them. I then tried to match some of concepts with appropriate strategies. I found that brain-based strategies made sense, that cooperative learning was an effective strategy, the value of learning objectives, and that formative assessment strategies could not only help me understand where my students were before instruction, but also whether they were learning what I was teaching. I remembered some of these things better than others and I was pleased that my much of my education training was relevant to many of my needs as a beginning teacher. I had heard some teachers say “Just forget everything you learned in college – what they taught you doesn’t reflect the needs in the real world classroom.” But because I had taken time to understand what my beliefs about teaching were, I was also able to engage in those reflective practices that help you improve as a teacher and I was able to decide for myself what was working for me.

There are, of course, other ways to help you figure out what you can try when you are having problems with students or instruction. You can identify the best teachers in your school and ask them for advice. One of the wonderful things about the teaching world is that teachers have always shared information with new teachers and with each other. After all, they have many of the same types of students you do and can probably give you a few insights. But I’ve also seen it work the other way around: new teachers showing experienced teachers new techniques so that sharing of effective practices can go both ways.  So what can all this say to new and even experienced teachers?

First, we act and react according to our beliefs. Everyone has a philosophy of education even though they might not recognize that. But our beliefs are powerful when it comes to teaching and usually help us make decisions about what to do. When we identify what our beliefs are, we can help ourselves find strategies, materials, and direction in our teaching. Secondly, we can think back on prior training – either in our education program or in in-services that we’ve attended. Many times, we are introduced to new strategies and materials. One of the ways we can more easily adopt those new strategies is to figure out what beliefs are reflected in those strategies and whether they match with our beliefs. When they do match (or when they come close), we know we can be successful with trying the new strategies. If they don’t quite seem to match, we can ask ourselves if teachers we admire are successful with those strategies and whether that might make them worth trying. Then we are being open-minded and we stay willing to try new things. Instructional coaches are often available and can observe and give us suggestions of what we are doing that is working as well as what is not working. They will also be able to offer suggestions for us to try. Third, it is always worth investing time and thoughts into how we are teaching and what we are using. There are many opportunities to help us find effective strategies – we can read about them, we can learn about them in training, or we can learn about them from effective teachers.

Another concern you may have is whether the district for which you are interviewing has the same belief systems/philosophy as you do. When they do, your job flows more smoothly because you as the teacher and the district will be in agreement. You know you will be supported in the classroom and that in-services set by that district should fit in with your philosophy of education. But how do you know what that district’s philosophy of education is? This is a good question for you to ask while in the interview process. In fact, it is important to ask because you as a candidate want to know if you and the district will be a “good fit”. Many schools have vision statements and mission statements and that may give you a clue. Of course, it is one thing to have the vision/mission statement, but do they “live” those beliefs. One way to do that is for districts to ask themselves if decisions fit in with their vision/mission statements. Teachers can ask themselves the same question as they plan their lessons – identifying practices that fit with their district’s vision/mission statements. And, it is also important for teachers to always question what they do and reflect on it. That is an important way to stay open to new ideas.

Come with Me

As teachers, we plan and plan and then plan some more. We get to where we really know our kids and we count on our "tried and true" strategies and we teach. But have you ever thought closely about the lesson you just taught or that you taught earlier in the day? And if you do, what do you think about? Do you get the feeling that the lesson really worked? Or that it was OK? Or that for some reason you were not as happy with it as you thought you would be?

Actually thinking about each lesson and asking questions about it is something that many teachers do automatically--especially experienced teachers who want to improve. Questions such as "What worked best in this lesson and why? What didn't work well in this lesson and why? And finally, What will I do the next time I teach this lesson? (The next time you teach this lesson might be later that same day or next year but you'll perhaps want to make notes on your lesson plans so you'll remember). You can also note what was best (or what didn't work as well) by giving direct examples of student behavior such as "students were consistently engaged", or "students did not interact with the material and were off task". Just be sure to tie this back to "What will I do next time" remedies. This process of reflection is what helps us get better. If we never ask those questions, we'll continue to teach the same lesson the same way and we really haven't analyzed whether there are some things that should be examined and perhaps changed.

Strategies like Reflection intrigue me because there have been studies that show it is important to the improvement process. When I taught special education, I did this after every lesson. I didn't know at the time that there was a name for it - I just did it. It was when I taught in Teacher Education programs that I found out the names for some of the things I did and that there were studies behind them to show they were effective strategies!! That is some of what I hope to do in this blog - identify and describe the most effective strategies I can find. Of course, one of the places I'll look is at studies! I'm hoping to share what I find with you - maybe give names to things you already do or help you to find other things you could try. I feel like this has been my life's work - finding what works and under what circumstances it works and with whom it works.l I hope you'll join me along the way.

Because I'm interested in finding out what the experts say, I hope to have some guests post to this blog - maybe an expert in reading, maybe a teacher who has found exciting ways to teach, or maybe an administrator who has found over time what great teachers do and is willing to share that with us. I'm ready to jump in - come with me.