How to Make Better Teachers by:Dean Shareski

Want to create better teachers? I know how. One word. Blogging.

Now before you roll your eyes or accuse me of oversimplifying the very complex issue of teacher evaluation and monitoring, hear me out.

I began teaching in 1988. It was a tough job and thinking about getting better was superseded by survival instincts. Early on in my career, there were several documents that the province produced in support of improved professional development. I didn't pay much attention to these but one phrase I saw in those documents some 20 years ago stuck with me. Reflective Practitioner. I sort of understood the concept but other than simply thinking about what you did in the classroom, I wasn't at all sure what to do with this term.

When I discovered blogs almost five years ago, I soon figured out what that term meant. Since that occasion I have sat down to write close to 1,000 pieces of reflection. While not all would be considered deep, most take me anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours to craft. It may not always look like it, these are generally borne out of the times I spent observing, thinking and working in classrooms. The reflective writing has been valuable but definitely the nearly 4,000 comments have been even more of a learning experience. This is the single best professional development experience I've had.

Dan Meyer, a Mathematics teacher in California writes:

... blogging was the cheapest, most risk-free investment I could have made of my personal time into my job. You start by writing down things that are interesting to you, practices you don't want to forget. And then you start trying new things just so you can blog about them later, picking them apart, and dialoging over them with strangers. Periods of stagnancy in your blogging start to correspond to periods of stagnancy in your teaching. You start to muse on your job when you're stuck in traffic, in line for groceries, that sort of thing. That transformation has been nothing but good for me and it all began on a free Blogspot blog.

Thousands of other blogging educators could echo similar words. In fact, I've yet to hear anyone who has stuck with blogging suggest it's been anything less than essential to their growth and improvement. I've no "data" to prove this but I'm willing to bet my golf clubs that teachers who blog are our best teachers. If you look at the promise of Professional Learning Communities that our schools have invested thousands, more likely millions to achieve, blogs accomplish much of the same things. The basic idea of the PLC is to have teachers share practice/data and work in teams to make improvements. A good blog does this and more. While the data may not be school specific, great bloggers know how to share data and experience that is both relevant and universal so any reader can contribute and create discussion.

There's a natural transparency that emerges. The teachers who blog as professionals in this reflective manner in my district invite anyone to look into their classrooms and you can get a picture of what happens on a daily basis. This goes a long way in addressing accountability concerns.

Teachers have for years had to fill in a plethora of reports and forms which in essence are accountability papers. For the most part they are of no use to teachers and in most cases aren't very valuable for administration either. Busy work.

So here's my plan. Hire a teacher, give them a blog. Get them to subscribe to at least five other teachers in the district as well as five other great teachers from around the globe. Have their principal and a few central office people to subscribe to the blog and five other teachers as well. Require them to write at least once a week on their practice. Get conversations going right from the get go. Watch teachers get better.

Try that. If it doesn't work after a year, you get my golf clubs.

PS. The only people allowed to criticize or challenge this idea are people who have blogged for at least one year and written at least 50 posts. The rest of you can ask questions but you can't dismiss it.

Shareski, Dean. "How to Make Better Teachers."Reckless Learner. Huffington Post, 16 Nov. 2010. Web. Web. 31 Aug. 2012. .

Classroom Reveal

Here are the pictures I took of my classroom this year: 

The classroom library filled with young adult novels, informational texts, the classics, and graphic novels. Comfy seating is a must!

"Realistic Fiction", "Christian", "Plays", "Fantasy", and "Non-Fiction". Wire bins make library organization easier. 

"Popular Series", "Historical Fiction", and "Adventure" on an old library spinning bookshelf. 

Classroom view from teacher's desk. 

Banned words such as "said" and "good" are featured on the left side, while new words are featured on the word wall on the right. 

Lit Circle and Whole Class Novels

MLA Format reminder, writing station, and "While you were out" station. 

White boards for each grade's weekly schedule, make up work list, and magazine holders under the white board. 

Cluttered-with-a-purpose teacher area. 

Pencils and Rulers. 

extra supplies

Learning from Students

As this school year approaches, I've decided that this will be the year of actively learning from my students.  I know, I know this may seem like a thing that we all just do and there is no need to talk about it but I've chosen to put it into action.

This year I'm going to implement a new reminder system in my classroom. This system is one my students are already familiar with. It's one that they use on a regular basis. Twitter.

This year I've decided that maybe its not about teaching my students new and inventive pedagogy. Maybe it's about using that time I would have spent teaching them new procedures to actually teach. Why not use a venue they already know and understand?

The plan is to use Twitter (a social media outlet that my students already use in their personal lives) to send out reminders and even extra goodies, like relevant articles and videos.

Twitter is the perfect outlet for this kind of thing. Firstly, there is the privacy factor. Twitter allows users to set there tweets to "private", so only approved followers can see them. Secondly, you can send students links to anything you want to show them but don't have time in class. Lastly, students don't have to login to an "educational" site; they can see your class tweets right beside people like Justin Bieber and their boyfriend.

Essential Classroom Organization

Along with compassion and general knowledge, the most important key to teaching is organization.

Now I know some of you might disagree with this, but I have found that I am not the best teacher I can be if I am not organized. Things like misplacing tests or loosing students' papers is unacceptable. There are a couple of techniques that I have found to be essential to my everyday teaching-organization:

1. A trustworthy filing system. The best thing I've found to file (not to mention de-clutter my desk) is a free standing file like this one found on Pinterest: 

I like to have at least four dividers going at one time (to teach, to copy, to grade, and extra copies). On a good day, I like to clean out my files once a week to move to a more permanent location. 

2. Labels. Can I just say I love labels? Not only are they useful to find things but they're pretty :)  Personally, I like to have a separate binder for each major unit I teach in the year (To Kill a Mockingbird, grammar, short stories, etc.) and for said binders to be labeled for easy access. Also, inside these binders I have MORE labels (assessment, activities, vocabulary, study guides, etc.). No more searching through folders or files to find what you're looking for. These are some of the labels I have made for easy classroom organization. Feel free to check out my Teachers Pay Teachers site for more labels like this. 

What organization techniques do you use in your classroom that are essential to your everyday teaching? 

Welcome Back! A New Classroom Tool.

After a long break (one school year), I'm back!

Now at the end of the school year I am reflecting on what I want to change for next year. One of the main things I want to change in my class is my library system. This year I have used a regular pen and paper checkout system. Students find a book they want to checkout and then write their name, the date, and the book title on a list located near my desk. This has worked pretty well but I feel as if it can be more efficient.

While perusing one of my favorite websites (The English Companion Ning), I found a link to website claiming to be a classroom library organization tool. Let me say, I have become skeptical when it comes to these classroom "tools". Usually, they are either lacking information or extremely expensive. This tool, however, is proficient in both knowledge and free-ness.

BookSource's "Classroom Organizer" is, simply, amazing. It allows teachers to scan books through their iPhone/iPad (free App) to create an online catalog. Students can then login to the website to checkout and return books. It allows you to set rules and gives students all kinds of information on the books they are interested in, such as AR points, length of the book, and recommendations. For those of us who are lacking in the tech department, "Classroom Organizer" allows you to manually log books as well.

Check out the below videos for more information on "Classroom Organizer".


Has anyone found anything like this or better? I'd love even more wonderful classroom tools!

 

The 12 Most Important Things Children Want from their Teachers by:Angela Maiers

Whether you are a teacher, parent, relative, boss, or fellow community member, each of us has a chance to make a positive and impactful difference in a child’s life. But in order to do this, we must carefully consider this question: What do you think matters most to our children?

For 20 years I have been posing this question to my students. At the beginning of every school year, I would ask my students to give me advice on how to be their best teacher. I asked them to think about the times they felt most successful and to consider what the adults in their lives did to make this success possible. The classroom would become immediately silent as the students wrote intensely for longer than they had ever written before. Smiles would appear on their faces as they reflected on the happy experiences they were remembering. After reading their responses I would add to my list all the ideas they mentioned. Surprisingly, many of the responses were the same. Year after year, in every grade level, content area and classroom I was in, regardless of demographics or background, students were saying the same things and had the same message: It’s the small things you do that mean  the most.  That is what they remembered. That is what mattered.

Here is a list of the 12 Most Important things that came out of these amazing conversations.:

1. Greet me each day

Wish me good morning, and send me off with a “see ya tomorrow.”

2. Smile

When you look at me, let me see happiness in your eyes.

3. Give me your attention

Sit and talk with me privately; even if only for a second.

4. Imagine with me

Help me dream of things I might be able to do; not just the things I need to do now.

5. Give me challenging content and assignments

Show me how to handle it. Teach me what to do.

6. Ask about me

Inquire about my weekend, the game a played, the places I go. It shows you care about my life.

7. Let me have time

Time to let things sink in. Time to think. Time to reflect, process, and play.

8. Demand of me

Hold me accountable to high standards. Don’t let me get away with what you know I am capable of doing better.

9. Notice Me

Leave special messages in my desk or locker. Just a quick not that says you notice something right.

10. Let me ask the questions

Even if they are off topic. It will show that I am thinking about new perspectives, curious, and willing to learn more. Let me have the chance to show what I am wondering about, not just what I know.

11. Engage me

I came to you in love with learning, keep me excited, keep me wanting more.

12. Trust me

Believe that I can do it. Allow me the chance. I promise to show you I can.
These words did not fall on deaf ears. I collected them, honored them, and then promised I would do everything within my power to be the teacher they needed.
What matters to the children in your life? It’s worth a conversation, I promise!


http://12most.com/2011/09/06/12-important-children-teachers/#lf_comment=3980253

New Teachers: The Joys and Challenges of 21st Century Teaching by:Patti Grayson

There has never been a question in my mind about the importance of teaching as a profession.

In fact, to me, teaching is a calling. It takes a special person to dedicate themselves to helping guide our youth in their academic, social, and emotional development.

After all, we know there is much more to the job than imparting knowledge. In the six hours a day children spend with us, we care for and nurture the whole child – not just their brains! As a boss of mine used to say: “We don’t teach science, math, and history – We teach kids.”

If you are new to the profession, I congratulate you on taking on this  joyful and daunting task!

Here’s the most incredible news, though – There has never been a better time to be a teacher.

I know, I know — it doesn’t necessarily feel that way as you read the news and follow the heated debates about teacher accountability, performance pay, high stakes testing and the like. But there are some  amazing, transformative changes happening in education now, and you are getting in on the ground floor. There’s a huge shift going on in the way the world learns and the way we’ll define “Teacher” in the future. It’s a shift that’s going to change the game completely and some of the current policy debates are going to seem totally outdated — even quaint — in the very near future. You have come just at the right time.

Just imagine . . .

No longer do students have to sit in rows, dozing while you drone through the pages of your teacher edition. No, in your class, students can be directing their own learning as you question and encourage them, guiding their learning experience. Students in your class can learn required content through a 21^st century learning filter that promotes the skills they will need to be successful in today and tomorrow’s world and takes full advantage of the connected learning potential inherent in the Internet and the World Wide Web.

What are these 21^st century learning skills? While you may find slight variations, these are the core skills:

• Creativity and Innovation
• Problem Solving and Critical Thinking
• Communication and Collaboration

The Partnership for 21^st Century Skills website breaks down each of these skills and provides valuable information and support for teaching and professional development. It is part of their Framework for 21^st Century Learning, which also addresses other important learning goals such as global literacy and information, media, and technology skills. The artful 21^st century educator teaches these skills while meeting curricular goals in the core subject areas.

Excited yet? I hope that you’re part of a forward-thinking school that encourages the development of these skills and supports the staff with appropriate professional development opportunities. However, there is a good chance that your school isn’t quite there yet. What can you do?

Don’t lose hope . . .

Stand by your beliefs and remember that it is all about your students. Igniting their passions and teaching them to become connected learners is a gift that will serve them well, no matter what the future brings. Keep finding ways to let students drive their own learning through inquiry and problem solving. Their energy and enthusiasm is contagious, and you will be there to show them that the learning opportunities are limitless. (If you need more encouragement, peruse the posts in this group blog by teachers like Shelley Wright and Becky Bair who are finding the courage to make the shift.)

Teach your students how to safely and responsibly use the digital tools available to pursue their passions and find their voice. Share your experiences with your colleagues and invite them to collaborate with your class. Those that have been there a while may be a bit resistant, but you will find there is much you can learn from each other. Build that bridge. Don’t be afraid to play and learn with your students. Expect to experience failure along the way – It’s a good way to show your students that mistakes are a critical part of the learning process.

Feeling alone out there? Never! There is an enormous support system for you…

• There are educators who are transparent in their practices. They readily post their ideas, resources, and lesson plans on Twitter, in Google Documents, or in their blogs. They are out there, eager to collaborate and connect with your classroom. (See my recent article on Twitter hashtag communities for educators for some more tips.)
• There are social networks like the Educator’s PLN and Classroom 2.0 where you can discuss best practices.
• There are opportunities to get free professional learning webinars through sites like Classroom 2.0and events like the Reform Symposium.
• There are websites that provide motivation, information, and project ideas, such as Powerful Learning Practice and 21^st Century Collaborative, Thinkfinity, 21^st Century Schools, and Powerful Learning Practice’s Voices From the Learning Revolution.
• There are videos by visionaries such as Sir Ken Robinson, Daniel Pink, Alfie Kohn, and Will Richardson.
• There are books such as A New Culture of Learning: Cultivating the Imagination for a World of Constant Change, and Personal Learning Networks: Using the Power of Connections to Transform Education.

So get excited. After all, teaching is the profession that creates all others… Can you believe they’re going to pay  you to have this much fun???

http://plpnetwork.com/2011/09/01/new-teachers-the-joys-challenges-of-21st-century-learning/