NOTEBOOKS GALORE!

So, I've been working in my classroom - seriously, a week and school starts!
I love having my students work on fluency with Six Minute Solutions and Comprehension with Timed Readings. I've debated how to make these charts into an interactive notebook, but I don't think it will work. So, they are staying in the plastic folders.

HOWEVER, I am in the process of setting up a Reading Interactive Notebook and an English Interactive-ish Notebook. The debate is to combine these together, but since I LOVE Giggles in the Middle, I might just keep the English portion in it's separate binder, with students adding their own learning to the Caughtyas.

THAT LEADS to the Reading Notebook - I've studied NUMEROUS ones this summer, and I am definitely going to mush a bunch of different things together! I'm planning on the students using their Composition Notebooks for this, that way students can transport them easily. I need to make my own "this what goes on the left side and right side," because, frankly, I want my TEACHER / CLASS input on the Left - I've only found one other teacher: Sabra who has admitted to putting class items on the left. Other influences for my Interactive Notebooks: Randy, Ms. Mohamed, and Donalyn Miller. I hope they go well - and I'll post photos as we grow with them this year!

School - 17 Days! Some of my plans: Focus: English

Hello,
I hope you have looked up #FMSBlizzard on Twitter - he's been making the rounds!

I've also been reviewing what I liked / thought helped last year - right now, the focus is on English. I know my students struggled with the concept of sentence types. I know my students this year will, also. So, last year I created "The Minons Do Grammar" Link to my document:  https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1dFK3wjr29jJubpTAElPe3YYOxO74y2J_KDpFiSk_dPw/edit?usp=sharing

It really helped the kids understand sentences, and I plan on using it this year. (I did think about redoing it with new movies - but I've not seen any that I really want to relate to sentence types.) Additionally, I plan to incorporate the use of ELA interactive notebooks - which I've done somewhat before, but I conscientiously am going to focus on this to help students this year! Thank goodness for Pintrest - it's where I've gotten several pictorial ideas on how to make them work better than ever! Plus, with my new Twitter connections, I know I can always get help from another professional!

Day 5 - Wrap Up STEM

Today, we finished at Sanford Underground Labs. It was great to help come up with the idea of new ways the Labs could reach out to teachers -- there is so much they are doing! I'm very interested to see what they can get done in the future for educational support.

The other portion of the day was sharing our lesson plan ideas. I must say, I believe we came up with great ideas to implement into classrooms and get students excited about STEM. Even though I don't directly teach STEM - it directly links to Social Studies and ELA by the complex interactions of humans and their environment. Additionally, show me a profession that you don't need ELA to excel in!

Overall, I've met some great people and plan to work with them from across the state!


PS - I like you all, but I'm happy to be home for a bit!

Day 3 & Day 4 of STEM

K - Potassium! Just a bit of humor to start the night. Yesterday, was a long day - but so informative.

DAY THREE reflection: (Since it didn't post last night!)

First, we learned all about Extremophiles - which are just awesome little bacteria that can survive in EXTREME conditions. These little bacteria literally just appear where needed - when they no longer have a food source, they "disappear."

Now, other than what they eat, why are they important? They can help break down Biomass - basically anything, but really think of the use of switch grass, corn stalks, and other materials that are SUPER hard to break down into basic sugars. This stuff is usually waste - we can't use it.  Extremophiles can actually make this stuff usable - that is AMAZING - and turn these products into bio-fuel (and hydrogen as a byproduct).

So - this means that we all could literally use our own biomass to create fuel! THAT is amazing! Imagine not needing to go to a gas station in the future.

The other NIFTY part of extremophiles - because they appear and eat toxic (not toxic to them, however) substances, they can be used to reclaim water. The Homestake Mining process polluted the water - the off chance of trying bacteria colonies to eat all the "junk" ends up making the water safe. The Water Treatment plant even noticed that bacteria level themselves to what is in the water - a diesel bacteria colony rose up and ate up all the diesel.

That night, we wrote our cross-curricular lesson plans (with LOTS of LAUGHS)!

DAY FOUR!

Today, we learned about Engineering.

Did you know, playdough can be made into a circuit conductor? I found that pretty sweet.

Additionally, I learned all about the different ways you can analyze the rocks to actually be able to create the Underground labs.  They then take all the information and create digitized models of how to build it. This portion of the program was pretty interesting.

We also built magnetic fields, which was fun. I can see the other lab we did, making magnet accelerators, as a way to tie the information into US History and the development of different weapons.

We also learned about a really interesting project funded by South Dakota to create C13 in a new form - and massively cheaper! (Oh, and art history was a good choice to take - because the Chillers figured out how to coat the lead bricks in paraffin to keep the lead from getting pours that collect radon.)

Moreover, I learned the differences between linear accelerators and cyclotrons.

Finally, we learned about underground climate when Steve G. shared his research and challenges he faces in writing code and getting down to maintain his equipment.

STEM - Day 2 Reflection

WOW!

I'm getting all kinds of ideas @SanfordLabs.

Yesterday was a bit over my head -- nuclear physics and such. (I learned a whole bunch of terms about quarks, neutrinos, flavors of neutrinos, etc.) That said, we saw the building of equipment underground, and the problems of cosmic rays and data collection.

I can't imagine being in a clean room and wearing FOUR pairs of gloves and still trying to manipulate tiny pieces.

However, I can find the idea of the research going on and how it will impact our world. (Dark matter and Dark particles and how they keep the world together.) I also learned more about our Sun - and how elements always try to get to the stable valley.

Overall, there is "stuff" that I will take away and guide my students to the understanding of the world around them, and I know I've got students who would be BEYOND interested in this.

Sanford Underground Labs

So, I've spent my first day in STEM working on my own learning at the Underground Labs Learning Centers. It has been amazing. I can see numerous lessons to pull the Geology together with Geography: why people choose to settle in certain locations, why people would attempt to mine in the ground, how the ground formation creates new technologies for mining, how seismographs can be used to monitor moon "tidal" pull in rocks. Beyond these: how a mine impacts a town (Seriously - would you move a WHOLE town THREE times?), how a mine needs to be closed down, and general usage / property rights  / water rights impact what can be done (all that legal writing --- tell me that commas don't matter!).

I've also found out that ONE INCH of rain = 12 million gallons of water into the underground mines. That alone is amazing, and I can think of lessons about how that water could be removed, used, ect.

Here's to more learning! Oh, and I've met a bunch of interesting teachers from all over the State of South Dakota! Several of us are already coming up with ways to link our classes and projects to expand student horizons into a global environment!

"Teacher Vacation"

I love the idea of "Summer Vacation" -- note the idea! The connotation of this word implies are lazy days, doing whatever you want.

REALITY: Not enough time in the day to get ready for the next school year, or get all your own summer projects done!

So, here is my reality: Last week I got a much needed break of one point five days at my parents' farm. Followed by two days in a classroom, learning about SLOs for South Dakota. At night, I got to stay and see my sister. This was followed by a seven hour drive back home, a night in my own bed, doing laundry and repacking to head out the next day to a five day training.

So, this leads me to where I am now - in a college apartment waiting for the Sanford Underground Labs STEM workshop tomorrow! I'm exhausted, but excited to see what I can learn!

However, I do long for the idea of Summer Vacation - reading books, grilling, hanging out with family and friends! I need to make more time for all these!

Stuffed Animals and Twitter = LEARNING!

Tonight, I took part in  #whatisschool chat on Twitter. I must say, the conversation was fast and furious - like always, but I come away with so many more ideas. I can jump on to my online PLN in 20 seconds - and that is getting the app or computer up and running. By that time, I can then connect world-wide: asking questions or just putting a thought out there!

Seriously, this is a life saver for me.

We are a small school - being able to go onto Twitter allows me to get other's input, from all over the world! My staff rocks, but I know we end up looking at a problem seeing just our experiences: when we get more input, we can find more solutions to our problem.

My next big hope: opening my class to the power of Twitter. We have used it some to contact state officials, but I can see students using it as a resource for finding information. Why can't a hashtag search lead them to resources for what they are interested in? Why can't we connect outside our area through the advantages of mini-blogging on Twitter (like getting feedback quickly!)?

The answer - we can, and we will.

I've started a new project to help students understand geography.

Say "Hello" to Blizzard - follow his travels on this blog - he has his own page! Or, #FMSBlizzard on Twitter.

The idea is simple, Blizzard is going to show off his hometown of Faith, SD. Then, he is going to head out - where he ends, I honestly don't know! I'm going to package him up, and send him on his way to another teacher - hopefully, they / their class take some pictures, send a tweet, comment on his blog page, email: something to let us know how he is doing, and then send him on to a new place.

I hope to track him world-wide: a stuffed animal and Twitter can be an AWESOME learning experience!

PS - if you want to be the one I send him to next, let me know!

It's the little things...

So, I've not been blogging the past couple of days... there is a reason. 

Our community funded a new school - Four Million Dollars for a pre-k - 12 grade school. I'm sure it is small compared to others - we have one classroom per grade. We have around 200 students, and around 20 staff. We all know each other: it's nice. (Also, one of the reasons that I ended up staying out here for more than year (now on year six!)

This Summer, I've been helping our custodial staff reset the school. It has been very interesting - I've always packed up my room, and loved the look of the building when I come back. I've never really thought about the ENTIRE process of getting those rooms and halls looking that good. (Trust me, I can tell you more about floor care than I EVER thought I would know, and I can also tell all kinds of ways to remove gum from under desks, and how important it is to either make a drawing or have a picture of how each teacher wants their room put back!) 

Hence, the blogging delay. Today, I was working in my room in my "teacher" mode again - sorting all kinds of things out. In fact, I have filled a 55 gallon trashcan with "stuff:" old board game boxes, old old old copies of papers (before I was teaching), and just junk. 

So, here's the point: be thankful for the people who do all the "little" things. The people who take out the garbage, wipe down boards, fix the desks, etc. (Seriously, my room is usually good - I expect the students to take care of their area and I take care of mine.) Also, the secretaries -they help and know things!- NEVER forget them! These "little" people do so many things, and most the time don't get the credit from parents and the community.  

Overall, appreciate everyone! 

Grading Thinking Points... and my influences

The other night I took part in the #whatisschool chat. We got on the topic of grading, and I have been thinking about this topic since then. I think I can finally put some things into a concrete, written form on what I THINK should be the real reason for grades, and not just the standard approach.

This image comes from this link, used in CC

That classroom looks familiar to most of us -- it is probably what we had. I think my desks were different, we had tables in one room, but overall, that was the classroom. Not that it is the classroom that is the issue - my issue is when I was asked to complete worksheet after worksheet - and that counted as learning! Ask me what one of those worksheets was about - I dare you! (Seriously, unless my Mom has some at her house in a box - I don't have a clue!) I was a good student - 11th in my class, if I recall correctly, so I'm sure I had messages on them about "Good Work" and all the smaller canned answers.

I do remember some bigger projects: making a movie of the Mafia / Elliot Ness and Prohibition, Trading stocks (using an old fashioned thing called a newspaper!) and charting it daily to see who ended up with the most money at the end of the month, purifying water in Science class, almost having a fire break out in another Science class, working all hours on Math, and giving presentations on books I've read for Individual Guided Reading class. 

I'm NOT saying my teachers were horrible - I still remember the lessons that I've gotten from each one of them. I learned about perseverance and forging ahead - when it doesn't look like you'll ever understand this concept called Algebra (We had a joke - "There's the right way to do Math, then there's the Mielke Way" - it took until college when the light bulb went off and Algebra made sense.), but I had a teacher who worked with me before and after school going over the concepts. 

One of my most stern / procedural driven teachers, who taught most of the Science classes, scared the bejesus out of us -- we didn't even want to yawn in his class! Yet, looking back, he let us know that we could do it - and that he expected us to do it even when we didn't think it was possible. Had he lowered expectations, we would have just met those. 

I've loved History from the time I was in Elementary School - and several of my High School History teachers helped foster that. We did papers, we did projects, but for the most part, we did A LOT of word searches and fill-in-the-blank worksheets. (Which weren't what I remembered!)

Another teacher called us "ditch diggers" and that would be all we amounted to. I waited until graduation and that teacher being around the Principal before asking if I was still a ditch digger.... the look and backpedaling that went on priceless - plus, it taught me to never assume because someone doesn't get a concept, that they cannot be good at something else. 

I went into Agricultural Education because of my Ag. Ed.  teachers - they made class interesting, hands-on, and relevant to me (since I lived on a farm). I learned about life being involved in FFA - traveling, meeting all kinds of people, being involved in State FFA procedural groups, etc. It wasn't just the grades that were driving me - it was the experiences along the way! 

 While there are more examples, (even from College) these experiences made me who I am - and led me down the path to teaching Middle School out here in South Dakota. Note, I ended up with a degree in History - not Agricultural Education - perhaps a story for another post. 

So, where does this leave me with the title of this blog: simple, yet not! 

When is the last time, as an adult, someone gave you a worksheet and said, "Do this and you'll get an A."? 

I can think of filling out tax paperwork, and some forms for work as a teacher, but they didn't lead to an A - it was just part of the process to complete to the bigger project. If I want to avoid issues for paying taxes, I complete the tax form. If I want to be prepared for reviews and workshops, I do the paperwork. Those big experiences are what I learn more from, not just the filling out of the forms. 

Students need to be challenged - in their thinking and expanding their world. Sure, there needs to be some paperwork along the way: this should not become the END all of the grade. These worksheets / check-ins should just be a marker. They shouldn't need to be necessarily graded all the time (contrary to what some people think). I tend to think of this like a sports practice - you get feedback and adjust to the recommendations of the coach before going to the big game. 

Life is messy - this past year, I helped students understand the issues going on in Ukraine - but we didn't just look at the Geography, History, Math, or Language Arts component of the situation- it all ties together. I want them to have the thinking ability to look at the bigger picture, break things apart a bit, analyze and then draw conclusions on what should / shouldn't happen. The real question: when do you stop and go "Here's an A for the grade-book?" before they have a class discussion on the topic.

Now, if they don't have anything for a class discussion / project, even when they have met and prepared, how should that be graded? It's an ongoing debate - a 0? 50%?  (This is where a rubric comes in handy!) 

A classroom should be PREPARING students for the world, letting them develop their thinking skills, and yes, even letting them fail / make mistakes along the way. Without the ability to make mistakes / have failure, and have guidance through the process of LEARNING from the FAILURE, we risk their first educational MISSTEAK (see what I did there:) ) being at college - when there may not be a support structure in place to help them learn from it. 

This photo is a good visual representation of what I see as life: compartmentalized, yet intermixing to create something unique for each of us! 

I'd love to hear other's thoughts on this topic! 

Cutthroat Kitchen --- and reminders to the classroom.

I love Food Network - and last night, as I watched my recording of Cutthroat Kitchen, I realized how it could fit into a classroom.

Every contestant is told to create a dish (think of this like our lesson plans). Then, the real excitement begins - auctions for sabotage items to give to other contestants. Not that we have other teachers trying to sabotage us, or that students, or even ourselves are trying. HOWEVER, things happen: technology goes down, something happens that you forgot about (think pep rally), students need to talk about a school / life / world event, or something as simple as needing to reteach a concept.

This leads to an opportunity - one that a teacher can either embrace, or cringe and complain about. I choose to embrace it - sure, a change can be annoying, but if it ultimately helps students become better - then bring it on! If my lesson needed technology, and I don't have it - it is a chance for students to learn how an adult handles a set back. Inside, I could be really frustrated, but outside - project confidence and show that their is a Plan B in place.

Overall, everything happens for a reason - roll with it!

Sooooo... this blog needs a priority!

I've recently taken to using Twitter more - I have also decided to work more on blogging. If you are a parent and reading this, follow our classroom at @LonghornsMS

So, this summer Mrs. Grueb and I have been working on coming up with a new way to engage students with reading. We are trying to come up with away to keep students accountable, for grading, but reading for the joy of reading.

There are so many reasons to read - not just to expand your world, but real benefits for reading that pay off in "real world" --- not like school and being a kid isn't real!