Dean Kindig and Moira Prister

Questions to ask ourselves at the end of each week:
This is a wonderful list made by our teachers.
Pick 3 and put them on the back of your door or by your coat!

• What can I bring new to next week? Did the new thing work that I tried?
• Which objectives did I accomplish?
• Which lessons did/didn’t work?
• Was I patient and could I have been more in any situation?
• Can I remember one special thing/positive note about each child at the end of each week?
• What do I need to learn to better instruct next week?
• What went well this week and what should be  changed?
• Am I working harder than my students?
• Did I check in with all of my students individually at some point?
• Have I responded to all student needs?
• Did I ignite a spark in my students and excite them for learning?
• Did I center my teaching around the individual interests and needs of my students?
• Did I facilitate the meeting of all learning objectives for the week?
• Did I encourage and model inquiry-based thinking in my lessons and encourage students to explore when they learn?
• What parents/children do I need to bring in the loop more?
• Can I find time to add or take away something  from the schedule for next week?
• What social issues came up and what will I address next week?
• Have I made every child feel welcomed and loved this week?
• What did I do that I am proud of?
• What is something new I have learned about myself and/or my students?
• Which students made improvement and why?
• How can I change my response when I lose my patience?
• Did I prioritize time well?
• Did I set clear objectives and achieve them for each lesson?
• How did I evaluate my students and did I document it?
• What did we do together that strengthened our class?
• Did I miss anyone in my teaching approach? Who?  How? Remedy?
• Did each child have success in one area?
• Do the parents understand the goals for this week clearly?
• Are the children making progress solving their social and/or academic issues independently?
• Am I clear in explaining expectations?
• What did the kids respond to?
• Was I empathetic/kind towards students, co-workers, family?
• What is the state of the class? Maintain it? Change it?
• Have I done enough to help others?
• Have I shared, empowered, reflected, and learned?  If I have, my students will have, too.
• Did I ask students to self-assess?
• Did I take time to reflect?
• Did I nurture the inner lives of my students?
• Did we laugh a lot?
• What did a student teach me?
• Did I show gratitude? Was I a good listener?
• What could I change to make next week go more smoothly?
• How have I underestimated my students/colleagues?
• What is a challenge still in front of me?
• Who make a social breakthrough?
• Were the children happy?
• Did I differentiate for my students’ strengths, challenges, interests?
• Did I do something for my colleagues which will help them more than once?
• Did kids have more Joy in Learning because of  what I did?
• Are the children learning to be kind and good  friends?
• Was my approach to my students effective? How will I know?
• Have I asked my students questions that promote inquiry and curiosity?
• What projects or tasks did I spend too much time and energy on? How can I be more efficient?
• What mental clutter do I need to clear?

Kids are always saying, “What can I write about?” We teach them to write what’s in their heart, and help with lists of their pets’ names, favorite holidays, happiest and saddest times, and so forth. But I made a carrel out of a science fair stand-up piece of cardboard and used packaging tape to put these pictures on. If kids don’t know what to write about, they head over to the carrel and look for ideas. It works especially well with visual learners.

What Can I Write About? I can write about…

I came across this set of articles today, and thought it was too important not to share. Sometimes we forget that a building will stand better if we give the supporting columns a little space! This becomes especially true at Fourth Grade when children’s levels of abstraction let them step back away from themselves and ask, “What’s My Plan?” “How’d It Work?” “What Would I Change?”

But if parents continue to do that for the child, this internal loop has crosstalk that makes it hard to hear. Most parents will know when to flip their help from “directive” to “reflective”; it will be different for every youngster. Is this the year to begin handing it over?

I had this brainstorm yesterday as I passed by the custodians’ workshop. They were throwing away old discolored 2′ x 2′ ceiling tiles, and I was looking for a splash of color for my classroom walls. I’m going to throw a bit of fabric over them, staple it around to the back, and hang them on my walls as bulletin boards!

You can buy bulletin board in Home Depot, too; it even comes in 2×2′ and 2×4′ squares, or they’ll cut it down from a 4×8′ sheet for you. It’s also called “Sound Board”, as it will reduce noise.

Went to @JimTiffinJr workshop this morning entitled GeekTime, and

learned how to embed Animoto and YouTube into WordPress sites.

Here’s how to embed Animotos:

1. Sign in to WordPress. Select New Post.
2. Sign in to Animoto.
3. Pick a Video.
4. To the right of the selected video, click More.
5. Click the Embedded Video tab.
6. Click Copy to clipboard button.
7.  Go back to your new WordPress post.
8. Select the filmstrip icon.
9. Go to the Source tab. Paste the clipboard contents there.
10. Hit the Insert button.
11. Hit Publish (or Update if you’re editing a post).
12. Hit View Post.

Here’s how to embed YouTube or TeacherTube:

It’s a similar process with a YouTube or TeacherTube video:

1. Sign in to WordPress. Select New Post.
2. Open YouTube video. 
3. Below the selected video, click Share.
4. Go back to your new WordPress post.
5. Select the filmstrip icon.
6. Go to the Source tab. Paste the clipboard contents there.
7. Hit the Insert button.
8. Hit Publish (or Update if you’re editing a post).
9. Hit View Post.

Get the Right Grip on Your Pencil - Video 2min 38sec

Posture and Paper Positioning – Video 2 min 4 sec

Inexpensive Disc-O-Seat – multiple colors, $13 – Link

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1. Do you need a near-point alphabet strip or two? Whenever your learner writes, there needs to be a near-point  alphabet strip (not at front of room, which is far point). Make sure the alphabet strip is in the same font as your handwriting program.
2. Consider Handwriting Without Tears for your manuscript writing program. I like their manuscript better than their cursive program.
3. Make a graph of % letters reversed. Continue to provide the learner objective feedback. Count the number of reversed letters on 1/2 a page of writing and subtract from 100. That’s a pretty good estimate of percent letters facing correctly.
4. To try and reduce reversals systematically, make a list of all letters/numbers your learner writes backwards (upper and lower case). Have next week be “S” Week, where I do kinesthetic activities with the letter S, you put an S on the whiteboard, and  maybe on his desk. You and I reinforce ONE letter written forwards.
5. Spend one hour on home desk management. Add something to his desk to keep it neater (shelf, vertical file, cups for pencils/pens/markers/crayons, plastic organizer divided up into sections for tape, stapler, glue stick, scissors, etc.).
6. Ask your learner what he needs. Some attempts fail because they are too “top-down” and your learner’s strategies weren’t considered. One boy recently says that S’s begin on the spoon side of the paper (he sets the table nightly)!
7. Double your learner’s time allotted for written assignments, or have your learner do half the assignment (such as spelling).

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/story-starters/

I was looking for an interactive computer program that generated story starters for some Grade 3-4 boys. Boy, I hit the jackpot! What if the story starter let you spin the wheels of a one-armed bandit– a slot machine! Check it out. It motivated one reluctant writer to brainstorm his all-time best list of things his character could say during the story.

http://www.stubbypencilstudio.com/product/JOL_EXAKT12/Exakt-Fine-Drawing-Pencils/

Every wonder if your student would write better if they had a pencil with harder lead? You know, the kid who presses down so hard his entire portfolio is etched into the top of his desk? Buy this set of pencils and have him try each one out. You’ll be amazed at the difference a pencil makes in how his writing looks!

So will he.