ES Project Review and Revision

Students Present Their Projects to First Graders

The best time to review and revise a project is right after the project is complete.  What went well? What can be changed for the better.

As I assess our Endangered Species Research and Presentation Project I have a number of "keepers" and "changers."

Keepers:

• Guide research using a website as a homebase. We'll revisit the website prior to the next year's project to update.
• Use a Google presentation template to guide research (available on website.)
• Start the unit with background knowledge and skill development related to biomes, research, using websites, writing informational text, and the topic of endangered species.
• Make beautiful murals.
• Animoto and iMovie public service messages.
• Hosting parents at an open house.
• Sharing students' learning through individual presentations, short public service messages, murals, dioramas and a class film.
• Presenting to classmates in other grades. 

Changers:

• Next year I'd like to put more effort into biome teams and student collaboration. 
• Instead of having each child present on the class film, I'd like biome teams to write short scripts and present a short film about their biome and the endangered animals in it--I think that would make an engaging film presentation.
• Possibly invite family members to presentations in other classrooms. 

As evidenced by the student YouTube film, students really enjoy the endangered species project.  I really enjoy growing this project with my colleagues each year as educational strategies, tools, and resources change.  Overall, the project is a keeper!

Teaching: Whose Job is It?

When I first started teaching, and a child faced challenges, I sometimes blamed the family asking why? But now that I've been teaching and parenting for a long time, I look for solutions within the learning team (students, families, teachers, community, leaders) and ask how?

How can we teach this child better?

What can we do differently to inspire, strengthen, lift, and lead a young child from knowing to unknowing in matters large and small?

Asking why and blaming serves to eleviate responsibility, while seeking the how is a challenging, collaborative process. Yet, it is the how that serves to strengthen the child.

Together the learning team, families, teachers, leaders, and community members, can use the why to inform the how, but how to do the job better and then doing that work should take center stage.

Looking back to see what didn't happen, what went wrong, or what could have been can inform next steps and a better solution, but looking back to simply blame has no merit.

The job of teaching belongs to the entire learning community: the student, the family, the teachers, the leaders, and the community.

The job of teaching is not just to award those for which learning comes easy, and disregard those for whom learning is a challenge.  Instead the job of teaching is to place every child on a sturdy, nurturing path of life long learning and positive development.

There's not one way to do this, and no child's path will be exactly the same, but the days of lauding those with certain skills over those with other skills are over--learning belongs to every child, and every member of that child's community has the responsibility to work together to teach that child well.

Good Scores AND Good Teaching

There are many debates out there about standardized tests.  I continue to be on the fence with respect to that issue.  I've seen teaching conversations and focus change for the positive since the testing began, but I've also seen a movement away from creative, holistic teaching.

I still want to do both: get good scores and teach a holistic program.

Hence, I assess the scores, tweak the program, and aim for 100% success by embedding standards into worthy learning design.  And every year there are the scores that rise and the scores that decrease.  There are the students who shine on standardized tests and those that struggle.

I tend to shift the program to the needs, but then the areas of success tend to wane.  The truth is that the number of content areas to master seem to exceed the days and hours of energized time in the year.  Yet, I'll continue to look for ways to better the program, strategize for optimal learning, and teach children well.

I assessed the scores, made new goals, and now will seek to see if I can master this task of teaching every children well with success holistically and with regard to the tests--it's a mighty goal, let's seem how I do.

Should You Choose a Challenging Goal?

In the age of goal setting and teacher evaluations, should you choose a challenging goal?

If you choose a challenging goal, you may not reach it.

Yet, if you choose a challenging goal you're likely to learn a lot.

However, if you choose an easy goal, you might excel and exceed expectations possibly resulting in an exemplary rating.

Hence, do we choose challenging goals or not?

If we choose challenging goals, do we have the support behind us if we make mistakes and miss the mark?

What do you think?

I want to know before I choose my next evaluation goal.

Student Summer Study?

What are your recommending for your students' summer study? How are you organizing the information for easy access. The world of learning has changed dramatically now that technology offers unlimited learning potential. There's many wonderful ways to learn offline too. Hence, for summer study, I recommend that my students do the following:

• Play a lot.
• Enjoy considerable free time to imagine, create, explore, and investigate.
• Spend time with family and friends.
• Travel to locations near and far including museums, zoos, parks, beaches, mountains, cities and more. Explore.
• Read regularly.
• Write often.
• Practice math facts and computation too so you don't lose your fluency over the summer.
• Explore wonderful STEAM sites and activities (science, tech, engineering, arts, and math).

How will you encourage summer study?

I decided to give my students a summer study packet including a page with individual passwords for selected sites, and a more general page of links:

Summer Online Study Menu

• 

  Photo Credit

  Practice Math Regularly with SumDog, Xtra Math, EDM Games, and more.
• Practice Keyboarding (see links below)
• Read regularly. Visit the Scholastic Summer Reading site for ideas.
• Explore Science with Tynker, Scratch, and other sites (see back).
• Write letters, emails, stories, poems. If you share with me, I’ll post your work on our class blog: http://teamfifteenhh.blogspot.com/
  
  

(Name)  Summer Study Passwords

Program	User Name	Password	Log-In Notes
http://www.tynker.com/login
Xtra Math https://www.xtramath.org/home/student_sign_in#
Sum Dog http://www.sumdog.com/
Scholastic Summer Challenge http://www.scholastic.com/ups/campaigns/src-2013
Everyday Math http://em-ccss.everydaymathonline.com/g_login.html

Summer Study:

Topic:	Links and Recommendations
Reading Daily Wayland Library Reading Program Scholastic Summer Reading Happy Hollow Digital Books Team 15 Book Chart	Visit the library weekly, read books, short and long, from many genres. Read the newspaper regularly. Read magazines. Read the 2012-2013 Team 15 Blog: http://teamfifteenhh.blogspot.com/ (5th), http://team15share.blogspot.com/ (4th) Class website: http://teacherweb.com/MA/HappyHollowElementary/msdevlin/apt3.aspx Lexia Practice SumDog English, SumDog Writing Great link for reading fluency: Summer Reads Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge (note that students have their own passwords for this)
Writing	Try writing a story on Storybird (4th,5th) Update your Google ePortfolio (5th graders) Make a Google Presentation of your summer adventures. (5th grade) Write stories on Google docs. (5th grade) Keep a handwritten journal. (4th grade) Write emails to Ms. Devlin about your summer adventures. (4th grade) Write a story and send it to Ms. Devlin so she can publish it on the class blog: http://team15share.blogspot.com/ (4th), http://teamfifteenhh.blogspot.com/ (5th)

Keyboarding	All the Right Type other programs
Math Facts	SumDog Xtra Math Practice Facts using Xtra Math, Factor Game, flash cards and Other Games: link   Manga High EDM Math Games (sign up and try it out) https://www.khanacademy.org/exercisedashboard
Science/Tech Exploration	https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nKIu9yen5nc Sketch-Up ~ 3D Building and Design Energy 3D ~ 3D Building Environmentally Green Houses (These print in pieces so students can assemble them into 3D houses ~ The closest thing to a 3D printer ~ Click on the link below to learn more) http://energy.concord.org/energy3d/ Pixel Press ~ Draw Your Own Video Game (Click on the link below to learn more ~ The site just recently launched). http://www.pixelpressgame.com/ Scratch ~ Programming and Creating Advanced Games: http://scratch.mit.edu/, Scratch class account Minecraft ~ Building and Designing an endangered species interactive tour, including biomes and facts from presentations.
Art	https://sites.google.com/a/wayland.k12.ma.us/happy-hollow-art-program/ Look at the many wonderful projects on this site and try creating your own.

I'll also offer families a computation review packet and a link to our class math site which has practice videos, worksheets, problem solving, and links. 

The world of learning is more accessible and diversified than ever before. Families and teachers have multiple paths available as they encourage students to follow their interests and passions as well as strengthen essential skills.

What learning paths will you follow this summer as a student, teacher, parent, or coach?  What tools will you explore and encourage?  Are there any must-have sites or links that I've missed on the list above, if so, please let me know. In the meantime, I hope that this study guide helps you and your students too.

Endangered Species Open House

"Today is a time to celebrate the finale to an amazing project. The project was amazing because there was room for every child to shine by showing off their skill and interest in specific parts of the project.  While some enjoyed making the mural the most, others liked to research on the computer best.  Still more enjoyed working collaboratively while some preferred reading a book on the topic alone.  This project offers students multiple paths for learning, and that's what learning is like today.

So different from when I was young when information was scarce and books and today's modern learning tools were not readily available, these children are growing up with information everywhere and numerous, varied tools for learning--tools that make learning accessible to almost everyone almost everywhere!  It is an amazing time in education.

At this amazing time in education, the important message is that every child has what it takes to become successful, and every child has the ability to take a learning path that is energizing, engaging, and enriching.  Education no longer has to be "one size fits all" or "do it my way," but instead education offers a menu of many approaches for success.  

One factor integral to this success is the support, inspiration, and care of the learning community. We all know that the role of teacher belongs to everyone in the learning community including the students, the family members, the teachers, the leaders, and the community. We all play an important role in our own success and the success of those we care for.  In that regard, I want to thank everyone here from the students to the family members to the teachers and leaders for a wonderful year of learning!

Now, I'd like to specifically recognize the students of Team 15 who have learned with creativity, care, and dedication throughout the year. After I read each name, please applaud. Thank you!"

Ending: Beginning

Click image to get a larger view. 

The way we close the year is the way we'll open the next.  Hence what goals, structure, routines, and efforts do you hope to retire, continue, or embrace next year?

Student Service: 
How will you serve students next year?
I have found that a solid, "loose-tight" yearly, weekly, and daily routine and pattern ensures that all of the important teaching and learning happens. Hence, I'll make the time upfront to carefully plan those patterns with my grade-level colleagues and PLC team.  The patterns will embed the grade-level standards as well as brain-friendly, student-centered learning design and tools.

Learning Environment: 
How can you make the environment an inviting place to learn and grow?
The use of rugs, bean bag chairs, and portable desks, shelves, and tables allows the environment to morph and change to meet the needs of learners throughout the year. Our team ordered more baskets, bean bags, and shelving so that we can create "Maker Stations," cozy reading corners, tech centers, and independent learning stations. 

School Culture:
How will you work to contribute to school culture?
In this area I will again work with my grade-level team and administrators to look for the best places to contribute to school culture.  I will also make the time to show gratitude to colleagues who contribute to our school culture in so many important ways.  We all know that "it takes a village" to run a school well, and no one educator can be all things. 

Professional Learning: 
How will you develop your repertoire to serve children well?
In general, next year I'm going to work towards greater quality than quantity of innovation and change. Now that many, many new approaches, structures, and tools are in place, I will be thinking about how I can further match the innovation with research to make the learning as potent and positive as possible.  I will also continue to contribute to and learn from my PLN both online and offline through chats, blogs, and conferences.  

Collaborative Teams: 
How will you work with colleagues to best effect student learning and growth next year?
Our professional learning community (PLC) devoted countless hours to numerous initiatives this year. At the end of the year we realized that it was time to grow our collegiality, efforts, and goals with greater intention and understanding.  I look forward to developing our collaboration next year and I am wondering what our initial meetings will determine with regard to our PLC norms, roles, structure, and goals.  We have a talented, diverse team with tremendous potential when it comes to sharing and developing our collective professional learning and craft. 

Summer provides time to read, research, relax, and regroup before another busy and profitable year.  It is important to reflect on the past year, and set goals for the next while the year is fresh in our minds and hearts.

What goals do you have for the year ahead?  What areas of growth and service have I missed?  How will you continue to contribute to the learning community you serve? What support will you seek in this regard?