Happy TGIF! I hope all is well and that everyone had a wonderful first FULL week of school. I don't know about all of you but I am totally ready for Friday! :)
Although it was a long week and I came back from LA congested and under the weather, it was one of the best weeks I have ever had here at Cantiague. The highlight for me was the opportunity to sit with every grade level and have these important conversations about literacy. The thoughtfulness, consideration and passion that went into every one of these conversations (and the decisions we made) was really inspiring to me and I am already looking forward to our next conversations later this month! Thank you for allowing me to participate in this journey of refining and enhancing our literacy instruction here at #Cantiague!
#EDUWINS for the week included...
- Thank you to Julie and Alayne who did an awesome job with the ESL/ENL/ELL presentation during our FEO this past week. The one thing that really resonated with me is the importance of us developing our cultural literacy so that we can make informed choices to engage our English Language Learners. Let's not forget that our ENL team of teachers are an amazing resource we can access for all of our students - THANK YOU!
- Alex and Rosanna were having such important literacy conversations with students. Each of them was meeting with a child and were doing a "book talk" to try and find the "just right" book to hook each child. The thoughtfulness and enthusiasm that they projected was awesome to watch and each of them successfully paired the children with a book. This really speaks to the importance of "book talks" with kids - if talk about a book and make it sound awesome, there is a greater chance our students will enthusiastically engage in reading that text.
- Genius Hour in Melissa's room was so much fun. The children were so incredibly engaged and they were working on such diverse topics - from making jewelry to exploring origami to figuring out how to make glow in the dark goo - and each child was excited to share what they were working on and what they wanted to accomplish. It definitely reinforced the idea that it is imperative that we let our children pursue passion projects.
Tech Tip of the Week...
Check out this blog post about using voice dictation within Google Docs - Google Docs Now Lets You Type Without Typing At All!
Blogs Worth Reading...
Resources for Connected Educator Month 2015 by Edutopia
What Makes a Master Teacher by George Couros
The Curse by Tony Sinanis
Staff Reflection/Blog...
Our latest post comes from Team Levlons about the power of creating a HAPPY classroom...
Perhaps Winnie the Pooh said it best when he stated, “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” Dr. Sinanis has declared the 2015-1016 school year, #yearofhappy. We have been thinking a lot about this phenomenon and realized some important things about what motivates our students, what motivates us, and about our classroom environment in general. It is really quite simple. Kids perform better when they are happy. If they look forward to coming to school, have positive learning experiences while they are here, feel connected to their teachers and peers, and leave each day with a smile, they WILL be more successful. They are more open to learning, they are motivated to succeed, and their confidence soars. After all, don’t you perform better when you are happy? So now that we know happiness promotes success, how do we make it happen? Let’s begin with our morning meeting. The Levlon morning meeting has been compared to the Kelly and Michael show (LOL). We bring humor to the meeting, engage our audience, and make sure student voice is heard and valued. Each day our students look forward to this casual and comfortable experience. A benefit to co-teaching is that we are able to model positive social interactions all day every day. The Levlons take this opportunity to model compassion, kindness, and humor. We are constantly laughing at ourselves, and WITH each other and our students. We create a safe and happy environment for our kids. We often refer to math instruction in our classroom as “group therapy”, which lets our students know that we are “all in it together”. They feel comfortable making mistakes, and this motivates them to try harder, and enables them to be more successful than they knew they were capable of. Our students really enjoy our daily read aloud. After lunch is a sacred time in our classroom where we read books to our kids strictly for enjoyment. There is no mini lesson attached or hidden agenda. We simply read to read! We choose relevant books that we know the kids will relate to, connect with, and enjoy hearing. During these read alouds, we laugh together, cry together, and definitely grow together. Another happy time in room 26 is Genius Hour. This is a time each week, where the kids can explore their passions and interests. It enables EVERY child to be successful and feel good about what they’re working on. We all look forward to this special weekly experience. Most importantly, throughout each day we talk to our students. Not just about what we are learning in Social Studies or Reading Workshop, but about what’s going on in their lives. We make connections with them and follow up with them about how things are going. We’ll ask how a new soccer team is working out, or if they received that special robot for their birthday. We also share information about our lives; our kids and our weekends. It’s not a surprise when our students follow up and ask us about what’s going on in our lives as well. We care about each other and respect each other as individuals. So, if you ask us what makes our kids so happy, we can list a whole bunch of activities and experiences that occur in our classroom on a daily basis. We believe it really boils down to the way we treat our kids. We make every decision with their best interest at heart (and they know it!). We listen to them and empower them. We hug them and love them. The best part is that in return, our kids love us back and add so much joy to our lives. We come to work HAPPY every day and we are motivated to be the BEST we can be for “our kids”.
SCHEDULE OF THE WEEK...
Monday, October 5
"B" Week
Happy Book Fair Week (hopefully we avoided the hurricane)!
Tuesday, October 6
Blogs Worth Reading...
Resources for Connected Educator Month 2015 by Edutopia
What Makes a Master Teacher by George Couros
The Curse by Tony Sinanis
Staff Reflection/Blog...
Our latest post comes from Team Levlons about the power of creating a HAPPY classroom...
Perhaps Winnie the Pooh said it best when he stated, “Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.” Dr. Sinanis has declared the 2015-1016 school year, #yearofhappy. We have been thinking a lot about this phenomenon and realized some important things about what motivates our students, what motivates us, and about our classroom environment in general. It is really quite simple. Kids perform better when they are happy. If they look forward to coming to school, have positive learning experiences while they are here, feel connected to their teachers and peers, and leave each day with a smile, they WILL be more successful. They are more open to learning, they are motivated to succeed, and their confidence soars. After all, don’t you perform better when you are happy? So now that we know happiness promotes success, how do we make it happen? Let’s begin with our morning meeting. The Levlon morning meeting has been compared to the Kelly and Michael show (LOL). We bring humor to the meeting, engage our audience, and make sure student voice is heard and valued. Each day our students look forward to this casual and comfortable experience. A benefit to co-teaching is that we are able to model positive social interactions all day every day. The Levlons take this opportunity to model compassion, kindness, and humor. We are constantly laughing at ourselves, and WITH each other and our students. We create a safe and happy environment for our kids. We often refer to math instruction in our classroom as “group therapy”, which lets our students know that we are “all in it together”. They feel comfortable making mistakes, and this motivates them to try harder, and enables them to be more successful than they knew they were capable of. Our students really enjoy our daily read aloud. After lunch is a sacred time in our classroom where we read books to our kids strictly for enjoyment. There is no mini lesson attached or hidden agenda. We simply read to read! We choose relevant books that we know the kids will relate to, connect with, and enjoy hearing. During these read alouds, we laugh together, cry together, and definitely grow together. Another happy time in room 26 is Genius Hour. This is a time each week, where the kids can explore their passions and interests. It enables EVERY child to be successful and feel good about what they’re working on. We all look forward to this special weekly experience. Most importantly, throughout each day we talk to our students. Not just about what we are learning in Social Studies or Reading Workshop, but about what’s going on in their lives. We make connections with them and follow up with them about how things are going. We’ll ask how a new soccer team is working out, or if they received that special robot for their birthday. We also share information about our lives; our kids and our weekends. It’s not a surprise when our students follow up and ask us about what’s going on in our lives as well. We care about each other and respect each other as individuals. So, if you ask us what makes our kids so happy, we can list a whole bunch of activities and experiences that occur in our classroom on a daily basis. We believe it really boils down to the way we treat our kids. We make every decision with their best interest at heart (and they know it!). We listen to them and empower them. We hug them and love them. The best part is that in return, our kids love us back and add so much joy to our lives. We come to work HAPPY every day and we are motivated to be the BEST we can be for “our kids”.
Monday, October 5
"B" Week
Happy Book Fair Week (hopefully we avoided the hurricane)!
Tuesday, October 6
Book Fair Preview Night @ 7pm
FEO @ 3pm for all teachers - Auditorium
FEO @ 3pm for all teachers - Auditorium
Wednesday, October 7
Book Fair
Thursday, October 8
CST @ 1:20pm
Book Fair
Book Fair
Friday, October 9
Happy TGIF!
Tony will be out of the building at LIASCD
Tony will be out of the building at LIASCD
Reminders...
- Book Fair is NEXT week so please make sure you fill out YOUR TEACHER WISH LISTS early in the week!
- Keep spreading the HAPPY around your room!
- Next FEO on 10/6 - Teachers ONLY to Discuss EdCamp (watch this short 2 min video)
- Let's try and avoid HW on the weekends
- Please let Lisa P. know if you need to replenish your classroom library!
So well put, Allison and Marissa! You truly understand that teaching means so much more than standing in front of your class spouting information like a fountain! It is about making connections and creating trust between you and your students! People used to believe that if a teacher instilled fear in their students with punishments and consequences, the students would be afraid to disappoint them. I think if a student believes their teacher loves and cares about them, they will also not want to disappoint them and they will be a lot less anxious! Isn't that the goal??! I am so grateful to work in an environment in which everyone feels this way about education!
ReplyDeleteJulie and Alyane's presentation was very informative! Thank you both for that!
ReplyDeleteThose Winnie the Pooh quotes always touch the heart and are spot-on. I can only hope that all of the teachers that interact with my own children appreciate and understand the importance of what Marissa and Allison wrote about. Being happy opens your mind and heart to learning. Thanks for sharing ladies!
I do love a good Winnie the Pooh quote! Al and Marissa, I love walking by your room and hearing so much laughter. Your happiness in contagious as colleagues too! I have a Monday morning meeting where we share about our weekends, but maybe I will try and do it each morning! Maybe this will spread even more happy! Thanks for sharing how you spread the happy in the Levlons, they are lucky to have you as teachers.
ReplyDeleteGreat job ladies! I think it is important to stop and reflect on the tone of your classroom. It sounds like your classroom is a great space where kids feel special and loved. :)
ReplyDelete