Two Great Questions

At a recent professional development session, our assistant principal asked two wonderful questions:

If your students didn't have to be there, would you be teaching to an empty classroom?

Do you have a lesson you could sell tickets for?

I always consider what would be fun for students and what would be the most memorable way to teach a topic, but the way these questions were phrased really made me stop and think.

How often do I consider student passions above student test scores?  Am I encouraging students to look for things they love and excel at in each lesson?  Are the students having a fun-filled, memorable second grade year?

As a Title 1 teacher, it can be easy to be swept away by goal setting, data, and test scores.  These are all important things, and honestly, students feel AMAZING when they reach their goals. It is important, though, that I consider who they are as people, too.  What are their goals outside the classroom? What are their hopes and dreams?

Here are a few ways I have helped myself refocus.

Responsive Classroom

Responsive Classroom is incredible, and their Morning Meeting structure is fantastic.  It helps develop more than effective classroom management; it helps develop a true community.  We start each day with a greeting, which gives us a positive way to start our day together.  Part of the meeting is a share time.  By sharing topics of their choice, students are able to give us a peek into who they are outside the school day.  (Bonus: It helps them develop writing ideas!)

Create

Any time we can do something creative with our learning, we do it!  There are so many ways to integrate student creativity into lessons.  Creative integration can be as simple as inviting students to choose the colors for the anchor charts or help develop the word problems.  I've noticed that truly inviting students to create as part of a lesson is a great way to ensure their engagement.  

We've crafted our favorite Truffula Tress to learn about graphing and extend literacy learning.

 

We've created wrist bands as part of a digital scavenger hunt for our aquarium field trip.

Recently, we borrowed the Flip Flop Facts Craftivity from Mrs. Lemmons and modified it to include some team building and creativity.  Students traced their feed and wrote their flip flop facts on each foot.  They were so excited to create their own flip flip feet, and now they really remember those facts!

Pinterest is filled with ideas for adding creativity into the classroom, and I've noticed that many of the printable or crafty items make great inspiration for my own lessons.  It's always important to consider the depth of learning and fit for my own students, so typically, I do not simply print or use "craftivities" directly from Pinterest, but I certainly let them inspire me!

Let them Lead

 I invite student leadership as often as possible.  Students run book talks, morning meeting, problem solving discussions, and more.  This way, they are in charge of our classroom activities, and they have so much fun running our daily routines.

 I always provide a framework for student-led discussions, so English Language Learners are supported as they lead and participate.

Move

Since I am also a music and movement teacher, this one comes very naturally to me.  We move as much as we possibly can.  We've done some Brain Gym, Total Physical Response, incorporated sensory input, and simply danced it out as often as possible. 

I also create songs, chants, and dances that relate to our content areas.  It makes me laugh when students come back to visit and ask if we have done a particular song or chant yet.  These seem to be memorable!

Find Balance

Above all, I've noticed that if my personal life and work life balance are out of whack, my teaching suffers.  I am the type of person who could easily spend every waking moment in my classroom or working on school-related tasks.  However, this results in a huge drain on my creativity!  So often, great lesson ideas come from real life experiences, and our personal experiences help us better relate to our students.  So, I work hard to keep my weekends for family, friends, and personal life.  This way, when I'm modeling writing, I really do have something to write about! :)