by Krissy.Venosdale | Aug 17, 2011 | Reflect
Merry Go Rounds: Filled with happy music. Fun. Comfortable. You know what’s around every single corner. You could close your eyes and know what to expect. They are happy, joyous, safe places.
Pioneer Trails: Filled with mountains. Risks. Scary surprises. You never know what is coming next. You could close your eyes, but you’d miss something important. They are risky, scary, dangerous places.
The difference? With one, you never get out of the “safe” zone. You spin, and spin, and spin. One day, you hop off, and you are still in the exact same spot.
The other… you go. You blaze a trail. Chart a new course. Find a better way. You make your own path. You take a risk.
Sometimes in education, it’s time to hop off the Merry-Go-Round, say goodbye to the happy, fun music, and take a risk. Do you want everyday you teach to be easy. predictable. same? Or, do you want to take a risk and reap the rewards that just maybe, someday, you’ll end up in a totally different, new place? It might just be an amazing place where the growth, ideas, and things happening make all of the risk and struggle worth it. Who knows, people may even follow…
by Krissy.Venosdale | Aug 17, 2011 | Reflect
I’ve been thinking about this for some time. But, you know how it is, there are things you think about doing in your class and things you ACTUALLY do and sometimes, those two things are separate. I’m jumping in this year. I see my students one day per week for our pull-out gifted program. We study things in the news, we learn about things we care about, and sometimes, topics and questions literally just blow down in front of us like a leaf did last year which led to a study of the veins in the leaves. Our studies… I define the objectives in my plan book. We set learning targets. I ask them to set goals. What’s missing? The record of what IS learned. Sure, I assess in lots of ways: walking around, observing, collecting projects, watching presentations. What is missing? The very record that could hold the key to it all: the record of THEIR thoughts. I’m not talking about grades. In fact, I’m talking about the opposite of grades… authentic, meaningful assessment. Enter the GEAR binder.
G: Goal-setting: No matter the topic, students set their goals. What do YOU want to learn about?
E: Engage: Engage and involve yourself in the learning. Reading, notes, projects, ideas, thoughts, photos, new words learned, questions thought of. A literal record of engagement. How are you learning it?
A: Assess: Along the way, answers to questions asked by the teacher, questions asked by the student, proof that learning IS occurring. What did you learn?
R: Reflect: When it’s all said and done, what does this ALL mean? We have to ask student to tie their learning to REAL life. We have to allow them a chance to explore the connections, develop new thoughts, and plan for future studies, projects, and learning. What do you think? (Connections, New Thoughts, Questions, Ideas)
Right now, these binders are just empty spaces with three rings. In a few weeks? I am hopeful they will be filled with a student learning plan, a goal planning sheet, a parent comment log, a list of classroom research resources…. and more. Possibilities? Scanning portions for a digital component. Photographs of projects. Learning style survey results. Student feedback from classmates. Independent self-managed projects. A living portfolio. Most of all? They will be filled with proof… proof of learning.
by Krissy.Venosdale | Aug 13, 2011 | Reflect
I have been getting a lot of emails lately about this bulletin board. The most Freqently Asked Questions? Well, the rocket, the lights, and the fonts.
1.) What is it made of?
The rocket is made of cardboard, ductape, and fabric scraps. The stars are white copy paper. The border was “last years” and I just flipped it over and used the white side.
1.) How did you get the lights to stay on there?
The board is covered with black fabric and I used clear pushpins on each side of the rope light to put it into place. Tip: Let your lights warm up BEFORE trying to attach them. The slight amount of heat they produce makes them more flexible and they will be easier to guide and form. If you look in the bottom left you will see a small black cord coming out. It’s a tiny extension cord that is tucked under the rocket. The rocket is actually sitting off the board about 4 inches. I taped two or three small cardboard boxes to the back to make it stand out and all all of the cord stuff to be tucked under the fabric behind it. It’s amazing what staples over fabric can do to hold a cord in place!
2.) What fonts are those?
I’m addicted to fonts. There, I admit it. Fonts are like potato chips… you can’t have just one. I collect free fonts. I save them. I use them. I never, ever remember their names. I went through my list today and attempted to recreate the title of the board and have made a PDF for anyone to download and print. I purposely typed the words out of order so that you could easily load your paper with printer and then certain words would be certain colors.
I hope this isn’t too late for some of you who emailed asking me about the fonts. I feel like I should make some space pun about launching into a new year… but I’m still exhausted from the week. Enjoy your weekend! 🙂
by Krissy.Venosdale | Aug 13, 2011 | Reflect
Today I went in to school one more day to finish up my classroom. It’s starting to feel like a “home.” Especially the fact that my cabinet has so much stuff in it that when I open the door, it falls out… you didn’t think I was going to post a photo of THAT did you?
So, here it is… Brainstorm! I wanted to tie science in and starting thinking about weather, and weather had me thinking about thinking. So, Brainstorm became the idea…
The brain is made of foamcore board, covered with pink tissue paper & glue, covered with 3 shades of pink yarn. After it was finished, I poked Christmas lights through the back so the brain would be “bright.” Pun totally intended. Spray adhesive + yarn = stickiest mess EVER. Just sayin’!
The norms posters I shared a few weeks ago will go in my other classroom, so I had to “Brainstorm-ize” these…
The canvases got fresh paint, paper, ribbon, and buttons. I don’t know that my kitchen table has EVER seen a bigger mess than the one that found itself on the table as I glued, painted, covered, and recovered.
A light up yarn tornado for the corner. It started as cardboard, wrapped in yarn. Then, it was spraypainted grey. Then it got more yarn. Then, a little duct tape to curl the cardboard back a bit. I still wonder if any of the neighbors saw me spraypainting a giant tornado in the front yard. After it was all dry (or damp, because I got impatient) I cut tiny holes with an Xacto knife and pushed the lights through. It’s hanging from the ceiling by two large paperclips-turned-hooks.
I had these umbrellas hanging last year over the computers.
Easy to make window treatments… I do not enjoy sewing 15 yards of fabric for valances, so this year, I decided to use foam core, tulle, and a little bit of blue paint.
I posted a few more photos in a Flickr set. All of the posters I have hanging and the norms are free to download.
I still have a few more things to hang, a couple of things to print, and some major organizational things to tackle “behind the scenes.” But, isn’t there always MORE to do? Next week I will share my other classroom, which is a thinking theme, too… just not a “Brainstorm!” 🙂
Good luck to everyone who is starting or has just started school this week!
by Krissy.Venosdale | Aug 11, 2011 | Reflect
Glue sticks. Adhesive. Yarn. Laminate. Hang. Move. Open. Put Away. Move Again. Sit. Stand. Cut. Glue. Take Apart. Tape. Trim. Center. Staple. Cut. Stand. Paint. Let Dry. Get Impatient. Touch Paint. Wash Hands. Print. Cut. Laminate. Hang. Pack. Move. Look for scissors. Find scissors. Look for stapler. Paint some more. Hot Glue. (ouch!) Run out of duct tape. Add to shopping list. Search for extension cord. Buy one. Find last year’s cord. Out of energy. Sleep. Repeat.
This is my story this week. It’s all starting to come together. 2 classrooms… one week. The week where you wonder if you CAN use hot glue to hold your eyelids open and wake up at 3am dreaming about a bulletin board.
Where’s the HGTv team when I need one?
