by Krissy.Venosdale | Jan 31, 2012 | Reflect
Today I was moving through my room, working with different groups, on different projects, and I stepped out to fill my water bottle. I looked up when I came back and noticed something. Nobody even noticed I had left. I think there are some rules of engagement in the classroom that will help you to know if your students are really, truly engaged in learning or if they are just “playing the part” by looking at a book, filling in pages of work, clicking the mouse, or pretending to be interested. I think sometimes what we think is an “engaged kid” is really just an Oscar winning performance. How can you tell if it’s real?
What type of questions are they asking? Are they asking you “What do you think about….?” or “Can I get a drink?”
If you slip out the door to the hallway, do they notice?
Do they beg you to skip recess and “work” or to take projects home?
Do they often create something totally above and beyond what you expected, just because they wanted to?
Have you heard “Whoa! Today flew by FAST!”?
Do you overhear kids side discussions and they are on topic, enriching, and proof of their thinking?
I don’t think you can dictate engagement. You can’t make a rule for your wall that says “Learn” or “Don’t speak without raising your hand” and think that it will force engagement in some way. Engagement is the result of a carefully balanced formula that spurs curiosity, drives inquiry, and gets kids brain gears spinning. Even the best actor in the world can’t fake that.
by Krissy.Venosdale | Jan 29, 2012 | Reflect
Got failure in your classroom? It’s not a bad thing. Unless failure is the end of the road and it stops there. Failure is opportunity. To fail is to learn.
There really is no use crying over spilled milk. Instead, learn from it. Why did it spill? What was the velocity of the glass as it fell? What state of matter is the milk in? How could we prevent future milk spills? Is spilled milk affecting our environment negatively? What is the surface tension on the puddle of milk? Whoa. You get the picture.
It’s not just spilled milk. It’s opportunity. You can support it, but don’t ever completely prevent it. Or, you might just be preventing learning.
by Krissy.Venosdale | Jan 29, 2012 | Reflect
“Give her some enrichment!” “Provide some enrichment.” “Well, I gave her extra when she finished early.” Have you heard this before?
How many gifted programs are heavily based in enrichment? How many schools attempt to address the needs of their highest level learners by simply adding more on? One way to think about enrichment, by definition, is in food: to increase the food value of by adding more.
Okay, think biscuits.
Think of regular, everyday, school curriculum as a biscuit. Scoop on some spices, maybe some gravy and boom… you have the same biscuit with a little extra flavor. In some schools, kids are just tossed more biscuits. Does eating two biscuits make them any more right for meeting needs?
But, think about what kids identified gifted need. If, statistically, they already know 50% or more of the curriculum before the year even starts, why feed them biscuits at all? What about differentiation? By definition: to change, to alter. The recipe for biscuits? It needs a complete rewrite. The flour needs to be mixed with something else, altered, changed. Think pizza crust, loaf of bread, cake. Different…not more.
More? It fuels the argument of “elitisim.” It causes already thin budgets to be tightened even more. It gets misconstrued in every way.
Not more. Different.
Different? It can be embedded in the school day. It can be rewritten to be right. It can fit seamlessly into any flexible learning environment. It can be a class that’s part of the school, not some room on the other side of campus.
It’s about new recipes, meeting needs, and the right kind of learning. Every. Single. Day.
by Krissy.Venosdale | Jan 27, 2012 | Reflect
Easy? It’s work that kids can do on their own. It’s stacks of “Nice job” and “A+” on the first try. It’s the way many of us learned how to teach in college. It’s bubbling in answer A-B-or C. It’s perceived as the fastest way to success. It’s about facts and knowing stuff. It’s taking the road over the plains instead of climbing the mountains.
Hard? It’s about struggle. It’s uncomfortable. It’s practice with handling uncertainty and rising up from failure. It’s about relying on creativity as a tool, not just a scheduled classroom event. It’s watching kids think and stepping back. It’s listening instead of telling. It’s about deep understanding and connections. It’s stepping out of your own comfort zone so they can find theirs. It’s necessary for learning.
Inspired by a tweet from @AngelaMaiers: “I tell kids: Everything is hard before it is easy. Together we will do what it takes to make hard easier! #schools2life“
by Krissy.Venosdale | Jan 27, 2012 | Reflect
Ten failed attempts is sometimes worth more than 10 A’s.
One great hands-on learning experience is worth more than reading a textbook chapter.
The time spent to fostering a classroom community is worth far more than one year of being a dictator of your room.
One formative assessment interview is worth more than some entire state standardized test scores.
One hour in a Twitter #edchat or #gtchat can be more valuable than a day at some conferences we pay hundreds of dollars to see.
Five minutes spent listening to a student is worth more than 60 minutes spent lecturing.
Ten minutes of a student struggling is worth more than an entire day of work that is easy for them.
The meaningful feedback you give students is worth more than a smiley face sticker.
Deeper learning everyday is worth more than fact filled “rigor”.
Actions are worth far more than excuses.
20 minutes of real collaboration with a colleague is sometimes worth more than 2 hoursof planning alone.
The fear you have of change is worth overcoming far more than the feeling you’ll have in ten years that you did nothing to change things.
