By: Liz Fox
I don't know about your students, but mine have been tired lately. Even exhausted. Nearly (OK -actually) falling asleep in class. I have made an effort to add movement in small ways, like asking students to stand up rather than raise hands or ask students to move to a side of the room to represent their view on a topic (and discuss with others before sharing out to the whole group). But I've been wanting to do more–and more purposeful–movement. I know the research is pretty solid on the power of movement to boost learning, and just as I started to look into this more, a blog post from one of my favorite educators popped up in my inbox. This post examines this topic with clarity and provides excellent examples. Sharing in case it inspires you as well. And Mr. Rhodes, please let me know if you plan to use any of the examples given for APHUG class; I'd love to sit in on that lesson! What are you doing in your classroom to keep students engaged and alert? Please share in the comments!
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by Nicole Cody In late February, on one of the few days we were actually in school, all of the high school orchestra students participated in a Skype session with Mr. Issam Rafea. Mr. Rafea is a professional oud player, composer, and music educator. He is a Syrian who is living as a refugee on legal asylum in Chicago. For our February concert in orchestra, the theme that connected all of our pieces was Building Community. We explored the positives and negatives of communities, what each of our responsibilities are to keep communities healthy and how music helps create community. We addressed these questions through reading poems, short texts, and watching videos that connected to these questions. (Thanks to Steve Peterson for sharing some of his resources with me!) One of the bigger questions I wanted the students to explore was this: how do you maintain community when you are not in your community’s physical location? This led us to wonder about refugees and about the current war in Syria. I partnered with Andrew Ellingsen as an instructional coach on this concert theme. Through one of our brainstorming sessions, we began to wonder if we could connect with someone from Syria who could share a folk tune with us. There are many “world” music resources on the internet and in textbooks, but it is difficult to research Middle Eastern music traditions from a Western music standpoint and know that what you have is authentic. Andrew was able to connect with a music friend, who connected us to an ethnomusicologist who knew of Issam Rafea’s work. Once we had a name, we began to research him and--not having luck with contact information--we watched some videos of him on YouTube. (I highly recommend looking him up and watching a few of his videos. He is very talented and the oud is mesmerizing.) We eventually came across a video of him and Gao Hong (a Chinese pipa player) playing for MPR that led us to research Ms. Hong. We found her contact information and emailed her. As luck would have it, Ms. Hong’s husband is Mr. Rafea’s manager, and we were connected! I only share the details of this process because it can be scary to reach out to professional-level culture bearers. I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t have a partner in Andrew. Our shared excitement over the possibility of this collaboration overshadowed my fear of rejection and led us to one of the coolest things that I has happened in my classroom this year. Mr. Rafea was so excited to work with us. He chose a Syrian folk tune for us, wrote it out in notation that we could read, and helped advise me on making sure I was understanding the building blocks of the music. Middle Eastern music uses an entirely different Theory system, so this was an interesting challenge for me. The orchestras got to work--learning how to play it and learning how it was constructed. The goal was to have each class take the tune and turn it into a class arrangement. Unfortunately, the winter of 2019 happened, and we didn’t have time to do that. We did arrange a Skype session in which we were going to play our arrangements for him and receive his feedback. Since our arrangements were not completed, we workshopped with him on creating the arrangement, which turned out to be an incredible experience. He had very high expectations of the students, emphasizing the need for accuracy on things that we were letting slide. He gave us ideas, and in an hour, through a lot of back and forth, we had created an concert arrangement of “Al Bulbul” with ideas from Mr. Rafea, myself, and my students. We haven’t had a chance to perform it yet due to our cancelled February concert-- hopefully we will this spring--but the experience of “real, live music making,” group improvisation, and expert feedback was invaluable. Final Thoughts: Find a partner that helps you dream big and make amazing things happen in your classroom. Connect to experts. Find culture bearers. Open your students’ eyes to a part of your subject they never knew existed. Allow your students to see your vulnerabilities and places where you are still learning. Cool things happen when you take some risks. Encouraging database use among students is challenging because there are just SO MANY STEPS: find the AEA website, locate the page with the databases, pick the right database, enter the username and password, search for what you want, and then start all over again with another database! It's a hot mess. Enter Destiny One Search where you can find links to articles right in our library catalog. Watch the video below to learn how.
FOR THOSE PARTICIPATING IN PPD FOR GRADUATE OR RECERTIFICATION CREDIT Wondering about the steps needed to complete PPD challenges?
Challenge Pacing Dates
Peer Discussion Meetings Along with the with the challenges, Peer Discussion Meetings are a course requirement. The first set of meeting dates offers four session options. October 4th - 7-8am @ CLE October 4th - 3:30-4:30 @ JCE October 9th - 7-8am @ DHS October 10th - 3:30-4:30 @ DMS
Requirements for Peer Discussion Meetings: Recertification Credit: Attend four meeting dates by April 1, 2019. Graduate Credit: Attend four meeting dates by April 1, 2019. Banking Challenges: Attend four meeting dates by April 1, 2020. An individual meeting with a coach may fulfill the requirement of a peer discussion meeting if there is a scheduling conflict. In this case, fill out a coaching request form or email a coach directly. Submitting Work to Canvas For each challenge, submit your work in the Canvas PPD course. Make sure you submit work under the correct track (recertification, graduate, or banking).
Course Log on Google Spreadsheet What should you document on your course log?
by Allysen Lovstuen What are you trying new this year? Now that we are a month or so in how is it going? What are you thinking about trying? As teachers many of us are always looking for ways to improve. We read an article, see something on Pinterest, attend a conference, observe in another classroom, get to know our current students' needs, etc. and determine that there is something that we could be doing better. So we research, talk with colleagues, brainstorm, and implement change. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. But all too often that is where it ends. We don't share our experience where others may learn from it. We learn or gain from the experience but don't think about the fact that others might as well. I want to learn from you! Let's share some of the things we have tried, successful or not. You can comment below or contact me and we can put together your own blog post. Even things that seem very unique to our individual classrooms may spark an idea for someone else. I'll get us started with something I see as a success so far, a failure so far, and a "just starting" change. Change #1: New homework turn-in bins in Team Taught Algebra I. Students turn their homework into whichever bin matches what they think their mastery level is for that work. Goals:
Change #2: Grid on board to help organize classes with the new schedule. Goals:
Change #3: This one is still developing, but I found this article very intriguing. Before my first test in Team-taught Algebra 1 I gave students 5 minutes to journal their thought, worries, etc. Goals:
Your turn! Share below or contact me about creating your own blog post.
Compiled by Andrew Ellingsen, DCSD Instructional Coach Welcome back to school! As you’re preparing for students to come later this week, here’s a brief rundown of some first day activities that happened in DCSD classrooms last year! What’s your favorite “Back to School” activity? Comment below and add to the growing list of ideas!
By Julia Benson, K-12 ELL Teacher Some time soon, we'll all have a well-deserved break. Later, when your thoughts return to school and your incoming students next fall, take time to reflect on the reading and writing students do in your classroom and consider how these learning activities may be differentiated for your ELLs. Below are strategies to make reading and writing more accessible to your English learners. Reading
Writing
What differentiation strategies have you found successful in your practice? From Shelley Fairbairn’s and Stephaney Jones-Vo’s book Differentiating Instruction and Assessment for English Language Learners. by Julia Benson, K-12 ELL teacher
From Shelley Fairbairn’s and Stephaney Jones-Vo’s book Differentiating Instruction and Assessment for English Language Learners.
By: Allysen Lovstuen In the Iowa Core five Characteristics of Effective Instruction are identified.
According to documents on the Keystone AEA website some attributes of Teaching for Understanding are:
A few of the things that I use in my classroom in order to keep the focus on Teaching for Understanding are: High Quality Tasks: This is something that is talked about a lot in math education. Finding tasks that have multiple entry points, challenge students to think, and are in that sweet spot where students are able to acquire new knowledge. It is important that students are able to experience content in new and novel situations where they are building the connections. Don't Tell Too Much: This is my note to myself. In the past there have been times when I have sabotaged the learning by telling too much. I was buying into the fallacy that the teacher's job is to make the learning easy. Instead I need to focus on providing just enough help and information to keep the struggle productive without taking away the chance engage, struggle, and problem solve. What do you do in your classroom to keep the focus on Teaching for Understanding? Please share!
by Julia Benson, K-12 ELL Teacher Differentiating instruction for English learners can seem overwhelming. Where do you start? Consider starting small with one of these practices. They are helpful for all students but especially ELLs.
What strategies have you found effective for instructing English learners? From Shelley Fairbairn’s and Stephaney Jones-Vo’s book Differentiating Instruction and Assessment for English Language Learners.
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October 2018
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