The "Best Classroom?"

It's day three here and as my fourth graders work on writing our classroom guidelines they have been doing some brainstorming. What would the "worst classroom" look like, sound like, etc. and what would the "best classroom" contain?

Several of my students felt a best classroom would have students working quietly on worksheets all day while the teacher sat at his/her desk and did paperwork or played solitaire on the computer. No, they weren't joking. I'm working hard at changing their idea of what learning looks like to them.

We began generating this web together, and then as they filled in their own details, I filled in mine. It was one of my attempts to change some of their thinking.

What would a "best classroom" look like and sound like to you?

[As an aside, this post by Will Richardson has had me thinking a lot about what happens in my classroom. Plus, it has given me some good questions to ask my own 3rd and 1st graders at dinner.]

How do my beliefs and practices line up?

As I've mentioned before, I began this blog as a result of a book study of Teaching With Intention. It was my purpose to look closely at what I believed and ask why I believed it. My goal for the coming months is to pick apart and analyze what I do in my classroom on a daily basis. As Debbie Miller writes:

Once I developed my belief statements, the next step was to align with my classroom practices. I looked closely at everything I did; I looked closely at everything I asked kids to do. From the beginning strains of the song "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" at the start of the day through the final chorus of "Happy Trails to You" at day's end, everything came under scrutiny. Nothing was sacred.

I'd ask myself questions about my practice: Where's the evidence of this belief in the classroom? What kinds of things should I be seeing, hearing, doing to support this belief? Where does this practice fit into what I say I value? What studies support this practice?

I'm not looking to rewrite Teaching With Intention, Debbie Miller did an excellent job the first time. I am, however, always working to do what is best for the students who call my classroom their "home away from home" for nine months of the year. I am also not afraid to be honest about what I know and don't know. Since moving to fourth grade almost three years ago, I've tended to feel like "all I know is that I know nothing" more often than not. It's my hope that by reflecting on my daily practices I will truly be "teaching with intention."

21st Century Literacies in Elementary Classrooms

[Last week I posted a question on the Elementary Teachers - English Companion Ning. This is part of my reply to my own question.]

As I try to clarify my own thinking on the issue of integrating the 21st Century Literacies into my classroom, I find myself in the middle between the opposing sides of "stick to the basics" and making "tech geeks" out of my students. When I re-read my reply to Michael I felt like I sounded like a Neo-Luddite who didn't see a place for computers. In actuality, prior to coming to 4th grade almost three years ago, I taught at the middle level for ten years, primarily math, science, and computers. We had a two teacher team which allowed for a great deal of integration of technology and cross-curricular projects. In hindsight, I feel like I sometimes went too far to the extreme of integrating technology possibly to the detriment of the curriculum and the development of thinking skills in my students. So when I came to 4th grade I decided that I would focus on my core curriculum without the technology.

As I have moved closer to my personal philosophy of education and have become more comfortable with 4th grade curriculum and workshop philosophy, I have found myself integrating more technology. This time, however, I am making every effort to make sure that the "ends justify the means" and that student thinking and learning are enhanced by the technology they use. What follows are some of the ways that I either am integrating, am planning on integrating, or am brainstorming integrating technology.

1. Moodle. Upper elementary teachers in our district are required to teach half an hour of keyboarding skills to our classes each week (in addition to an hour of computer instruction they receive every other week). Each Friday, my students and I head down to the computer lab where they use All The Right Type for twenty minutes and then we will often login to Moodle for a while to discuss a topic. I used Moodle with my 8th grade students in the past, but had been reluctant to use it with 4th graders. They are learning how to use it quite quickly (although some are more interested in posting 250-point font emoticons of smiling devils than the content they write - thank goodness for the the administrator delete feature). Recent topics have included: "What's the best book you've read this year?" "What's the most important thing you've learned this year?" or the basic "What are your plans over Christmas Break?"
2. "Our Living Minute." This recent article on Choice Literacy has me wondering if adding this structure to our classroom's Morning Meeting routine would allow for opportunities for students to meet some of the standards of the 21st Century Literacies. I'm not sure, but it may be worth a try.
3. Book Review Vodcasts. The reading teacher at my daughter and son's school has recently been creating vodcasts of book reviews by students at the K-2, 3-5, and 6-8 grade levels. I showed them to my students and they were quite interested in the project, but I have been wondering about the management of actually getting the videos recorded and edited. What's the quickest way to do it?
4. Class Wiki. One of our larger 4th grade Science projects involves the study of the animals of the Great Lakes. In the past, students have researched an animal, created a life-like, 3-D model of it, and then written a small book on the attributes of that animal. Lately I have been wondering what it would look like to create a class wiki on the animals of the Great Lakes, incorporating their writing, an image of their model, and possibly some poetry similar to the text insectlopedia. Considering that most of my students are typing around 10 WPM, how long would it take to complete it and how much would I end up doing for them? Probably too much? Would the time spent be worth the learning that results?
   

So, those are a few of my ideas. Your thoughts?

A creative mess is better than idle neatness

My dad had this saying hanging in his workshop in the basement of our small home in Minneapolis. It was neatly framed and written in a Gothic script. There was a great contrast between it and the "creative mess" that surrounded it. On two walls of the workshop there were peg boards with lots of hooks and brackets. Everything had its place, but nothing was in its place.

As the saying goes, like father, like son.

This sign now hangs above my desk in my "workshop." It accurately describes the past, present, and probably future state of my small desk area in the corner of my classroom. I have places for everything - stacking trays, baskets, drawers, a filing cabinet - but nothing is in its place. When I do actually get around to cleaning up (usually when my chair won't wheel around due to the stacks on the floor or when the stacks are so large that they are sliding off my desk), the feeling of being able to see the faux wood grain on my desk is indescribable. Maybe a favorite author of my mom says it best: "Order calms."

Yet, the other day as I was talking to my teaching partner, I began to explain that I think "a creative mess" describes more than just the physical environment of my desk area. It also describes the teaching and learning that we have come to call inquiry/constructivist/the workshop approach. It is messy, I don't always know where the day or week will take my students and I. Each weekend I sit down and fill out what I have come to call "The Big Picture." I look at where my students are at, where we need to go, and how we can get there. But once the week begins my plans will change depending upon how quickly my students grasp a concept, what questions arise, and how long investigations and our discussions take. While this form of learning and teaching can be "messy," it is also quite "creative." My students and I learn so much each day. It is fun to see how far they have come in the past three months and how willing they are to try new things.

My vision for my classroom

In Teaching with Intention, we're encouraged to take a look at what we believe about the way students learn and then look at our classroom to see if that really happens.

About two and a half years ago, during the summer before I began teaching fourth grade, I made these notes about my personal vision for my classroom.

I stapled them to my bulletin board, where they were quickly covered up by other items, and there they have remained until I pulled them off a few weeks ago. I was surprised to see how close to my vision I have come. The past two years, I've been making small steps towards my vision. It has taken time to learn the curriculum, understand the developmental level of my students, and feel a part of the school community. Once those items were figured out, it has become easier to work on the thinking skills that I want to develop.