my version of transparent, collaborative leadership...with a Teamann twist

Read alouds…and why you should make time!

by 2 Comments

During our fabulous pre conference, we had a great session from our primary ELA team. I love their sessions because they are always research based…and they work in technology! They used a back channel to ask questions during their session. It was integration at its finest.

The discussion centered around read alouds and the benefits to students when they are added to their day. I know, I know…the magical question of where and how to fit in “read aloud” time is daunting. As a classroom teacher, I remember that visceral feeling of pain in losing any more of my precious minutes with my class. Knowing that I was going to bring this up to our staff come staff development, I found the following to support just WHY a read aloud is so crucial.

  • Kids with larger vocabularies have an advantage when the modality of teaching is oral. Why? They understand what the teacher is saying. Kids with smaller vocabularies don’t get what is going on from the start and just fall father behind.
  • Children who are spoken to and read to most often have the largest vocabularies.
  • In conversation, we use verbal shorthand…but think of the rich language found in books. Rhymes, alliteration, dialogue…much more sophisticated than the casual conversation.
  • Reading aloud helps increase a child’s attention span. (enough said.)
  • Did you know a child’s reading level doesn’t catch up to his listening level until 8th grade? Yes, upper grades need read alouds too!
  • Reading aloud is like an advertisement for reading. In our present climate of testing and standardized pressure, kids need to still be able to be kids. They need to see that reading can be FUN and done for reasons other than to take a test, do a report, or write a comparison.
  • The average teen spends 90 minutes a day text messaging. Research shows that you don’t remember information as well when retained from a screen. Read alouds can foster creativity, encourage conversation, and allow for imaginative thinking.

If those facts don’t convince you right now to add just 10 minutes of reading aloud in your world, whether it be in your classroom of your own children, look at this slide that was shared in our presentation. I’ve heard many comments in my day that there wasn’t anything “worthwhile” that could be read aloud to students. Almost every white paper, article, or journal entry talked about VOCABULARY and how important read alouds are to vocabulary development.  This slide really hit home!

IMG_6336

Even the most basic of preschool book offers 16.3 rare words per 1000. Your average comic book? 53.5.

Amazing! No excuses people! Get to reading! 😉 I can’t wait to tell my 11 y/o that we’re going to have a read aloud tonight!

 

readingly,

Amber

 

Remind 101 with elementary kids? You betcha!

by 4 Comments

images

Remind 101 is a free service that allows you to send text messages to groups of people. You can do it from your phone or your computer. The best part (other than the ease and free-ness!) is that you can send messages and parents in your class and they won’t see YOUR phone number.

Did you know 98% of all text messages are opened and read? 90% are read within the first four minutes. Compare that to how many

crumpled up, scribbled on, important papers you may send home, 🙂 88% of emails AREN’T opened. Amazing! Statistics tell us that people look at their phones 150 times a day…harness and utilize that power to communicate to your classes!

With Remind 101 you can also schedule reminders which is GREAT! You could set up all of your fall dates that you know are going to be coming up, like report card dates or PTA meetings.

The greatness of Erin Klein uses Remind 101 not only to send important dates and academic reminders but also to build relationships with her families. One of her easy examples? During a field trip with her class she took several photos. On the way back to school, she created an Animoto video from all the pics on her phone, and texted it to all of her parents. Before they’d even got back to school! Can you imagine how grateful those parents are? (Addendum: You could only do something like this if you have student permissions or utilize the tool Skitch. :))

 

What if you had a “class photographer” who took a picture of your schedule, of your important upcoming dates, or of fun class activities? Think of how much paper you could save! What if you were able to updates parents of safety procedures during stormy weather?

Here’s a get ya started video, but it really easy to use!

 

 

There are also several letters on pinterest that you can use to model a draft for your class too! (sample 1, sample 2)

How great is technology??

remindingly,

Amber

BTS bulletin boards for 2013….

by 1 Comment

I had a fabulous Luna Lion text me today a super cute bulletin board idea. I don’t even know if I have a bulletin board at Watson, but her text sent me on a mission to find as many “social” savvy boards  as I could, JIC. We had a “Lions Love Technology” board full of our projects and tools….thinking maybe some “Websmart Wildcats”?  I’ll be ready!

 

 

board browseN,

Amber

What’s on your refrigerator?

by Leave a Comment

This post is cross posted from Connected Principals.

 

2798066405_aa99a03ea4_n  Today I had the opportunity to sit in on an MST vision planning meeting in preparation for the 2013-2014 year. I am changing campuses next year and my new campus is Watson MST. The MST stands for Math, Science, & Technology. There is a strand of MST schools within our district that follow this focus. Students who score above a certain percentile are “invited” to attend.

Anyhoo. In this meeting, while trying to establish a framework of beliefs for the MST program, a brilliant colleague, the principal at the other elementary magnet, Jason Adams, explained in a unique (to me) way of looking at what were doing.

 

He said, “Think about your refrigerator at home. What’s on it? Pictures of your kids? Schedules? Recipes?  Postcards? You have things on there that are important to you and that you want a reminder of, to be able to look at every single day. We want these beliefs to be on our MST refrigerator. What’s so important that we want to remember  and be reminded of it every day?”

What a GREAT activity for teachers (and students!) to do at the beginning of the year. Have something that represents your school or your classroom and let each teacher or student “hang up” what is important to them.

We, as a group, voted on what was MOST important, but I can see this being something to keep up all year long…with everyone’s input, to help keep that vision front and center all year long. Vision is crucial!

 

Magnet-ly,

Amber

be the unexpected!

by Leave a Comment

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelrusinski/541435539/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelrusinski/541435539/

There are certain situations in life that are an automatic reaction. Red light, stop. Phone rings, answer it. Troy Aikman on TV, stop and watch. As an educator, I wish there was a way to turn off our “automatic” mode. One of the bigger moments in my back to school world as a teacher came the day we got our class lists. My very themed, very coordinated, name tags would finally be complete. I could wrap up that same coordinating bulletin board.  As an administrator, one of the biggest headaches came the day we handed out class lists. The ooo’s, the ahhh’s, the groans were inevitable. It absolutely made my heart sad to hear the “automatic” reaction to seeing certain names on their lists. Conversations amongst teachers about how they handled certain families, or overcame certain behavioral quirks…you know what I am talking about.

It’s not that I didn’t do the same thing…it’s now I just wish every kid could start every year without the baggage that they may be dragging along with them. I loved starting over every year, don’t you think our students do too?

Two things reaffirmed my thoughts on being in “auto” mode. I love to read over the summer and can actually get in about a book a day, especially if MT isn’t around. 😉 One of the young adult novels I read was “Living Dead Girl” by Elizabeth Scott. If you ever want a reality check of the horrible possibilities in this world, read this book. Over and over, this poor girl was “seen” and “not seen” all at the same time…based on how she looked and people’s automatic thoughts of her. There are students in our classes who are living a life we couldn’t imagine or handle, but we sometimes we get mad because they didn’t turn in homework or get their folder signed. I don’t know that I’ll be able to look at a student or family the same based on this book again for awhile, if ever. It was that powerful.

The second reaffirming moment came while listening to the EduAllStar podcast, featuring Jeremy McDonald, aka @mrmacnology. He told a story about a situation that happened in his fifth grade class with a student and what happened when he had an “automatic” reaction. I challenge you to watch this and NOT tear up. (It’s a powerful 5 minutes.)

The point of the story is that sometimes people, especially our students, need us to ignore that automatic reaction…and be the unexpected. Can you?

 

unexpectedly,

Amber