The Big Apple

It feels like just yesterday I was creating this blog to write about my Teach For America experience and here I am writing my last post as a TFA Corps Member in Dallas, Texas. The irony is that I named my first ever blog post “Apples to Apples” because I chose not to accept my job offer in NYC, as I decided to accept my position with Teach For America. I told myself if NYC was important enough to me, I would find a way to get there. Now here I am, moving to NYC in July, the Big Apple.

Yes after being a part of the founding team at KIPP Destiny Elementary for the past two years, I am going to be moving to NYC for the 2015-2016 academic year to teach at Democracy Prep Harlem Elementary. I am immensely excited about the opportunity to continue my teaching experience in my absolute dream city while I finish my Masters from Johns Hopkins University. This summer I am working on my curriculum, Life Skills Literacy, which is a curriculum that infuses social and emotional skills in familiar children’s literacy texts.

This past semester has been busier than I could have ever imagined, filled with celebrations both personally and for my little Kippsters. They say a picture says a thousand words. I have more than just one picture to fill this blog with memories and experiences…so here’s to thousands of words that you don’t even have to read, which some might argue are the best kind.

(Potentially one of my proudest moments as a teacher)

(Picture day at KDE, love the adorable bow ties)

(Field day at KDE!)

(Sneak preview of Life Skills Literacy)

(Our classroom field trip to the Dallas World Aquarium)

(The Kindergarten spring concert)

(Working as teams to decorate our classroom for the end of year party!)

(The Kindergarten Stepping Up Ceremony, so proud of these amazing little ones. They have taught me more than I could ever teach them).

(Saying goodbye to the most amazing teaching experience I could have had. Working with a founding team is such a unique and incredible experience. I still remember looking at the construction and thinking, "I hope the school will be done in time" and now it is a place that inspires young minds. I will never forget the experiences at KIPP Destiny and I cannot wait to see how the school grows and prospers throughout the years).

(Because when in Texas, you have to ride a horse through the Fort Worth stockyards. I am so thankful for the amazing friends that have supported me throughout this journey. This was one of the best surprises ever!)

Adaptive Tech

Why is living in this generation so much better for teachers and students? Adaptive technology! Adaptive technology enables programs to differentiate automatically based on answers from scholars. Our school uses a program called iRead. This program allows student responses and answers to dictate the next move. For example, if a scholar in Kindergarten has mastered their letter sounds then the program will advance them to something further, such as CVC words or rhyme. This technology is amazing because scholars are always being challenged but on a differentiated level. These programs also provide teachers with a great deal of data to look through, which is amazing because it can also be used for differentiation and remediation plans.

At our campus we use these programs within our blended learning model, as they also provide small group lessons to scholars to either differentiate higher or lower to differentiate. We use this to also provide us with a smaller student to teacher ratio when we pull for small group intervention or for guided reading. From the ITSE standards for students, this truly aligns with evaluating and selecting information sources and digital tools based on the appropriateness to specific tasks. It is also smart to teach your students about adaptive technology and why "everyone gets what they need." Explain to them why the computer screen or tablet screen next to them may look different from their own and why that is okay.

There are so many amazing benefits of having adaptive technology within our classroom and I believe that it truly is going to be the future of every classroom. Please share your experiences with adaptive technology and how it has either been a challenge or a success within your classroom!

BYOD

For my course through Johns Hopkins University, I have been posting about education technology regarding trends and opinions through different articles. In addition I am also implementing the ISTE Standards in my classroom lessons through my knowledge of these new tools and technological advancements. Something that is a hot topic in the education tech field right now is the idea of BYOD. BYOD stands for Bring Your Own Device and it is becoming a trend in the education field. It falls under the ISTE Standard, Research and Information Fluency that enables students to apply digital tools to gather, evaluate and use information.

BYOD is when students are able to bring tablets, computers or phones into the classroom environment to use for research or educational purposes. I believe that teaching scholars about technology and coding gives them an immense advantage especially when we start this in the earlier grades. We all want our students to have the option to go to college or obtain an advanced degree and in this generation, most of these programs require a vast knowledge of technology. I think that there is a lot that we can teach our scholars in order to prepare them for the real world with technology. In addition, it requires a great deal of self-discipline to work with technology and not get distracted (Even I will admit that when writing this post I stopped and checked email, when I knew I should have stayed on topic the whole time). If we can teach our scholars to have this self-discipline and to avoid distractions on the Internet, this will further prepare them to use technology in a way that will grow them academically.

I teach Kindergarten; therefore, it is a bit trickier to implement BYOD, as many of my students do not have devices of their own to bring. Fortunately my school has been given a grant that enables us to have a blended learning model. We have 12 iPad’s, 4 chrome books and 4 laptop computers in my classroom which enables us to differentiate and have more blocks that involve intervention. If I taught a content area with children that were older and had devices to bring in for BYOD, I would definitely implement it. I think that there is immense value in teaching our scholars how to use technology and how to be forward thinking and entrepreneurial. Please share your ways in which you have tried BYOD!

Education Technology: Through the Eyes of Your Students

As I mentioned in my previous post, for one of my Masters classes through Johns Hopkins, I have been asked to post on my blog about technology and its impact on the classroom and about any applications that I have found helpful within my classroom. Recently I read an interesting article through “Hongkiat,” about how technology is transforming education and what we can expect to see in future classrooms, based on technology that is currently in process. Today on the blog, I wanted to share some of these insanely advanced technologies and my opinion of how they will positively impact the education sector.

Hongkiat suggested that virtual field trips will begin to become more popular now that Google Hangout and other similar applications allow us a technology “glass” to see and hear from educators and specialists that are miles away and cannot be accessed easily. Throughout my technology course, I have spoken to several educators that have used Google Hangout for their lessons, projects and even started to adopt the virtual field trip model. While in person field trips are definitely more enriching and engaging for all students, this technology enables us the access to people and places that may not be easily reached for a variety of reasons. It is an option that is now available to us and provides us the opportunity to broaden the perspective of our students.

In addition to virtual field trips, Hongkiat also discussed the educational impact associated with 3D printing. While right now 3D printers are expensive and not commonly used within the classroom, predications are being made that soon they will be used about each day. Imagine the technology to duplicate all those lost manipulatives in your classroom. Imagine the technology to further engage scholars in content through play through 3D objects incorporated into lessons. Even just thinking about it gives me goosebumps at the possibilities!

If you could barely wrap your head around the 3D printing predictions, you will be mind blown by this technology… Biometrics. We all remember those old cartoons where the door would laser shoot the character’s eye in order to open the door…as if the eye was a password. Those cartoons just got a lot older, considering we now have the technology to authenticate our identity through several mediums including eyes, voice and fingerprints. Some schools have already begun to develop systems in their school through fingerprint scanners; however, not many schools have utilized dynamic analysis. It has recently been discovered that the same analysis that tests where and how the eye looks, can now provide data on individual learning styles. Imagine having the data on where and how your students learn through sight. We always said we needed to look at our classrooms through the eyes of our students…well now we literally can.

Works Cited: http://www.hongkiat.com/blog/future-classroom-technologies/

Class Dojo

For my one of my Masters classes, I have been asked to share a few technology resources through my blog. I have learned about so many amazing applications and resources throughout this class and recently we have decided to implement one that enables you to manage behavior as well as track the positive and negative redirections within your classroom. It is called "Class Dojo." https://www.classdojo.com/

 

In my classroom we use this application specifically for our centers rotations. The best part about the application is that you can set it up and create your own "rules" for point additions and deductions. In my classroom we currently have it set up so that if a scholar gains a point you can categorize the point for either "working hard" "being nice" or "being safe" as these align to our KIPP values. However I know that other campuses have different rules and language, which is why it is great that Dojo allows you to select how you will categorize the point addition or deduction.

In addition, it has been an engaging way for our classroom to get back to their academic learning time independently. My co-teacher and I can also operate the class Dojo from our iPhones through the mobile application, that way each of us has access and we can redirect behaviors and choices with just the tap of a finger. The board does everything including alerting the scholar and giving them the reason for why they gained or lost their dojo point.

The application is also able to be viewed by parents and influencers at the end of each day. All they will need to do is just log into the class portal and they will be able to see where their scholar was during centers for that specific time of the day. This has enabled our classroom to get back on track in a way that is fun and engaging for scholars. I hope this is something you find helpful for your classroom!

February Fun!

February has been quite the eventful month, starting with saying goodbye to our phenomenal school leader at the beginning of the month. The kids all decorated these amazing banners with a few of her favorite quotes on them to present to her. They also chanted the first chant that our school leader ever taught us, Read Baby Read!

We celebrated our brains being 100 days smarter on the 100^th day of school celebration!

We took our learning off campus with a trip to the Meyerson Symphony Center to go see “Peter and the Wolf!”

Our scholars completed Black History Month Projects about someone that inspires them. We dedicated a day to talking about the importance of Black History Month and some of our scholars took a risk and acted in a play about The Story of Ruby Bridges!

And some of our kinder babies got to see the first snow fall! :)

Going the Extra Yard for teachers!

I am so thankful that my corps experience led me to Dallas, Texas as they have hosted several major sporting events during my time here. How does ESPN relate to teaching? Well…the first National Championship decided to honor teachers and host the first ever Extra Yard Teacher’s Summit, which was quite possibly the best teacher summit I’ve had the privilege to attend. We heard from a Google Education specialist, a student from the first ever KIPP class in Houston, the CEO and founder of DonorsChoose.org and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. I left completely inspired by their moving words and am more ready than ever to impact the classroom during my last semester of TFA. Not only did they inspire through words but concluding the event they announced that every teacher in the audience that had a current project on DonorsChoose.org would be completely funded by the organization. It was like Oprah teacher version.

Happy Holidays from Texas Tech!

To celebrate the holiday season we had a winter concert with our kindergarten and first graders. They looked absolutely adorable in their costumes! Here are a few pictures from their performance and from our themed Pajama/Polar Express Day! J

(Pajama Day watching the Polar Express) 

(Admit one to the Polar Express!) 

(The little Santas getting ready to perform!)

(The first grade elves getting ready to perform!)

(One of my students drew me the U of A "A" and he always tells me about how he watches them on TV) :) 

(Do you want to build a snowman kits that we made for our scholars!) 

H a p p y  H o l i d a y s !

Life Skills Literacy

So I am probably the worst blogger ever seeing that I haven’t posted a thing since September. It has been crazy busy between getting my Masters of Ed from Johns Hopkins and teaching my kinder babies. It has also been a year of several lessons learned along the way.

My first year of teaching was far from easy but I wasn’t presented with half as many challenges in the classroom as I am now. I have learned more than ever that there is no “formula” to being an effective teacher. It is a continuous learning and growth experience that you have to be open to each step of the way. I have learned that just because some things may have worked last year it by no means is guaranteed to work with a new class. When given a completely different class, YOU need to mold to them and not expect them to fit in the perfectly Pinterest inspired box that you had set up and planned for. Yes that means they may not fall in love with the table names hung with burlap and rhinestoned clothes pins quite the way you did when you spent hours this summer…that’s real.

I feel that entering the second half of the year I am more excited than ever to continue to figure out my mold and how I can best support my scholars in their academic and social accomplishments. While our class has endured several social and emotional challenges throughout the year, I have developed a curriculum to teach these lagging skills through children’s literacy books, "Life Skills Literacy." I at first of course searched online for hours to find one, thinking that this HAD to have been done before, but I found nothing built out. So remembering those entrepreneurial skills learned from Eller, I decided to create my own. The list of skills are taken from J. Stuart Ablon's research surrounding the Collaborative Problem Solving Approach and then I aligned these skills to our KIPP IMPACT values (Inquire, Make it Better, Persist Toward Excellence, Appreciate and Care and Take a Risk).

Here is a TEDD Talk from J. Stuart Ablon on Challenging Behavior (AMAZING stuff!) 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuoPZkFcLVs 

Check it out!

(Anchor chart aligned to The Rainbow Fish- sharing and problem solving)

(Picture of the Life Skills Literacy wall in our classroom) 

(Anchor chart example)

Email me if you would like the resources to implement this in your classroom! myles@email.arizona.edu

In addition to investing them in their personal growth with social and emotional lagging skills, I have begun to further invest them in the academic goals. I once heard an educator say “We know we’ve made it when you can do it without me.” This stuck with me and in turn I have design a system around this statement. I made an anchor chart for my scholars and we talk about being independent and what this means (of course…in 5 year old language… “I do it all by myself.”) We talk about each part of our day and why it’s important to be independent and what that will mean for growing our brains!

I have recently put the focus on “why” we come to my guided reading table. I aligned our STEP (literacy or reading) tracker to our classroom data tracker so that they are able to understand and be motivated at guided reading.

(Picture of our literacy/STEP tracker)

They are invested in their STEP data and they understand the meaning behind the green, red and blue dots (Red- reading below average, Green- reading on level, Blue- reading above level). They understand that if they pass a certain STEP level they will earn an item on our tracker and will be either below, on or above average reading levels. In the middle of quiet time one of my students came over to me and said “Can we do my STEP test now? I really want to see if I can pass STEP 3 so I can add more blue to our tracker for the class!” I melted knowing how invested he was in not only his personal growth but the growth for the class. 

My scholars from this year and last are teaching me more lessons each day than I could ever teach them. I can’t wait to see what this next half of the year has in store. J

Raider Power

While it was hard to let go of the fact that my old “Red Raiders” would be moving on to first grade and new colleges within KDE, I told them that they could always be Red Raiders at heart. We invited some of the Red Raiders from last year to come and tell our new class “What it means to be a Red Raider.” While I didn’t prep them on what to say (which in hindsight could have been a big teacher mistake), the things that they decided to say on their own shocked me. I was expecting them to say things like don’t throw crayons or sit in your chair but they said things like: “It means to stay strong, we are one team and we work together to overcome challenges. It means we grow our brains so we can go to college. It means we learn our values. It means we learn our values but we also act them out. Our values are Persist Toward Excellence, Care, Take a Risk…, It means that when we come to a word we don’t know when we are reading we never give up but we sound it out and keep trying.” They are six years old. I looked at Ms. Jackson and we both had tears in our eyes. We didn’t realize the impact that KIPP and our class had on our scholars until that very moment. Teaching is difficult. Most of the time you don’t see the long term impact that you make. This was such a gift. Hearing them saying these things and believing in themselves. I will never forget that moment.

Seeing my class from last year around KIPP Destiny in the first grade hall has made me realize what leaders they are becoming and how KIPP has made an impact. One of my scholars from last year in particular comes to mind. This was one that often had me staying up countless hours to figure out just how I could get them to sit on the carpet (Criss-cross was out of the question at this point, all I wanted was just on the carpet!) and the one that managed to find “emu” and squeak it (the squeaky bird puppet) no matter how many places I tried to hide it.  One day last year, I was walking with this scholar in the hall, it had been a long day and there had definitely been some challenges. I knew he was disappointed in himself and I realized I hadn’t told him how much potential he has and that he is loved. I squeezed his hand 3 times (just as my Dad used to do to me). I said “Do you know what that means? It means I love you. 1 squeeze for I, 1 squeeze for love and 1 squeeze for you.” I had only done it a few times after that before the year ended. This year I saw my scholar again, he was getting picked up and when I walked him to the car line, I squeezed his hand 3 times. I asked “Do you remember?” He smiled and said I love you. I thought for sure after 3 months had passed and well… him being 6…that he would have forgotten, but sure enough he remembered. J

Classroom Makeover

While I did graduate from the University of Arizona and anyone who knows me knows I am wild about my cats… I have let another University take a place in my heart. Nope… not Johns Hopkins…but Texas Tech. Our class theme is Texas Tech again this year, as the kindergarten classes are all Texas Universities. This year Erin (my co-teacher) and I got really into the theme for the classroom! See the pictures for some college themed ideas for trackers, word walls, tables names, etc.

(Table names hanging from the ceiling to match college theme. Made it look like a chalkboard by using black cardstock and white paint pen and them laminating the cut design! We hung the signs with burlap ribbon and clothes pins.)

("Jitter Glitter" for scholars to put under their pillow before the first day of kindergarten!)

(Door décor, Texas Tech theme with facts about Tech in the leaves of the Tech Tulip garden!)

 

(Not pictured ideas: A garment rack with hangers- you can hang your anchor charts on the hangers and then hang the hangers from the wall with tacks! This has been a super easy and quick way to grab what you need! Oriental trading also has amazing table crates and matching baskets for tables so they can have matching bins and matching baskets to turn in their work! For objectives you can frame a colored piece of paper and write the objectives on the frames with dry erase marker!)

KSS 2014

LDW!?…which means I finally have time to update the blog! As I sit at the same exact airport restaurant (literally, in the same seat) that I sat at a year ago today, it suddenly dawns upon me how much can change in a year. Last year this time I was in my third week of teaching ever, still figuring out this Texas thing y’all. Here I am in my second year watching my former kindergartners move up to first grade. Entering into my second year, I definitely thought I had a few things under my belt. That was until the first day of school when I asked my scholars to stand up if they were sitting on a “green” dot and they all looked at me and smiled and not one of them moved. Then I remembered, oh right… I actually have to teach you the colors first!

KIPP Destiny is now in its second year and we have welcomed several new staff members and teachers (some of the most unbelievably talented and dedicated people I’ve had the pleasure to work with) to join us as we roll out K AND first grade this year! I am very thankful to be with the same co-teacher that I worked with last year. We have such an amazing partnership. The kind where you finish each other’s sentences and push each other to grow more than you ever thought possible.

Our KDE team attended KIPP School Summit this summer in Houston, Texas to celebrate KIPP’s 20^th Anniversary. I attended a few days early for the Literacy for Everyone workshop training, which I am excited to help launch at our school this year. KSS had several amazing sessions to inspire teachers and build their national network with “Kippsters” across the nation. I attended one in particular that has transformed my entire outlook on teaching and was quite possibly the best professional development session I’ve ever attended. A psychiatrist, who had research backed data stated that we should be looking at behavior issues in the same lens as learning disorders. Children living in poverty often have toxic stress which affects the actual development of the brain. He stated that they often lack skills that enable them to problem solve and self regulate. It is our job as educators to not only develop our students academically but socially, and by building our scholars’ skill sets, we can make the difference. Between attending this session and partnering with Momentous Institute this year, I am very excited to have a proactive approach with my scholars that suffer from toxic stress.

At KSS, there was an amazing Gala to celebrate 20 years of KIPP. While rumors spread that Beyoncé and Oprah would be present, they didn’t end up making an appearance. However, Mary J. Blidge and Rapper Common performed and Michelle Obama sent in a video to KIPP to thank all of the teachers! The most inspiring part of the event was seeing the KIPP promotion video with OUR very own KIPP Destiny scholars! I nearly broke out in tears seeing them up on the big screen in front of the KIPP national network. At the gala they also had the original KIPP class (from 20 years ago) come up to the stage. Many of them are now mothers, fathers, professionals and you bet… college graduates!

(Opening ceremony of KSS)

 

(The original "Kippsters" from 20 years ago)

(Michelle Obama)