Grading....

At the end of a semester I seem to always find myself struggling to get a final grade for certain students....

I have a hard time because I grade on ability level for each student, and each students ability level is different. One persons best isn't another persons. I know that I think about it too much... but can't seem to stop!

I find myself going to their classroom teachers for guidance on a few, and it doesn't always help me decide. I end up grading on effort in the end.... I don't know if this is even acceptable. But I have a hard time giving a kid a 1 if they tried really hard and it just didn't work because they can't do it. On the other hand if they are capable and don't make an effort I have no problem giving them a 1.

Whew- any suggestions for next year???

End of the Year

The end is in sight. This time of year I find it nice to reflect on what went well and what didn't throughout the year. This year it was tricky for me because I had an LTS for part of the year. I have a few idea's already started for next year.

• A small project at the beginning of the year to get the year started out. This will also help with getting Artist of the Month started right away.


• Pictures near the sink, art supply area, book shelf, and art shirts of what the area should look like before leaving. Who knows if it will help.


• New behavior management system. Dan Olsen does a star chart during each class for each kid and rewards after 10 stars.... I am going to try it. It will be something positive to offer.


• Working on grading projects right at the end of the day- not waiting for an entire class to finsih, we will see how it goes, I will have to be SUPER organized!

Thoughts on Classroom Management

Last week I had the opportunity to observe one of the 5th grade teachers in his classroom. I wanted to do this because I wanted to see what 5th grade looked and sounded like on a regular basis, because when they come to art they are usually much noisier and inattentive than I would like.

I was able to observe some whole class instruction as well as work time and some transitions to new things. I was very impressed with the general atmosphere of the class. The students did not talk when the teacher was talking and they seemed to be paying attention and looking in the right direction. Occasionally the teacher reminded certain students to close their desk or look up front. I feel like in my classroom I am constantly reminding students to look at what I'm showing them or to stop whispering when I'm giving directions. I realize you always have to do that to some extent, but I feel I do it too much. When I discussed this with the teacher he said that one way he works on that is to change seats often, about once a week. And to make it clear to the whole class that if they can't work next to those people they will be moved right away. And then he is consistent about that rule. He doesn't give any more warnings, instead he moves them to a new desk, or temporarily puts them at an isolated desk. This sounds like logical stuff I already do, but I think the key is being consistent. I would like to work on this for next year, mostly being consistent about my consequences. I cannot change seats once a week when I only see them once a week. But I can move them. Perhaps to the back table, or to sit on the floor up at the front when my tables are already full. Another aspect of this is knowing your students well. This year has been better for me in that regard since it is my second year. I can more quickly see a potential problem. But I still need to work on it. I need to address the problem immediately instead of constantly asking the same 3 students to stop talking.

I also observed that when they transitioned to a new topic he gave them a few minutes to get their materials ready. But what I noticed most is that the students used that time to actually get ready, and when they were done they sat at their desk and were either quiet or quietly whispering to their neighbors. Again, I think being consistent with expectations, routines, and consequences is how he achieved this. I do feel that I am consistent with my routines and expectations. However, the effect is diminished because I see them less frequently. Perhaps I need to spend more time than I have at the beginning of the year in establishing those routines and expectations. Even with 5th grade I should "assume the students know nothing" and treat it as if they've never been to my art class before. I also wonder if maybe the chaos during transitions could be curbed if fewer students were moving around the room. I subbed in an art room where there was one helper table each week and that one table was in charge of passing out supplies to all tables, and at clean up each table organized their supplies for the helper table to pick up. That way only 4-5 kids were moving around. My current system works, but can be chaotic if there are lots of supplies to get because more and more kids are up and moving.

The last big thing I observed was work time. The students were looking up words in dictionaries. I liked how they whispered to their neighbors, but it was quiet and it was usually related to their assignment. When I asked the teacher about this he mentioned that he had to have a discussion with the class earlier in the year about what acceptable talking looked and sounded like during work time. The students really did not seem to understand what was acceptable. For his class, acceptable meant quiet whispers, it should be related to the assignment not a side conversation, and the teacher should still see your eyes on your paper and pencil writing not constantly staring into space or chatting about other stuff. I have never thought to talk with my class about this, but I think I will have to in the future, and remind them frequently what work time should look and sound like. A certain amount of talking is ok, but I should be able to hear the students next to me and I should be able to address the whole class without having to yell over them.

All in all, I loved observing the 5th graders. I wish I could observe every grade. It gives me a better understanding of what is expected of them in other settings, which helps me shape my own expectations. If I could have a little computer chip in my brain that reminded me what a certain teacher expects of his class and what techniques he uses to encourage good behavior it would be so helpful. Because when I can be consistent with the general classroom teacher then hopefully students would learn more quickly that they are expected to act the same in art as they do in their classroom. But 20+ teachers is a lot to remember, a building-wide behavior/discipline plan would help a lot in this area. Especially for specialists, who see most of the students in the building.

Thoughts on any of this? Do you have a building-wide plan and does it help?

End of the year summary

We are finally reaching the end of the year and I couldn't be more busy. I am continuing to finalize my statistics and data regarding my Action Research Project on homework completion rates among students in World History classes. Although I did not receive the results that I was expecting, I do plan on continuing the use of these new strategies as a number of students indicated that they were helpful reminders to them. As for my classes, I am running into the same problems that I have encountered over the past several years. I have so much material to cover in such little time that I am forced to cut some material and move faster through other material. I figure that the only way I will be able to solve this problem is to set out a map at the beginning of the year that keeps me on pace so that I can avoid this stressful part of the year. I do however, find that difficult to achieve given the fact that the material covered at the beginning of the year and the middle part of the school year is very informative and important. Besides, students tend to enjoy some of the those subjects and we tend to have very good discussions based on those subjects. With Economics and Politics we can end up talking for more than a half of a class period on current events (which is not part of the curriculum, but I feel is beneficial for all students to learn about and discuss). One thing that is nice about this year is that I am not coaching any spring sports like I have for the past 6 years. This has enabled me to use more of my time for classroom work and for my family. Living 40 minutes from school has been a challenge and I love to be able to get home to my family as soon as possible. I am looking forward to the end of the year and possibly time to relax or maybe pick up some extra cash at a second job!

Sun Path Academic Celebration!!

Last week was the 2nd Annual Sun Path Academic Celebration! Basically each class does some kind of a project or showcases some work that they have been doing, also I have an art project up for EACH student that I teach, and students can work on something at home that they want to present (an art project, science experiment, paper, music performance, etc.), and there is a band concert.

It is a really great way for parents to see what we work on in the art room- for each class I put a little sign with the artwork explaining what they learned and the artist they studied.

It is a lot of work to get a project from every student (and have it finished) at the same time. My plan for this year was to have projects done before the end of April so that I had some breathing room in between to ensure that everyone had a completed project. I thought that was going to happen but I must not have said it right to my LTS. It all worked out but I was working to the last day to get projects completed.

My plan for next year:

1. Be finished with the project AT LEAST 2 weeks before SPAC.
2. Not allow students to take work home- some 5th graders asked and then they didn't bring it back so they didn't have anything up.....
3. Shorter projects- so if we need to finish in a day- it is more likely to be possible for them to finish on their own????

Mainly I just want to be done earlier..... because parent volunteers hang the artwork and it would be nice to have them finished so they can hang all of it in a day or two versus four. :)

Creating an AP class

Wow, creating a new class is a lot of work! Have any of you done that?
Well, I am in the process of creating an AP Studio Art Class, for the art enthusiast students. A couple of goals for this are:
1. Offer a high level art course
2. Meet the needs of high potential students
3. Offer the opportunity for college level art class, and college credit
4. Create a class around developing a portfolio

Here are some of the steps that have been taken:
1. Meet with Judi Tomczik (high potential coordinator), to discuss the possibility and need of a course like this.
2. Create student surveys to collect data (what is the interest level? what the class might look like? other feedback.)
3. Present the idea to administration
4. Sign up for AP training class at Augsburg in June
5 Apply for MDE grant to pay for the class

Basically, that is where we are at in the process. This class will not be offered until the 2012-2013 school year, because it is board required that I be an AP certified teacher before I can teach the class. I will be taking this training for a week in June (which I am so excited for). What I envision for this class is that it is a small class (15-20 students), who are all working on their own portfolios (meeting the AP requirements), but also offering the class to students who are choosing not to receive the college credit. Each student would be responsible for designing their portfolio, reporting to me their plans and materials that need to be ordered. Every student will be working on something different, whether photography, 3D or 2D or all of the above.

Several questions and concerns I have:
1. How will the students be monitored if they are in different places?
2. How will space work - available classrooms?
3. Will the board accept our request for adding the class out of cycle and the smaller class size?
4. Will we get enough students to register for the class?

My question for you (especially art folk), did you ever take an AP art course in high school? If so, what did it look like? If not, what do you envision the class like? What questions & concerns would you have? I am open to lots of feeback on this topic as I have no idea what to expect.

Rewarding Good Behavior

I know that it is beneficial to reward students for good behavior, it's a good incentive for them. My current system rewards the entire class if they've done well. I've done this because it seemed overwhelming to try and have a system to reward individual students when I have over 500 of them.
I've been looking for something new though because right now I reward the class with a sticker for a good class period and 5 stickers gets them some free art time at the end of class. The problem here is that I am giving up class time so they can have free time. It messes up lesson plans, puts some classes behind, I forget about it, etc.
I recently learned about another art teacher's reward system. He gives stars to individual students with good behavior, and he only gives out 4 stars at the end of each class. Once a student has accumulated enough stars they can come to his room at the end of the day to pick a small prize.
I think I will try this next year. There are several things I like about it. It doesn't affect class time, the students are responsible for remembering to come to the art room for a prize (not me trying to remember), the entire class is not punished for the actions of a few, and it recognizes good students. I sometimes feel that I pay more attention to the students who misbehave or are having problems and I barely notice the quite well behaved ones. This kind of a system would challenge me to keep my eyes open for those students who go above and beyond; the helpers, those who clean up quickly, who listen well, etc. And it won't take any more time to put down 4 stars at the end of class than it does now to pick a student to put a sticker on the chart.
Do you have a system for encouraging students to follow rules and have good behavior? What works and doesn't work for you?

This weekend I took a look at my woods 2 students progress and matched it with the amount of work yet to be done and came to the conclusion that there is a more than enough to keep them busy through the end of the school year.

I asked the kids if they knew how many days were left and they pretty much have it all counted down.

With 23 days left, 3 days gone for finals, 2 days for clean up, we have less than four working weeks left.

Every Monday we fill out lab work logs with a weekly goal and daily benchmarks, then we evaluate our progress onFriday.

This week in an effort to help them visualize the task in front of them I told them to figure out what they have left to accomplish, and divide that into fourths. That 1/4 portion is what must be accomplished this week. I then asked them to break that quarter down into five pieces, and that is what they have to accomplish daily.

This exercise seemed to generate a little sense of urgency among them. We will see if it carries through the week.
Todd

Getting it all done before the end of the year.....

I am trying to fit everything in so that everything gets finished by the end of the year....

It is quite a struggle... I don't know what happened to the time. When I got back I made a list of everything I need to get done in each grade level. 1st grade has 1 more project, 2nd grade has 5(!), 3rd has 2, 4th has 1, and 5th has 3. I haven't ever had this problem so I am really struggling with it.

I tried to do a one day project for 5th grade to get optical illusions in and it didn't work out. They just can't seem to get it done in one day- so we will be spending 2 days. My problem is that if I don't teach them this year- I can't start it next year with them. They will be in 6th grade. 2nd grade if we don't finish I can always pick it up with them next year.

I have tried making projects smaller, combining, and less detailed. And I still don't think that everything will be able to fit in. :( Combining they seemed to miss the point of the projects.

Any suggestions on what else to do????

Student reactions to the field trip

I was blown away at how much they enjoyed the field trip.
I heard them say things like, "I never get to go to Minneapolis", "The sculpture garden was so much fun, I wish I could have spent more time there", "I really like to see art work in person", "It was relaxing", "I felt like to could use my creativity to take pictures in a new place".

My question for the rest of you, do you have any other ideas for a photography field trip? New destinations?

Back from Maternity Leave!

Wow! My maternity leave flew by. Came back on April 12th.... very busy time.

It was tough to come back but I am really enjoying being back now.

It is super busy because I have to get a piece of artwork for each student for SPAC (ready by the 29th!) and they aren't done. Then there is also the art show to put together.

Also, there are quite a few projects that need to be completed by the end of the year. For example 2nd grade has 5 projects to finish by the end of the year!!!! I don't know how to fit it all in.

So much to do and only so many hours in the day.... at the end of the "work day" all I want to do is be at home with my little girls. So I am struggling with being a mom and a teacher too. I will get it down and it will be the end of the year. :) I need to some how get more organized and figure out how to fit everything in to the work day or things that I can work on at home when she is sleeping.... just now I don't like to bring things home because they end up being put on the back burner and then I have to scramble in the morning.

Rachel any thoughts on how you handled it for the new Mommy???

Field trips are beneficial!

I just wanted to take some time and reflect on the field trips I took my students on this week. If anyone has taken any size group on a field trip, you know how much work goes into it... request a bus, schedule tour time, coordinate timing, permission slips, chaperones and chaperone paperwork, field trip groups and procedures, etc. I thought I was crazy for taking two in one week, which wasn't the original plan, but it just worked out that way.

The first field trip, I took my photography 1 and 2 students to the Minneapolis Art Institute to view two photo exhibitions, and the rest of the gallery. Our second stop was at the Sculpture garden at the Walker. I was really nervous for this second part, because we had to rely on the weather. I can't tell you how excited the student were about going to the sculpture garden. As soon as the bus doors opened, it was like a stampede of students running towards the cherry on the spoon. I didn't realize how many student don't get to see places like this. I'm sure they know about that sculpture, have seen it in magazine, and were completely "star shocked" to see it in person. They were so involved, engaged and on task (they had assignments at both locations, including creating photographs).

The second field trip this week was taking 12 students to the Missota Art Festival. At this festival, which occurs annually, students attend workshops taught by conference teachers (including myself), view and critique art from other conference students, and listen to an artist in residence.

In taking some time to think about the events of both field trips, I am amazed at how much the students loved their experiences. I feel like to have also connected with them on a different level and have fostered their creativity by giving them opportunities they might not ever have. I have concluded that even though field trips are a TON of work, a lot of stress and worrying, they are well worth seeing the reactions on the students faces.

Part: My next blog, I plan to get student reactions and share those with you

Belated March Post

An update on my professional goal: My goal this year is to stay on schedule with the curriculum maps and adjust lessons as needed to stay on schedule. At first glance it appears that I am not doing very well at this. All my classes are a month behind schedule, except 4th, they are on track. I still feel that I am doing better than last year and that I will be able to fit everything in before the end of the year. All my classes have some extra time at the end of the year when nothing is planned on the curriculum map. The art teachers have done this on purpose because of the nature of learning. Sometimes things take longer than expected, or there are delays. I am still very aware of how much time I have left and what needs to be done and the extra days at the end of the year should be sufficient. The elementary art teachers did talk about the 5th grade map and have agreed it needs some tweaking. We added 2 new units this year and those have taken longer than expected. Some of the projects towards the end of the year may not get done, but as a team we have agreed that our new unit, Principles of Design, covers the concepts that those last projects would be covering. So the students will not miss out on learning, we just put the learning in a new unit. I have been able to follow the order of units in the curriculum map. Last year I did some juggling to avoid doing clay at the same time as other classes, etc. This year I have been able to stay in order and it has worked out fine. One thing that I am trying to remember is that sometimes you need to take the extra time to make sure the students learn things well and have time to practice them. That sometimes puts a kink in my lesson schedule and my instinct is to rush through things so we can stay on schedule. I have to keep reminding myself to take more time if the class needs it. Sometimes my dilemma is that if we slow down we'll need a whole extra day to finish. Or we'll need half of an extra day and then what do I do with the other half of the class period? Start the next lesson? Or do a mini lesson? What do you do when this happens in your classes? Do you cut the project short? Or adjust the next lesson to take less time? And what do you do if at the end of the year you didn't fit everything in?

I usually like to use a game or SIOP type activity for review at the end of a unit but not for introducing new material. The week before quarter break I used a SIOP type activity to introduce new material and it worked pretty well. I did something that I am sure has a real name but I called it "You are the Expert". I divided the students into groups of 4 and gave them twenty minutes to read a section of the textbook and prepare a presentaion they could give to the rest of the class. They could use markers, whiteboard space, anything they could find in the room, for the presentation. Twenty minutes kept the groups moving and the presentations came out pretty well. The only problem was that the presentatons were pretty much dominated by one student. If I do this again (which I am pretty sure I will) I will give the kids all hour to prepare and require that each member of the group is responsible for a part of the presentation. It is widely known that I am an expert in must if not all subject areas (just ask me) but I do not feel using this activity denied students access to my superior intellect. I was able to supplement and/or interject as needed.

Bloggers of Shakopee: Conferences

It does seem that often the students that need the most attention are the ones that do not show up.

I felt I had fairly good turn out at the conferences. I sat next to a core subject teacher and had almost as many conferences as they had. Like your experience, almost every conference was with a parent of a student that was doing well.

I try not to lose to much sleep over it. I can see the pattern that leads to student success and am more concerned that I try to do the things that help students succeed ( attend conferences, check up on homework, use school view, etc.) wtih my own kids. I know it works and it is the little piece of the world I have some control over.

I feel confident that as a teacher I am working to reach all my students but as callous as it may sound - you can lead a horse to water, but youcan't make it drink.

attention Bloggers of Shakopee: Conferences: "This is my February blog: Today I came to school feeling somewhat aggrevated by the last couple nights of conferences. I always have high ..."

Conferences

This is my February blog:

Today I came to school feeling somewhat aggrevated by the last couple nights of conferences. I always have high hopes going into conferences that I will see the students I want to see, connect with parents, address concerns from all parties, and make intervention action plans. However, this is not how it goes down.

Of the approximately 20 students with a D or an F, I met with 4 of them. With intervention conferences, the teachers have previously contacted parents, letters have been sent home, yet still we don't see many of them. Open conferences consisted of meetings with families where the students are doing great and I have little to no concern (which is great - don't get me wrong).

I really like having the parent contact whether the conference is positive or negative. It gives me the opportunity to connect. It is great to deliver happy news, and it is comforting knowing the student and parents know my concerns. However, I am aggrevated that I just spent two nights away from my family, and the results will not be seen. I didn't meet with most families where my concern is the greatest.

I know there are several factors that play into this, including working parents (oftentimes several jobs) and just aren't available, parent who really do not care, students who do not care, students who do care, but can't seem to find success in many of their classes, students who are not in the right learning setting (best fit) and much more I'm sure.

How do the rest of you handle this feeling of failure?
Would you do anything in addition to what has already been done to make contact?
What other factors do you see playing into this problem?

Please disregard the last blog entry. Apparently a blog post and a rap battle are not one in the same.

Yo homes TA is in the house!! Its time to twist some rhymes and spit some fire!!

FYI everyone, Todd Anderson will be joining our group. He is a Tech Ed teacher, and I'm sure will offer some great insights.

Practice makes....a lot better!

Last year when my 2nd graders made coil pots it did not go very well. Very few of them were much good, most were very uneven, lumpy, holey, and quite a few were crumbled messes.

My new tactic this year was to have a practice day. I invested some of my budget in enough modeling clay for a whole class. My plan for the rest of the year is to have a practice day before making the real clay project for whichever grades it seems necessary. The modeling clay can be reused for this since it will never dry out (supposedly).

So day one of coil pots was making one step-by-step with the modeling clay. I tried to check on each student to catch the ones who were having trouble at the start. We practiced rolling nice even coils, putting them in the proper place on the base, blending the ends of the coils together. And in the end, we squished it all up! Sometimes art is just the act of creating.

Day two I warned them the real clay was different and there might be some different instructions so they had to listen well. I walked them through the coil pot again step-by-step and let them finish it up on their own. While they did that I made sure to stop at each table and check each student's work. Most did not need much help since they had done it once before, those that did I could concentrate more on.

Their coil pots are a hundred times better this year. Almost all look like a pot, and most are well constructed and less uneven. Even the patterns they added look better.

I think some of their success was because of some changes I made in how I taught the steps, and because I made a bigger effort to check everyone's progress early on. But I feel those are small things compared to practicing ahead of time. When they made the real pot it wasn't their first time, it was something familiar to them and I could see they were more confident about it.

Also, they love clay and they don't get to use it very often. A one day coil pot just isn't enough. The practice day allowed an additional day of working with clay without having to worry about wasting clay or storing it.

It's often hard to find the time in elementary art to do a practice piece first, or to make some planning sketches. But whenever I've taken the time to have them do it their final art is usually higher craftsmanship, more creative, and better thought out. I'd like to try to fit it in more often. What do you guys think? Do you usually have students practice something first? Do you have any ideas for quick practice?

Assessments

Today I tested both the experiment and control groups in my World History classes. I have been using both of these classes for my action research project through Saint Mary’s University. When I ran the results sheet for the two classes I noticed a large discrepancy between average scores. The first class was my experiment group which has received updated text message alerts about homework assignments and class material. Unfortunately, their test scores were significantly lower than my control group, possibly putting a damper on my hopeful hypothesis. My hope was that not only would the experiment group see greater homework completion rates, but would also experience higher assessment results.

Instruction and Assessment

Today I realized that I did not remember to text homework to my experiment group over the weekend. Therefore, I decided not to check either groups completion record for that particular assignment. Instead, I have decided to send a couple of reminders via text to the experiment group reminding them to complete any late work before the test date so that it can be counted towards homework completion. I am also going to send texts indicating the importance of studying for the test to see if that improves overall test scores.

Homework - a lot or a little?

Today I did not check any homework because nothing was assigned the previous day. However, I did have a student explain that she would rather have me assign entire sections of the book instead of pieces of each section to focus on. My hope was that by having students focus on one or two key concepts, they would be able to complete quality work and critically think about their responses. What I told the student was that if she chose to she could complete the entire section if it works better for her in retaining information. This made me analyze and think about my current strategy I am using in my action research project because I know not every student is going to complete the entire section on their own if it is not assigned as a whole. Therefore, if I did assign the entire section, maybe I would see better assessment results from those individuals who do all assigned homework, small or big. But on the flip side, if I choose to have students complete an entire section, there may be a number of students who choose not to do any of it because it is just too much to complete.

Nearing the end of my Experiment

As I near the end of this experiment I continue to wonder if the reasons students may complete more of their homework is due to the use of text messages or if it is due to the nature of the homework itself. As part of this experiment and action research plan I have begun to implement shorter assignments that I challenge students to take more time on and critically think about. Additionally, an increase in homework completion may also be due to the frequency of feedback provided by me as a teacher.

Today I began to construct collected data into charts and bar graphs in order to analyze the effect my homework strategies have had on completion rates and assessment scores. I have found that the questions are very detailed in nature and student answers vary greatly. Because of this, my pie charts and bar graphs are full of a lot of information. I think it may have been more beneficial to specify a few answers for students to choose from in order to pinpoint reasons for lack of completion of homework.

Data Collection

Today I recorded data from homework collected the previous couple of days. Because we are in the middle of snowball week, I have a feeling that some students may be caught up a little too much in the festivities and decide to put off homework. In addition, there has been a lot of graduate testing that has been going on for juniors and seniors who have had to either take the math or reading tests a second time in order to meet graduation requirements. Lastly, students in both my experiment and control groups are in the middle of registration for next year’s classes and this has taken away from class time that would have been spent on curriculum. These are all significant variables that I will have to take into account during my analysis part of my action research project.

More homework collection

I collected homework from over the weekend again. The data collected might be skewed a little bit because this was Super Bowl weekend. I made sure to send out a text reminder four hours before the game in order to remind students of their homework so that they could get it done before the game. Also, I have been trying to limit the students’ homework load in order to have them focus on particular concepts from the unit and chapter. Unfortunately, through observation alone, I am not seeing a whole lot of change in students’ behavior regarding finishing homework. This might not be entirely true however due to the make-up of my control and experiment groups and who they are made up of.

collection of homework and problems

Today I collected homework from both my control group and my experiment group. I realized that there are quite of few students in the control group who continue to ask questions about texting homework assignments. I have told them that I will start the process during the next unit, after my action research work has been completed. There are still a few students from my experiment group who have not provided consent forms for data collection and have also not provided a text message number that I can use to contact them with homework assignments. I hope that this does not skew my information too much in the future.

Reflection on my Personal Life

I was not able to attend the quarterly meeting, so in place of that I am writing in response to this question:
1. Learning is changing...How is your learning changing? What roled does technology play in your learning culture?
2. What does your personal/professional network look like? How are you connecting, collaborating, and creating? Consider: what role does technology play in your networking process? What role could technology play?

I am choosing to answer these questions in reference to my personal life. With everything going on, and as much time as I put into my teaching vocation, I realize that I am not spending a lot of time reflecting on my personal life. Technology naturally plays a huge role in my life, it is the "way of today".

1. My learning is changing daily in my professional life, as a mother, as a daughter, as a wife and as a contributing member of our community. I am learning how to become better at all of these, and that my experiences make me better at all of these thing. Experiences really do shape our futures! Becoming a mother has been the most amazing event, and learning how to be a good parent is the most challenging role I feel that I can ever have (and balancing this with work can be difficult to say the least). I have to ask myself "am I disciplining right?", "did I just set the wrong example?", "can I teach her in a better way?". It is a lot to think about, but that is how learning changes. We learn from those experiences how to do it "better" the next time.

2. If I were to paint a picture of my personal/professional network, it might look like a huge montage of experiences and snapshots of the important people in my life (both personal and professional), the experiences that make me a better person, and the things I rely on. This montage would be created on one canvas, which would represent the blank canvas of Rachel. I started with a blank canvas and all of these things and people would eventually make up my network.

I do rely on technology a lot in communication at school as well in my personal life. I am a facebooker, however I have considered disconnecting from it. I like it because it allows me to hear about my daughters day at daycare, it allows me to communicate with my art club students, I can share pictures with long distance relatives, I can find long lost relative and friends, and I and can learn about what is going on in others' lives. However, I get annoyed with the information that people think is important to share. Do we really need to hear what people are eating? I have weighed the pros and cons, and decided it is in my best interest to stay connected with facebook, but choose not to read a lot of what goes on there. Technology has really changed the way people communicate.

My dad is a non-user of technology (as non-user as they get these days). I have tried to encourage him to skype with use so that he can see his grand-daughter grow up, bill his customers with a printed invoice, text, etc. He refuses to accept these ways. He might have a good point here, "I want my grand-daughter to remember me and our time together, not my on a computer screen." Through texting, cell phones, social networks, RSS feeds, etc., etc., etc. we are able to FEEL connected to everything, but we should ask ourselves, "Would it be better to just see these people in person?"

Text Message Alerts Problem

As part of my action research project I am studying what effect text message alerts have on student homework completion rates. Last night I sent a text to my control group students from my World History class reminding them to answer three specific questions for class. Unfortunately, a number of students did not receive the message in the experiment group and I have yet to figure out why that was the case. I am going to have to look into the problem and solve it very quickly because my research project is focused heavily on the effect of text message alerts and the completion rate for homework projects. I have not yet collect the data or recorded the data into bars, graphs, or charts but plan to at a later date. I will again try this same procedure with the experiment group tonight and over the weekend.

Action Research Project - first day

Today I collected students’ ARP forms that they were suppose to take home and have signed by a parent or guardian. This form gives me as an instructor to collect and analyze student data for my Master’s Action Research Project through Saint Mary’s University. In order to do this in a timely manner I had given the forms to first semester teachers of World History so that I could start my project as soon as possible. However, I realized that not all of the first semester teachers of World History had handed these out to their students. Other students had forgotten to get these signed and I also had a number of new students who did not have a World History class during the First Semester. Because of these problems, I have had to delay the beginning of my research collection because I would like to make sure that all of my students in the experiment group have access to the resources that I will be implementing. I have a feeling that if I started the data collection before all of the forms were turned in that my results may be skewed.

Teaching Vocabulary

So one of my personal goals for second semester is to teach vocabulary in new ways. Through SIOP training, I have been inspired by some of the techniques that were presented. I always knew that the way vocabulary is taught has a lot to do with how much they retain the information. It is something, I will admit, I've always struggled with. It is not something I learned how to do in college, nor is it something someone should have taught me. It is something that I figure out what works better through trial and error; and what works for one group of students might not work for others. I realize this is really important, especially for ELL, and ESL students. These techniques also benefit all students.

Some of the techniques that I really like (and it's fun for students):
Vocabulary hunt - match the word to the definition, partner, etc.
Define in own words
4 square cards (word, sketch, definition)

I am committing to starting a WORD WALL. My question for you: Do you have a word wall? And what are some fun things you have done to teach vocabulary (key word: fun.... no typical note taking, etc.)

The end of Semester Tests *whew*

I am so glad to be done with all those tests. 22 classes to review with, test, and grade. I feel like I didn't even see my students during that time. I am so glad to be back to actual art lessons.

I learned a lot though from the last few weeks. Here are the highlights:

1. A semester's-worth is too much information for an elementary student to remember all at once.
2. This semester I will strive to give a small quiz at the end of each unit instead. And maybe a cumulative test at the end to see if they retained the info, depends how the quizzes go.
3. Asking them to switch papers and check each others is a mess unless it's multiple choice or fill-in-the-blank, but this is art and it can be hard to write an art test in that format. It's easier to check them myself, and doesn't use class time.
4. Tests should be written so that I can hand it to another adult and they could administer it to a student, without additional instructions from me.
5. Tests should be written so that a parent can look at it and understand what their child was supposed to do, and can understand why the child got something right or wrong.
6. It's really hard to write a test where the child's success is only dependent on one skill. (The skill you are testing). If I ask them to draw a red wavy line and they draw a yellow one is it because they don't know their colors or their lines? Tests should be written so it's obvious.
7. Sometimes it's ok to put a hint on the test. 3rd grade memory retrieval isn't as good as mine, it's ok to give them a few starting colors to help them fill in the rest of the color wheel. They are 3rd graders.
8. Ditto for 5th graders. A word bank would have worked wonders.
9. It is very interesting to read a test to a student one-on-one and watch the gears in their brain turn as they answer questions, pause, erase their answer, etc, and finally end up with the right answer.
10. Tests give you eye-opening information about your students and about your teaching. I have a better idea of which students I need to check in with more, and which ones clearly pay attention. I also know which concepts were taught better than others, and what I need to improve for next time.
11. I will continue to use tests/quizzes to assess my students because of #10. But I will always think wistfully of the time we could have spent painting instead. (Maybe I need to make the tests paintable! Hmmm.....seriously......)
12. Lastly, I am still struggling to find the balance in the art room between teaching specific concepts/vocabulary/skills and allowing creativity/freedom/exploration. Both are important, and both take time. I am trying to weave them together.
    

Artist's of the Month

I started something new this year at Sun Path- much like Eagle Creek we are doing Artist's of the Month each month. The students can be picked for having awesome artwork, a good attitude, being helpful, basically going above and beyond in the art room.

My plan was to pick 1 artwork for each grade level each month and they will be framed and displayed in the office for the month. However, it doesn't ever seem to work that way! There is always some grade level that isn't done with a project. 1st grade always has something to display of course, but 5th grade spends so much time on their artwork that it doesn't work out. So the 1st month I did 2 first and 3 second, then the next month I picked some 3 fifth, 1 third, and 1fourth.

So my new plan of action is to pick an amount from the grade levels that are finished. However, there is always a class (or two) that is a little behind and I might not ever get to pick from them!

My question is how do I make it fair by the end of the year? Or does it not matter? It would be nice in the end to have about the same amount of students from each grade level..... For instance this month I have 2 first, 2 third, and 1 fourth grader.

Continuing Homework Struggles

In my last post I explained the things that I would be doing in order to increase homework completion rates of my students. Well, since that time I have had the oppoturnity to implement some of these new approaches with some success. I have decided to also talk to the students and find out what their attitude towards homework is. I will be implementing this questionnaire at the beginning of next semester so that I can begin work with a new group of students. I plan to use some of the strategies that I mentioned in my last post, but also utilize new strategies and techniques that represent some of the students' responses. For instance, in an informal question and answer session with current students, a lot of them were enthusiastic about have homework sent via text message and twitter each night before it was due. I will try to implement this strategy next semester among many others that will hopefully increase homework completion as well as overall assessment grades.