7 Days, Two FANTASTIC Reading/Writing Conferences - LOTS of Resources!

I have been BLESSED!

In the last 7 days, I have been able to attend two fantastic conferences to see two major writing teachers/authors that I LOVE:  Gretchen Bernabei and Ralph Fletcher.  Within these last seven days...plus tomorrow...I have learned quite a bit of new information that I an incorporate into my secondary ELA classroom to help my students.  In fact, last Wednesday I saw Bernabei, and when I returned to the classroom on Thursday...IMMEDIATELY implemented a kernel essay activity.

As a teacher opposed to such extreme accountability testing but understands that it is my reality, Bernabei helped put a spin on her writing activities that helped me bridge what I can to do to help my students' real world writing AND testing genre writing.  Below are some of my FAVS from her Workshop:

• 11 Minute Essay & Truisms
• Kernel Essay
• Writing Tools Anchor Chart
• Color It Up
• Renaming Activity
• Ba-da-Bing

You can find MANY resources for her activities on her blog at the following address:

 Bernabei Blogspot

There are a TON of resources to download!  

Another resource I learned about at the training is a 4th grade teacher blog with tons of free resources and ideas that she uses in her classroom:  Texas Teacher Website

TODAY, was able to listen to Ralph Fletcher during his Keynote at the Reading Recovery Institute help by TWU, stand with him in line for lunch, and sit in on another session!  I felt like such a rock star for being able to talk shop with Ralph Fletcher in a lunch line!  What a treat!

After his session on mentor texts, I picked up two more FANTASTIC books that I will use in my teacher:  1.  NonFiction Craft Lessons and 2.  Guy Write.

Ralph really helps the writing teacher understand gender differences in writing and how to support those boy writer and be successful.  If you aren't using his strategies in your writing classroom, you and your students are missing the boat!  You can also find more information about Ralph and his works on his website:  Ralph Fletcher.

Hope these resources are as helpful to you as they have been to me!

Happy Teaching!

Maas Out...

Favorite App/Web Tool In My Classroom: LiveSlide

I mentioned in an earlier post that I have a few favorite Apps/Web Tools that I use a lot in my classroom.  LiveSlide by Atlas Learning has become one of my favorites that I use multiple times per week.

This week I used LiveSlide to help students guide themselves after my mini-lessons on writing as they worked at different speeds on their personal narratives.  I apologize for the dark pictures... my students and I are really moles...  : )  We like darkness as we create!

As we analyzed brainstorming techniques, hooks, and conclusions I was able to annotate directly on the presentation.  I can give students control from their own iPad and they can mark on the presentation as well.

Today, students corrected sentences as a class as LiveSlide randomly selected students for me, gave them control... they answered the questions...we discussed as a class and applied our learning to our personal narrative writing.

LiveSlide had created a more interactive presentation tool that also helps teachers address varying speeds of learners within the classroom.  There are many other aspects of this took that are helpful that I can't even begin to explain to you... like a quizzing feature that allows teachers to conduct a quick check for understanding.  You really just need to check it out for yourself!

Happy hunting for tech tools for your classroom.

Maas Out!

Novel Study: Hidden by Helen Frost

Hidden by Helen Frost... what a gem!

My students will be reading Hidden by Helen Frost over the next couple of weeks.

Reading Focus:
Literary Devices/Figurative Language
Plot
Character Traits/Motivations
Point of View
Symbolism

This prose novel is nothing short of fantastic!  It offers a LARGE array of topics for study in the classroom and opens doors for analysis and discussion that meets Figure 19 needs for STAAR.

We are starting this upcoming week with plot, character traits, and literary devices and point of view.  I can't wait to start reading.  The next week we will dig deeper into inferences as we discover the hidden code the author has left in Darra's sections of the book.  The last word of each long line in Darra's sections offers even more insight to her and her father.  UNREAL!  I can't wait to share it with the kids.

Character sketches, Venn Diagrams, Plot lines and much more will be involved with this week's lessons.  Discussions will also include the idea of a hero, friendship, and the various meanings of the word hidden... as it represents so much in this novel.

After reading, we will be reading/writing Forgiveness poetry for more connections!  Will post more as I go along with lessons and pics.

Maas Out!

First Week Back Focus: Communication!

During InService this year, our staff went through a breakout session over communication.  I like to think that I communicate well with parents, but I know I can always do better.

Our principal introduced Remind 101 to us based on the suggestion of one of our 6th grade teachers, Sarah Williams... THANKS Sarah!

www.remind101.com

Remind 101 is a FANTASTIC and FREE web based texting service that your parents can sign up for.  You simply setup names for your individual classes and then send out the simple instructions for your parents to sign up for text messages.

NO... YOU DON't give out your personal cell number.  You text via the Remind 101 website.  Barely any work for you or the parent!

You can then send out reminders to a whole class about tests, field trips, assignments coming due, etc.!

I will be using it in my classroom this year!  Already set up and ready for Open House to provide instructions to parents.

Hope this helps make your communication process a little more effective this year.  I LOVE technology!

Maas Out!

Summer is Here! I'm Still Learning. Tech Classroom Focus

I am almost a month into summer, but I feel like I'm just slowing down! ...and I LOVE it....

This summer I am ramping up on ideas for my second year in a 1:1 classroom.  I have learned a TON on what to do and what NOT to do in my 1:1 ELA secondary classroom and am taking all of those lessons to heart.  That being said, I want to share with you a few things I will be working on this summer to incorporate into my classroom this upcoming year.

• Flipped Classroom:
  I attended a district led Flipped Classroom Training in early June.  I was VERY impressed with training and variety of ways I can Flip lessons.  My thinking for my own classroom will be a little different from the traditional idea of Flipped because I will also be incorporating some PBLs into my curriculum. Follow this link for more info: http://www.flippedclassroom.com/
  
  
  
  
  I will used Flipped Lessons for the following: 1st Week back to Introduce the Writing Cycle (used as a pre-assessement of knowledge), PBL Workshops, Writing Skills (mini-lessons), and Intervention lessons.
  
  Note: Not all flipped lessons will be homework.  Some will be in class flips.  I will post more as I go along this year so you can see how I'm going to accomplish these tasks.  I will post my writing cycle flipped lesson in August.  I'll also share my resources.  So stay tuned!

• Writing Workshop:  
  I'm reading Writing Workshop The Essential Guide by Ralph Fletcher this summer to really structure my writing workshop this year. I am a reflective teacher and I need to change the way I am teaching writing for a few reasons... sadly... STAAR is one of those reasons but a reality.  This is a great book.  I will be using some Flipped Lessons in order to accomplish this.  Will share as I create them!
  
  
  
  
  I would LOVE to collaborate with other Teachers on writing workshops and share resources!  If you would like to join me, follow me on Twitter @MaasClassroom.  I would love to start a networking group for writing there!  

That's it for now!  Please feel free to contact me any time.  I love hearing from other teachers!

april@aprilmaas.com  OR @MaasClassroom on Twitter

Maas Out!

Research PBL - End Products

Here are a few End Products from our Research PBL - Creative!

Visit the links below to view!

Creation of Facebook
Facebook PBL


9.11
Remembering 9.11


Katrina
Remembering Katrina


Dark Knight
Remembering Dark Knight


Maas Out

Research PBL - 2nd Success!

7th Grade English - Research PBL

This my second PBL, and it has been a blast!

Research PBL:  History + English (Creative Writing)
Time:  2 Weeks

This PBL was much faster the my first:  5 weeks vs 2 weeks.  Students chose (withe some manipulation on my part) their groups of 3-4.  We spent two days of inquiry with the Entry Event Document, Entry Event Video, Rubric, and Calendar to develop group and class Knows and Need to Knows.  See picture below.

The Need to Knows guided our workshops and mini-lessons.  

Students researched a historical event (some more recent) between the years 2000 - 2013 which is their life time.  They created a timeline (see below) and reflected upon the lessons our society has learned from the event they chose to research.

Students then had an option to write a song, rap. poem, or short story to depict the events and explain the lessons learned from their research.  

Workshops:

1.  Research - Librarian

2.  Works Cited - Teacher led with resource handout

2.  Creating Professional Videos - Mr. Deeken (professional experience as photographer)

Students had to really learn to work together, rely on each other, and delegate work because of the short time frame!  They have really come together so far and have some creative product rough drafts.

Presentations are tomorrow.  Will post more then!

Maas Out

No, David! - Inference

Reviewing Inference:  Day 2 (review pic of Day 1)

Cassie and I used the children's book No, David! by David Shannon to begin our STAAR Reading review.  We started with this for multiple reasons:  kids just took STAAR Writing this week (tired), Inferencing is a HUGE part of the STAAR Reading test, inferencing with a children's book and pictures is a nice ease into the skill.

As I mentioned in my last post, Cassie found this lesson on a kinder teacher's website:
First Grade Parade

This kids LOVED it!

First, we reviewed the Inference Anchor Chart we created the day before.

Then, we did an interactive read aloud of the book.  I read while the pages of the book were projected so the kids could see the pictures well.  You could take your own pictures or do a search on youtube.  There are a few options.

I had a chart posted on the board that mirrored the Inference formula (connection to math) we discussed the day before:

TE  +  BK  =  Logical Inference

I put this chart together based on a  couple of different anchor charts I found on Pinterest.

We then went back through each page and charted the text using text evidence and background knowledge to reach a logical inference.  Each student had their own copy of the No, David inference chart to fill out as we discussed and reviewed.  They were allowed to discuss with their group and then we took turns as groups came up to the board to chart their inference on our class chart.  

What I found what that kids have a hard time understanding what background knowledge really is!  Wow!  So on Monday, we will be reviewing making connections:  T-T, T-S, T-W and the 4 specific types of Inferences.  That way we will be able to further clear up what using background knowledge really means before we move on.  I learned I sometimes take for granted what they should already know.

Success!

Maas Out!

Inferencing! The big buzz word, skill, focus,... new ideas

Inferencing...  a HUGE part of our ELA curriculum.  So... jumping into our two week review before STAAR Reading, my teaching partner and I have come up with a few good ideas...actually...stolen ideas from great resources!  Taking a page from Harry Wong's book... STEAL, STEAL, STEAL!  

So, I went to Pinterest and found some great Inferencing Anchor Charts and squished a few together to come up with the following:

Will work on reviewing what it means in general one day, and students will begin their Making Connections folder with this anchor chart on the front:

Stole the Making Connections Unit idea from our 6th grade ELA team (thanks Sara!) and the folder idea from our 7th grade history teacher (thanks Sharon!)!  : )

More will be added to the interior of the folder as we move through the next two weeks: examples, foldables glued in, venn diagrams, charting of text, etc.  More pics to come as I finish my teacher model.

Day 2 we will use the book No, David by David Shannon to do an introduction review to inferencing with pictures as we chart the following for each page as a class:
 1.  What I see/read (Text Evidence)  +  2. What I Know (BK)  =  Logical Inference

My teaching partner, Cassie, got the book idea from a kinder teacher website!
http://thefirstgradeparade.blogspot.com/2012/01/inferencing-with-no-david-and-silent-e.html

The chart idea I got from Pinterest and just tweaked it a bit.

That's it for now!  More to come and will certainly share....  already have another idea for next week that I'm stealing from another 6th grade teacher, Chad, at our sister middle school!  Thanks Chad! Sharing IS Caring!  : )

Maas Out!

Stations in Secondary a Must! - Revising and Editing Review

For at least a year, I have wanted to implement elementary stations / centers into my 7th grade classroom.  My sister teaches 2nd grade, and I saw the value of all that she did.  I just couldn't seem to put it together or wrap my head around how I could make it work with 5 classes (137 students) with so many varying levels and styles of learning.

I finally decided to take the leap for a portion of my STAAR Writing Review unit.  I hate test review. I truly do despise it.  The kids are bored, I'm bored and it never ends well.  This year, my principal challenged the teachers to stay creative through our STAAR review.  The dreaded testing review.  My teaching partner and I decided we would stop talking about stations and centers and actually give it a shot.  The kids have already learned the content, so we couldn't really do much damage... : )

We created 8 different stations to work on writing, revising, and editing in different ways. 
1.  Freewrite Station - various prompts and a writer's journal

2.  Revise Your Own Work Station - writer's journal and some score 4 examples

3.  Sentence Organization - hands on manipulatives to create a paragraph
4.  Revising Multiple Choice - Kamico as the source and Edmodo for delivery meithod
5.  Editing Multiple Choice - Kamico as the source and Edmodo for delivery meithod
6.  Sentence Editing - Similar to DOL... not MC
7.  Dead Words Station - Said is Dead and other boring words...provided some replacement word lists
8.  Revising Mulitple Choice Onlinne Game - already made online...just provided a QR code to students to scan

Any of these would work in a 1:1, BYOD, or use of a computer lab for the day environment.

10-15 minutes per station.  Provided a Passport Document to each student to provide evidence from each station.  (image attached)  Students work in groups of 3-4. Travel when music is played.  May work through stations in any order.

After the first day today... I am confident in saying it was a WILD SUCCESS!  It was a completely student led classroom today and 99% were completely engaged.  I even told my principal is was my best day teaching.

The stations weren't as pretty or fancy as my elementary teaching sister would have created, but still pretty darn good for a non-creative secondary type!

At the end of the day, I wished I had done this all year at various points.  Now that my feet are wet, I know it can be done in a secondary classroom with great success.  I challenge you to give it a try!

Maas Out!

First PBL has come to an end...Tips & Reflections

Well... I can't believe it, but our first PBL has come to an end.  On Friday, students presented a summary of their information from their Action Plan.  Below are my thoughts and tips now that I have lived through my first PBL experience from design to presentation.

First, while not all end products (Action Plan and Presentation) were the quality I would have liked, I am extremely proud of my students for sticking with it and having the courage to stand in front of their peers, parents, and school staff to present their findings.  We only had about 10 minutes the day before to review presentations skills.  And while Thursday was supposed to be a day of practice, it was really a day of groups trying to finish at the last minute because they realized I wasn't kidding about presenting, and YES I DID invite parents, principals, and staff to participate in the audience.  I  must say, I'm really not surprised about the scrambling at the last moment, but I think it will pay off in future PBLs because they now know I'm serious.

One of the first things my partner and I realized we needed to change was the timeline.  Even though the Think Forward Institute told us to keep the PBL to 4 weeks max, we pushed it to 5 because we were reading a novel to complement the PBL.  Well... Think Forward was right.  We COULD have completed the work in 4 weeks, especially Pre-Ap classes.

Another change we would make is using more Centers/Stations for Workshops.  I think we expected a little too much from the get go, and it back fired a little bit with 7th graders.  I think groups traveling from center to center in a class period or two would be better than the single workshop style we used during this PBL.  At the 7th grade level, it is important for all members of the group to get all the information rather then sending one person per group to the workshop and rely upon that sole person to re-explain the information to the rest of the group.

On the same topic of Workshops, we realized we should have used the resources around us more for workshops:  librarian, counselors, and technology staff.  All of those groups could have helped us by coming in to conduct a workshop with students rather than them all coming from the teacher or materials.

Edmodo was an invaluable tool during the entire PBL.  It stored all documents and resources including Entry Event Document, Rubrics, Research Material, Quizzes, etc.  It was an important organizational tool for our 1:1 iPad school for this PBL.  In addition to using Edmodo, each group also had a folder that contained PBL resources.  That was  GREAT idea because there was NO excuse for not having access to the appropriate documents or information at any point in the PBL.

One thing I did find was that students had a difficult time taking the information they had researched and idea they had written down on their Action Plan and turning it into a presentation.  They left out quality information from their written words.  This lesson in disconnect helps me understand they need more scaffolding at that point in the project.  They also had a hard time taking the feedback from Critical Friends and revising their work.

Overall, I feel our first PBL was a success.  I'm so happy we implemented almost immediately after training.  I think it made a big difference and has allowed us to reflect on what we can change, add, delete, etc for our next attempt.

Now... I'm off to stick my head in the sand for a few hours... Oh wait... I have to grade final Action Plans, start a new unit, and plan the next Research PBL...  Who am I kidding... I'm a teacher.  No rest for the weary.... Off to work I go... THANK GOD I LOVE IT!

Maas Out!

Critical Friends - Wow!

Last Thursday and Friday, we (my teaching partner and I) invited staff members from our campus and district office to participate in our PBL Critical Friends.

For those of you unfamiliar with Critical Friends, this is the point in the process where PBL groups received critical feedback regarding their end product prior to final presentations.

We had teachers, facilitators, interns, and even technology staff come over and spend time with groups to provide them with three pieces of feedback:  What I Like, Things I Wonder About, and Next Steps.  My teaching partner and I even swapped classes for a day to provide feedback to each other's classes!

We simply created a Google Doc with class periods, emailed the link, and asked staff members to sign up for a class period or two if they had time.  We had a great response!

Groups then took the feedback and are using it as a basis for revisions.

Originally, Think Forward taught us that peer groups should provide the critical feedback.  Since we launched PBL in the middle of a year and at the 7th grade level, we decided to use adults.  They were so gracious and helpful to our students, and our students realized just how important it was too have work completed when they found out they had to present their drafts to adults who were strangers for the most part.

Overall things went really well.  However, we are in the process of revising and editing, so I am hoping that the groups will use all of the feedback to truly make their end products better.  I am working my way through groups for two days as they revise and edit to verify as best I can.

Presentations are Friday!  I will post more after I see final products.  Wish us luck!

Maas Out!

Success & Resources

Resources that have provided success!

Today, I want to express thanks to all the people, websites, and sources that have provided the resources my teaching partner and I have needed to increase the success of our PBL.  I have to say that I really do consider our novel PBL a success even though it isn't quite over yet.

• Edmodo.com - We have used this site to house PBL documents, quiz students over reading, provide research resources, provide workshop resources, provide small group communication spaces, and much more.  Best of all... it's FREE!  Students can access it online anywhere through the website or app.
• BIE.com - This website have provided information, links, ideas, etc.  We also have the book which our district has available to all teachers and was given to use when we attended the Think Forward Institute @ManorISD.
• Twitter - I follow many techies, teachers, and districts that talk about PBL in order to get ideas.  Try following @ManorISDIT for great resources.  They tweet often!
• My Peeps : )  - Of course there are many to thank here!  My teaching partner, Cassie Reynolds... ELA Instructional Facilitator, Shay Garland who spent countless hours helping us prepare for this PBL... My principal, Tammy Becker, and Campus Facilitator, Ava Bartek, and other district staff for making sure we have all the materials we need for our PBL...Think Forward Staff @ Manor ISD...and our other ELA teachers who have all shared their thoughts and experiences as we implement PBL together at SBMS!

LOVING IT!
Follow me on Twitter:  @MaasClassroom

 

Maas Out

Surprising! PBL Success!

We are in Week 5 of our first PBL, and it has been filled with wonderful surprises!

• Students are engaged.
• Students are truly thinking.
• Students are choosing to read materials and make connections.
• Learning is actually authentic.

I have really been pleasantly  pleased with the amount of control my students have taken on to be successful in their groups for our PBL.

Of course, I have some who just simply won't work or turn in poor quality work, but the reality is students are working harder and learning more than they could have in a traditional classroom.  

My only wish... I had started with PBL in September.

Pleasantly Pleased,

Maas

PBL Launch!

My teaching partner and I have launched our first PBL!  I am happy to report our launch was a success!

We started with team building activities we learned from our PBL training at Think Forward.  Students had a blast, and we had really great conversations about what teamwork means and looks like.  Students then broke into groups of four, and we began to review, create, and sign group contracts.  That took an entire day, but it was time well spent.  We have since reviewed the contract as groups which I think will become a Monday morning 5 minute activity since this process is so new to everyone.

Launch
For those of you new to PBL, launch simply means we began by giving our students three items over two days:  Entry Event Video, Entry Event Document, and PBL Rubric.

Although there were some things I did not do as well as I had hoped, such as my delivery of some items, I do now feel a lot more comfortable with the process.

The Entry Event Video and Document analysis went well, and the students were just as confused as they were supposed to be! LOL!  Because of that confusion, they began to ask some great questions about how they were going to complete the project.  This lead us to the Knows / Need to Knows part of the PBL process.

Students began to make lists of all the things they already knew in order to complete the PBL and all the things they didn't know but need to in order to complete the PBL.

What a great learning experience for all of us!  They came up with some questions I had not thought of, and it was wonderful to see them ACTUALLY THINKING!  What a concept... I LOVE IT!

Thank you PBL!!!

On Friday, we analyzed the rubric for the project and students added to their Knows/Need to Knows list.  I left on Friday believing my students really understood what I was asking of them.  They may not know exactly how they are going to get there, but they know where they are supposed to end up.

Let's just say I'm exhausted, the students are exhausted, and we all learned what a student led classroom looks like where students are seriously considering their work.

I couldn't have asked for a better start to our PBL.

Maas Out!

Classroom Website:
https://sites.google.com/site/maasclassroom/

New Semester, New Way of Teaching

Hello All!

I am a 7th grade English teacher at South Belton Middle School.  We have 1:1 iPad technology for all teachers and students on our campus.  Can I just say I LOVE my job!

This semester (Spring 2013) I will be teaching through Project Based Learning or PBL.  I can't even begin to describe my excitement about this semester!

At the end of my Fall 2012 semester, I asked students to reflect upon all we had accomplished thus far and the way we had worked through each unit.  Almost every student said they wished they could work more in groups and learn from each other rather than just me, the teacher.  I listened and was thankfully trained on how to make this happen effectively! (Training:  Think Forward Institute - Project Based Learning)

Since this is new to me, I have decided to blog about my experience transitioning from a traditional classroom teacher (meaning using various traditional styles of teaching) to a PBL teacher.  I know things won't be perfect at first, but I also know this is going to be a great adventure that will lead to some inspiring learning.

Instead of just writing in my journal for my own growth throughout this process, I thought I would share it with everyone in case you want to learn from my mistakes or just want to know more about PBL in a real classroom environment.

Here we go!

April Maas
7th ELA

More information on PBL:
Video: Project Based Learning Explained

My Classroom Website: MaasClassroom