Just Imagine How Much Cooler I'll be In Summer

So this is officially my fourth day of summer and I have yet to do any relaxing. What is wrong with me?! I am sure I will get into total veg mode when it comes closer to August but right now I am feeling totally ready to prep for next year!

With some of my Barnes and Noble Gift Cards from my babies (tear!) I got to buying some new books for next year! 

I will be using The Exceptionally Extraordinary Ordinary First Day of School to teach how setting can affect the plot. It also has some really awesome facts and vocabulary in the margins. I also love 11 Experiments that Failed, which I just received today, I will use this to introduce question, hypothesis, and developing procedures to test experiments. It is so cute and very funny! 

I have also been working on some new TpT products. First, a freebie! I know many of you are already out of school but I developed these gift tags for our end of school gifts. You can get them at My TpT Store!

  

I have also uploaded some of my new research products. These worked so well in my class. Though they were time consuming, my students got to be very good at research. It also provided students with so much choice. All of the final products in my class were wonderful! 

Well, I am going to do some summer things. Netflix marathon, anyone? 

Making It Stick: Chapter 1

After reading Chapter 1 of this book, I am still very impressed. I like the style of the book a lot. It integrates stories about different skill sets, not just school related knowledge. It discusses being a pilot and baseball in order to make a point about learning. I will first post a short summary of this chapter, then I will discuss possible implications in the classroom. I am in no way an EXPERT on this topic, and as I read I may have to edit these implications, however this is how I am grasping that I can relate this information in my classroom.

So far, this book is sounding similar to many things I have heard in recent Professional Development and other readings.  In my classroom I am already using some of these strategies, but am I teaching my students how this is helping them learning? 

Some of the implications on teaching would be to continue using the following strategies. 

•Low Stakes Quizzing should be introduced to help student’s metacognition. For Example: 

•Exit Tickets

•Questioning After Reading

•Students should learn how to use self quizzing.  For Example: 

•Accountable Talk and Student Questioning 

•Student Created Tests/ Quizzes

•Teachers should space out practice of topics to keep students at the level of mastery.

•Spiral Curriculum

•Math Tubs/ Stations

•Topics should be related to other topics and interwoven throughout the curriculum.

•Subject Integration

•Complex Projects

•Students should use information to solve hard problems.

•Problem Based Learning

•Complex Thinking

•Differentiated Problems

Teachers should stop stressing rereading for review, teaching concepts in isolation, and allowing students to simply restate the text.

One thing I know I can improve on in my classroom is to teaching my students to learn from mistakes, and not to treat them as failures. Many of my students get frustrated when they get a problem wrong, rather than looking at what mistakes led them to get the wrong answer. I am hoping to integrate a new section into our problem of the day called Meaningful Mistakes. We will review fake student mistakes and determine what the student understands and where the student needs clarification. When students are more comfortable, I will allow them to submit their "meaningful mistake" dry erase boards and we can review them as a class.

Well, that is all for today!

Coming Soon-- Chapter 2: To Learn, Retrieve

Spring Break Book Study!

Since I finally have some time off I have decided to do what all most some (crazy) teachers do in their spare time, I have decided to spend some time reading and learning about teaching in addition to my usual Pinterest, TpT, and Blogger learning. When I sat down to choose a book I knew there were some things I wanted. I wanted to read something

1. Inspiring Too often we read negative things about testing, and gaps in education, and behavioral problems. Though these things are necessary to understand, they can definitely make any teacher feel overwhelmed. I wanted a book that would inspire me to make meaningful change in my classroom. I can not always change the big picture, however I can make small changes supported by research that will make a difference in my student's learning. 
2. Data Driven- I love reading blogs, checking my "teaching instagram" and watching videos on the Learning Channel. I also love hearing new ideas from my colleagues, but I wanted something that was proven through data. 
3. New I have read some wonderful books in college and as a teacher that I would like to revisit, likeand ,however I truly wanted something that I had not yet been exposed to in my teaching career.
4. Relevant- I needed something that would help my teaching now. Something that my students and I could directly benefit from in the next year. 

After trolling Amazon, which I need to buy stock in, I finally narrowed picked Make it Stick: The Science of Successful Learning. 

After reading the synopsis and comments I discovered this book was just what I was looking for. This book is not just for teachers, but also for learners. It studies the science of learning and memory. It is driven by data collected by the authors and other research studies, and it relies on new data to debunk commonly believed and practiced strategies in teaching and learning. This book is also very relevant for me right now. In the process of reteaching, I wonder why some of my students remember and master the majority of topics, and others do not. I want this success for all my students, so I am reading this book in the hopes of making learning more meaningful.

So, beginning tomorrow (or possibly later tonight if I am super productive) I am going to post key ideas for each chapter. After I finish the book, I will review the information and tell you what I think.  Hopefully, some of you will want to join in this book study with me or give me ideas on what to read next… after all summer is only a few weeks away!