Channel Your Inner Pirate! Arrgh!

Today, my assistant principal and I channeled our inner pirates as we led our staff through what they thought was going to be a session on critiquing instruction.  We began the session by telling the staff that as we have been doing our walk-throughs, we have been assessing their instruction.  We thought it would be a good idea to give them some practice in doing the same.  We had three short video clips for them to watch.  They were asked to look at what each teacher was doing, what the students were doing, the level of engagement, etc. and be ready to critique it.

Click below to watch on Teacher Tube

Watch Seinfeld Video

After all three video clips were shown, we instructed them to have a conversation with those around them about what they observed.  As they began their discussion, we escaped and ran to our offices to put on our costumes!  We transformed into pirates and rejoined the group.

Arrgh!  We shared our treasure with the staff!

We entered the cafeteria and spoke in our best "pirate-ese" as we told the staff that we hoped we wouldn't see any of that type of teaching happening here. If so, they may have to "walk the plank." We then decided to share our treasure with them--a copy of  Teach Like a Pirate by @burgessdave.  Inside each book, we had placed a paper with one letter of the word PIRATE on it.  We did a jigsaw activity in which we had the staff move to sit with others who had the same letter.  Their task was to read the part about their letter in the first section of the book and design a skit/performance that will teach the rest of the staff what their assigned letter stands for.

A Must Read for Teachers!

Passion
Immersion
Rapport
Ask and Analyze
Transformation
Enthsiasm
                                         


Two weeks from today, each group will have the opportunity to present their information in an engaging way.  

And, one more thing.... It will be Teach Like a Pirate Day at our school! Teachers and staff are encouraged to dress up like pirates for the day.  The response in the crowd when this was announced was great!  Everyone seemed very excited about this opportunity.  We are keeping it a secret so that we can surprise our students.  I look forward to sharing how our staff teaches what each letter represents.  Here's to channeling our inner pirates!  Arrgh! 

Looking for the Good in Every Day: A Lesson from Pete the Cat

Rockin' in Our School Shoes during 2013 Reading Parade

I am a huge Pete the Cat fan.  Recently, I purchased a copy of Kimberly and James Dean's Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses. Pete, a rockin' character we have come to know and love has the "blue cat blues."  Grumpy Toad lends him some magic sunglasses that help Pete see things in a whole new way.  Throughout the story, Pete meets other friends who are sad, mad, and frustrated.  He lends them his sunglasses and helps them see the brighter side of things.  When Pete breaks his sunglasses, it is the wise old owl who reminds him that he doesn't need magic sunglasses to see things in a new way, he just needs to look for the good in every day.

At this point in the school year, educators can be feeling the blues as well.  Wrapping up the first quarter of the school year is such a busy time.  Many demands are being placed on teachers, and their energy is being zapped.  Report cards, parent-teacher conferences, assessments, data team meetings, and many other things are in full swing at the moment.  It can become overwhelming--but only if we let it.  As the wise old owl reminds us, we need to continue to look for the good in every day.  We don't need magic sunglasses, we just need a positive attitude.  When we consciously choose to focus on the positive, how can our days be anything but AWESOME?

Teamwork: Untangling the Human Knot



4th Grade Teamwork



 



Our instructional coach facilitated a team-building activity during last week’s Professional Learning Community meetings. Each grade level team was charged with the task of untying the Human Knot. As the teams of teachers worked together to get untangled, teamwork was evident. There was cooperation, communication, and a few laughs along the way. When discussing the activity afterward, each team recognized that it takes all of them working together to solve a problem. Here are a few of their comments. “This helps us see the big picture and that it is not always all about me.” “We worked together to squeeze through uncomfortable situations to get to where we needed to be.” “We had to listen to each other, communicate, and take risks.” “We had to persevere and keep trying things out.” “We had to trust each other.” As our grade level teams embark on the school year, it will be critical for them to keep these values at the forefront of their working relationship. It is also vital that they build this same sense of community, cooperation, and teamwork in their own classrooms.



 


4th Grade Gets Untangled



Kindergarten Teamwork

  

Running, Reading, and Building Stamina

Today I decided to "get off the couch" and begin moving again.  I have taken some time off from running and working out, and I am really starting to feel the effects.  In knowing that I need to re-energize myself and increase my overall well-being, I began the Couch-to-5K program today.  I have the app installed on my phone, and I've used the app at various times to ease back into this thing called "running."  As I was in the midst of one of the running intervals, I began to think about how our students will also be getting back into a thing called "reading" when they begin school in just a few short weeks.  Chances are they have not done much reading over the summer and will be in a situation much like mine in which they are, in a sense, starting over.

As I ran, I had some of my favorite music playing.  I got to choose the songs I had in my playlist, and they were from many different genres.  Most of the songs were songs I have played again and again and know by heart.  A few of them were newer songs that I just added this morning.  This got me thinking about how important it is to allow our students to choose their own reading material, even when they choose books they may have read multiple times.  Of course we don't want them to always choose the books they have previously read, but if we take the time to allow them to "build their playlist" by adding a variety of books to their book boxes, they will have many options.  My music motivates me because it is something I enjoy, much like the books our students enjoy motivate them and can be the impetus for them to continue reading. Let's remember to take the time to help our students build their personal playlists--good-fit books from a wide variety of genres.

If you are not familiar with the C25K program, it is an incremental program that alternates running and walking in increments that gradually increase throughout the program until you are running the entire time. The app has a voice-over that will tell you when to walk and when to run.  Just knowing that that voice would be coming back on and telling me I could walk was a motivator for me as well.  I knew that I only needed to make it just a little bit further before I could take a bit of a break and walk.  The program is allowing me to take baby steps in increasing my endurance.  The same holds true for our students.  We should not expect them to be able to sit and read for 20-30 minutes straight right out of the gate.  They need to have increments in which they read, take a break, and read again in order to increase the amount of time they will be able to attend to the task.  As teachers, it is our job to be sure that we allow for this critical build up of endurance and give our students the chance to take a breath every now and then.

The app also allows you to keep track of your time per mile and distance and has a journal feature that allows you to make anecdotal comments about the run.  This has always been a very motivating factor for me.  I am a very competitive person and like to challenge myself and see if I can improve from session to session.  We can do the same for our students.  Charting their stamina by the number of minutes they were able to read and allowing them to see their gains is also another way we can motivate our students and allow them to see their small successes gradually building into more and more time they are able to read without taking a break.

Soon, we will begin the school year and begin the journey of reading with our students.  I hope all educators will remember that we will need to support our students in building their reading stamina.  If we take the time to help them do this in the beginning, we will have them "reading marathons" in no time.

180 Book-A-Day Challenge

This school year, I participated in a "180 Book-A-Day Challenge."  My goal was to read one children's book for each day students were in school.  As I read the books, I displayed my "Principal's Picks of the Week" in the main hall in our display case and posted images of all of the books I had read.  I also promoted the books I had read the previous week on the Monday morning announcements.  Students were able to turn in book recommendations to me, and I selected one student each week to appear on the announcements with me to promote the book he or she had recommended. 

Those of you who have visited my blog know that my goal this school year was to become the lead reader at Mayflower Mill.  This challenge allowed me to successfully meet that goal.  It also caused reading to become contagious in our building.  Not only were students reading like crazy, they were also recommending books to me.  As I would pass a student in the hall, he or she would say, "Hey, Ms. Higgins, have you read....?"  My staff also caught the reading bug and began to ask me for recommendations and began borrowing books from me.  I heard more teachers talking about what they were reading to their students and what they were reading for their personal enjoyment.  Teachers began posting what their class was currently reading on their doors for passersby to view.  Books and the culture of reading became visible and palpable entities that began to define us.

I never thought something as simple as this challenge and the intentional promotion of reading would do so much to foster a culture of reading in our building.  However, I am proud to say that Mayflower Mill is now a community of readers.  What could be more rewarding than that?

Principals and teachers, how have you promoted reading in your building?  I'd love to get some new ideas for next year!