Blog Archives

"Teaching, Simplified" Episode 10: Notice and Wonder

3/16/2019

There are two questions that have become sort of a backbone to rigor in my teaching. They are two magical questions that cause students to enter the conversation - no matter the topic or subject. I use them in reading, history, science, and even in the Bible classes I teach at church. I use them with nine-year-olds and adults, and they really make a difference.

The questions:

What do you notice?
What do you wonder?

Listen and find out more about these two questions.

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Officially 1:1

3/15/2019

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Our entire school is officially 1:1. That means we now have an electronic device for every student in the school. Our classroom, for example, has a new collection of 24 Chromebooks stored in a couple of charging stations.

To be clear, we will not change the best methods we have developed. While I am eager for students to have more direct access to information and applications, I do not plan to sit idle while students work on the computers all day on their own. Our relationships with each other are more important than that, and I am committed to interacting with my students and fostering the skills they need to interact respectfully with one another.

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Multiplication Masters: List Updated

3/14/2019

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I issued a challenge to the class, early in the school year, involving our multiplication quizzes. Previously, only five students met the challenge to make three perfect scores each:

ALAHNAH

JACOB

MALACHI

MARLEE

TAHLARA

Now, we proudly add AVA and LANDYN to our list, bringing our total (so far) to seven students who have proven their mastery of multiplication. Not only that, but we now have FIVE new students who have scored 100% on at least one of their quizzes; two more of those scores by those students will earn them a spot on our list, as well!

As a class, we began the school year with a class average of 32.0 percent. Students quickly showed improvement, and by this week, the class average rose to 91.2 percent.

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Our Last Snow Day

3/13/2019

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With a study of Valley Forge in the winter of 1777/8 - starring George Washington, Marquis de Lafayette, Baron Von Steuben, and Joseph Plumb Martin - we couldn't resist mixing up some Insta-Snow.

Insta-Snow is really a super-absorbent polymer, much like the substance in disposable baby diapers. It doesn't take much to absorb a couple of ounces of water and produce snow that occupies a much larger amount of space.

And it's fun to get your fingers in there, too!

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Mount Vernon Virtual Field Trip: Tom Plott

3/12/2019

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Yesterday, I made four short videos available from our virtual field trip with Dr. James Craik. Today, I'd like to introduce you to Tom Plott, the 21st century actor who portrays the good doctor at Mount Vernon. I wanted Mr. Plott to "remove the mask" and give the class an idea of the types of preparation necessary to accurately portray a historical figure - the hours of research, reading, and rehearsal he continues to undertake as part of his duties.

Students were impressed to see that Mr. Plott was even able to give them information about Dr. Craik's father's gardener's son - who just happened to be John Paul Jones, considered the father of the United States Navy.

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Mount Vernon Virtual Field Trip: Dr. James Craik

3/11/2019

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Our virtual field trip to Mount Vernon was quite enlightening. Students were introduced to Dr. James Craik, George Washington's personal friend and physician. Craik was with Washington from his days in the 1750s, right up to Washington's death in 1799. He was in the room, trying to relieve our first president of his labored breathing, when Washington passed from life, in his bed at Mount Vernon.

Find some short video clips of our experience with the good doctor below. These are just quick glimpses into the hour we spent with him, and are definitely incomplete accounts from the presentation, but they still capture the essence of the researched storytelling from Dr. Craik.

George Washington and the Chief

Cannon Ball

"How Long Have I Been G. Washington's Doctor?"

Smallpox

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So Long, Farewell

3/10/2019

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Word Wise

conspiracy

intervention

resign

retire

Mood Music

Bing Him Home

Draw a picture to show the scene that comes to mind as you listen to this music. Be ready to write a story to go along with your picture and share it with the class.

Art Appreciation

Analyze the painting shown (at left). Check out its details. We'll talk more about this later.

What do you notice?
What do you think is happening?
What caused the scene in the painting?
What might happen after the scene shown?
What does this piece make you wonder?

George Washington Intervenes

Be Washington!

Before you receive any instruction in this lesson set, let us work through the 1783 Newburgh Conspiracy scenario in George Washington's Mount Vernon's Be Washington!

Liberty's Kids

In 2018, I had the privilege of visiting George Washington's Mount Vernon for a summer residency and teacher institute. The lead scholar for the institute was Dr. Bill Fowler, professor at Northeastern University in Boston, and former director of the Massachusetts Historical Society. Dr. Fowler could speak for hours and easily keep my attention. In one of the sessions of the institute, he lectured about the Newburgh Conspiracy.

Understanding that Fowler has held George Washington's original speech - the speech in Washington's own writing - I have to believe that he is an expert on the subject. Listen (below) to his interpretation in these three portions of a speech Bill Fowler gave on a previous occasion. The entire presentation is also available.

George Washington Says Farewell

The Art Appreciation above is a painting of George Washington saying farewell to his troops. Benjamin Tallmadge wrote the best-known account of the emotional scene:

“The time now drew near when General Washington intended to leave this part of the country for his beloved retreat at Mt. Vernon. On Tuesday the 4th of December it was made known to the officers then in New York that General Washington intended to commence his journey on that day.

At 12 o’clock the officers repaired to Fraunces Tavern in Pearl Street where General Washington had appointed to meet them and to take his final leave of them. We had been assembled but a few moments when his excellency entered the room. His emotions were too strong to be concealed which seemed to be reciprocated by every officer present. After partaking of a slight refreshment in almost breathless silence the General filled his glass with wine and turning to the officers said, ‘With a heart full of love and gratitude I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.’

After the officers had taken a glass of wine General Washington said ‘I cannot come to each of you but shall feel obliged if each of you will come and take me by the hand.’ General Knox being nearest to him turned to the Commander-in-chief who, suffused in tears, was incapable of utterance but grasped his hand when they embraced each other in silence. In the same affectionate manner every officer in the room marched up and parted with his general in chief. Such a scene of sorrow and weeping I had never before witnessed and fondly hope I may never be called to witness again.”

George Washington Resigns

Art Appreciation

Analyze the painting shown (at right). Check out its details.

What do you notice?
What do you think is happening?
What caused the scene in the painting?
What might happen after the scene shown?
What does this piece make you wonder?

Be sure you go to the Architect of the Capitol website to see the key to and a short explanation of this artwork.

George Washington Retires

Washington wanted to retire to Mount Vernon and spend some well-deserved time with Martha. Fully expecting to be able to relax on the farm, he may not have known the next job his country had in store for him. Having served as Commander-in-Chief, George Washington would soon be recruited back into service as the nation's first president.

Music Appreciation

The Call
Compass

Hakuna Matata
Ho Hey

Home
Lead with Your Heart

Under One Sky

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"Teaching, Simplified" Episode 9: Start with Art

3/9/2019

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Sometimes a teacher looking for rigor needs to look no further than works of art. I've applied some strategies from multiple sources to create Art Appreciation. Now, when I want students to bring themselves into a topic, all I do is project a specific piece of art and ask them two questions:

What do you notice?
What do you wonder?

Those questions elicit all kinds of responses, and from there I can guide a lesson into the direction I choose. I'll talk about those questions in the next episode, but for now, consider putting more art into the regular classroom.

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Professional Pet Peeve: Stop Skipping Across the Surface

3/8/2019

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I recently sat in a professional development meeting - a grade-level meeting. Within the meeting, teachers committed many faux pas: they shared out and they referred to kiddos. They wanted everyone to be on the same page and encouraged each other to stick to the teachers edition.

But I soon noticed another issue: many of them also wanted to cover everything before the test. They've figured out which lessons to omit, which lessons to consolidate, which assignments to make, how to present the information to small groups, whole groups, and...

Whew!

You see, these teachers - as good as their intentions may be - want to get to it all, and in doing so, they skip across the surface of everything. I fear that in skipping along the surface, they fail to swim in the deep waters. They rush to get things done in hopes of adhering to a pacing guide.

It is a trap that emerges from committing themselves to a script, failing to keep their classrooms autonomous, and failing to take empowerment by the horns. It is a trap that comes from relying on a text. It is a trap deriving from an inability to create and instill creativity.

If you are of this ilk, my suggestion is to get your nose out of the book, curate your own materials, grow your own style, go off script, and take the bull by the horns. Whenever you teach, teach well. Never be satisfied with simply exposing your students to a topic rather than covering it more fully. If it's worth teaching, it's worth making it stick. We're not in the business of handing out samples; we are in the business of serving full meals.

OK, I know, there are moments within our school year in which students need to be allowed to belly up to the smorgasbord where they can try new tastes in order to find their niches. Generally speaking, however, it is absolutely important for teachers to swim deeper, climb higher, and add rigor to lessons. Be patient enough to teach well not spread things too thinly.

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Students as Teachers

3/7/2019

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I always like to see a confident student take the reins and lead the class through a difficult problem.

With our study of fractions wrapping up, the work can get pretty tedious and complicated, so for a student to energetically volunteer says something about her character.

Of course teaching is not always as easy as it looks.

We haven't done enough of this, this year. Moving forward, I look forward to getting more and more students to the front of the room.

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Rest in Peace, Hoggatt Cave

3/6/2019

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We wrapped up our cave tours just before the big disaster. Hoggatt Cave was recently destroyed in the perfect storm - an annual hurricane, infestation, and earthquake - and here she lies in rubble. With a little excavation, we shall search for her, once again, with another class or fourth graders, in the fall.

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You Never Know Where Students Will Show Up

3/5/2019

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Last weekend, our family took a trip to Springfield, Missouri, to see The Lion King, on Sunday. Attempting to avoid the horrible depths of snow predicted by all the wonderful weather agencies, meteorologists, and every self-proclaimed storm chaser on social media, we booked a hotel for Saturday night. With church services cancelled for Sunday morning due to temporarily slick roads, we drove across the street to Wonders of Wildlife. Wouldn't you know? There, swimming around in one of the aquariums, were TATUM and HOLDEN! You don't expect to see your students in an aquarium, but you just never know.

The Lion King was mostly as we remembered it. We had previously seen the show in Tulsa, several years ago, and we have always been intrigued by the puppetry and stage effects. Not only that, but the African rhythms and percussion, the sound and dance numbers, as well as the story are among the best. In fact, it seems The Lion King has been more profitable than any Star Wars or Harry Potter movie.

It was a late night, as we pulled into our driveway at 11pm and didn't get to sleep until midnight. Our hopes of having a day off on Monday for inclement weather were quickly discouraged when the roads were completely dry on our drive home.

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Crystal Bridges: Collaborative Project

3/4/2019

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Our final project with MSSU artist-educator, Amber Mintert, came last Friday with an activity inspired by Nari Ward's We the People 8 ft. x 27 ft. installation at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art (below).

Our own project was collaborative, with all of our classes contributing. Mrs. Mintert rewrote the Preamble to the U.S. Constitution to apply to our classes. They made colorful letters on black paper and then added their own letters to the hallway collection to display the full message.

Our project will be on display for an upcoming Family Night at Cecil Floyd.

Local News Coverage

The Crystal Bridges connection made the local news, although both reports - KSN (below left), and KOAM (below right) coverage - missed the full story of the college/elementary/museum connection, the week-long training teachers took, last summer, at least their stories were positive to our school. I still think the real story should include the children involved, and the students interviewed should have been featured in the story, but the news is their business, and they saw a different angle than I did.

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MumBet

3/3/2019

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Word Wise

civil

freedom

madness

rights

Discussion Quote

Positive Behavior Conversations

Painter Who Survived the Holocaust

Making Everyone's Day

Tim's Place

Liberty's Kids

Freedom

Elizabeth Freeman worked for the Sedgwick family until 1808. When she died in 1829, she was buried in the Sedgwick family plot in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. She lived to be around 85 years. The text of her tombstone is here:

ELIZABETH FREEMAN, also known by the name of MUMBET died Dec. 28th 1829. Her supposed age was 85 Years. She was born a slave and remained a slave for nearly thirty years; She could neither read nor write, yet in her own sphere she had no superior or equal. She neither wasted time nor property. She never violated a trust, nor failed to perform a duty. In every situation of domestic trial, she was the most efficient helper and the tenderest friend. Good mother, farewell.

The King Is Mad

When we say King George was mad, we don't mean he was angry. Even if he was angry, that's not what the word mad means in this context.

The older lady in this video is not angry, but she may be suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's.

Maybe your friend or family member has a similar demeanor to the older lady. Dementia and Alzheimer's affect many of our older population, and perhaps that's what was happening with King George III, as well. What brought George III to this point?

Music Appreciation

Brave

Cool Kids

A Million Dreams

Never Give Up

One Voice

Outcast

They Live in You

This Is Me

What Comes Next?

Civil War

The presence of slavery in the colonies was something of an ongoing issue. The founders of the United States struggled with the issue (as we have seen in previous lessons). In fact, slavery began in 1619, when 19 Africans were brought to the American shoreline and put up for sale. Think about that: 1619. By the 1780s, slavery had been the way of life for more than 160 years. Something that established would be difficult to quell.

The founders struggled with the issue of slavery, and even in the case of Elizabeth "Mumbet" Freeman, it was a difficult fight. Later, Missouri would be at the central part of the slavery issue when it enters the union as a slave state during the Missouri Compromise. Controversy struck again with the Dred Scott Decision in 1857.

Then, fully 240 years removed from those initial 19 slaves, and slavery was still the way of life (mostly in the southern states). The United States had grown immensely and was still growing when Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th president. Almost immediately, war erupted. The Civil War, or the War between the States, was fought for a number of reasons, but at the forefront was the issue of slavery. Southern States wanted to form their own country and tried to separate themselves from the northern states, but Lincoln refused to allow that to happen.

While the Civil War is something you will learn more about later in your schooling, let us pause, today, to learn just a bit about it. It is important to understand the timeline and the context of the individual parts of history in order to determine successes and failures of the decisions that were made on the way.

When the war was over, slavery in the intact United States was abolished. The slaves were free, but everything that Lincoln and his allies fought for fell short of equality. All men are created equal was still the mantra, but it was still far from reality.

Civil Rights

It's time to fast forward 100 more years to the 1960s. Martin Luther King Jr. was just one of a number of Civil Rights leaders who worked for equality for blacks in America.

Positive Behavior Conversation

Silent Beats

African-Americans were free from the chains of slavery, yes, but they still could not drink from the same water fountains, eat at the same restaurants, sit in the same seats, or attend the same schools as white people. Their votes in elections still did not count for as much either, and they endured countless derogatory names and stereotypes. If all men are created equal, then where was the equality?

President Lyndon Johnson, the 36th president of the United States, was finally, politically forced to sign the Civil Rights Act into Law in 1964. Most fourth graders in our part of the world fail to understand what this meant to minorities in our country. Nor do they understand the sacrifice made by Martin Luther King Jr. and his contemporaries for the cause. Those people, like all people, certainly had their flaws, but they also had a singular vision of equality in the United States.

Civil Discussion

Where does this leave us in the U.S. today, now 400 years since the first slaves were sold and bought? Have things improved since the days of MLK? Have things gotten worse? While traditional slavery is a thing of the past in our country, and while people have equal rights regardless of race, gender, etc., racial tensions still run high in some areas. Racism still affects our society. Assumptions about people because of skin color are still unavoidable. What is the answer? Can it be fixed, or will we always live with disharmony?

Many who speak out about the issue do so with hatred in their voices to the point that we often wonder if civil discourse is even possible. What are some ways to talk about the issue without being offensive or hateful ourselves?

While We're on the Subject

The discussion of race, freedom, and equality is complicated. To learn more check these Wonders:

What Is a Civil Right?
What Was the Gettysburg Address?
Who Was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.?

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"Teaching, Simplified" Episode 8: Music to Inspire Writing

3/2/2019

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I continue to explore the use of music in the regular classroom with this eighth episode of Teaching, Simplified. This time, I'm drawing on my own experience in an elementary classroom, and adapting a lesson that has stuck with me through the years.

We call it Mood Music. In this, I use music to inspire writing, playing an instrumental tune to evoke a scene in the imaginations of my students. During the music, students sketch their scene of what the music makes them think of. After briefly sharing with the rest of the class, they get down to the business of writing their scene in story form. Only then do they re-draw their original sketch, adding details and color as time allows.

It's a simple idea that yields surprising results.

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Word Wise

Mood Music

Art Appreciation

George Washington Intervenes

Be Washington!

Liberty's Kids

George Washington Says Farewell

George Washington Resigns

Art Appreciation

George Washington Retires

Music Appreciation

Local News Coverage

Word Wise

Discussion Quote

Positive Behavior Conversations

Liberty's Kids

Freedom

The King Is Mad

Music Appreciation

Civil War

Civil Rights

Positive Behavior Conversation

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