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Dressing the Part

4/15/2019

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Some young citizens dressed in the reproduced clothing from the American Independence Museum in Exeter, New Hampshire, last week.  The costumes and many other replicas from the Revolutionary Era were on loan through the museum's traveling trunk program.
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Quote:  Initiative

4/14/2019

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"You could be good today, but instead you choose tomorrow."

(Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius)
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"Teaching, Simplified" Ep. 14:  10 Reasons I Don't Use Textbooks

4/13/2019

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There has been a handful of teachers who have asked me why I do not use textbooks in my classroom, so I have had to carefully consider my own reasoning in the matter.  The fact is, since that first year of teaching in a second grade classroom to now (almost 30 years later), I have never effectively used textbooks in my classroom, especially in the traditional sense (and not from a lack of trying).  

Of course, I'm not exactly what you would call a traditional teacher.

Here are the first five of ten reasons to consider getting away from that teacher edition.  Stay tuned for Part Two at a later date.
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American Independence Museum Traveling Trunk

4/12/2019

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We worked with a trunk from the American Independence Museum in Exeter, New Hampshire, this week.  Inside the trunk was quite a collection of goodies, allowing for students to see and touch what it was like in America's revolutionary era.  From games to money to clothing from the age, it was great to see the Revolution in 3D.
Students enjoyed experiencing these replica items, this week.
​Photos of these tools in the hands of my fourth graders will be posted on Monday.
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America's Fort

4/11/2019

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I made this one just under the wire.  With an April 1 postmark, my application for the Fort Ticonderoga Teacher Institute will be evaluated for the 2019 summer institute in Fort Ticonderoga, New York.  Ethan Allen and (the pre-traitorous) Benedict Arnold captured this fort in May of 1775, and Henry Knox acquired the all-important cannons from the fort in November of the same year, transporting them for continental use in the Revolution.  One of the requirements of the application is an essay to answer many points.  My offering follows:
By robbing children of relevant historical discussions, we blur our nation’s founding principles.  Yet, tomorrow’s leaders enter my classroom ignorant of their own history.  In today’s educational world, history is often relegated to dusty corners.  While students search to apply lessons of the past, history too often remains hidden.  I pull back the curtain on history for my fourth grade students, bringing it to the forefront in our unique classroom.
       
This year’s topic at Fort Ticonderoga’s teacher institute intrigues me.  Since last summer’s institute at Mount Vernon I have studied more about George Washington’s role in the French and Indian War until I have “medium” knowledge about it.  Additionally, I attended the celebration of Washington’s Presidential Library’s fifth anniversary, sponsored by Mount Vernon, but held at the Truman Library in Independence, Missouri.  Harry Truman’s experiences in World War I captivated my interests, although I have low experience with the subject.
           
We get a magical feeling when we observe and handle primary materials from history.  One of my strengths is recreating that excitement for history in my students, causing them to yearn for more.  As historians, my students collaboratively struggle with material and process.  They actively participate in civilized discussions and disagreements.  They draw conclusions based on physical and inferential evidence.  They are jubilant only when they respectfully dig into difficult topics to successfully unearth innovative solutions.  They gather information, learn from failure, and build systems to serve future generations.
           
Being allowed to stand on the gravel at Fort Ticonderoga, imagine the knock on a door to take the fort, and shut my eyes and envision cannon being removed by Henry Knox can only enhance those magical feelings for both me and for my students.  Observing real artifacts from the era and seeing the view from the walls of the fort will fill us with enchantment and help us understand the connections we still have with “the old French fort”.  I can only imagine the creative ideas I can build after experiencing it so extensively in this summer’s teacher institute.
           
My administrators and peers will attest to the fact that my relationships with students are strong.  I believe in inspiring my students to want to know more and to make connections with every aspect of their school day.  That certainly must include the history of our nation and of the world.  I already lead lessons and activities with my personal experiences with the 1995 terrorist bombing in Oklahoma City, where I taught four miles from the blast, and from the 2011 EF5 tornado that ravaged our hometown and school building in Joplin, Missouri, using objects and stories to bring those more recent aspects of history to life.

I am self-motivated in my own professional development and forward planning, constantly on the lookout for innovative ways to enhance my teaching, spending countless summer hours doing so, every year, documenting and journaling on my website along the way.  Now I want to pepper some activities with materials from America’s Fort.  If I can “tease” students by teaching them that the French and Indian War is the real first world war, they will be motivated to dig into history more and more on their own.

​I want to partner with Fort Ticonderoga for this quest.
Notification about this residency is expected to come in the next few days.
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Book:  Wishtree

4/10/2019

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Wishtree is one of the 12 books on the 2020 Mark Twain Award finalist list.  It has an interesting premise:  the tree tells the story.  I was intrigued when I read previews for the book.
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From Goodreads:
Trees can't tell jokes, but they can certainly tell stories. . 
​

Red is an oak tree who is many rings old. Red is the neighborhood "wishtree"—people write their wishes on pieces of cloth and tie them to Red's branches. Along with her crow friend Bongo and other animals who seek refuge in Red's hollows, this "wishtree" watches over the neighborhood.

You might say Red has seen it all. Until a new family moves in. Not everyone is welcoming, and Red's experiences as a wishtree are more important than ever.
 
I did know what to expect.  I suppose I knew there would be a plot interwoven into what the tree witnessed, but I did not expect a story about accepting the new Muslim neighbors.
The part I enjoyed the most was the ways in which Red's friends, the animals, named themselves.  In this, there was a certain amount of poetry.  Applegate really captured the essence of the various species.

All in all, the story was a pretty simple one, not too complicated and not too deep.  I guess that was the author's intention - to tell a meaningful story in a simple way - although I doubt, in reality, that things could resolve themselves as quickly as this.
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Music Appreciation:  Revolution

4/9/2019

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Students are often called upon
to read "chorally".

​That is, they read together
simultaneously 
as a group.

Repeating this practice assists young readers with reading fluency - the speed, accuracy, and inflection of  oral reading.

Why not, since it's called "choral" reading anyway, actually read the chorus of a song? ​
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Making Connections

4/8/2019

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Benjamin Franklin was a great inventor (the Franklin stove, bifocals, the glass armonica, and more).  Now it's our turn.

What can we create using a few K'Nex pieces and our wits?  Oh yeah, and perhaps with the hardest thing of all - respectful teamwork!
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More Revolutionary Reading

4/7/2019

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I'm continuing to work my way through available books about the founding era of the United States.
​With this latest round of reading, I have read a whopping 27 books related to the historical period in the last year.
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Bunker Hill, written by acclaimed author Nathaniel Philbrick, was a difficult read for me because of the manner in which the author intertwines quotes with narrative.  This was the first Philbrick book I've picked up, and I was more distracted by the syntax and general use of grammatical mechanics.  That's not to say I will never attack another book by the author, but for the time being, there are some authors that I will try out before I do.  Bunker Hill was filled with facts about the events surrounding the famous revolutionary battle, and I did learn more about the city of Boston.  I am intrigued to imagine John Quincy Adams as a child, observing the battle from nearby, and I (as others) wonder at how such an experience might have molded the future president.

The second book is one for intermediate grade children.  Titled The Thrifty Guide to the American Revolution, this book banners a subtitle of A Handbook for Time Travelers.  I've always been a sucker for time travel stories as long as they are told well, but this is not a novel.  The book is set up as if the reader has purchased a tourist package back in time to the Revolution.  Interlaced with humor, the line between silliness and facts is clear, and the book has much to offer for someone who wants to learn.  Some serious topics are approached in a light-hearted manner that doesn't portray the realism of consequences during the founding period, but it's also a welcome relief to laugh once in a while and not take everything so seriously.

I asked for two books for Christmas:  The first, American Crisis, was written by William Fowler Jr.  Bill was the lead scholar during my summer residency at George Washington's Mount Vernon, and I came to greatly appreciate his expert historical knowledge and his presentation skills.  I wish I could imagine his voice, with its thick Boston accent, while reading what he wrote in this volume, but I had to really focus to do so.  In places, the book seemed to get the best of itself, including too many details along the way, and I got lost following all of the side paths.  Still, I can't stay negative when talking about Dr. Fowler.  I have fond memories of his presentations at Mount Vernon, from the centuries-old background to the Revolution, to his debate with an Englishman about the causes and reasons for the Revolution, to his hearty and beautiful and tearful account of General Washington's Newburgh address that likely averted a military coup on Congress.  Fowler has written several books, but I chose this one because it includes Washington's address at the end of his military career.

Finally, I read Astoria, the second of my Christmas book requests.  Astoria is set later in history, in the 1810s.  It is a stretch to include in in a list of books about the revolutionary era, but with Thomas Jefferson as an influential character, I will allow it.  Astoria was the pioneer settlement dreamed of and funded by John Jacob Astor for the purpose of cashing in on newly discovered opportunities for the fur trade.  This comes on the heals of Lewis' and Clark's expedition, and piggybacks on information and maps drawn from their experience.  Where Lewis and Clark only lost one explorer (to appendicitis), Astoria is laden with loss.  From shipwreck at the treacherous Pacific mouth of the river to Native scalpings and other brutalities, from starvation to the heartbreaking loss of an infant born amidst the fray, Astoria saw its share of tragedy.  That's not to mention the corporate competition that sparked infighting and backstabbing along the way.  I went into this account without knowing anything about it.  Peter Stark skillfully tells the story.
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"Teaching, Simplified" Ep. 13:  Comprehension Before Fluency?

4/6/2019

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Is it possible teach comprehension to students who have not yet developed the ability to identify words?  In this episode of Teaching, Simplified, I'll explore the possibility.  Through the use of video, some of those comprehension skills that we traditionally associate with reading can be taught ahead of reading fluency.  My theory is that by teaching the skills with video ahead of word-calling, those struggling, emerging readers will better apply those skills once they attain to appropriate fluency levels.

Episode 13 addresses these ideas and makes suggestions to others who may wish to consider a broader approach to teaching reading.


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Ahoy!

4/5/2019

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After learning about John Paul Jones, we wondered about communicating between ships before radios or other modern signaling devices were available.  Today, there is an international code of flags they can use.  Students used that code to make their initials to display in the classroom.
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Native American Portraits

4/4/2019

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We were talking about Native Americans during the Revolution.  Some allied with the British, and others with the Americans.

So I pulled out some of my old Oklahoma resources, and show the class examples of people from many of the tribes that were forced to settle in that state.  Students reproduced the portraits in pencil sketches.
We're impressed with the final products.  I asked students to "get to know" their assigned individual.  I wanted them to wonder why their hair was fixed in a particular way, where they received their wrinkles, why they were dressed in a certain manner.  We think we appreciate the Native People than we did before this project.
Some of our pencil sketches will be on display at Thursday's family art walk.
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"You Sank My Battleship"

4/3/2019

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We discovered an important and controversial character in John Paul Jones, famous for shouting, "I have not yet begun to fight," even when seemingly defeated in the waters off the coast of England in the 18th century.

What better way to cap off the study than with a game of Battleship! Students had to set up their grid using the words John, Paul, Jones, US, and Yet. They had got to have a little fun while also calling out the letters and numbers on a cartesian grid.

It didn't hurt that they also finally had the opportunity to eat the Cheese Balls they missed for their Positive Behavior Celebration, last Friday.
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Music Appreciation:  Rise Up

4/2/2019

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Students are often called upon
to read "chorally".
That is, they read together
simultaneously as a group.

​
Repeating this practice assists
​young readers with reading fluency -
the speed, accuracy, and inflection
​of  oral reading.


Why not, since it's called "choral" reading anyway, actually read the chorus of a song?
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Crystal Bridges 2019

4/1/2019

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The final portion of our grant with Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art included a field trip.
Last Friday, Cecil Floyd fourth graders embarked on buses for a rainy-day visit to the world-class facility.
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