What is on your wall?

I visit many classrooms everyday and I believe the most under utilized part of the room is the classroom walls. Are the walls in your classroom merely decorations or are they learning opportunities?  Are your walls covered with a theme of decorations bought by you?  Are the walls covered with student artwork, but the artwork is not in anyway a reflection of the current content study?  Why?  Have your walls become vertical hoarder spaces with pictures and posters that reflect years gone by?

We have to take a look at this space.  We need to use the space to provide learning opportunities and tools that our students can daily.  Do you have a word wall?  Is it a Reading word wall?  This too needs to be re-thought!  Word walls should be visual reminders of learned vocabulary from each content area, there should be Science, Math, Social Studies, Health, Technology and current event words that the students have learned.  By placing all of these words on the wall, we are encouraging their use in conversation.  Repeated use of the words make them part of the student vocabulary on a daily basis, not to mention the positive exposure to these words by students who are learning the language (ELL).

Classroom walls should not be unorganized collections of random materials, they should be organized visual resources that encourage development of vocabulary and promote student engagement and communication.

Check this out...this looks great, don't get me wrong but what educational value does this have?  Notice that almost all of it is not produced by the student...there is no connection between this and the student!

What about this wall?  It busy but it is student friendly. It is aimed at a unit of study.

 Notice this anchor chart....Kindergarten...Teacher and Student cooperative effort.  The students demonstrate meaning through their illustrations!

Here is a clear word wall...I might have made the words larger and easier to read...but notice that it helps develop alphabetical order.

So think about it...are the walls in your classroom additional tools to promote student learning? Are the students looking around your room to get helpful clues to further develop their vocabulary and communication skills?

Are you a Pinterest fan...go check out all of the anchor charts there....you will find amazing ideas.

  

Here is a link to a quick read article about anchor charts too....http://www.vriuvm.org/uncategorized/dropping-anchors-in-our-classrooms/

Let me know your thought!

Happy Teaching,

Wendy

What about homework for the younger students...

Hey again,
So last time I talked about my philosophy of homework and how I assigned homework to the middle school students that I taught.
Today lets talk about the younger grade levels.  Again I think the most important thing that each teacher must do before assigning homework is to develop a philosophy, a reason for assigning homework.  Sometimes schools/administrators require teachers to assign homework...but teachers still must decide what the purpose of the homework is.
Why assign?  One purpose of homework could be to develop fluency and automaticity, this is vital in the math world!  Students need to be able to recall developmentally appropriate facts.  For example kindergarten and first grade students could be assigned dot patterns cards to allow them to subitize numbers. This is a very important skill to be able to visually recognize numbers. Subitizing is a building block of addition, subtraction and multiplication. 1st and 2nd graders could be assigned addition and subtraction basic fact flash cards for home work, while 3rd and 4th graders could use multiplication flash cards.  Teachers should clearly communicate to parents the expectations and different ideas for using flash cards.  For example teachers could assign one or two related facts and parents with students could go through the cards the first time making two piles: "I know it", "I need to work on it".  The parents/students could then find creative ways to only review the "work on it pile".
Another purpose for homework could be to encourage family involvement in math. For this type of homework several grade level teachers could work together to create these assignment. An example of this type of homework might be for each family to choose their favorite meal/dessert and write out the recipe.  The students could record each ingredient and the amount needed.  Then the students could write out a set of step by step directions. (Works great for ELA).  A fun thing to do is to have the parents follow the directions the student has written.  An activity for older students is to take the recipe and determine the needed ingredients if the recipe were doubled, tripled or even halved. Another family math activity could be to record measurements of room sizes and draw rooms using school measures. Family participation is the key to such assignments. Family assignments are not necessarily every night activities.  Grade levels could develop a calendar of activities and help the families develop portfolios of completed projects.
The bottom line....homework needs to have a developmental purpose and should NEVER, NEVER, NEVER be busy work!  If it is not something that you would want your own child to do...then don't assign it!  Keep in mind many parents are stressed by their own work....home should be a safe haven...know your philosophy before you assign anything....
Until next time....
Wendy

Mathematically Speaking

Today I decided to start a blog...something I never really thought I would do...but there are so many things and thoughts that I want to get out there...some of them will be teaching techniques...some will be technology...some will be vocabulary...and yes some will be things that I hope to never see a teacher do in the classroom ever, ever,ever (channeling TSwift) again.

So why create a blog?  I was inspired by my daughter...a very talented and free spirit...a mother to my grandson...and a young wife...she writes a blog.  I have never read her blog (respecting boundaries is important) and she probably won't read mine...well maybe...but she writes a blog with information that she thinks is interesting to young moms!  Like cloth diapers vs disposable and organic baby food vs the jars...She suggested it...but I told her I would have nothing to say...and she said..."Mom if all teachers were like you, then you wouldn't have anything to say...but they are not!"...wow...sometimes we just have to listen to our kids.

So now here is my first entry of my blog...HOMEWORK....this in not a dirty word...however great thought needs to be given to your purpose for assigning homework.  In the math world most of us use homework to have the students practice...but what should they be practicing...something new or something they know?  After over 25 years in the classroom I can tell you that having a clear purpose is essential and your students should know the purpose too.

What works...well there is not magic potion but I can tell you what worked for me...when teaching middle school...(yes I taught and loved teaching middle school)...I made a promise to my students on day one that I would assign no more than 10 problems a night...and they were to always hold me to that number....and trust me middle school students did....why 10....middle school students are busy...this is the time in their lives when they start to explore the outside world and define their niche....middle school students are social...they need time to learn to make connections with people...this is an important aspect of their development...I chose 10 because they would buy into 10...it is not much....the key is that I chose the 10....I took time to evaluate each of the 10 problems...it was not busy work...it gave the students the opportunity to demonstrate their learning...of the 10 problems only 2-3 problems were over new material...I did not want the students to repeat errors and then have to unlearn lessons...2-3 gave them the opportunity to develop an understanding and develop knowledge pathways or questions...I then chose 1-2 questions that really challenged their thinking...these were usually questions that could have many answers or methods to solve....sometimes they required outside help or investigations...they might have to "talk" to their parents, siblings or study buddies...they would have to communicate math...the rest of the problems were foundations...problems that were building blocks to future lessons...assigning homework to middle school students took planning and thought...it took time.

Next time I will tell you about homework and the elementary students.....
Until next time....
Wendy