Compassionate in Spirit

Kindness counts! As I've mentioned it's been a rough winter here and so I decided to do mini-unit focusing on one of the 5 pillars of our mission statement: compassionate in spirit. We are studying folktales from around the world so I tied it into this unit by using two folktales from an anthology called Rhinos and Raspberries: Tales of Tolerance.

The first story was Supriya's Bowl, about a young girl who takes a stand in her community to do a kind thing for the people in her town when no one else was willing to step up. It is a small gesture that makes a big difference in the town. After reading the story the students discussed what the story meant to them and then we watched a video from randomactsofkindness.org. We discussed what a "random act of kindness" is and brainstormed some examples of these. The students were then charged with creating a Pixie presentation showing at least 5 random acts of kindness they'd like to try to do over the next month. I modeled for them what mine would look like and sent them off working.

My example to model for the students.

Once they completed the first page they were then tasked with keeping a digital log in Pixie of random acts of kindness they themselves commit or that they see friends doing. The students created amazing pieces and really thought deeply about their projects. Below are a few pictures from the day.

Students brainstormed a list of good deeds
before working on Pixie.

Example of student's brainstorm list of good deeds.

Example of student's finished page on Pixie. Each slide is
narrated with explanation of why they included each good deed.

Students worked to add their own spin on
Pixie.

Our next project was based on a story called Old Joe and the Carpenter. After reading we discussed the tools needed to build and repair friendships. The assignment for the evening was to create their very own "friendship toolbox". The toolbox could be anything they wanted, but had to contain items and memories that showed what friendship meant to them and times they may have had conflicts that needed resolving with friends. After sharing examples from my own toolbox I sent them home to work overnight on the assignment. The next day the students brought in their toolboxes and shared with their classmates. Each student had their own interpretation of what friendship is and what resulted was a collection of varied and beautiful representations of kindness and compassion.

Students sharing their friendship stories with
classmates.

Student sharing his mementos in his toolbox.

Student's digital toolbox.

Written explanation of the parts of student's
toolbox (pictured to the left).

Don't just teach, do.

We are in the middle of our unit on Africa that crosses both the social studies and language arts curriculum. One particularly challenging, but fun project revolves around folktales. After reading some folktales and studying their elements the students were tasked with writing their own. In particular the students had to create a pourquoi. We started off by brainstorming in our journals questions or musing we had about animals and nature. Some students wondered why there were seven continents, others wondered how the dog got it's bark. From there they got to choose the pourquoi they were most interested in developing into a full story. Starting off the assignment this way allowed the students to direct their own learning. We didn't tell them what they had to write about, it was something that was interesting and important to them, immediately engaging them more deeply in the assignment. Next, we created some graphic organizers (and another) to help them formulate their ideas. Before handing over the materials, we modeled for them with our own stories. One of the greatest lessons I've learned so far in my teaching is that when teaching writing you have to write yourself. Lucy Calkins recommends this as a part of her writer's workshop program. When the students see you writing and doing the work too, it immediately doesn't feel like such a chore. "If Mrs. Biester can do it, so can I!" Not only is it a great teaching tool to show the students that I am not asking them to do anything I wouldn't do myself, but it's a fun and cathartic process to keep yourself engaged. The reason I became a teacher was so that I could be a "perpetual student" and this is just one of the many ways I continue to live that dream.

Fast forward into the writing process, students are beginning to type their stories. They have taken the graphic organizers and begun to flush out a well written folktale that includes all the elements (magic, repetitive language, a moral, etc.) Some students finish in no time and think that they are done, but what we do with the "I'm doners" is teach them how to stretch and grow their writing. Another valuable piece of advice I got this year came from an article 5 Habits of Great Classroom Coaches by Melinda Kolk. This transformed how I approached the editing process with students. Instead of walking through the writing piece and pointing out places that needed improvement I asked them questions. What's a stronger word we could use here? How were the characters feeling during this? This leading questioning forced the students to think more deeply about their writing and see how to turn their story from a good one into a great one. I didn't ever tell them they had to change anything I simply coached them through the editing process so that next time that they write something they may think back to these suggestions and learn how to follow that process on their own. In the end the students produced beautifully written stories that were totally and 100% their own, no teacher doctoring. The stories were then bound in art class into a true published piece. Below are pictures of my very own creation!

Front cover

Inside title page

SPRING IS HERE!

After a long and brutal winter that has put a time crunch on school work and a damper on everyone's spirits we finally got a taste of spring today! The sun was shining and so were the students. After school, two days a week I spend my time in our after school program. I enjoy getting to interact with kids from other classes and grade levels during this time. Today we had an extra long time outside since the weather was beautiful, no one wanted to go inside and work on homework (myself included!!). During this extra time in a less structured setting I had two encounters with students that left me inspired.

The first was with a kindergartener who I know in passing from seeing him around the school. I noticed he was sitting on the blacktop, alone, on this beautiful sunny day with a flurry of action around him. I walked over to where he was and asked if he was alright and got an "I'm okay" from him. I asked him if he would mind if I joined him as he soaked up the beautiful sunshine. After getting no rejection I plopped myself down on the pavement next to him. I asked him questions about his day, his teachers and other small things to try and draw him out. He responded, but was still shy. Suddenly, he asked me if I had seen the movie Monsters U. I, being a huge fan of kid/animated movies, had of course seen and loved the movie. So we talked animatedly about our favorite characters and the parts we thought were funniest or interesting. During the conversation he sat up straighter and became more and more animated and open. After a brief conversation, maybe about 10 minutes, he decided that maybe it was a spectacular afternoon after all and after saying his goodbyes got up to go play with some friends from his class that were on the playground nearby. This small interaction came as an inspiration to me after having a conversation with colleagues recently about "kid watching" in social situations and when to step in and how. I took a chance and played it cool, but I think what I learned from it was that sometimes kids may need some space, but sometimes they also just need a kickstart to boost their confidence, someone to just sit down next to them and strike up a conversation and listen to what they have to say in order to brighten their day.

Next, after I had moved on from my discussion of movies I struck up a conversation with one of my own students who was drawing with sidewalk chalk on the blacktop. He had begun to draw a beautiful, intricate and very unique design on the ground. I complimented his handiwork and this started an entire lesson on how this student sees art. He explained to me he doesn't draw animals or people, but visualizes shapes in his head and starts off small with a simple shape like a square or a circle and just continues to build out from there. He talked to me about learning this method from his mother and shared pictures that his dad had created. As he talked and I asked questions about the different tools and materials he used I began to see him in a whole new light. Here, our roles were reversed. He was the teacher and I was the student. Not only did he teach me everything he knows about art, but he taught me so much more about him as an individual than I could have ever seen in the classroom. If ever you have the moment to let a student teach YOU something for a change, take it. It can transform a student into a whole new person who is a confident and creative leader.

So my advice? Go forth and take your kids outside the classroom when the weather permits it, you and the students alike may learn something new and feel an extra bounce in your step because of it!

Collaborative in Action

Here is the blog that my colleague began after our conversation.
The first task posed was for each student to find a math story
in their Spring Break vacation.

A fellow colleague came to me today with the idea to bring blogging into our math classes, but wasn't quite sure how to go about structuring it. I suggested that since the students love to share real life connections they have to math we could use this as an avenue to share this "math moments". We will use a class KidBlog where each week we will pose a topic, for example time or money. The students will then have a week to find a time when they used this math skill to solve a real life problem. We've noticed that students can solve the work and do the math, but when asked to explain their thought process they cannot put it into words. So, not only will this exercise boost the students connection of math to the real world, but it will allow them to practice explaining their thinking when problem solving. We are always looking for new ways to get kids problem solving and this is a fantastic avenue for them since it adds a bit of fun with the new age technology while still practicing important skills. With extensive scaffolding and modeling we hope to begin this after spring break. I can't wait to report back about how the student's are enjoying learning the wonderful world of blogging!

Above is the sample post that I modeled to show the class
how they were to use the site.