3D Graphic Organizer

A basic paper-pencil graphic organizer is a typical to go writing tool.  Let's think beyond typical and expected.  Let's go for different and interactive!

Jenga blocks are one of my must-haves when I work with small groups of students.  Sometimes I use them for sight word practice, other days I use them for a pre-writing graphic organizer.

When you set a pile of blocks on the table, two things happen:

1. You spark curiosity in students
2. Students become actively engaged in the topic

Here is an example of a 3D graphic organizer comparing two stories:

I typically give each student a few blocks to begin. I start by asking, "What was one of the stories we read this week?"  I write down the student's answer on a flag (with older students, I have them write the answer).  The student puts the flag on the block and sets it on the bottom.  As we work through the activity, the students stack the blocks.  

I continue to build wonder and excitement by asking students, "Will we finish before it falls over?" or "How many blocks will we be able to stack?".  I am able to keep them hooked as they never know when it might fall. 

Students reference the block towers as they work on their writing for the day.

Try adding blocks to your next lesson!

Thanks for reading,

Rachel

Erasable Pens = Engaged Writers!

Do you ever have those days when you struggle to get your students excited about writing?

I have found the solution!!!!  Erasable Pens!!!  I am not kidding.  These pens are a game-changer...

I was leading a teacher training and one of the teachers shared how she uses erasable pens to get her students excited about writing.  I figured the pens would smear (like erasable pens of the old days) and I would have a group disappointed students and a pile of illegible papers.  This is not the case.  They erase better than I ever thought possible.  

When I go to coach teachers and they discuss struggling with engagement in writing, I immediately pull out my erasable pens and begin sharing ideas.

Here are a few of the many ways you could use erasable pens:

- Final drafts

- Peer editing

- Partner writing

- Adding pictures to writing

- Note-taking (changing colors for different topics)

- Finding text evidence 

- Emphasizing new vocabulary words

The possibilities are endless! (Just don't use them daily or the novelty will wear off.)

Bottom-line: Students will want to write when you add the element of change.  The moment you tell them to put away their pencils for writing, they will be intrigued as to what will happen next.

Keep them guessing...Keep them engaged!

Thanks for reading,

Rachel

A Must Read: The Wild Card

If you have not read, The Wild Card by Hope and Wade King, I strongly suggest you add it to your Amazon cart and immediately proceed to the checkout.

Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc. has published some of my favorite professional reads.  This is by far my favorite as it directly aligns to my passion and belief on the importance of creativity in education.

This book is filled with ideas and quotes that I have flagged and written down for future use.  However, I decided to narrow them all down to the top ideas I will pass along.

My Top 3 Takeaways:

1.  Creativity is key to engagement

2.  Standards don't determine how you deliver the content

3.  The engagement factor must enhance your content, not detract from it

"Pretty Good"

Today the yellow light next to the happy face meant, "pretty good".  The student said he felt pretty good after his problem-solving session with Mr. Potthoff.  He went on to explain his feelings by stating, "I feel this way because I get a second chance to fix my attitude and behavior."

Let's Talk is proving to be a very helpful for students to not only name their feeling but explain it in detail.  

Let's Talk: Day 1 Implementation

Successful Implementation!

A few students today had problem-solving sessions with Mr. Potthoff.  After working through things, students used the new, "Let's Talk" system to reflect on their feelings.  Mr. Potthoff guided them through a 3-step self-awareness process:

Step 1: Think

Step 2: Name their feeling

Step 3: Explain 

The above picture shows a student in step #2 who said she was happy.  Next she explained she felt this way because she was able to explain what had happened and that Mr. Potthoff was going to help her.  

We are excited to have students use this tool to self-reflect!  We want students to be active participants in their learning, especially during difficult conversations.

Self-Awareness Tool for Students & Admin

Our first project was attached to the wall today!  

Our goal was to create a self-awareness tool for students and administration.  

We focused on two of the Social and Emotional Learning Competencies: 

Self-Awareness and Relationship Skills.

Adults too often assume they know how students are feeling after a problem-solving session.

We want students to have an active role in recognizing and explaining their feelings.

The visuals and tap lights make it interactive for the students.  

This is a great tool to use with English learners.  The visuals and sentence starter

helps to scaffold language.

Here We Go...

We have been talking about starting a blog, getting an Instagram account, and setting up a Twitter account to share our ideas for a few months now.  This weekend we finally jumped in... Head first!

Do we know what we are doing?  Hmmm...Well... Kind of.  Neither of us are super techie, but we can watch a How To Video and fumble our way through it. 

So here we are!  Fumbling but beyond excited we have started.  We conquered Instagram and Twitter and even posted a few things.  Now, it is Google Blogger time.  

Be patient with us as we work out the kinks.  We are proponents of messy learning.  Letting our students experience productive struggle and at times failure in order to have a breakthrough in their learning.  Today, we are practicing what we preach.  We are learning Google Blogger and it is in fact going to be messy for us.