A Reflection on a WONDERful 2017 School Year

It has been such a WONDERful school year so far! As I reread through my previous Wonder post, it's great to reflect on the year. Not sure if I'm alone on this, but I always come into a new school year super ambitious. Then reality sets in a little bit, and time tends to slip away. I made a "bucket list" of goals, and I didn't complete each piece yet, but it's exciting to see what new ideas have come up, and what adjustments I have made. Here was my bucket list:

My Bucket List:

• Wonder: Certified Kind Classroom Challenge
• Precept Picker
• Mystery Meet Ups
• Classroom Community Service
• Engineering Design Project
• Incorporate Related Nonfiction Text
• Kindness Ambassador

I'm going to start by sharing some of the unplanned twists and turns I took this school year. After hearing discussions from students and learning so much from the NCTE conference, I did some new activities that really helped build community. 

Unplanned Excitement!

Wonder Themed Halloween Costume!

Remember in my last post when I said I only got to dress up as a Wonder themed Halloween costume once?? Well, yet again I fudged the rules! Our theme this year was Emojis....so I DIYed my own Emoji...The kids (and families) loved it! 

A post shared by Lauren Salsinger (@diaryofa21stcenturyteacher) on Oct 31, 2017 at 2:25pm PDT

Wonder Family Movie Night

OK, talk about HIGHLIGHT of the school year so far!! I invited families from my class this year and last to join us for a movie night at a theater nearby. The turnout was incredible! I booked one whole theater (the biggest one) for the class, and it was completely filled. The class was SO excited to be there, and it was so special to have the families see how special the story is, too. AMC made it incredibly easy to plan, too. I literally just booked the room. They waived the fee, and parents paid when they got to the theater!

A post shared by Lauren Salsinger (@diaryofa21stcenturyteacher) on Dec 1, 2017 at 7:11pm PST

Wonder Debates

I have to say, seeing students do this was a proud teacher moment. When I was in a grad school class a couple years ago, I saw this video showing Pinwheel Discussions. I immediately thought that it would be interesting to try something like this with Wonder. The whole idea of it really captivated me, but I had a hard time figuring out how to get fourth graders to do something this rigorous.

It's different from a book club, and in my opinion, more powerful. 

Here's what I did:

• GOAL: STUDENTS lead a discussion to debate/share higher level thinking about the text: (ie. how their characters would respond in different situations, themes, etc) 
• They have to empathize with the characters,  infer & provide evidence to support their thinking, build on others' ideas, respectfully communicate with one another
• Students were assigned a role: Discussion Director or Character (Auggie, Mrs. Pullman, or Via)
• Discussion Directors had to generate and ask questions to keep the conversation going. They worked as facilitators, ensuring each student gets a voice and that each student is providing evidence to support their thinking. 
• Characters had to become experts on a certain perspective. They had to do research beforehand, analyzing character traits and providing evidence to support thinking. 

What do I LOVE about this activity? 

• Students ran the show. Literally, I just facilitated. 
• It required students to think on their feet! 
• It gave students a voice! 
• They felt accountable. Each student took their role incredibly seriously! 
• Students were ENGAGED!! Every. Single. Student. BEGGED me to do the activity again, and had ideas of what they wanted to debate.

I'm SO sad I don't have any pictures or videos of this. I was observed for this lesson, so I didn't want to be recording the whole time. Not to toot my own horn, but my principal really loved the lesson, too.

COMMENT BELOW IF YOU'D LIKE TO HEAR MORE ABOUT HOW I IMPLEMENTED THIS, MORE ABOUT WHAT THEY DISCUSSED, AND WHAT I PLAN TO DO NEXT WITH DEBATES! 

"What's Your Story" Themed Literacy

With our Personal Narrative unit, I kind of had a "What's Your Story" theme to it (again, THANK YOU to my Advanced Learning Facilitator for helping my students with this so much). We watched a TED Talk, inferred from pictures from Humans of New York, and Skyped with a real-life Auggie! The whole idea is that everyone has a story that should be heard. Naturally humans tend to "write stories" for others, but that can lead to judgement and misunderstanding. Through this we discussed the power of sharing our stories, our perspectives, and taking risks when writing. The discussion we had, and the content of the stories was really incredible. I will absolutely be doing this again! 

COMMENT BELOW IF YOU'D LIKE TO HEAR MORE ABOUT HOW I IMPLEMENTED THIS!

Bucket List Reflection

Wonder: Certified Kind Classroom Challenge

The class has really enjoyed the different components of this. We designed shirts, and have been doing the kindness jar since day 1! Unfortunately we didn't win any of the contests yet, but it has been fun to be a part of such a special community.

Precept Picker

This has been a meaningful part of our weekly class meetings. What I love most about this is that it is a subtle way to give all students a voice. I love seeing what each student picks each week. If students finish early or if there's ever any down time, classmates get to post responses to the quotes. I look forward to seeing how their responses grow over the course of the year.

A post shared by Lauren Salsinger (@diaryofa21stcenturyteacher) on Nov 15, 2017 at 7:08pm PST

Wonder Mystery Meet Up

If you read my last post, one of my goals was to start doing mystery meet ups. So far we have connected with classrooms in 6 different states! Students are really eager to take on this challenge, and I love seeing how they work together! We've made so much growth with communication since our first Mystery Meet Up!

A post shared by Lauren Salsinger (@diaryofa21stcenturyteacher) on Sep 7, 2017 at 8:43pm PDT

Classroom Community Service

I have not yet dabbled in this piece. Again, I struggle with asking families for money. Does anyone have any suggestions? I DID get this idea from the Facebook Wonder group:

For our Kindness Wonder Jar, instead of using marbles for each act of kindness, we use pennies. When we fill the jar with pennies, we pick an organization to donate to!

Engineering Design Project & Incorporate Related Nonfiction Text

After collaborating with our school's Advanced Learning Facilitator, she made some good points about students designing for the engineering design project...Their designs will probably be more thoughtful if they build their background knowledge on peoples' differences. I plan to do the design project at the end of the year now, and have been building their background knowledge throughout the year. I did an "empathy" themed guided reading week where students did activities that helped them empathize with people who have differences. We then read Nonfiction articles about adaptive technology. Here's a collaborative anchor chart we made. Does anyone have any other resources to help students empathize?  

A post shared by Lauren Salsinger (@diaryofa21stcenturyteacher) on Nov 29, 2017 at 5:43pm PST

Kindness Ambassador

I'd love to improve with this. Right now our school is doing a kindness challenge, so the kindness ambassadors have been the ones to remind the class of the weekly kindness challenge. They also keep an eye out for students who haven't been recognized for being "Wonderful" and write Wonderful Student cards for them (see previous post). Does anyone have any other ideas of ways to utilize kindness ambassadors best?

On a Different Note...

I'm working on some new TPT products. I made some Valentines (or really anytime "greeting cards")  for students. More to come, but here's a start!

 Valentine Variety Pack - Style 1

Valentines that are Out of This World! 

TPT Bucket List: 

• MORE Valentine styles
• Wonder Brag Tags

Any Requests?? Comment below!

Looking Forward To...

• Reading my students' Wonder chapters!! They're due this week, and they were SO excited to get creative with this project!! 
• Engineering Project
• More debating!!!  

Teacher Hack: Easy Way to Get FREE Clipart for REUSE!

I've really enjoyed my experience with Teachers Pay Teachers, and have been pleasantly surprised with how successful my sales have been. Ever since, I've been convincing any teacher who will listen to start an account on Teachers Pay Teachers. 

The most common excuse not to was, "I use a lot of clipart, and I'm nervous about Copyright infringement!" And, "I don't want to pay for images." 

Fear not my fellow cheapskate teachers! I, too, am not a fan on spending money to make activities that will hopefully sell...unless it's REALLYYYY CUTE. Then I'll buy it. 

 This trick just takes a minute: 

1. Go to Google Images and type in the image you'd like to search
2. Click "Search Tools" 
3. Select "Usage Rights" once the menu drops down
4. Choose "Labeled for Reuse"

Obviously, this limits your search, thus limiting the cuteness of the clipart, but sometimes you'll find a gem. For me, this is a guilt free method if I need to add a little somethin' somethin' to a worksheet. 

It's so easy that I started to have my students do this. I stress the importance of citing sources and not breaking any copyright infringement. Any time they publish something online, I make sure they filter out any images not labeled for reuse. 

10 Ways to Start Out the First Week of School...Like a 21st Century Teacher!

Common Core, Habits of Mind, and the Charlotte Danielson framework have a large focus on student-driven learning. Here are ten ways to have your students own their learning from Day One!

1. Allow students to organize the classroom library.
•  For all you OCD teachers out there, this isn't as scary as it sounds! When I have students organize the library, I introduce three jobs: Macho Men/Women, Label Masters, and Organizers. The Macho Men/Women carry the bins of books from one place to another. They need to communicate with both the Label Masters and the Organizers to figure out where the books go. The Label Masters identify categories of books and label them for other students. The Organizers sift through all of the books and put them into categories. All of the students tend to be Organizers at some point or another. I don't assign them roles, and I don't expect them to stay with one role the entire time. I simply explain the roles and give students free reign. What are the benefits to this activity? You can see the students who take on leadership roles, and those who need help. It is clear which students work well together, and ones who do not. Students get to see all of the books in the library and find books that interest them. Most importantly -- it gets students excited about reading! 
2. Assist students in creating an online portfolio to document student learning. 
• Allow each student in the class to create an online portfolio to document their work. This can be in the form of a blog with regular updates, or a website with links and pictures of projects completed by the student. Play around with what website you want to host this on. Two great options include Google and Weebly. Last year I used Weebly, but I think I'm going to switch to Google this year. As a first week of school activity, I start out with having students do an about me page so they can familiarize themselves with the program. What are the benefits to this activity? It allows for great student-parent-teacher communication. This is evidence of all the great things you and your students are doing in the classroom!  
3. Introduce a Help Wanted board. 
• I used a help wanted board for a student-driven project last year, but there's no reason it can't be used from day one. Simply put a sign that says, "HELP WANTED," on an easily accessible bulletin board. Designate one color post it or notecard for questions and another color for answers or suggestions. Designate appropriate times for students to access the Help Wanted board, and allow them to use each other as a resource. Make it as focused or as vague as you want. This could be help in a specific subject, random quandaries, tech questions, book recommendations, or all of the above! If technology is easily accessible, consider adding an online Help Wanted board. Padlet would be a great website to host a Help Wanted board. What are the benefits to this activity? It helps create an environment where students are dependent on each other. This promotes curiosity! It helps meet the needs of students in another way! This provides opportunities for students of all levels to help one another.  Make the interactive bulletin board instantly by downloading the FREEBIE from my TPT Store! 
4. Designate TECHsperts (or other experts). 
• Embrace students' strengths by allowing them to complete an expert application. The application should require students to reflect on traits and qualities they possess that make them reliable resources for students. I make this optional. Select the student expert, and let students know that this is the initial go-to person in this area of the classroom.  What are the benefits to this? This makes students feel special and needed in the classroom. It gives students a sense of responsibility in the classroom. This embraces all kinds of talents. Enjoy my freebie of a classroom application!
5. Implement the stoplight cup procedure. 
• This is more of a classroom management tool that requires students to reflect on their immediate needs. When students are working in a group or on some sort of student-driven project, provide students with three solo cups -- red, yellow, and green. Red = I need help and can't move foreword without it. Yellow = I need help, but can work on something else in the mean time, it's not urgent, or a classmate might be able to help. Green = I'm working hard! What are the benefits to this procedure? This requires students to reflect on their needs and how the teacher can assist. It encourages students to rely on peers for help. Visually, it's totally manageable for teachers to see which students need help!
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6. Implement a student-led positive reinforcement plan.  
• Students enjoy compliments for good behavior, and being recognized for what they do right. Want to know what they love more? When OTHER students are the ones pointing out these things! Bucket filling is a common positive reinforcement plan, but I put my own spin on it since we were reading the book Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Take a look at it in my TPT Store to download my Wonder by R.J. Palacio Wonderful Student Positive Reinforcement Bundle. What are the benefits to this? It makes students feel good about themselves, and gives all students a chance to stand out. 
7. Write goals with your students, both academic and behavioral...Then REFLECT!
• Holding students responsible for their own learning is extremely important. I incorporate students' goals into their online portfolio. Students reflect each week in their blog as well. Click here for the Weekly Reflection Prompt Freebie. What are the benefits to this activity? Writing and setting goals hold students responsible for their own learning. 
8. Start a class newsletter. 
• Give students choice and freedom to write about the classroom happenings. Be sure each student is assigned a role (ie. editor, advice column, math report, reading report, book review, PE sports report, etc.) Rotate roles and publish the newspaper weekly, biweekly, or monthly. Switch up the roles each time so students get a chance to write something new, and get creative with topics! What are the benefits to this activity? This keeps parent-teacher-student communication open. It takes less time on the teacher's end (crafting newsletters can be extremely time-consuming). Students are able to practice writing skills in an authentic way. This allows students to be reflective of what they are learning. 
9. Write classroom rules and expectations together. 
• Create an anchor chart (or something along those lines) and provide students with post-its. Brainstorm expectations of the classroom. To guide students a little more, I make these anchor charts very focused, here are some examples: "What Reading Looks Like," "When to Use a [insert volume] Voice," "What I am Doing vs. What the Teacher is Doing." What are the benefits to this activity? This allows students to be reflective of what their expectations are. It allows students to feel as if they are part of the classroom community. Students are held responsible for their actions.
10. Partake in a collaborative technology project. 

• Use this as a way to familiarize your students with technology. Provide students with a task, such as creating a How-To of classroom procedures or informative posters for the classroom, and allow students to work together in a group to complete the task. Challenge your students to problem-solve with technology by not allowing them to use a voice! I'd use Google Drive to do this activity. Any Wiki would do, though! What are the benefits to this activity? This allows students to experiment with technology and rely on others for assistance. 

Click here to see how the Danielson framework and Common Core Standards align.