Fast Llamas Witness the Good

Hey Fast Llamas,

Is it just me or is everything that used to be normal seems so extra this year?  Just the fact that it was a Full Moon, Halloween, Daylight Saving Time ending and a new month starting, seemed so much!  I have to change the clocks and the calendar?  UGH!  I don't know, it seems like I wouldn't of even bothered me if this was a "normal" non-Covid-19 year, but, everything feels like it takes more energy.  So when my sweet neighbor texted that she had breakfast tacos for me, I jumped on over next door.  I was just too exhausted from all the clock changing to cook this morning.  In reflecting on this feeling, I do believe it is a perception thing.  I think we are holding tight to everything, waiting for the next shoe to drop, the next new thing to do, another procedural change.  (and even when our procedures change for the GOOD, we still react).   For the month of November, let's make a conscience effort to be more optimistic, more grateful, more thankful, more reflective and more proactive. (Whoa, Tracy, that's a lot!) 

In simpler terms, let's stop and think about the good we have and make plans to change the things we can (or at least reduce the stress they are causing us).

Jim Knight has a strategy called, "Witness to the Good" and just the title alone gives me hope.  The objective for this strategy is to create a positive environment for learning in which constructive student behavior is reinforced and destructive behavior is corrected.  

Let's do a Hattie Check:

This strategy would match with numbers many of the 12 Influences listed above.  While we break down this strategy, come back to the clock above and reflect on where it aligns.  

Two things to consider: First, just because some influences are pretty high in effect size, we shouldn't ignore effect sizes close to .4 (the hinge point).  A lot of time, small reflections of our own orchestration of our interactions with students do have lasting impacts (it's a marathon, there are no quick fixes with students). And second, the word CONSISTENCY is not listed above, so please remember, without it students won't know where they stand and this can lead a chaotic learning environment. 

So, here comes the work on our parts, the reflective and proactive things we do before we see behavior and then our reaction to it.  (because we interact with humans and not robots)

In order to be a witness to the good, teachers are reflective about what students actions they want to see that foster learning.  Teachers strive for a higher ratio of reinforcing this attention compared with correcting it.  If the teacher is constantly only correcting inappropriate behavior, then all the attention unintentionally focuses on it... let's shift it!

"Where attention goes, energy flows"  James Redfield

Let's focus our attention what we WANT to see, putting our energy toward that goal!

Where to get started:

1.  make a list of of behaviors you want to see

2.  make a list of how you will celebrate/praise these behaviors when you see them

3.  make a list of behaviors you are constantly correcting

4.  make a list of how these behaviors will be corrected (first, second, third time)

5.  work on ONE behavior at a time until it is consistently seen the way you want to to see it

6.  commit to saying hello to all students as they enter, especially those you have negative interactions with

7.  seek out positive interactions with students not involved with behavior or academics

8.  find out about things your kids like outside of school (what's the thing they love right now)

9. thank students for good behavior, both academic and behavioral

10.  praise effort (effort creates ability)

11.  remind yourself to praise and set praise goals, (put a number of sticky notes on your desk, each one is a praise reminder, for example, put 7 sticky notes down for 5th period, remove as your praise)

12.  double praise on certain days

13.  vary methods of praise - know what kind of praise your kids like

14. set praise goals based on prompts, like "if someone walks in the room, I will praise two kids"

15. Display student work

16. call, email or mail postcards home describing the "good" (talk to me about postage)

17.  ignore attention seeking behavior by praising those doing right

18. never miss an opportunity to talk to a kid in the hall, in the cafeteria, even if they are not your students

Have a great first week of November! And remember, as Doug Curry would say, "Students will do whatever you ask of them, if they know you love and respect them".  Until next week...

References

For more on this seek out https://www.safeandcivilschools.com/

High-Impact Instruction: A Framework for Great Teaching by Jim Knight (2013)

Using Proactive Strategies to Make Connections with Students

Hey Fast Llamas! 

Last week, we talked about a "learner-friendly culture" and I mentioned "learning maps" as a way increase student and content connections.  Let's take a deep dive with this strategy, in which we use our content to make our learning outcomes, expectations and our clarity of purpose more visible to students.  

A Learning Map is a graphic organizer showing all of the skills and ideas students are to learn in a unit.  Students use learning maps to review, monitor their learning and gain confidence in what they have learned.  Teaching students how to set goals, reflect on their learning and use the feedback they are receiving to improve their learning are all good practices. We are teaching "learning how to learn" principles and it is so good for students. Teachers can use learning maps to ensure clarity which has a high effect size.  

 Here is an example of one for a 7th grade science unit "Biointeractions".  

or here: 

Learning maps can also be drawn like a concept map.  

Why bother?  Learning maps are useful because they provide a visual depiction of a unit that keeps everyone on track and they can be utilized as a study guide as well.  Teachers should devote about 35 minutes at the beginning of a unit to introduce the unit by modeling it with students.  Throughout the unit, teachers and students revisit the map to see how their progress is going, recording new learning as needed.  At the end of the unit, students have built their own study guide.  Learning maps teachers skills in goal writing, note taking, feedback, reflection, and ownership of learning.  It also increases the connections students have to the content and their own learning.  Teachers benefit with reflection of their own clarity of learning targets and goals.  Learning maps are intended take students from point A (the beginning of the unit) to point B (the end of the unit), with interactions with the learning along the journey.  

Tips:

1.  be sure to answer the guiding questions otherwise remove them

2. learning maps are one page only

3. show connections

4. organized with the sequence of the unit

5. revisit Big Ideas often

Lastly, there is a commitment to this concept that needs some "sticktoitness".  We often lose sight of the "why" due to time constraints.  Honestly, I came to Labay in my role 5 years ago, blazing to do these with teachers and students, and time was always an issue. I also can reflect that with the MLD the district provides, these seemed an over abundance of information. I have many learning maps (which I unfortunately called Anchor Charts) that are written and are not being utilized at the moment.  However, after revisiting Jim Knight's work on this strategy, I have come to embrace it once again.  This is definitely a strategy to keep in mind as we move forward this year, as student connections are more important than ever.  Try learning maps... you just might like them!

Creating a Learner-Friendly Culture the Llama Way

Hey Fast Llama's

While I was preparing for my Principal's certification exam, Courtney Farris shared with me a collection of strategies from Jim Knight that were so good, I knew immediately that they would be great additions to the work we do here.  And that I wanted to include them in my blog.

Today we are going to focus on creating or maintaining a "learner-friendly culture". I say "maintain" as well, because this year, because of the fluidity that is our norm, culture building needs to be a focus as new students arrive daily.  We CANNOT assume that these new students to our classrooms will inherit our existing culture by simply living in it.  In the absence of clear, overt teacher led expectations, kids will bring in/create their own.  We must be purposeful in what we want our classroom culture to be and apply the effort it takes to keep it in place.  What are out desired outcomes? And more importantly, do students know them?

By definition, culture the the thing that shapes behavior in our classroom.  We have a prime directive to do everything in our power to create a culture that has a beneficial effect on student learning.  We want to equate positive learning experiences with our content.  That when students think about our class, they think of it in positive ways,

Let's remind ourselves of John Hattie, his work on the effect size of the strategies we use in class really gives us the research driven evidence that the things we do matter.  Classroom management, teacher-student relationships and classroom behaviors all have effect sizes greater than .49.  That means they have an effect greater than one year growth for one years input.

Things you can do that promote productivity, engagement, supportive environment, and respect -

1. promote hard work and celebrate effort

2. promote openness and respect

3. promote kindness - remember, Doug Curry says "kindness changes lives", you show kindness by having neat, non-chaotic environments, with clear routines, procedures, systems and traditions.  

What can you do to promote a learner - friendly culture?

1.  co-create classroom agreements

2. reinforce and celebrate when agreements are being lived

3.  smile and "make their day" often

4.  walk the talk

5. include students in the culture - allow and display their work, pictures and toys they connect with.  Students love novelty!  

6.  frequently and clarify their learning

7. let them talk often about their learning

8. Create Learning Maps - a graphic organizer of the essential knowledge, skills, and big ideas students are to learn.  More on this next week!  Stay tuned!

9. Self-Reflection - take the personal inventory below:

Remember, when students come from chaotic homes, with food insecurity, job insecurity and homes where they don't have consistent resources, like pencils, scissors or markers, they thrive in environments where they know where they stand both emotionally and physically.  So, I am a big fan of consistency and pattern.  Create tradition out of your procedures and systems, and create a "this is how we do it" attitude for your classroom.  Teach, practice and preach these traditions and never assume students (especially) new students will just get them.  They are not amoebas, they can't soak it in through osmosis.  

Let's Talk

 Fast Llama's,

This zombie image made me laugh, because I connect with it, here I am a zombie still wishing everyone a "great day!".  I think everyone shares this emotion, I don't know, I was always tired during the work week, but, it has leveled up significantly lately.  Everyone is feeling it at school... 

But, this meme I found is a good reminder of the hard work and effort we do everyday!

So, when the year began, I questioned myself about incorporating some of the Labay traditions like the "Fast Llama of the Month, formerly known as FLEA", Key of the Month or Teacher Spotlight.  With so much on our plates, it seemed unnecessary to add more.  BUT, then I thought about our why.

-Why nominate and recognize a FLOTM?  Well, it causes reflection on the GOOD things happening at Labay and celebrates our successes.  This was a no brainer (get it? zombies!), we still need to celebrate our wins!  

-Why focus on a Key of Excellence each month?  Character impacts learning and achievement.  We can still teach character to kids, even during this time of dual teaching.  It is as important as ever.  

-Finally, "Teacher Spotlight".  This challenged me most.  Why should we continue to share this tradition with one another?  

Well, it does let us get to know one another a little better. But, importantly it allows us to stop and reflect on things other than school.  This "time-out" gives us some time to reflect on ourselves and what we love and appreciate.  There's lots of research out there about the importance of gratefulness and optimism.  The questions on the Teacher Spotlight questionnaire are designed to give you space to think about things that make you happy, people in your life who are special to you, and the simple joys in life you may be pushing to the side during this time when we are so laser focused on our jobs.  It's the small things in our lives that continue to make us happy.  Though, your answers don't necessarily have to be humorous, when you write things that make people laugh, it is always a good thing.  Laughter is an important part of our lives, group laughter (sharing a laugh) is even better.  I am hoping that this Teacher Spotlight project gives you an opportunity to do just that, time to stop and think about your life and the things that bring you joy and fun!

And speaking of caring for ourselves, I stumbled across the graphic from the "WishingUWell" instagram page I follow.  We talk a lot about students' brains, well, we need to take care of ours too.

Final thoughts? I hope when you receive your Teacher Spotlight questionnaire, you take some "Me" time and fill it out.  It's good for you to stop, think, laugh, reflect, and think about gratitude and optimism.  Looking forward to seeing yours today.

The Testing Effect

 Hey Fast Llamas!

I have been thinking a lot lately about what it is we are doing with distance learning, face-to-face learning and everything in-between.  What is our main objective?  Well, it's learning, whether if is virtually or traditional. More specifically, encoding learning into long term memory.  

We are really good at getting the information into our students heads, and students are very good at "cramming".  Students are super great at short-term learning, but information is easily forgotten and replaced with new information within a short period of time.  What ends up happening is lots and lots of our curriculum is forgotten. What I think is really worth focusing on is the retention of meaningful learning during this time of out of the ordinary learning,  I do believe we can still hold high expectations for student learning by using a simple strategy called "Retrieval Practice".  Student engagement is pretty low right now, so we need to capture students attention quickly and get them to recall information in the time we have with them.  

What I am asking for you to do is change your thinking about thinking.  When we easily recall something to mind right after we have learned it, we think we know it.  However, proof of real learning occurs when the thinking is challenging, hard to do and requires effort.  When our students have to think and think and think, they sometimes feel like they don't know it.  But, when we bring information to mind through EFFORT, guess what, we remember it for longer periods of time.  It's the act of difficulty that actually strengthens the neural pathway.  The more times we get students to practice this, the stronger the connection.  This is real meaningful learning.  

This recalling information to mind takes practice.  Students may feel overwhelmed in the beginning, so chunk the strategy at first, gradually releasing the amount of effort students are required to do.  Then, celebrate the effort!  Also, a good tease of showing the kids "the deep dark secret of learning".  This is always a fun way to introduce a strategy (especially when you tell the class they are your "favorites and only are sharing the secret with "them".) Tell students that the struggle to recall information is good for them, the more and harder the think, the better and stronger the connections.  It is not the speed of recall, but the quantity and quality of the recall.  This is not a "mad-minute" exercise.  The more effortful and challenging the recall the better.  

Here's a quick strategy that gradually releases the risk involved: 1.  have students recall information independently 2.  have students share their recall with a partner 3. share your exemplar

Here are some retrieval practice ideas:

1.  Brain Dumps

2. Short Quizzes

3. Frayer Model and other thinking models

4.  Flash Cards

5. Mind Maps

6. Critical Writes

Here's a great placemat from Kate Jones at www.lovetoteach87.com

Neuroscientists call this strategy, the "testing effect". With the idea that the more we test, the more students recall information.  This builds strong learning memories for our students.  This strategy can increase learning and give you real information about your student learning gaps.

Teaching Character

 Hey Fast Llamas,

This blog is dedicated my former principal (well in a week, I suppose) who is moving up to the high school level.  It is a dream and a goal of hers to lead a high school, and as much as I am going to miss her, you always show up in life as your best self when you root for others success.  But, this week's blog is dedicated to her not because she is leaving, but her legacy that is staying behind.  You see, my principal told me "yes" to the ideas I had about school culture and student learning.  Imagine walking into your principal's office and asking to "train llamas" and hearing "yes"?  She believed in me and that made all of the difference. 

This week at school, we are teaching all of the grade levels the 8 Keys of Excellence and the power of Living Above the Line.  Teaching students how to be good humans is a core value of mine.  We teachers teach more than our content and as Doug Curry (training llama guru) would say, "you GET to teach kids the ways of success".  This is an opportunity to shine a light in a kids life and show them the path to success. Character impacts achievement, so we do well when we teach it and affirm our relationships with students that we are "rooting for their success" in our classes and in life.  This helps build and strengthen feelings of connectedness to school.  This is deep and heavy stuff.  So, you can see why I appreciated my principal giving me the okay to do it.  Tomorrow starts this years journey to excellence and I am so excited.

Hattie talks about Effect Size, the skills that translate to the highest effects are relational... Building positive relationships with students has a direct link to improving good character and preventing bad behavior.  And when students feel safe, supported and have feelings of belonging, their learning increases.  This is a win for character and a win for student learning.  Modeling these principles and exhibiting them on the daily, not only builds relationships but changes lives too.  How many of you can say you had or have someone in your life who believed in you, trusted you, or motivated you? Game changers, my friends.  

Remember an effect size of .4 will give you one years growth for one years imput... which is great, but, what could you do to add some steam to to your classrooms, with the relationships and attitudes of and with your students?  Here are some great examples...

1. Belief 1.62 (in each other and our students)

2. Trust .9 (trust in doing the right thing and bringing your best)

3. Clarity .75 (clear is kind)

4. Motivation .69 (increasing that engagement)

5. Creativity .62 (increasing that engagement)

6. Not labeling .61 (ahh, the power of intention, I see you as a 10!)

7. Setting Goals .59 (intention again)

8. Practice .57 (setting students up for success, through practice)

9. Innovation .55 (increasing engagement)

10. Perception .52 (intention again)

11. Intentionality .50 (being intentional in how we see and perceive each other and our students and being purposely in all we do)

12. Expectations .49 (you know students are capable and it shows)

So, for the next 8 months, following this weeks initial training, we will focus on one Key of Excellence, working into  our lessons and conversations with students.  What a gift this is for students and ultimately ourselves.  

Here's our Schedule:

October - Integrity

November - Failure Leads to Success

December - Speak with Good Purpose

January - This is It

February - Commitment

March - Ownership

April - Flexibility

May - Balance

I am super excited and ready to begin this journey of the "Excellence Effect"!  Seriously, I am giddy! 

For free resources go to 8keys.org

For help on campus, find Tracy Orsak or Percy "Coach Simon" Gilliam

Building Reflective Practices

 Hey Fast Llamas!

Today we are going to talk about building reflective practices in our students.  Teaching students how to learn (metacognitive practices) is a super powerful tool in your students growth as learners.  And, it can be done virtually too.  

As we are getting better more at ease with loading content onto the Schoology platform, we can now move toward those practices that we were using in the classroom that we know helped students become more autonomous learners.

Here are some tips in developing reflective and metacognitive skills:

1.  Learning Maps - This is a great tool to use with students, so that they can see what big ideas they will be learning for the upcoming unit.  A Learning Map is a graphic organizer showing students where they are headed for the next couple of days of learning.  What's great about Learning Maps is their ability for students to make connections to previously learned knowledge.  

• a quality learning map is created with students, is referred to often and finds its way onto the review, and are handwritten on sheet of paper... keep it simple
• learning maps help with recapping information each day because it reviews content studied the previous day
• learning maps help with the closing of the lesson and again a final review of the day's lesson

Here's a Quick Video:

2.  Reflective Practices - We can build this into the lessons with discussion posts, creating activities that allow students to set goals and using reflective worksheets.  

Here is an example of a reflective worksheet  I found online:

3.  Purpose:  This ideas is aligned with learning maps.  We want to show students the "why" of what they are learning.  We want to make sure that we are being purposeful and repetitive in our statements of objective and learning goals.  This can get lost in the virtual world, so we need to be purposeful about it.

Again, as we are getting ahead of the work of putting content onto the Schoology platform, I believe we can start adding in these sorts of activities for students.  Teaching students to set goals, allowing them to see the "Big Picture" of the unit lessons and teaching students reflective practices will improve the level of engagement for students and will increase "Buy-In".  A Win-Win for all involved.

Resource:

http://thecreativeclassroom2013.blogspot.com/2016/12/12daysofchristmasbloghop.html

Jim Knight PlayBook:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tQRHUTcEZyt7FjLasSLLGOQP08mVi4DF/view?ts=5f63d7b5