The Story of Our Brain Books



Brain Books have become the anchor within our learning environment, for our students as well as us personally.  Ann and I have been excited to share this resource- a good idea that our students made great.  But as we have tried to put the idea in print we have struggled a bit…. Then Ann reminded me again of the great words of Simon Sinek, “People don’t buy WHAT you do, they buy WHY you do it.”  So here is the story of the WHY behind our Brain Books:

In Retrospect: Our Top 10 Essentials

As we requested our students to provide their feedback regarding the school year and highlight the elements that were most important to them, Ann and I also did the same.  As we compared our list to the students’ Top 10, we were honestly not amazed that many concepts overlapped.  Our year was full of learning and inspiration, and the 52 of us truly built this experience together. 

In creating our list, we included all of the things that we desire to carry forward into the next school year as essential aspects of our classroom.  We do teach in a unique situation, as team teachers in a large classroom with 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders together.  However, we view these 10 as fundamental within any learning environment.

Ten Favorites to Celebrate

Image found by BING images HERE                          
The end of the school year brings cheers, smiles, hugs, tears, and laughter in abundance.  It is a time to honor the memories of shared experiences; our classroom community moments built from a strong foundation and trusting relationships. 

Together, Ann and I made a big shift in our practice last summer after we accepted the positions of Multiage Teachers.  With our students we took off on the learning journey, promising one another to WORK HARD each and every day.  We were COURAGEOUS as we approached bumps in the road and supported one another in the face of challenges.  Throughout the year we consistently encouraged each other, taking every opportunity possible to CELEBRATE GROWTH.   And what a year the 52 of us had with this motto guiding our daily learning!!

Incredible Us

Image found here

As we returned to school yesterday from our spring break, we dove into our third and final theme:  SOAR.  Our students began the year working hard building their own unique STRUCTURE for learning and developing a plan of relevant personal goals.  In the winter, they were courageous as they began to BLOOM.  Students were excelling in their goals, and continued to raise the bar for themselves.  Now they are ready to celebrate their growth and SOAR.

Yesterday we began decorating our classroom with inspiration to encourage us all to SOAR.  They worked individually to decorate a star that represented their personal goals and aspirations for the remainder of the school year.  In teams they developed banners for the windows to inspire others in our school community to SOAR.  We reestablished routines and rituals to help us SOAR to success.  And above all, students reevaluated their personal goals to SOAR to new achievements. 

Today our school Social Worker and her amazing Intern came in and shared a beautiful story, “Incredible You”, written by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer.  They share in our desire for students to believe they can SOAR to new heights and celebrate their amazing achievements.  The book explains 10 ways to let your greatness shine through, which was a perfect tie-in to our theme.  As I thought about each of these, I connected them with the overarching philosophies that Ann and I remind each other of daily; the words of wisdom we truly live by.

1.       Share the Good:  Attempt to inspire others, and seek out inspiration around us.

2.       Find What You Love:  Be passionate and never allow fear to guide us. 

3.       You are Filled with Love:  Extend our compassion and empathy to others.

4.       Find a Quiet Place Inside:  Be mindful and find ways to calm our thoughts to process clearly.

5.       Make Today Great:  Live in the moment and treasure the day we are standing in.

6.       Change Your Thoughts to Good:  Recognize the good and presume the best.

7.       Take Care of Yourself:  We must be healthy and happy to support others.

8.       Picture What You Want:  Honor our vision.

9.       Everyone is Special, Especially You:  Take time to celebrate ourselves and our students.

10.   Good Thoughts Give You Energy:  Thrive on positivity, novelty, and humor.

Ann and I model our Building Blocks to Success (Work Hard, Be Courageous, Celebrate Growth) for our students every day, and these 10 ways allowed me to reflect on how even as adults we must allow our greatness to shine through.  As we work hard, courage is necessary to help us celebrate our own personal growth.  We must soak up our moments of greatness and be careful to not minimize the work we have accomplished.  Every goal reached is a stepping stone on our personal journey, and valuing our own personal successes gives us the momentum to keep going through the ups and the downs. 

Ann and I attribute our incredibility to our students.  They inspire us often and give us the courage to keep going each and every day.  They help us believe.   Incredible Me… Incredible You… Incredible Us… 

~Celina

Counting Blessings

A few days ago I posted regarding my busy calendar.  And then the very next morning some unforseen circumstances occured and I suddenly had a free calendar in order to deal with the situations that became priority.  I have now had a few days to think about, consider, and reflect upon the blessings surrounding me. 

Everyone is okay, that was the first blessing I could count.  Life just hit a rocky road with a cloudy future.  I am a very organized person, and luckily fairly flexible, however this giant jolt has made me pause faster than I usually do.  This bumpy path I am now on has allowed me to drive a bit slower and pay attention to what is directly in front of me.  The freeway driving has ceased for a bit as I detour to handle the situations at hand.   

I am so fortunate to be surrounded by so many strong, caring, resilient individuals.  They step in and take over, immediately reacting without question or request.  I could not find success without them by my side and will always treasure the relationships I have with them.  It is difficult to find honest, trustworthy people who lift you up with constant inspiration.  But I have truly been blessed, as I have several in my life.

So, in essence, I put a question out into cyberspace regarding how to handle the incredibly overflowing plate I had before me.  In return, I was provided with time to increase my energy level and focus on the moment.  The decision I made to clear my calendar would not have happened for my own personal needs, but as I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason, I am slowly learning through the week why the universe provided me with extra time.  And so I am counting my blessings and I am thankful for the opportunity to gather my thoughts.

~Celina

Lots on the Agenda

So much on the calendar these next 9 school days:
> 2 after school Trauma Trainings
> Grade level meetings (not sure we can juggle 3 this time though)
> Collaboration with Mentees (amazing conversation with these women!)
> District Committee Meeting(me), Professional training(Ann)
> Team observations to support our math grant
> 3 Team Meetings for student concerns
> Mini Book Club Discussion
> Presentation to a newly forming student ASCD Chapter at a local university

All leading up to a SPRING BREAK! (Which is bound to be full of family, fun, play, books, exercise, travel, and hopefully sun & relaxation...)

Ideas to get us through??? ...so far...
Strategy #1: Coffee in hand!
Strategy #2: Daily exercise to keep energy level up
Strategy #3: Jedi breathing
Others?? What do you do when your agenda is crammed? Inspiration welcome :)

~Celina

Great Expectations

January is a month of kicking off New Year’s resolutions and goals.  In education we are not immune, in fact for many teachers this is the 2nd time in the school year when goals are being set, following the back to school change-ups that occur in September.  Plus January for teachers becomes that time when we can re-evaluate what is working and what isn’t, get a little perspective (and rest) and maybe shake up the status quo.

Oh Perfect Day!

Reading, Writing, Reflecting, Connecting, Researching,
Texting, Blogging, Tweeting, Learning, Growing and
5 hours until I have to be anywhere!  ~Ann

Reflection is the New Enlightenment

Reflection is a process I have only lately come to appreciate.  I know they say don’t live in the past, but to me that is funny since through reflection I feel like I have finally begun to “live in the present”.

How a Multiage Model Made it Possible to Meet 21st Century Goals

Multiage classrooms are not new in the world of education; they have existed from way back into the one room schoolhouse days and open concept schools of the 1970’s. Yet when we accepted the position of teaching a 3-4-5 multiage classroom last year, many questions quickly arose. How would three different grades be served? How could the various ranges in academics and social-emotional needs be handled? Would these students receive the expected district curriculum? Would they be ready for the next grade? Why were we pursuing this idea? Because there would be three different grades within our two rooms it quickly became apparent that the traditional factory model of education was not going to work. A multiage experience is more like what students will face in their adult world, so why was the idea so hard to grasp? Many of the questions had centered on the curriculum and materials that students learn in school. To us though the question was no longer about WHAT to teach, but HOW to teach it? Asking this question led my teaching partner Celina and me down an entirely new path.

Shift #2: Teach Less, Learn More!

Teach Less, Learn More! is the educational framework Singapore developed to meet the demands of the 21st century. This chapter, within 21st Century Skills:  Rethinking How Students Learn, resonated with us because it is necessary and important that we face the reality in which our students and children are living, and it generates the change through the work of PLC teams. The world is a developing place and in order for us to best prepare students we must recognize this reality, rethink what we do and how we do it, and redirect our work into creating a model that engages students effectively. Communication and development within each PLC can make this a reality. Fogarty and Pete (2010) explain, "This vision is the frame and the fuel for the conversation within the school system's PLCs. What begin as ordinary conversations among colleagues evolve into practical missions for school teams" (p. 114). PLC efforts must generate a system wide shift in perspective, a call to action.  Understanding this perspective, the immense collective talent of each PLC team can forge ahead through the 5 R’s of recognize, rethink, redirect, re-engage, and re-envision, thereby regenerating education for the 21st century. Fogarty and Pete (2010) state, “The change process is about evolutionary thinking, not revolutionary thinking, and it all begins with these critical collaborative conversations” (p. 101). So what does it mean to Teach Less, Learn More? Well, read on to view my synthesis of this model:

Partnership

Team teaching partnerships are something like a marriage.  You have to be patient and flexible, kind and appreciative, aware and cooperative in many different situations.  Plus add 50 kids, as opposed to the usual 2.5 per household, and you can really spice things up!  Yet as I reflect on the fact that we are nearly half way through our school year I am amazed at how EASY it has been to teach a 3-4-5 classroom this year thanks to my partnership with Celina.

Our Daily Work is Student Driven...

As Ann and I reflect this weekend, we are continuing to devour literature based on the needs of our students.  Our conferences, thus far, have allowed us to articulate the perspective we have within our Multiage Program, as well as the individualized approach we are using, but also the future path we are projecting to travel through the course of the year.  And I say projecting because the bottom line is our path really is dependent on our students' needs and interests...

Our overarching philosophy continues to be:
STUDENTS first, then STANDARDS, then CURRICULUM/RESOURCES

Throughout conferences so far, students have been sharing personal highlights with their families, and these moments for us are priceless.  Their dialogue was not rehearsed, nor practiced, just purely from the heart.  They spoke of their goals, and each one displayed a unique passion for learning.  And can I say again outloud??-  "...And we are only in November people!!"  :)

Ann and I are thrilled with the milestones we have passed within just a few months; milestones we set for ourselves in developing our program.  What we have found over the course of the past 11 1/2 weeks is that our students (regardless of their academic standing or behavioral record) will rise to ANY occassion set before them, due to the environment we have established with them. We truly spent the first 6 weeks of school building a community: identifying learning styles/intelligences, celebrating uniqueness, exploring emotions, and building relationships.  These areas were discussed and practiced as we built the structure of our community and routines together.  The time spent on these endeavors has truly paid off!

We continue to explore the building blocks within each content area.  Our students prove to us everyday that they want to climb their individual towers, filling in their missing blocks as they go.  They know how to set a goal based on their own standards (individualized target walls), decide what resources they need, devise a plan, and accomplish the task (marking progress on their target walls on the standards-based continuum). They recognize what they know (GOT IT!) and what they don't (NEED IT!) based on their own evidence! It isn't about grades in our classroom community, but what building blocks they need to learn.  And if they have a particular building block, they become an expert within the community (aka "a resource"). 

This philosophy of student-driven learning is not new, but it does take a particular mindset.... to allow the students to be empowered by their learning.... to allow them to grow at them their own pace... to allow them to choose their daily goals/activities/resources... and to teach in a way that meets all learning styles within each whole group episode. We do not claim to be experts (as we are constantly in search of new ideas and strategies to further our own personal growth).  However, we do now how much "letting go" this process/teaching style/philosophy has required.

And just as we were searching and reading today, both of us became absorbed within the words of one teacher's blog... many of you may have already read his powerful statements and thought provoking dialogue.  http://stumpteacher.blogspot.com/ Thank you to Mr. Stumpenhorst! (And another thank you to Mrs. Ripp http://mrspripp.blogspot.com/ for nominating him on your blog, which allowed us to easily connect to his!) We are new to the daily following of blogs, but are really enjoying reading other educators' reflections about their daily work with students.  For Ann and I, finding Josh's words (as well as the numerous comments left by other educators on this path) was a full-circle moment for us....
***And Josh, we are at Phase 4 in general... thank you for putting this journey (mindset) into words! Ideas for moving to Phase 5???

~Celina