Intentional Inspiration in a Concrete Way

 How do we make Intentional Inspiration a reality in our classroom?  Read on:

1.        Engage- Find a meaningful way to reach your learners.  Identify colors, symbols, and a motto that supports the yearlong learning theme.  Allow this inspirational concept to reach learners from all avenues.  Use this theme to connect learners’ thinking and experiences across the content areas.  Infusing a foundational concept that motivates students to rise to the occasion will make an incredible difference and establish the tone within your learning community.

 For example, we have chosen to use trees as a metaphor for our students’ growth this year. We have decorated our classroom with blue, green, and brown tones to create a calm and homey feel. Our classroom motto of “Work Hard, Be Courageous, Celebrate Growth” is a direct link to our collective growth mindset. There is also a large banner on the wall outside our classroom that states: “Learning is Growing!” Working with this idea, as we each measure our own growth toward our personal goals this year, we will constantly make connections to our self as a seed planted into our classroom environment, being nurtured each and every day during the learning process. Our students are not only focused on their own personal achievement, but rather the entire forest of learners.

2.       Connect- Meet your students where they are.   Take the time to get to know each individual.  An understanding of their academic strengths and challenges should be balanced with a knowledge base regarding their personalities and interests.  Consider specific entry points that will capture their attention and allow them to make authentic personal connections to the classroom community’s learning theme.  Establish a daily routine with significant rituals that build camaraderie and celebrate the diversity within the Student Learning Community.

 Each morning we meet our students in the CC, the Community Center, of our classroom.  This is the space where students come together as learners to partake in daily rituals.  Each morning starts with a Brain Breakfast. As each child enters the CC and meets with their peers, they are focusing their brains on thinking critically and creatively with a prompt that varies from quotes to poems, to songs or pieces of art, but always links in some way to our process of learning, communication and infusion of information.  Here, students take time to reflect and connect to the prompt, then turn to discuss with a partner before sharing with the whole group. This ritual is so natural and welcoming to our students that they often suggest quotes and create art to inspire future Brain Breakfast prompts.  Each discussion allows the students the opportunity to share their creative thinking, to make connections to like and unlike concepts, and also to be heard, appreciated and supported by the community.

3.       Personalize- Allow the environment to rise up and greet your students each day.  This space should be their home away from home, truly providing a comfort in resources that will meet their personal needs.  A foundation should be established for the development of independence by way of individual goals.  Each child should have a personal map to guide them along the path of their learning journey.  Daily experiences should motivate them to celebrate their strengths and attack challenges.   Above all, your students should deeply feel and believe in your promise of providing them a personalized learning experience. 

Celina and I believe in a Students First approach, where the classroom goals and expectations are centered on meeting students where they are, providing what they need to move forward with success.  This means we have created a classroom that celebrates individual strengths and differences, which develops a disposition within our students of self-direction with their learning.  Students set goals around their own needs and access a variety of resources suited to their own learning style and level of understanding in order to build on their knowledge base. While goals may be similar between students, the ways in which they need to gain that information are entirely unique to each child. Large and lofty standards and essential questions are often posted to expand the sense of direction and possibility within our classroom, and to connect student learning to the larger purpose of collective understanding. Daily experiences within our classroom encourage students to share and relate to their peers, learning from them and teaching as necessary. Around our classroom displays of their artwork add color to our room, rather than commercial posters or pre-printed materials, so that students see they are valued.  They are the reason we are here!

4.       Empower-  Embed the 5 strategies of choice, reflection, self-assessment, students as teachers, and voice in all aspects our your daily routine.  Inspire students by allowing dependable rituals to exist, but ones in which their thinking is stretched and enlightened by engaging processes.  Provide unlimited opportunities for students to take charge of their own learning and design plans and activities that help them reach their own goals. 

Students must feel that they direct the learning process, which is essential to independence.  Celina and I guide rather than direct.  We know that the best learning comes from finding the information on one’s own, connecting to prior knowledge (which is different for each child) and being actively engaged from the beginning to the end.  By enabling our students to choose their resources, goals and learning path, they are empowered to "own" the learning. Routine reflection helps our students to learn from each other and be critical thinkers of their own process. Self-assessment keeps students accountable to their personal goals and active in their responsibility as a learner within our community. Students take a dynamic and engaged role when they have the chance to teach their peers and community members about what they are learning.  They use their voice in positive ways to expand the knowledge of others and to be recognized and included in the community. Lifelong learning is a process of empowerment, but the seeds of it start now with the learning experiences students experience when they are young.

5.       Believe-  Take a step back, genuinely let go, and believe.  They will ultimately rise to the occasion when they have been inspired to be themselves, and when a solid platform has been built to allow them to stand strong.  A real sense of trust develops when you have provided a variety of resources, and then you allow those options to be accessed with their own discretion during the learning process.  A huge part of trust is when students know you are there to catch them when they fall.  So step out of their way, but do so with your arms wide open. 

It is often said that high expectations provide top-notch results and elementary classrooms are no exception.  When children feel that their unique needs and styles are allowed and appreciated they can begin to find their own true voice and move forward with confidence.  This required Celina and I to step away from the traditional model of teaching we had used in the past.  No longer are we the fount of knowledge within our room.  We became the “active guides at the sides”, encouraging and cheering our students on to greater levels of trust within themselves as learners. Our classroom is often a busy hive of chatter as our students are continually communicating and challenging each other to grow. Students are thinking critically about what they are learning, their approaches to accessing information, and their direction in terms of the overarching standards and essential questions. They think creatively in ways to solve problems, connect their understanding and showcase what they know. They collaborate constantly, from teaching each other, working in groups, creating team projects or supporting each other in learning. 

 Intentional Inspiration is possible in all classrooms, and essential for the future of our students. Learning is not a passive activity but one of true engagement.  We do our students a disservice if we ignore or snuff out their genuine curiosity about themselves and their world.  Why work against the tide?  Why not create an environment that generates excitement, ownership, enthusiasm and ideas?  The world of their future will not need a herd of drones who can only recite but not think. Why not engage in students being teachers, reflecting, sharing their voice, assessing their own level of understanding and making choices about their learning?  Information in today's world is constantly evolving, and students must be adaptable, reflective and motivated to keep up with the everchanging world around them. Why not develop students who feel connected, valued, appreciated and heard?  Don't we want that for ourselves as well? Isn't that the true measure of community? Why not build confidence and self-direction, passion for learning and capacity for self-determination?  The students of today will experience a world we cannot begin to imagine and we fail them if we do not help them to be critical thinkers, reflective observers and active participants in gaining knowledge. Why not inspire them now?  ~Ann

 

 

 

 

Inspire the Whole Child

Establishing a thriving learning environment is instrumental in students obtaining personal success.  We must be strategic in how we develop our classroom communities at the beginning of a new school year.   The setting must support the whole child, adapting to the needs of the group as everyone settles in for the yearlong learning journey.    The environment must specifically be designed to support the health and safety of our students, strengthening the emotional well-being of each individual.  While providing an atmosphere that supports learning endeavors from every angle, students can be offered many opportunities to be truly engaged and challenged. 

But how do we guarantee that we WILL develop a solid foundation that supports the whole child?

I recommend intentional inspiration:

Brain Books: Everything but the Kitchen Sink

So you may be wondering, what all goes into a Brain Book anyway? To that wewould reply: almost EVERYTHING we do finds its way intothe Brain Books of our students. In the past Celina and I had both used journals,logs, folders, workbooks and teacher created notebooks for students, and likeCelina said it often became an organizational nightmare when a student wastrying to access the item he or she needed among the many!  So much of the work was created and directedby us, the teachers, and often we were the ones running around trying to findthat one copy or item that a student needed for a lesson.

With Brain Books our students gather all of the elements that they WANT to keep in one specific place.   Theycollect information they want to remember and add to their Brain Books piecesthat show their personal interests and needs. Celina and I believe when information is stuck intheir Brain Books, coupled with the constant daily access/review of this resource, student ownership intensifies.  Brain Books reside as an essential part of learningwithin our classroom.  Here are sample lists of ways students utilize this resource, along with items that end up finding their way into our students' Brain Books:

In Literacy students:

·        Generate summaries, story maps, and questionsabout what they are reading.

·        Create character trait maps and illustrations ofcharacters

·        Record interesting words and phrases

·        Plan out oral presentations, and public serviceannouncements.

·        Research and collect facts, anecdotes and connectionsto other content areas

·        Investigate elements of genre, gatheringessential category markers

·        Frame words in chunks for vocabulary developmentand spelling

·        Design rough draft of stories and collect futurewriting ideas

·        Collaborate with partners in Venn Diagrams andother graphic organizers that they either glue in or draw themselves.

·        Reinforce spelling words, conventions andediting elements through word work activities

In Math students:

·        Calculate problems, explain their thinking andshow their work

·        Develop alternative methods to solving problems

·        Formulate patterns, number sequences and equations

·        Create graphs and charts to collect and reflecton data

·        Draw and define important vocabulary andmathematical terms

·        Model their thinking in concrete and abstractways

·        Prove their attainment of learning goals

In Science and Social Studiesstudents:

·        Generate science experiments using thescientific process

·        Collect and record data

·        Draw and label illustrations of concepts, mapsand content rich vocabulary

·        Write hypotheses statements and conclusions

·        Summarized information from Brain Pop clips,maps and charts
·       Collect health information, including creating sample food pyramids and listing appropriate food choices
·       Illustrate the bones, muscles and tendons of the human body

In the Arts students:

·        Interpret different works of art and recordtheir thinking

·        Plan, sketch, and practice elements of design

·        Create sample compositions in music and record the musical notes

·        Highlight important vocabulary

In the area of assessment students:

·        Maintain target walls and goal sheets

·        Collect evidence of meeting and exceeding goalsand targets

·        Cut and paste samples from assessments in areaswhere they need further study

·        Showcase their learning and reflect on how theyhave made growth

·        Generate test taking strategies and ideas forreducing test pressure

·        Conference with teachers and note resources touse to meet goals

What wealso found too through our Brain Breakfast and Brain Snack activities was that our students usedtheir Brain Books to become highly reflective, creative and innovative thinkers. 

• They collected pieces about their learningstyles, multiple intelligences and Blooms Taxonomy to help them in accessingnew information and sharing what they were learning. 
• They doodled and came up with new ideas onusing color and shading, drawing to explain a concept and even to illustrateabstract thinking. 
• They collectedmotivational quotes and connected them to their own daily practice. 
• They planned future projects, kept lists of ideasand used their Brain Books to share thinking of which they were especiallyproud.  
• They collaborated with peers byoften sharing their own thinking, ideas, writing, pictures and collections ofpersonally meaningful items, often working in partnership to push their viewpointsand development.

But what made the most distinctive impressionon Celina and I was that they wrote their personal goals, dreams and aspirationswithin the pages.  They created newpieces of art and poetry, added pictures of people and events that weresignificant in their lives and connected their learning through a highly metacognitiveprocess.  They truly made their BrainBooks a reflection of themselves as learners and individuals.  Our students surpassed any vision or idea we couldhave had for Brain Books as a tool for learning and turned them into a tool forbeing! 
~ Ann

Our Brain Books: The 10 Essentials

When Brain Books were integrated into our learning environments, we saw a dynamic impact.  Students were empowered by their moment-to-moment interactions in our classrooms, making authentic connections among content areas and within their own lives. Brain Books immediately guided students in the direction of personalization, providing frequent opportunity to connect new learning with past while focusing-in on individual goals and interests.  Students were given the opportunity to attack learning through their own style, consistently applying strategies that worked the best for them to aid in retention.

As Brain Books were intended to be a student-centered tool from the beginning, we were very cognizant of our tendency to “take control” of the resource in a way that matched our personal learning styles and organizational preferences.  We really had to coach each other through the process of “letting go”.  It was very important to us to separate Brain Books from direct instruction and teacher-driven strategies.  Brain Books became a simulation of individual brains learning, so they no longer served the same purpose of a one-size-fits-all journal or notebook.  We didn’t want their Brain Books to be carbon copies of our “model notebook,” instead we wanted individual learning styles and strengths to shine within our diverse learning environments.

In sharing with other colleagues, we have found the following aspects to be imperative in keeping with the authenticity of a truly personalized notebook.  These 10 essentials help Brain Books to remain a student-centered tool, empowering students to take ownership for their learning in a way that best fits them as a learner.

The 10 Essentials

1.      This is a Personal Book:  OF the student, BY the student, FOR the student.

Each and every student’s Brain Book should be completely different, mirroring the students’ individual styles.  Each and every student chooses what goes in their Brain Book, where it goes, and when to expand their book.  Each and every student should see the Brain Book as a necessary

resource for themselves.

Pondering Questions: ·         Is this artifact for me or my students?   Remember the words of Sousa, “The brain that does the work makes the most growth!”   ·         Will engagement increase with a student created resource?

2.      Independent Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences must be known.

Teaching students about each of the styles/intelligences allows them to understand their own personal strengths and challenges within the academic setting, so they approach each learning task with success.

Pondering Questions: ·         Do I promote self-awareness in my students? ·         Am I continuing to do my job teaching all learning styles/intelligences so my students continue to use and benefit from their Brain Books?

3.      Frequent modeling by teachers and students must be used.

For students to understand the potential of the resource modeling must occur, along with intentional teaching around the Brain Book.  Students must also understand the WHY behind Brain Books.  Continuously sharing sample Brain Book pages and possibilities is important.

Pondering Questions:     ·         Do my students understand the importance of a personalized resource? ·         Will my students benefit from creating a resource that is customized each and every day to meet their own learning needs?

4.      Organization by the student is key.

This is really the place where “letting go” was the most difficult for us as teachers.  But honestly WHERE students put information in their Brain Book and WHY they choose to organize it the way they did really doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things.  What matters is that each student has the opportunity to experience, investigate, and understand what works best for their learning style.  Their Brain Book allows them to experience learning from their own perspective, adding to and changing the format of the book as their knowledge increases and connections are made.  By using a personalized organizational style, meaning is connected to the learning.

Pondering Questions: ·         What type of “meaning making” will come from students discovering what organizational practice works best for them? ·         Can independence of thought and purpose be supported by Brain Books?

5.      Open-ended access to Brain Books is necessary.

By permitting open-ended access to this resource, students are allowed to make natural connections, value information individually, and reinforce what they learn over time. The Brain Book is a STUDENT resource, therefore, once classroom expectations are set for the culture and learning environment and students are taught the complete and possible use of a Brain Book, the resource should be seen and valued no matter the time of day.  It is okay for Brain Books to appear during instruction if the information going into them is on topic.  They should stimulate conversations and connections constantly.  Brain Books will be completely different from one another, which is why they should be THE choice resource- students will feel as though their own thinking is relevant, important, recognized, and appreciated.  Thus, assume these books to travel everywhere and always be in the hands/backpacks of their owners!

Pondering Questions: ·         Do I see Brain Books as a resource that encourages metacognition? ·         Do I keep in mind students’ feelings of ownership and value of their own work in order to increase their engagement and purpose in learning?

6.      Brain Books should become a natural resource in the Classroom Community.

This resource should be referred to often in order to review previous learning, make connections, and add relevant information.  Students should also access their Brain Book often as a go-to reference tool.  They will also document their progress, displaying evidence of their learning related to their individual goals.  Reflections will be stored in their personalized notebook to recognize their growth, innovative ideas, and associations.  This resource should also be used to share learning by way of comparing notes, sharing connections, and asking questions.  

Pondering Questions: ·         Is reflection a common process in my classroom? ·         Can I encourage, then in turn trust, my students to use this resource effectively for themselves?

7.      Books should be added as the brain naturally “grows”.

Adding additional notebooks to the original should not be a forced, time oriented, or teacher directed process.  Only a student should decide when another book needs to be bound (duct-taped) to their Brain Book.  The student needs to decide when their own brain needs additional space to work with.  Imagine being given lots of extra space prior to needing it.  For some students it may be overwhelming and cause anxiety to figure out what to do with it.  However, on the flip side, if you restrict a student from expanding their book because you deem it unnecessary it may cause the same effects.  Some brains need to feel as though there is enough storage space for what is to come and like to prepare in advance with 2-3 blank sections.  As we recognize that our brains do not increase in size as we learn, the students love this metaphor and play-on-words of adding notebooks as their brain is filled with knowledge.  It is a visual reminder for them of all they are learning, as well as a celebration of their personal growth. 

Pondering Questions: ·         Am I cognizant of the adage that each child develops at their own pace? ·         Do I believe that Brain Books can assist in recognizing, promoting and celebrating this?

8.      Daily rituals should be used to value the thinking within Brain Books.

In our classroom, we have established 2 rituals for reflective thought and discussion:  One to start our day (Brain Breakfast) and one to end our day (Brain Snack).  Our Brain Breakfast is the brain food we need to get us going in the morning.  Our Brain Snack is the brain food we need to snack on as we head home for the day.  Both involve very strategic prompts/activities/conversation starters that integrate and infuse previous and future learning, along with all content areas.  We also carve in 2-4 additional reflection points throughout the day to allow students to confirm learning, self-assess, and/or make connections. 

Pondering Questions: ·         Do I establish rituals daily for my students to reflect, discuss, and share?  ·         Am I intentional about minimizing teacher talk and maximizing student thinking?

9.      Brain Books should never be scored.

This resource plays a very powerful role in recognizing and appreciating that learning is a process.  When students feel safe and valued, they are more open to “muck around” in the learning process.  Thus, putting a mark on their resource would defeat the purpose.  We have stuck to not scoring, grading, checking-off, or collecting their Brain Books.  The message has been clear that this is a resource for them and not us.  As they bring their books everywhere with them, we often see their documented/gathered thinking first hand.  But they are in control of these moments.  We truly want them to own their learning, especially during the articulation/communication process.  Students should feel the power in exploration of the topic and their journey towards meeting their learning goals.  They should be empowered by their own thinking, allowing them to rise from mistakes and wrong turns along the way.  The purpose of this book is for it to be a resource:  a place to store thinking, connections, new knowledge, private thoughts, goals, dreams.  To put a score on any page would devalue their brain and the personal thinking that is occurring. 

Pondering Questions:                   ·        Am I clear with the message that this book is for them and not me?                   ·         Can I help my students feel comfortable with putting their ideas and thinking in their book because it is for their brain?

10.  Brain Books are a vital component of a student-centered classroom.

Students who believe their teachers really listen and care about what they think results in students being more engaged and invested in their own learning, their classroom, and their school.  Our philosophy is to empower students through frequent choice, reflection, self-assessment, voice, and providing opportunities for them to take on the role of the teacher.  Brain Books facilitate all 5 of these strategies to occur seamlessly within our learning environment.

Pondering Questions: ·         Do I ask my students for feedback regularly?  ·         Am I recognizing Brain Books to be a highly effective way of documenting learning and valuing student thinking?

 

~Celina and Ann

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: