The Fifth-Grade Perspective: A Day in my Fifth-Grade Classroom

Is my fifth-grade program best supporting all of my students? How does what I do in the fifth-grade fit into the larger puzzle of my school? What should I be doing in my classroom to better prepare my students for the step up to sixth-grade? Are my students happy learning and growing in my classroom?

During the past several weeks, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and reflecting on my pedagogical approach to teaching fifth-grade. What else can I do to grow my fifth-grade program so that it best challenges and supports all students? I’ve done lots of introspective work and plenty of self-doubting recently; however, as I tell my students, negative self-thinking is as contagious as viewing oneself in a positive light. That’s when I started to realize that I only offer one perspective on my teaching. I need more data points on which to ruminate. So, as last week’s blog entry highlighted, I asked my students for feedback. This helped me view my teaching and approach to fifth-grade from the perspective of my students. Things started looking more optimistic. I began to see that my students are happy learning and growing in my classroom. Alright then, so maybe that old adage is true, “We tend to be our own harshest critic.” That’s when I started to think really creatively and outside of the box factory entirely. How can I acquire more information on what happens during the day in my classroom? Without hesitation, I picked up my camera and began snapping photos. I then proceeded to document most of one entire day in my fifth-grade classroom so that I could really assess what is happening. What are my students doing all day long?

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The whiteboard in my classroom contains our daily schedule as well as other pertinent information.

Welcome to Wednesday, May 19 in Mr. Holt’s classroom. As the sun nestled itself into the tranquil blue sky after a long night of rest, my fifth grade classroom began to come alive with activity once again. Our class rats, Taffy and Quartz, rushed to the front of their cage to greet me as I entered the classroom. So cute! While I’d like to think that they do this to welcome me back after missing me all night, I know their true motivation lies in the fact that they know I give them a treat each morning upon entering the room. Rats are so smart!

Taffy is the mostly gray Rat and Quartz is the white and gray one. They are sisters.

Before School

While our school officially opens at 7:30 AM for students, school does not formally begin until 8:30 AM. Despite that fact, a few fifth graders begin to trickle into the classroom soon after 7:30 AM. Although some students arrive early because of their parents’ work schedules, others arrive early to do some school work, play with their friends, or work on the Daily Challenge. I find that many of the fifth graders arrive early each day.

On this particular day, some students arrived early to work on their Mission Space Learning Journey Lab that was due at the end of that week. They worked on finishing their experiments. Other students worked on the Wordly Wednesday Daily Challenge, which had the students creating words using the random letters in the honeycomb. This puzzle comes directly from the awesome New York Times Spelling Bee daily puzzle. The students love the challenge of trying to find more words than me each week while also trying to earn money for the Trading Post, which is a class store of sorts that opens every other Friday in our classroom. The students can use the money they earn from exceeding expectations or completing daily challenges to purchase little trinkets or snacks.

The fact that students like to arrive early even though they don’t have to, leads me to believe that they are happy and enjoy being in our fifth-grade classroom. I make myself available for extra help during this before-school time as well. However, I see the main reason for their early arrival as they like being with their friends, and a few of the students will usually go outside and play on the swings, climb trees, or play various games.

Community

Shortly after 8:30 AM, the entire school community meets outside, behind the school for an all-school meeting of sorts that we call Community. Our amazing headmaster leads these meetings. We begin each meeting with a moment of intention, which is a sort of silent meditation to help us all begin our day in the best frame of mind. Various announcements are also shared during this time. The meeting usually lasts about 10 minutes or so depending on if we need to sign Happy Birthday to a community member. The meeting ends with a student shouting out the day of the week. We all then depart for our separate classrooms.

I like how we begin each day together as a school family. It feels positive and good. Big issues can also be discussed by the headmaster during this time too. Occasionally, he will take time to talk about certain holidays or world happenings during these meetings. It’s a nice way to kick-off each school day.

Morning Meeting

As I’ve learned to see the vital role that social and emotional learning take on in the classroom, I employ many of the practices created by the Responsive Classroom. They wrote one of the first guides on SEL practices before it became a catch-phrase. They teach educators how to create an appropriately, culturally, inclusive, and emotionally responsive classroom. If you haven’t read some of their books or been to one of their training sessions, I highly recommend doing so. Before I sound too much like a digital billboard…

The students sit in their pods for Morning Meeting.

Our day in the fifth-grade classroom begins with Morning Meeting. I start by greeting the students, “Happy good morning wonderful fifth-grade superheroes and welcome to Wednesday, May 19.” At this point in the year, students are generally leading the Morning Meeting, as I want them to take on agency and ownership over what we do in the classroom. On that particular day, the student leader chose an International Greeting, which means that the students greeted each other in a different language. Once everyone was accepted and acknowledged for being uniquely themselves, the student leader then moved into the share for the day: If you could be friends with any famous person, dead or alive, who would you choose and why? Their responses were very interesting, as several of them noted that it would be weird to be friends with an adult. Huh? I didn’t see the question that way, but I like how my students challenge me to think differently. After each student had the opportunity to share their thoughts on the question, we moved into the activity portion of the meeting. The student leader chose The Great Key Hunt for our activity. Before the students arrived, I hid three keys in various places around the room based on where the student leader told me to place them. The students, working together, have to ask YES/NO questions to determine the location of the keys. They cannot ask a question unless everyone in the group agrees on the question. They have 10 minutes to complete the task. While they usually find all of the keys within the allotted time, that was not the class on that Wednesday. They had only found one of the keys in the 10 minutes, mostly because they were not asking the most effective questions. Following the activity, the student leader handed the reigns back over to me for announcements.

During the announcements portion of the meeting, I typically review the schedule and agenda for the day and talk about other important issues and class news. Upon completion of our Morning Meeting, I have the students take a few minutes to take care of their own, personal needs based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory, which states that a person cannot attain focus and enlightenment without addressing their basic needs, prior to moving into Math class.

I like beginning our day with Morning Meeting because it allows us to have some team-building and positive fun together before getting into the rigor of the academic portion of the day. It’s also a great time to discuss issues that are popping up in class. I’ve talked about self-regulation strategies, teamwork, effort, and focus issues during Morning Meeting in the past. It’s a great forum for helping the students learn how to function as a family of learners.

Math

Two students are working on the Date Game using their whiteboard tables.

Math class usually begins with a a bellringer activity of sorts before the main lesson. On that Wednesday, we started with one of my favorite activities the Date Game. For this activity, the students work with a partner to use the numbers in the date to create a working expression or equation that includes all four main algorithms (+, -, x, ➗). The answer must also be from the numbers included in the date. I like this activity because it allows the students to practice applying the Order of Operations. We generally play this game once a week throughout the year.

A student is correcting their work in their Math Textbook.

Following the bellringer activity, the students then move into their assigned work period. I run Math as a very individualized class. The students move at their own pace through the textbook and curriculum. Those students who need to be challenged, were working on multiplying fractions, while those students who need more support and direct-instruction worked through a mini-lesson with me regarding adding and subtracting fractions. The students work at their own pace and learn to be co-teachers, as they need to ask at least one other student before seeking me out for help when they encounter a problem while working.

I like this model of teaching Math, as it allows those students who need to be pushed and challenged to work at their own pace, while those students who need more support can get it from me. This way, I’m not holding anyone back nor preventing anyone from getting what they need to fully comprehend and learn new math concepts.

Snack & Recess

As educators know, students of all ages need time to run around, be social, play, and exercise, which is why we have three recess breaks throughout the day in the fifth grade. The students have plenty of time to eat, drink, and be merry as they process information learned earlier in the day, self-regulate, and burn off their excess energy.

Science or Social Studies

Depending on the day, following our first recess break, we will move into either Science or Social Studies class. On that particular day we had Science class. The students spent the period finishing their Mission Space Learning Journey Lab experiments and lab reports. Everyone worked at their own pace in a very individualized manner. Some students tested their spacecraft to see if they could keep an egg astronaut safe inside during the landing procedure, while others were finalizing their lab reports. It was a very productive work period, as every student finished the testing phase of the project.

I like that I structure the Science units with lots of hands-on projects that involve the use of critical thinking and problem solving skills, as it allows the students to DO Science. While there are direct-instruction lessons led by me sprinkled throughout each unit, I try to make the bulk of every unit about the students DOING Science through the solving of problems. Student engagement is shown to lead to more genuine learning, and so when students are actively engaged in the process of learning, they are the ones DOING the learning.

If students finish their work prior to the end of the period, they have a slew of options to choose from. I have a board that lists Things to Do When Done. They can read, write, work on their homework, practice their keyboarding skills, play Math games, or play board games with a peer. During this Science work period, two students finished their experiments and lab reports before the end of the period, and so they chose to explore and build with our LEGO bricks. Talk about hands-on learning.

Lunch & Recess

The students have a 40-minute block each day in which they eat lunch and then play, work, socialize, or relax. It’s also a great opportunity for the students to get extra help from me or make-up any missed work.

Mindfulness

Following lunch each day, we move into Mindfulness. Usually, during this time we complete a silent meditation of sorts. Earlier in the year, we also used this time to talk about self-regulation strategies, the impact stress and emotions have on our brains and bodies, and other ways we can learn to be present and mindful in every moment. Every Friday we do Yoga during this period. We have also completed guided meditations, Forest Bathing, and outdoor meditations during this Mindfulness block. On that particular day, we completed a 10-minute silent meditation focusing on deep belly breathing so that our brains could effectively file and process everything that happened prior to lunch.

As being mindfully aware of our actions can lead to much success emotionally and socially, I see the benefits of mindfulness as being innumerable. I have seen how my students have grown to be more thoughtful, self-regulated, compassionate, and mindful young people throughout the year because, I believe, I have give them the strategies to be emotionally and socially successful while also providing them with the space to allow their brains to reset during the day. Every class or grade should employ some sort of mindfulness activity daily to best support and help the students to grow emotionally, socially, and academically. We can’t effectively solve problems if we are focusing on a social issue that occurred during lunch. Mindfulness practices teach students how to be in control of their emotions so that genuine learning can take place.

Language Arts

A student working on his keyboarding skills.

Much like in Math, Language Arts generally begins with a bellringer activity as well. On that particular day, class began by having the students practice their keyboarding skills using the online typing program Typing Club. As the students will need to do much more typing as they continue to matriculate through the grades, becoming a faster typist will allow them to better manage their time and accomplish their work in an effective and timely manner. The students learn to utilize Home Row typing skills to build muscle memory in their hands and fingers. I’ve been so impressed with how my students have grown as typists this year. Very few of the students had ever learned any sort of keyboarding skills in the past and so it was a real struggle for many of the students to learn how to use the Home Row keyboarding method of typing. Many of the students are now much faster at typing than they were at the start of the year, as they’ve learned to use this new method of keyboarding.

Following Typing Club, the students then moved into the main work period, during which the students continued peer reviewing the historical fiction stories they had crafted last week. They worked with a partner to receive feedback on their pieces before they worked to revise their stories. They used a worksheet to guide them through this peer review process. The students spent much time reviewing their partner’s work to be sure they could provide them with the most beneficial feedback. It was so cool to watch them work. I felt like a professor in a college Writing Workshop course. They were providing each other with effective and meaningful feedback.

Students peer reviewing with each other.

It was so awesome to see them working towards the goal of being able to help their classmates exceed all of the graded objectives for this writing project. At the start of the year, when the students first peer reviewed with each other, they barely gave each other any feedback. “Oh, this is good,” was about all they said to each other. Through modeling, teaching, and practice, the students have become well-versed in peer reviewing each other’s work. Learning to know that you can rely on others for help and assistance allows people to feel safe, cared for, and supported.

End of Day Clean-Up & Student Conferences

Prior to Closing Circle, the students take 10 minutes to clean, organize, and sanitize their pods, clean the classroom, write the homework in their planners, and pack their belongings. During this time, music is playing, as it is a jovial time of work and celebration. The students take the time to organize their papers and stuff from the day, as they prepare to bring things home with them. It’s also a time in which the students learn to give back to the classroom and help our entire fifth-grade family. They erase the whiteboard and update our countdown sign and calendar.

While the students are busily cleaning and organizing themselves and the classroom, I am conferencing with each student regarding their daily effort. I ask them to reflect on their day as part of the cleanup procedure so that when they come to me for their conference, we can have a meaningful but short chat about their day. I highlight and celebrate their victories and help them see what they need to work on for the next day. They are brief yet powerful meetings that have helped the students to grow and develop throughout the year. It’s another touch-point I have with each student every day to build and foster strong connections and relationships.

Closing Circle

We end each day as we begin it, together as a community of learners. Closing Circle is the tails to one of the many Responsive Classroom coins.

We begin the day with a Morning Meeting and we end the day with a Closing Circle to recognize growth, learning, successes, and areas in need of improvement. Our Closing Circle begins by having each student share based on the daily prompt. As I’m big on gratitude, it generally has something to do with being thankful or grateful. One of my favorite prompts is A³, which asks the students to share an Apology they may owe someone in the class, an Appreciation to someone in the class for something, or an Aspiration for the next day. I like giving the students options while also having them meaningfully reflect on their day.

Following the share, I then provide the students with a preview of the next academic day. I go over the schedule and talk about what we will be doing. I remind students at this time if they need to bring in anything specific for the next day. This way, the students leave the classroom knowing what to expect for the next day and being excited for what is to come.

If time permits, I then open the floor for what we call Student Q & A. Students can bring up topics for discussion or share news or tidbits that they feel the entire class needs to know. They can also ask questions of me about schedule issues or upcoming plans. Last week, a student shared with the class that her family is moving at the end of this school year and so she will not be returning to our school in the fall. While this was difficult for her to share, as she loves being at our school, she felt the need to share this news with our fifth-grade family. I love that we have created such a safe and caring environment in our fifth-grade classroom that students feel comfortable sharing personal information with their classmates. I love all of my fifth graders and I am so fortunate that I get to work with such talented and thoughtful young people on a daily basis. #blessed

Our Closing Circle finishes with me wishing the students a wonderful afternoon and an enjoyable evening. Then, I send them on their way.

Closing Circle is a way to finish the day in a meaningful and reflective manner while helping the students to recognize, celebrate, and accept each other in inclusive and thoughtful ways.

After School

While our school day ends at 3:15 PM, the students have the ability to stay after school as part of our Extended Care Program that the school offers families. They can also stay after school if they need extra help from me or time to work. As last week was host to many due dates for the fifth-grade, I offered Homework Help Sessions after school for the students. The students could stay after school for up at an hour to complete work, finish projects, work on their homework, or receive help or feedback from me. I found these sessions to be very helpful for the students. They used the time wisely and worked diligently to complete their projects and homework. I found these periods to be so useful that I may even continue offering them at times during the last few weeks of school and next year. The students liked that they could finish their homework before even leaving school. They also liked that they could get extra help from me during these times. The families were also very grateful to me for offering them. These sessions were a win-win for all parties involved.

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In reflecting on my fifth-grade program, I now feel much more optimistic and positive about what I have created. The program definitely supports, helps, and challenges all of my students in meaningful and effective ways. My students are happy and love coming to school. They arrive early and stay late because they feel cared for and supported. They are also gaining the skills and knowledge they will need to be successful in sixth grade and beyond. I am confident that I have created the best fifth-grade program for my students, and had I not taken the time to document my day so that I could reflect upon it, I may never have come to this realization. It’s easy to get bogged down by introspection based solely on our own perspective, but when we open our eyes to the many perspectives or stories that make up our life and world, we can then truly see the brilliance and beauty that exists.

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To those readers that made it entirely through this epic blog post, THANK YOU! Also, I’d love your feedback and thoughts. Feel free to leave me comments on this entry. What do you think about my fifth-grade program? Am I missing any components? What else could I be doing to support and challenge ALL of my students? My Twitter handle is @Holteacher. Please jump on and share your thoughts on this week’s entry. And, thanks for reading my weekly rants. While I’m writing for my own self-reflection, it’s hopeful knowing that others are sharing in my struggles and successes.

I Asked for it: Reflecting on Student Feedback

When I was a new teacher, fresh out of college, I thought I knew it all. I just assumed that everything I was doing was right and good for my students. Well, we all know what happens when we assume. Of course, as it turns out, I made a plethora of mistakes in my first few years of teaching. The problem was that I was too embarrassed or proud to ask for help or feedback. I tried to learn from my mistakes on my own, but that only helped me grow so much. It took me about 10 years of teaching and making mistakes to realize that asking for help, guidance, and feedback is a sign of strength. When I started asking my colleagues and students for feedback on my teaching, I became aware of things I didn’t even know I was doing like calling on the same student repeatedly or walking in the same area in the classroom. I also realized the numerous other mistakes I was making that I couldn’t possibly have seen on my own. When I asked for feedback and utilized the suggestions I received, I started to grow as an educator. I then started craving feedback at every turn just to be sure I was doing my best. While we tend to be our harshest critics, we don’t always have the best or most effective solutions to our own problems. The feedback loop is crucial for growth. Our students can’t grow without constant feedback from us as their teachers, and the same goes for us. Teachers can’t improve without feedback. Although it took me a while, I have finally come to the conclusion that I don’t actually know it all.

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This week in the fifth grade, we closed the door on two big units. The students turned in their Mission Space Lab Reports in Science class, their Silk Road Journals in Social Studies, and their Silk Road Historical Fiction Stories in Language Arts. It was an intense week of hard work. As the units wrapped up, I made sure to ask my students for feedback: What did you like about the unit and why, what would you change about this unit if you were the teacher, and what did you learn about the topic or yourself as a student during the unit? While I enjoyed the units and felt like things went well, I know that my perspective is not the only one that matters. So, I asked for some other viewpoints on how our units went.

Silk Road Unit Feedback

The students seemed to like most of phases of this unit equally. They enjoyed creating a character and then imagining life through their character’s eyes, which I had predicted they would enjoy. I’m glad I switched up how I taught this unit from a few years ago so that there was more of a focus on empathy and getting into their character. Here’s some student feedback regarding what they liked about the unit:

• “I liked writing my historical fiction story, because I love to come up with characters and make a fun story about them.”
• “I really enjoyed the card making, and the drawing aspect of it. I really enjoyed visualizing the character and making a backstory. I think you should give us more time though, as I was getting incredibly stressed, even when I had worked on the two assignments extra over the weekend for hours.”
• “I liked making the trading card because, I liked designing my character and how she looked. The historical was very fun, because I like writing and typing stories.”
• “I liked writing my historical fiction piece. I liked that because I learned how to write one (before I thought it was something else) and I had lots of experience writing this story to help me improve on future stories.”

The only suggestions the students had for me on this unit was about the due dates and deadlines. They wanted more time to complete their work. This is the most common piece of feedback I receive from students when asking them what they would improve. They always seem to want more time. The final products they created demonstrated to me that they had plenty of time to work. They crafted detailed and proofread final products. None of their work seemed to suggest that they didn’t have enough time. I did offer Homework Help Sessions after school this week to be sure that I could make myself available for questions, feedback, or proofreading. I also had told the students, at the start of the unit, that I had set up the due dates for this unit a little tighter than normal so that they had practice dealing with the short time they will have to complete work in sixth grade and beyond. While two students suggested that more time would have helped them, I do feel that having to manage multiple tasks at once is a good life skill. Time Management is a very important skill all people need in life. Here’s some student feedback on changes or suggestions for the unit:

• “I would not change anything about this unit, it was great. I learned well, had fun, and it made us think about the due dates in sixth grade.”
• “No, nothing I would want to change about this unit. I like that we get to write the journal at the end and I like how you introduced it.”
• “Giving more time for people who work slowly. Due dates, give those people some time.”

Because I switched up the unit this year and made it an interdisciplinary adventure, I wanted to see what the students’ thoughts were on this change. I was elated that the students all seemed to like how we worked on this unit in both Social Studies and Language Arts classes. I like that I made it an interdisciplinary unit tying Social Studies and Language Arts together. This really helped the students dig deep and do lots of research on the historical time period of the Silk Road. Their stories are chock full of historically accurate facts and details. I loved this aspect of the unit. I will need to keep this in mind for next year when planning my units. Perhaps there are ways that I can create more interdisciplinary units throughout the year. Here’s what the students had to say about this change:

• “I liked it, because then I really got the idea on how the Silk Road worked. Also, how to get better at story writing all at once without too much stress.”
• “I liked how this unit included the silk road in language arts because I really liked learning the about the silk road and it was better doing it in 2 classes”
• “I liked how it worked together because then we would not have to keep information of one more class inside our heads because that could make a person more distracted from there work.”
• “Yes, I did. It was very fun to do; I could remember more because of how much we did the silk road unit. It helped to remember things.”

In summation, the students seemed to thoroughly enjoy this unit. They loved all the writing and research. I will definitely use this unit again next year without changing much, if anything at all.

Mission Space Unit Feedback

The students seemed to really like the choice and freedom that came with this unit. They liked being able to choose their own topics and then research them in a personally engaging manner. They also liked being able to share the knowledge they learned through teaching the class. They liked being able to act like me and walk around the classroom. They really liked using the clicker tool to advance slides in their slideshows. Many of the students also seemed to really like the final Lab Phase that had the students choose a topic and then create a testable question. They liked that they had the freedom to choose the topic and question that they would test. I was pleased to see that they recognized the massive amount of freedom and choice allowed in this unit. I was happy to see that they were so engaged in what they were learning about because they were able to choose their topics. I vastly revised this unit from how I had instructed it over the past two years based on the feedback I received from the students in previous years. I made it far more choice-based, as I had found that the students were not super engaged with every mini-lesson or topic I chose to teach. My changes seemed to have made a very big and positive difference in how the students reacted to this unit. They also seemed to learn a lot more on just a few topics because they had the time to go on Deep Dives into their research topics. Many of the students felt like experts because they had learned so much in engaging ways. Here’s what the students liked about this unit:

• “I enjoyed the lab and teaching phase because it was more my work than just taking notes.”
• “I enjoyed the teaching phase. It was really fun to walk around and be the teacher for once.”
• “I enjoyed the research phase and getting to make a presentation because I learned a lot from my three topics while researching and my presentation was a lot of fun even though it was a lot of work.”
• “I enjoyed all of the phases, but I especially enjoyed the presentation phase. I enjoyed it because I never knew so many things about rockets and I was happy to show them to the class.”
• “I enjoyed this unit because it was very independent. I liked working at my own pace.”
• “I enjoyed the Lab Phase most because of the amount of building creatively and how a lot of the decisions were up to me.”

While I did receive some quality feedback on areas in which I could improve this unit, they were not all focused on one aspect of the unit. They all seemed to notice different features of the unit that I could improve upon, which I found interesting. Only two students said that they would change nothing, as they liked the unit as is. My takeaway from their suggestions are that I need to be a little less restrictive if I recycle this unit next year. I need to provide the students with even more freedom and choice, which makes sense based on their feedback. Shockingly, more time also came up as a suggestion. I do wonder that even if I gave them more time, would they still crave even more? One useful feedback nugget that I think will help me better polish this unit for next year was about the research, lab, and teaching phases. One student suggested that I combine those phases so that the students are researching several topics or questions first, then they choose one that would enable them to create a testable question and conduct an experiment, and then finally they would teach the class all about their topic and lab test. I like this idea, as I feel that the most interesting work was done during the lab phase, which was not presented to the entire class. I will definitely make this change for next year. Here’s what my students had to say about how I could make this unit better:

• “I would make it so that there were some questions in the packet that students could pick through so that it is less stressful for those who have a hard time coming up with questions.”
• “I would have the students do the Lab Phase on whatever topic they wanted instead of what other students had presented on because it felt like my options were limited.”
• “I would change nothing because you did a good job on the unit.”
• “I would change the Teaching Phase so that each student is teaching a different topic.”
• “I would give more freedom on how people want to take notes for the research phase. I say that because some people learn or take notes a different way, and so it would be easier for some students to take notes in a way that works for them instead of having to use the notes map you created for us.”
• “I wouldn’t change anything in this unit because I loved everything that we did.”
• “I would change it so that instead of presenting a slideshow or tri-fold display board to present our research, we could build something like a model rocket to show how they worked, didn’t work, or what we learned from the process. I think the Lab Phase should be part of the research and teaching phase because it’s much more engaging, fun.”
• “There needs to be more work periods in class because work periods are really productive but we didn’t have many of them.”

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I’d like to give a SHOUT-OUT of appreciation to my fifth-grade superheroes for their amazingly detailed and useful feedback, as it will help me to grow and develop as a teacher. My students are caring and compassionate souls, and I am so very proud of the progress they’ve made this year. They have all come so far. As I ask my students to apply the feedback with which I provide them daily, I love being able to model this practice for my students. I want their feedback so that I can improve, as I want them all to do. Without feedback, I’d be like a stagnant pond growing nasty algae all over the place, and nobody wants that.

Self-Reflection: A Magnetic Catalyst for Growth and Learning

I started this blog many moons ago, back in 2013, with one purpose: To reflect on my teaching and learn from my mistakes. Prior to maintaining this weekly blog, my teaching felt stagnant. I found myself making the same mistakes quite frequently. I also felt like I wasn’t developing as a teacher. I wasn’t the best teacher for my students. I realized that if I wanted to grow as an educator, I needed to look back on my teaching, lessons, units, and year and celebrate my successes while trying to figure out what caused things to not go well when they didn’t. Looking back on the teacher I was when I typed my first blog entry, I am shocked that I still had a job in education. I was not a good teacher. I didn’t employ best-teaching practices and I didn’t help my students to grow effectively. I have matured in immense ways as a teacher since December of 2013. I feel that I have transformed into a great teacher because I am always trying to find ways to best support and help each and every one of my students. Because I took the time to reflect on my teaching, daily, back when I worked at the boarding school, the skill of self-reflection became a habit for me. I now take a mental inventory after each lesson: How’d it go? What could I have done better? Did I reach every student? Reflecting and learning from my mistakes is now my way of life as an educator.

So, how’d things go for me this week? Well, aside from feeling as if this week flew by, it felt like a great week.

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My students are totally loving the Silk Road interdisciplinary unit we are working on in Social Studies and Language Arts. They are really getting into their historical fiction stories in Language Arts class. The students are spending their free time outside of class working on their stories because they are having so much fun stepping back into the time of caravans, trading, and silk. One student asked if she could work on her story after school in the back of the classroom. She said, “I’ve already got three pages and I haven’t even gotten to the action yet. I want to make sure I have enough time to describe everything really well.”

I do wonder if I have provided enough instruction on the art of crafting a great historical fiction story. Last week, when I introduced this project, we discussed the elements of good writing by brainstorming a list of ideas on the board. I then explained the elements of historical fiction writing to the students. I reviewed the requirements for their story. My worry is that they are going to fall back into old habits that some of them employed at the start of the year. During our first unit on story writing in September, some of the students struggled to create cohesive and engaging stories. Some of their stories read more like a To-Do List than a story: First this happened, then this happened, and then that happened. They didn’t seem to know how to effectively develop the plot, setting, and characters in their writing. Now, several months and many review lessons on writing later, I do believe that many of my students have become more adept at crafting effective and interesting short stories. I do feel that all of my students are far better writers now than they were at the beginning of the school year because they’ve done so much writing, received effective and meaningful feedback from me and their peers on their writing, and read and listened to many great examples of story writing since September.

Still though, I worry that some of my students are getting caught up in skipping time, not adequately describing the setting and characters in their stories in a way that allows readers to visualize the story. I have emphasized, a few times since we began this story writing project last week, the importance of keeping their stories contained to one or two days and only one event. I told the students, “Your character’s caravan journey from start to finish is the entire novel. You are writing a short story, which is just a snapshot, a tiny snippet of the entire journey. Your story needs to focus on one event, one battle, one trading excursion, or one stop along the Silk Road.” With all of this preparation and set-up, do I have anything to worry about? Should I be concerned that one or two of my students haven’t broken themselves of the elementary way of crafting a story? While most of me heartily believes that my students have changed as writers, their is a small slice of me that worries that I haven’t reached every student, that one student is still writing stories like an IKEA instructional manual. In times like this, I need to trust in my teaching. I need to have faith in my students. I have read brief pieces of several students’ stories and was blown away by the depth at which they are describing the setting, plot, and characters. I have to hold out hope that even if a student fell back into old habits when writing their story, their classmates will catch their mistakes and help them to remedy the situation during the peer revision process.

***Epiphany Time*** As I typed that last sentence, an idea came to me like candy from heaven. I should create a very specific Peer revision worksheet for the students to utilize when we begin peer revising next week. That way, students will be looking to be sure that their partner’s story is contained to and focused on one event in detail. What a brilliant idea, which I never would have had if I hadn’t taken the time to reflect on my teaching. The power of reflection is something special.

***Now, back to our regularly scheduled blog entry*** I am hopeful now that all of my students will have amazing and wonderful stories that showcase their abilities as writers by the end of next week. I can’t wait to read their stories and celebrate their growth and success.

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For Forest Friday this week, I taught the students how to effectively use a compass as a navigational tool and not simply a fun toy to play with because the red thingy in the middle moves around a lot. Because I didn’t fully understand how to utilize a compass, I spent the first part of the week teaching myself. I watched Youtube videos, read a book, and talked to my colleagues. I practiced outside among the pristine hills each morning last week. I put Fred in the Shed, turned dials to particular degrees, and walked in different directions in order to become a compass expert by Friday. Then, came the moment I had spent all week preparing for: Forest Friday.

I felt confident that I could teach all of my students the parts of a compass and how to effectively use a compass to navigate and find specific locations. I began the lesson by asking the students who had ever used a compass in the past. We then discussed why the skill of knowing how to correctly use a compass is still important in this age of portable devices and online mapping programs. “What if your device runs out of battery or you don’t have cellular service? Then how will you know where you are or where to go next?” I asked the students. They seemed to understand the importance of having proper compass-use skills. I then introduced the parts of a compass to the class by having them label a diagram of a compass. This allowed me to point out which specific parts of the compass will be most useful to us during the activity. Then, we watched a brief video that explained how to head in a particular direction and then put Fred in the Shed. We then went outside to practice.

I had the students explore and play around with their compass in their Forest Friday groups for a few minutes. I had them find the cardinal directions from where we were standing and how to head in a certain direction. I walked around and observed each group as they practiced using a compass. I reminded them to put Fred in the Shed by turning their entire body and not just the compass. This seemed to confuse a few students at first. “I have to turn my body and the compass? Oh, I thought I just turned the dial to put Fred in the Shed,” one student said. This practice time gave me the opportunity to work with each group of students. We then got back together as a whole group and discussed which way is North, South, East, and West. They all seemed to understand. I had some students prove to me that they were pointing in the correct direction by using their compass. This helped some students better understand how to use a compass. At that point, I sent the groups off on a wild adventure of sorts. They had to follow commands, using their compass, to find certain locations and end up at the correct final destination. For example: Walk 50 degrees North-East for 64 paces. They then had to describe or list what they were looking at or standing near. Despite some groups having larger or smaller paces than me, every group made it to the finish line correctly. They all proved that they know how to successfully utilize a compass. During the activity one student said, “A previous teacher tried to teach me how to use a compass, but it was just confusing. You made it way better and easier. I totally know how to use a compass now.” Mission: Accomplished. The students felt good when they realized that they had learned a new skill effectively.

I feel that the lesson and activity went in a North-Easterly direction. Because I had effectively learned how to use a compass, I was able to teach the students how to do so very well. They gained confidence and were pleased with themselves. I first let them struggle for a bit and attempt to solve their problems. In many cases, the students, working together, were able to figure out what they were doing wrong without my assistance. Those groups that were unable to solve their compass problem did need my help and more direct instruction. I was able to differentiate the lesson based on the students’ prior knowledge, ability to solve problems, and processing speed. I then engaged the students in a fun scavenger hunt that had them apply the skill of using a compass. I felt that this lesson was a magnetic success. Next week we will review this skill before we move onto learning how to pair a compass with a topographical map.

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Upon reflection, it really was a fantastic week. I can’t wait to see what I will learn and discover about myself and my students next week. Until then, I’ll keep reaching North as I try to figure out why the needle of my compass keeps spinning in circles when I hold it close to my large metal necklace with a polished chunk of Lodestone dangling from it. What is happening?

How Do I Create Engaging Units that Will Motivate my Students and Challenge them to Complete Quality Work?

The passing of time has felt very weird since the start of the Pandemic. It seems as though time is a bit like dark matter, as it doesn’t feel as though it’s adhering to the laws of physics and time. There are days and weeks that seem to pass by in the blink of an eye, and then there are some moments and days that seem to never end. It’s very strange to me, but I suppose it makes sense that I would be experiencing life differently when things are so different. My anxiety and fear are higher than they’ve ever been before, and I have to wear a mask ALL DAY long. The struggles are real. I’m worried about my family, me, and my students constantly. No wonder time seems to be dancing to its own beat.

Although it feels like I just began the academic year with my fifth-grade superheroes, we are only a few weeks away from the conclusion of our time together. Soon, my wonderfully creative and energetic fifth-graders will transform into amazing and magnificent sixth-graders. It’s hard to believe that this first full-year teaching in a pandemic is almost finished, and at the same time, I am so excited about the prospect of things changing for the next school year. There may be vaccines available for our students very soon. Plus, the COVID-19 numbers are on the decrease nation-wide. I’m looking forward to being able to jazz my classroom up again and make it what it once was. I’m also thrilled about the possibility of being able to high-five my students, for real, in the near future. Despite time’s bizarre movement this year, I am feeling hopeful for the future; however, I am firmly focused in the present as I continue to help prepare my phenomenal fifth-graders to become magical sixth-graders.

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I began our final unit of the school year this week in Social Studies, as we jumped minds-first into the Silk Road. When I first taught this unit two years ago, I found that students were incredibly interested and engaged in it because they had very little prior knowledge on the Silk Road. It’s one of those topics that’s often covered in textbooks with a short paragraph or only studied by high schoolers or college students. Rarely is the Silk Road taught in Elementary or Middle Schools. So, my students are again excited to be learning about something which they know very little. They are curious and interested in learning all about the Silk Road.

I began the unit by showing the students a brief TED-ED video on the Silk Road. I wanted them to have a basic understanding of what will be covered during this unit. The video was brief, but highlighted the major concepts and ideas. The Silk Road was the first super-highway on which information, ideas, and goods were bought, sold, and traded. The Silk Road invented international trade before we even had words for such things. I find it fascinating that parts of Europe and Asia and vastly influenced by what happened during the time of the Silk Road. There are many Chinese citizens who practice Islam today because their ancestors brought it back from their journeys on the Silk Road. Amazing!

Following the video, I introduced the project that binds our unit together. This is when the students began to get really excited and engaged. You see, the students will be learning about the Silk Road through the eyes of a realistic, yet fictional character traveling the Silk Road. They will construct their character’s past, present, and future as he or she travels with a caravan along the Silk Road. The students were so enthralled by this way of learning. They began creating their authentic Asian or European characters right away. While some of the students used names from the list I provided them in the unit handout, others challenged themselves and did research on different names. They then began thinking about their character. What would his or her role in the caravan be? Why was he or she traveling on the Silk Road? They also dug into their character’s backstory. Is he or she married or single? Does their character have children? Where do they live?

The students created a Trading Card for their Silk Road character to help them solidify their thoughts and ideas. They had so much fun imagining themselves as their character. I had them use first-person narrative when describing their character on the back of their trading card so that they could further immerse themselves in the history of the Silk Road. The students challenged themselves to complete amazing work for this first phase of the project. They created detailed drawings of their characters and their descriptions were like mini historical fiction stories. I was so impressed by the effort they put into completing their trading cards. Student engagement really helps to motivate students to want to do their best work. When teachers create units, projects, or lessons that excite and engage students, the students then complete amazing work because they are excited and thinking positive about what they are learning.

Here are a few examples of he cards they created in class this week. Some of the students even made use of their free time to laminate their cards. Talk about holding themselves to high standards. Love it!

To capitalize on this excitement and engagement, I used a very specific share for our Closing Circle at the end of our first day of this unit. I had the students respond to the share as though they were their Silk Road character. Their answers had to be based on their characters and the time period in which their character would have lived. The prompt was: Share an Apology, Appreciation, or Aspiration you have from your day on the Silk Road. The students had so much fun getting into their characters and connecting them to their peers. One student shared how he had stolen a tiger from another student’s caravan. Another student created a battle that his caravan had with another student’s caravan. They were laughing and having fun thinking and learning about the Silk Road. At the end of the share, many of the students begged to do a similar type of share in a future Closing Circle. Talk about student engagement and critical thinking. The students were solving problems and thinking like the character they created for this unit. Wow!

The students can’t wait to learn more about the Silk Road, as we dig further into this unit and project. The next phase of this project involves the students learning more about the specifics of the geography and what happened on the Silk Road. What challenges did the caravans face? What items were traded along the Silk Road? How did the Silk Road influence the culture of the many regions and countries involved? Once they have a strong foundation of knowledge regarding the Silk Road, they will then chronicle their character’s journey along the Silk Road in the form of a journal or diary. I can’t wait to see the amazingly creative stories they come up with for this portion of the project.

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I am loving how engaged the students are with this unit. They are excited for Social Studies class, as they are able to learn more about their character and the Silk Road. I am choosing to end the year with this specific unit in Social Studies because I believe it will help the students further develop their critical thinking and empathy skills that they will need to learn even more about other cultures and regions of the world in sixth grade geography next year. I want to be sure that I take advantage of every moment I have left with my students in order to be sure that they are fully prepared and ready for the leap into sixth grade. I am holding on tightly to the human construct of time so that my fifth-grade superheroes will be able to aptly and deftly fly into sixth grade being able to tackle every obstacle, enemy, or task thrown their way.

Rebirth and the Final Lap: Heading into the Final Weeks of this Academic Year

The leaves are popping from their buds as though they are being commanded to spring forth into the month of May; the tulips are in full bloom; and, the ticks are running amok like gamblers in a Vegas Casino. Spring has sprung from the hallowed death of winter’s passing. Rebirth and newness abound like children flocking to an inflatable bouncy house. Changes are being hurled our way at lightning speed. It’s amazing and overwhelming all at once, like trying to guzzle an ice cold soda.

We’ve been living in this Pandemic for over a year now and a vaccine is already available for those brave souls more afraid of dying than having all that fake news injected into them. I had my second shot over a week ago, and I feel amazing, full of vigor, and perhaps a microchip that may be communicating my whereabouts to the government as I type these words. I’m doing my part to help protect the world.

April vacation has ended and school resumes tomorrow. I can’t even begin to fathom the fact that we have only 47 days until our last day of school. Where has all the time gone? Perhaps worrying about living and teaching in a Pandemic transformed my sense of time into some sort of high-speed version of reality. Maybe I’m living in a movie of life like The Truman Show. Regardless, I’m going to make the most of these final weeks with my fifth graders. I’m going to help them gain all of the crucial life, academic, study, social, and emotional skills they will need to be successful next year and beyond. I’m going to jump into each new day with a smile on my face and love in my heart. I’m a teacher; life doesn’t get much better than this. I am blessed, daily, with the opportunity to help the next generation of humans learn how to question the world around them and never settle for “good enough.”

As Teacher Appreciation Week begins tomorrow, my hope is that our country will take this week to celebrate educators and all those who work with children. But, my hope does not end there. After our week of celebration has ended, I want all people to come together and allow teachers and schools to transform education for the better. This Pandemic has showed us just how unequal our public schools are, how broken our system is. We need all Americans to let teachers and schools do their thing, without trying to interfere despite thinking that you know what is best even though you are not an educator or parent. Let schools make their own decisions, and let teachers work their magic. At the end of the day, schools and educators are always trying to do what is best for their students. However, we can’t do our jobs when politicians or community members try to assert their authority over how students should be educated. Teachers and schools need to be trusted by their entire community. That is my wish for this coming Teacher Appreciation Week.

After a relaxing and enjoyable April Break, I’m ready to get back into my classroom and have some fun with my students. I’m ready to begin new units in Social Studies and Language Arts, and I’m fully prepared to head into the final chunk of time prior to the end of this very unique academic year. To quote the hard-rock band Korn, “Let’s do this now!”