Important Parts of the Principles

My ultimate goal as a teacher is to create a positive learning experience. My second graders should have daily opportunities to feel safe, comfortable, and challenged. Each principle below is very important to me. In order for learning to take place a child must feel like they are a part of our classroom community. They need to feel comfortable with their peers, their learning environment and their teacher. In my classroom I try to meet these needs with a positive outlook and smile. I feel that my students know that they can come to me with any questions or concerns. I gain this trust through constant involvement. I am at their lockers to greet them every morning. I walk around the classroom and offer assistance or encouragement during work time, I dance with them and participate in classroom games and activities. As a class we build our classroom community through games, sharing and goals. Our class only has positive incentives. The kids earn points to play a game of their choice on Fridays. This incentive works for me! I think the kids feel safe and comfortable with positive incentives.

Another one of my principles states that all kids should feel challenged. Learning should take place for every child in class. It is my goal to provide lessons and activities at every level. I do this through literature groups, leveled games, and mini lessons with specific groups! The kids are constantly provided with different lessons and activities. I want them to be comfortable with themselves. I want them to understand that we all need different things to grow.

CHALLENGES!

At this early stage, my students already understand who is getting the high level work. How do I make every child feel good about what they are working on and what they are learning? I try to give each level something exciting, but they are still looking at the work of the other groups around them!

Recess and Lunch!! My kids respect each other for the most part in our classroom. I rarely see conflict in our class. The reports that they give me from recess and lunch are different! Some negative decisions and attitudes are coming out at recess and lunch. It is so hard to deal with these conflicts, because I am not there.

As the year goes on, I hope that our principles within the classroom will over flow into recess and lunch.

Children's Principles of Learning (Second Grade)

Eight Ways to LEARN in SECOND GRADE!

I am learning when I feel….

·       Safe

o   This is a safe room! In this classroom, you should be yourself! You can make your own choices! We all have different strengths and weaknesses! Your friends should not tease you or make you feel sad. Our class is cool, because we are all different!

·       Comfortable

o    We are all different! It is ok to ask questions! If you do not understand something, Mrs. Perius will help you. She will try to explain it in a different way! She might write it down, act it out, or find another way!

·       Interested

o   We all enjoy many things in our classroom! Sometimes, Mrs Perius will give groups of people different things to work on. She is trying to make sure everyone feels good about what they are learning. She wants everyone to feel like they are learning something new! Sometimes kids will go to other classes to learn. We want everyone to love learning! Not too hard, not too easy, but JUST RIGHT!

·       Challenged

o   In this class, you will not know everything. We are here to learn new things! It is ok to ask questions and to try again. Try your best, and don’t sweat the rest!

·        Involved

o   You are a part of this community! We are here to work together. We will all have jobs in our classroom. We are here to make friends, to keep our classroom safe and clean, and to learn!

·       Warm

o   When we are “On Target,” our class is respectful, responsible, and ready! If everyone is following the three Rs, our class is working well together. When everyone works together it creates a warm feeling. We will try our best to make others feel warm.

·       Excited

o   School is exciting! Every day will be filled with new things to do, games to play, and fun times with friends. You will have time to be creative and to share!

 

·    LIKE A SECOND GRADER!

o   Welcome to 2^nd Grade! We are going to have a GREAT year!

Persistence

https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2013/09/18/lessons-in-perseverance/?utm_source=Teaching+Channel+Newsletter&utm_campaign=89db8a843c-Newsletter_September_21_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_23c3feb22a-89db8a843c-291647637

 Persistence is a powerful tool that each teacher must have. Every teacher has had several students who require multiple strategies for success. The above blog entry helps me reflect on the situations and students who required a large amount of persistence and grit!

• Teaching students who have a lot of persistence can be very challenging. These students are very bright and push all conversations and situations forward. I am awed by their drive to learn new things and their energy. Pushing and providing these students with the curriculum they need is a passion of mine. I am intrigued by their strong will. On the flip side, these are same students who NEVER GIVE UP! They often feel that they are right and sometimes have a hard time listening and following classroom routines. These types of students have pushed me to become a better teacher. They keep you on your feet and are constantly expecting you to find strategies that work.
• I do feel that kids are born with a certain amount of persistence. My oldest son came out strong willed. We named him Will, so I guess we had it coming. He has challenged me almost every day for the past five years! He is so persistent and will not forget or pass any opportunity. Although I am frustrated most days, he is one of the most interesting kids that I have ever met. He makes unbelievable connections to real life situations and provides us with deep conversations. I hope that he uses awesome GRIT to his advantage in the future.
• I do feel that kids should be taught persistence. I think that we are all born with different levels, but teaching the importance of pushing towards your goals is important. Kids should know that making mistakes is a part of life and that we learn from those mistakes. We must model persistence in our classrooms daily. We should allow them to see our failures and to see how we don't give up. They need to also feel that we will not give up on them. We should be a constant cheerleader for our students. They need to know that we are always cheering them on.

Imagination

It isn't shocking that my most prominent virtue is Imagination....I do have a blog titled Imagine!

My Virtue at School

Truthfully, I am very happy that this virtue came out in the lead. I am usually totally confused by where I end up on behavior and interest inventories. I probably would have picked out imagination as my strength. Thinking of new ideas and lessons comes very naturally for me. I love creating new lessons and activities for my students. I enjoy trying new things in class and I very rarely do things the same way. I have a difficult time following my lesson plans the way that I have them written. The virtue that I scored the lowest in was courage. I do have a very hard time sharing my opinion. I am always afraid that I will step on someones toes or upset someone. I am constantly worried and I would rather hide under a table than deal with conflict! My lack of courage gets in the way of sharing my imagination. I need to develop stronger leadership skills which will strengthen my courage. I shouldn't avoid conflict if I believe certain strategies will improve student learning!

Imagination at Home

I don't feel that I use my virtue as much as I should at home. I don't plan creative birthday parties for my kids, or spend time creating anything special for my home. My kids and I do play and dance a lot, so that is where some of my virtue is used. I LOVE to read! Reading is one of my all time favorite things to do. This is where I can travel to many places through the words on the page and my imagination.

The P in AGAPE stands for Presence. Teachers must be present with their students. They must show and share knowledge that grabs their student's attention. More importantly a teacher must make sure that their students are present. Lessons that are created with new ideas and the use of imagination will pull students into a creative world where learning is inviting and interesting. My main goal as a teacher is to help develop the love for learning. I want each student to enjoy school just as much as  I did as a child.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.
      - Albert Einstein

ROL Highlights

Reading for Gifted and Talented Students

What every teacher should know.....

·         Four Important Myths of Gifted and Talented Students

o   This summer I ran into a YouTube video created by gifted and talented students in Maryland. They explained the myths associated with teaching gifted and talented students.

o   One: Gifted students don’t need any help and are fine on their own.

§  Just because they understand the concepts quickly doesn’t mean that they don’t need coaching to enrich what they know.

o   Two: Gifted students need to participate in the regular classroom as role models.

§  Students should not be used to teach other students. Often, these students are not great at explaining concepts to their peers.

o   Three: It is not fair to label kids as gifted, when all kids are gifted.

§  100% of me believes that each child has a special strength. I do believe that some children have an extreme talent in reading. I think that it is ok to label them as GT in specific academic areas.

o   Four: Gifted education costs too much.

§  Finding enrichment opportunities does not need to cost very much. We can access materials from different grade levels and teachers. Online materials are also available.

·         It is important for teachers to think about how their gifted and talented students are learning each day. Through my ROL research I discovered many tools to help enrich my reading curriculum. Providing literature studies with focused discussion groups will benefit my students greatly. Students should be exposed to specific discussion tools to enhance their reading.

·         Although we have only been in school for seven days, I have thought very deeply about how I am going to challenge my students this year. I think about the myths associated with gifted and talented readers as I am teaching with intention. I am providing many opportunities for these students already. I will start my specific literature studies in two weeks, when they are done testing. I hope that I find a plan that works well with these students. I want to give them opportunities to grow. I am excited for this adventure!

Houston and Sokolow - Leadership

Reflection  of Houston and Sokolow's Chapter Five, Leadership

• Favorites from Five
• "Earth School is different from regular school. In school, you get the lesson first and then you get the test, whereas in life, you get the test first, and then you get the lesson."
• This is so very true! We are constantly tested by our reactions to challenges and struggles that are presented to us. That is why it is important to bring "regular school" into the classroom. We need to talk about ways to handle challenging situations with peers, teachers, and family members. 
• "We are inveterate pony finders. People like us are always looking to find the pony and overlooking the horse manure while others just focus on the horse manure."
• I learned this summer that we do need the manure seekers. They keep us thinking. The problem is that we currently have too many people looking for manure. I hope that others view me as a pony finder. This is a great way to think about it!
• Challenges with Chapter Five
• Throughout this chapter Houston and Sokolow explain that it is best to find the silver lining in all life challenges. I agree that looking for the positive benefits in most bad situations is the best way to go. I would have completely agreed with this entire chapter, if I had not listened to someone who had lost her husband in a tragic way, explain why she despises the phrase, "Everything happens for a reason." I know I am blessed to say, that I have never experienced loss. Of course I have had difficulties with friends, family members, and work situations, but I have never been through something as horrible as losing a loved family member. I know that this will inevitably happen at some point. I hope that I will eventually move on and continue to grow, but I do not know if I will be able to find the silver lining.
• Leadership
• "Leaders have to cultivate optimism, which is why this principle -seeing problems as opportunities - is so important. It is the possibility behind the problem that offers hope."
• As I think about the leaders who I have worked with, the GREAT ones were positive. They identified the struggles but focused on the positive ways to improve them. It is very difficult to be around  others who are always negative. I know that I find myself in a negative path at times too. Great leaders are not scared of challenges. They embrace them as obstacles to learn from.

Roadblocks and Successes

Roadblocks
What might get in the way of completing my goals?

• TIME - As teachers, we have so much to complete in a small amount of time! I hope that I make time for all of my must haves! I always feel that a person can FIND time if something is truly important. Building a class community and organizing a plan for my gifted and talented readers WILL happen.
• Participation - I would like my co-workers to participate in the backwards design lessons that we created for our reading themes. We can do great things if we all work together. I also need parent participation to help my students grow through discussions.
• SLOW DOWN! I need to slow down and pay close attention to my action research project. This research process will take a lot of time and require a lot of attention. I want to track my data very accurately.

Successes
What successes might be seen when my goals are met?

• A STRONG class community! All students feeling like they are an essential part of our class!
• POWERFUL discussions! Discussions in literature studies that allow the students to dig deep and use high order thinking!
• COMPLETE lesson plans that incorporate all types of learners. ESSENTIAL questions are answered!
• Nikki Perius with a HUGE smile! Implementations that improve my style of teaching!