Getting Started with Student Data Notebooks: Series 1

As I start the school year, it is important that we all get our expectations and procedures down. One of the procedures that I want to make sure to start right away are my student data notebooks. Some teachers like/love the student data notebooks and some teachers do not feel them to be necessary. 

Personally I enjoy and truly find the value in using them. My students have used them for several years now.  You can read my original post about them {HERE}. Before I began them, I did a lot of reading as to the why's. I also read The Leader in Me by Stephen Covey

and was inspired by his 7 Habits of Happy Kids. I've linked the site above so you can check it out. I've always been a believer in kids first and giving them the choices in their learning (of course, the teacher is always the facilitator of learning, but you know what I mean!). So, I started reading more about student-led conferences where they were showing their parents their data notebooks and showing their parents how they performed on their tests. I was completely BLOWN away! Students, in upper grades mostly discussing data. Now, I am not going lie, data is not the most interesting thing in the world to discuss (unless you're a statistician) but 8-9 year olds talking about their scores and reflecting on what they needed to improve and score. Brilliant! 

Other reasons:

Students are responsible and accountable for keeping track of their data. 

Students write GOALS  (short term goals that lead to long term) for themselves and make small steps to achieve. 

It's a visual representation of their learning!! 

It's a written plan for success.

It's a great tool for parents.

I'm not here to convince you, truly! And if you are already reading this, then I've piqued your interest enough. I'm here to show you how I use them and how I've set them up. Every notebook is unique and all classroom needs are different. The best thing about these notebooks is that you can collect data for ANYTHNG!! 

Math Facts

Weekly Phonics

DRA

Letter sounds/names

Number recognitions

F&P

Fluency

Science Weekly assessments

Attendance

Anything!! 

So...

It all starts with ownership! My students start off with an "All About Me!" page. Oh, and did I mention, these are firsties doing this?? Yes!!! 1st graders!!! 

My little one helped me. My students have theirs already in their notebooks. I'll take some pictures this week of them. They came out so cute! Here Aidan told me that he likes to play and is really good at Art. For this page, I let them write what they wanted. I wasn't too specific. 

After that we talked about GOALS! This is a HUGE one. I read the book

This is a simple but GREAT book that appeals to kids. After I read the book we retold the story and talked about the small steps that the engine took to go up the mountain. I discussed with them that we all take small steps to reach our GOAL. 

I introduce my data notebooks one subject area at a time. It is WAY too much for me to introduce more than one subject area to my 1st graders. If you are an upper elementary grade, you may be ok with introducing more than one subject area. I start with one and it is for math facts. It is up to you! 

So back to my goal, you could do a goal for the quarter or year. I do one for the quarter (or grading period) and insert this into that particular section. So I had students think about a math goal. "What would you like to accomplish in math this year? What is your goal?" We brainstormed ideas and most students just wanted to pass their math facts and do "times" because they heard my students last year were doing multiplication facts when they left me. So they wrote that down. Again, I let them write a math appropriate statement. 

The statements need to be appropriate for the section you are working in but not so "teacher" driven. If you are directing every statement then that takes the ownership away from them.  I have given given stems such as,

My math fact goal...

My math goal is ....

I hope that these small (doable!!) steps help get you started! I'll be back later this week with Series 2: Setting up and the First Implementation

If you'd like to check out my Data Notebooks, you can view them {HERE}! 

Have a great week! 

The Myth of the Perfect Classroom!

The perfect classroom day! What does it look like to you? What does it feel like? Sound like? How did it "go down"? I think that it's absolutely hilarious when interns/volunteers come in and they actually see life in the classrooms. The wide eyed looks are taken in with much sympathy and empathy from me because I know how they feel.  It's NOT like those videos they show you in class, is it? Or like in the movies. Not AT ALL! The little ones talk and move around constantly and the big ones do, too! They just do it on a larger scale and with attitude! Not all of them; the majority of them are really good! 

As a 12 year veteran in the classroom and the ultimate perfectionist, I have learned to just go with the flow. Sounds like an oxymoron but those of you who suffer from my same affliction of perfectionism and who are in the field of education know what I am talking about...sometimes you just have learn to let some things things go. If you don't you will drive yourself into an early grave and have to be heavily medicated and imbibe in some strong spirits after school OR you will cause yourself unnecessary stress and ain't nobody got time for that.  You could also end up like me who deals with life struggles with sarcasm and humour, too! That gets me by pretty well! LOL!  We all know that in reality your days and how you perceive you lessons, your kids, and the flow of your classroom look nothing like this

but seem more like this

Are you nodding your head?? Let me share some humour with you! 

Last Friday, my room looked similar to the image above, except we were taking a test. I got a call from the office that a child was leaving. Child gets up and starts to pack while the walkers are waiting for them. The other kids at their desks are waiting for me patiently to finish the test with them.

Now comes a knock at the door. Two kids are standing there with a box and a note. 

Kid 1: "I don't know why my teacher is giving you this box. There's nothing in here"

Kid 2: (standing there twirling hair): Here's the note....

Then they start to walk away

Me: No! Wait! Don't go yet! 

**Mind you, I still have kids waiting for me to finish the test and the kids waiting for me to dismiss them to the office as I am still putting papers in the folder, marking behaviour folder).

I unfold the note and I learn that one of my fellow teachers needs feminine items and that I was to *discretely* place the items in the box. Gotcha! 

Ok... I got this. 

I run to my purse and place the items in the box and as I look over I see chaos start to ensue. The kids at their desks are getting restless and talking to the kids who are waiting for the feminine items and Kid 2 is STILL twirling her hair oblivious to the impending chaos around her, the kids are waiting for me to give them the folder that I still had clutched in my hands, and NOW I hear another knock at the door!!

OMGoodness!!!

I quickly get the office kids on their way (I'm buzzed again to see what the delay is!! They have NO idea!!!). 

I give the box to the other kids and threaten them to not look in the box in case they discover a new type of q-tip or something. Kid 2 is still oblivious and twirling her hair! It was so funny!! 

And I open the door to let the other kids out and another set of kids in!!!

It was chaos in the span of 10 minutes! 

At that moment in time, I decided that I had to stop the test as I had lost them at that point and that we would have to continue another day when they were more focused instead of having the constant carousel of children coming in and out of our door!! 

The perfectionist teacher in me would have tried to regain control and continued on with the test; however in reality I know they would not have given me their best given all he distractions of the afternoon. I had to cut my losses and move on. 

Please tell me you've had days like this! It was too comical not to share and I know you all feel my pain and can laugh at my day! 

The myth of the perfect classroom simply does not exist. And I am thankful for that! I will take my chaotic classroom where real teaching and situations arise any day!!! 

Student Created Rubrics for Assessment

Teachers use rubrics. We use rubrics for writing, math, social studies projects, listening and speaking, science-- everything! We are even evaluated on a rubric (depending on if your county or state has gone that route)! So why can't our kids? I got to really thinking one day and I was so tired of constantly reminding my kids (and sounding like a broken record) of what my expectations are and how I will be evaluating them that I decided that they would be coming up with a grading system of their own. Hence the birth of a student created rubric. 

I know that these are not new but I know that many teachers shy away from these. What do you mean, my kids grade and assess their own work? How will they know what to expect? What are the exemplars and non? Those are all very good questions! Much like the data notebooks (my update blog post is almost ready!) they require time and patience on your end as well as theirs. 

My class and I had a serious heart to heart. I showed several pieces of work up. I erased names and asked them, if they were Mrs. Hamlin, how would they grade this? I will not show the work but I am sure you could pull some examples from piles on your desk. Depending on the work, they gave me their honest answers:

Oh, that is nicely written!

What is that?? I can't read that!

Did they do their work? 

Look how nicely that is colored! Cute!! (the girls said this, of course! haha!)

You get the picture! I totally agreed with them. I conveyed to them that that was how I felt when they showed me their work. So, we decided on three major points: 

From there, there were varying degrees where we used words like always, sometimes, and never. Every class will work differently. You and your class may want different criteria.  

(If you'd like a copy of this rubric, click on the picture to download it for free) 

We talked about what each meant. They (and I did , too) wanted smiley faces. You could also do a 3-point scale if you are doing standards based grading. I tried to keep it simple for my kids to do. This is an example (above) of the rubric my class came up with (after I tidied it up a bit!). 

After every piece of work we do, they ALWAYS come up with a self assessment. I have stapled a smaller version of their rubric to their center folders as well as placing a rubric at each center they go to as a reminder to the goal they are working for. 

The ability to change the status of their assessment is key! Sometimes they just run out of time or maybe it took them a while to figure it out. I always give them an opportunity to change that "frown upside down"! Thanks McDonald's for that saying. I am not a fan of coloring in a circle red, green, or yellow. I feel like that color just stays with them. This way, they can just change that smile around! Plus, it changes the real smiles on their faces! Again, what you and your class decide is up to you. 

Again, another key point. After they have made their assessment and I have come around to double check, we must come to an agreement. Honesty is the best policy. We talk about their work and one point that they are especially proud of and one point to work on if they happen to get a straight or sad face. 

These have really worked well in my class. Their quality of work has GREATLY improved. They have the zone or goal that they want to work based on their rubric that they created! I just love that. That has made me one happy teacher. They have worked hard to be in the smiley zone but also understand that there are times we work in the straight and sad face zones. I think that also teaches them about life skills and that sometimes we do our best and work to meet the goals we want to achieve! 

Have a great week! 

I-PAIR YOU Up! A clever way to pair students up!

Picture it.

Present day classroom and you are getting ready for a partner activity! You announce that you will be putting kids into pairs or partners.

Guilty!!! 

You know it happens because chances are you do it, too, when in faculty meetings you are asked to pair up with someone! You probably pair up with someone from your grade level or a friend! 

We are all guilty of it! Our students are no different! Today I wanted to share with you a few easy, quick ways that I pair students up. No tears and no hassle. 

This one simply uses a deck of cards!! No printing, no nothing! 

For this particular pair up, we did some brainstorming on how to problem solve for Ormie the Pig! Have you seen Ormie? It's a cute little video that I use for science on finding a problem, creating a hypothesis, and creating a design. Here is a the video if you want to check it out! The kids LOVE it!!

Look at their clever drawings! 

Maybe you are a techie like me! I also use these two apps on my phone:

Pik me app: 

Cost: Free

I love this app for grouping kids randomly. You can choose how many students for each group. So, if I want 4 kids in each group, It will already group my kids for me. 

The only downside is that it can be a bit confusing to use in regards to inputting names and such and choosing which feature you want. You will have to play around with it a bit. 

You can search for it in the app store. 

Name Selector from Kagan

Cost: 2.99

This is a great app for choosing individual students, table names, anything! It's a little easier to use than the Pik Me app. 

It's available in the app store. 

If you'd like to download the cards for I-PAIR YOU up, click on the picture below to download your FREEBIE! Happy Pairing!

There are three versions (enough for 20 students):