Why I #loveteaching

There's been a campaign that has taken off asking teachers to share why they #loveteaching this week (February 8th-14th) in honor of Valentine's day.

With the craziness that surrounds our everyday life, it is easy to get lost and forget why we started down this crazy path in the first place. We get so caught up in meetings, lessons, family and day to day demands that we forget to stop and admire the amazing things happening around us. So as I am sitting here, drained, after 2 straight weeks of being sick this couldn't have come at a better time.

So here it is. Why I #love teaching.

I #loveteaching because of the relationships.  Each learner is a unique puzzle and it is up to me to figure out how to connect with them. That's a big responsibility! Having to decipher and take into account interests, dislikes, home life of 50 kids is a lot to take on. When I think back to my favorite moments throughout my teaching career, the moments you can remember every detail and word spoken, it's not a learner who understood how to do multi-digit multiplication that comes to mind. Although it's great when they do! Each of my most memorable experiences as a teacher has been when I finally broke through a wall and saw the trust and safety we have the potential to provide to someone. For some kids we're the one person they trust. The one who makes them feel safe. The only one who BELIEVES in them even when they don't believe in themselves. How many occupations out there give you the opportunity to change someone's life? How cool is that?? Now I am not necessarily talking saving everyone Coach Carter style, but we as teachers have the potential to influence each student in our classroom. The influence can be small in just being someone they can joke around with, or huge and change the way they view themselves as human beings. For some kids, we're their last stop. We are the person who can guide them down the path that will lead to their success and unleash their potential.

So as we draw near the end of what many educators believe is the longest month of the school year, I encourage you to take a step back. Why did you decide to become a teacher in the first place? Why do YOU #loveteaching?

Personalized Learning Parent Night!

This month our school hosted a personalized learning night for all of our parents. Families were invited in to experience and learn all about personalized learning. After the families had visited their classrooms, they were able to "personalize" their own ice cream sundae! (It was delicious)

This was the first time Lincoln Elementary had hosted this type of event. The format was an open house. Learners could bring their families in at any point throughout the night. As our focus in the classroom is to have the learners be responsible for themselves it seemed only fitting to have that be the case when their families came. When a learner came through the door, they grabbed a Must/May Do sheet from the entryway table which followed a similar format to the Must/May Dos the kiddos do throughout the week. From here they were in the driver's seat. They lead their families through their personal websites, goals, creations, and watch a video on a "day in Team EPIC!" Learner's also had the option to visit our yoga wall and share their favorite pose as well as take a family portrait in our "photo booth."

One of my favorite things to come from the night was our parent survey. With the personalized learning and multi-age classrooms still being new to so many of our learner's families, we wanted to gain feedback and insight from parents on how they see the changes affecting their kiddo. We wanted this to be a time for them to share amazing things they see as well as concerns. Here are some of the many positive responses:

• "He seems to be more engaged in his learning. He does well when he can be more creative in his learning."
• "She feels good about being able to work at her own pace."
• "Excellent! Just hopeful the school district sees the value and expands it district wide."
• "Learning how to balance his work load. He is more mindful of his time and is very proud when he completes everything for the week!"
• "The kids seem to like school more."
• "He doesn't complain about going to school like he has in the past."
• "She has a little more confidence in herself. I also like the fact that in the class there is more opportunity for her to learn if she asks questions she can ask a teacher or another student."
• "I think it is important to allow kids to learn at their own pace. This program seems to favor the individual paces."

There were only a few concerns parents shared with us, and the questions and concerns they had were amazing! A lot of the questions were management pieces that Alli and I have been playing with all year. How do you manage all the goals? How do you keep kids on track and make sure they all are progressing? How do you help those who are not intrinsically motivated? All questions that we as teachers are still working through too!

Twas the week before Christmas

"Twas the week before Christmas when all through the school the children were crazy. I was losing my cool! Their papers aren't finished, they don't want to work. But when I try to make them, I feel like a jerk! I'm tired, I'm cranky, these kids have it coming, but I stop and think, 'what a Scrooge I am becoming!' So I tune out their chatter and I try to enjoy the last days before Christmas with each girl and boy"

This week I have truly realized how much I rely on my fabulous partner in crime. It's the week before winter break AND it's our holiday concert week. Routines are disturbed and kids are anxiously awaiting the holidays. Anyone who is education knows what this means...mass chaos. Today was no exception. Apart from the normal craziness that surrounds this time of year we had a student who was very "off." We kept switching off and tag-teaming to give each other a break and give the student a break from each of us. Even though we tried our best, it got to the point where we needed to remove the other kids from the classroom. This is when having a joint classroom with doors comes in handy!


An incredible benefit to co-teaching is being able to switch on and off with behaviors so we don't burn out or get frustrated throughout the day. If a learner is angry with one of us and doesn't want to talk to that particular person, the other can step in and handle the behavior. I have a huge benefit seeing the difference from last year (when I had the now 4th graders in 3rd grade) to now. When there was an issue with a learner, I was alone. If that learner was angry or frustrated with me there was no choice but to continue to interact with me. Now that there are two of us, there is more freedom and choice in handling situations that arise. It is less stressful for the learner, and less stressful for us.

After the situation was resolved and the concerts were over I had some time to reflect on the day during my drive home. I came to the conclusion, once again, that I am so grateful for having a teaching partner. Even better that it's my best friend! Having another teacher in the room alleviates so much anxiety and stress. Being able to brainstorm and talk through different things with another person makes a huge difference in day to day activities. When there are difficult conversations that need to be had we can have them together. It is so fantastic to know there is someone with you that will always support you and jump in if you are having trouble finding the right way to say something.

Not all co-teaching relationships are successful. I think the dynamic and relationship has to be right for both the learners and the teachers to be happy. Last year I went to visit a school district that has multi-aged personalized learning classrooms. The principal talked to us about the importance of finding the right "marriage." Just like a real marriage, if the "marriage" between the teachers is toxic and not supportive, it will have a huge impact on the kids.  That being said, if the relationship is built on trust and support the end result is something pretty amazing. The holidays are a time for reflecting on things we are grateful for. Me? I am grateful for family, friends, and my wonderful partner in crime.

We've Got Worms!

One night this summer I was on Pinterest (of course) and I came across a pin about vermicomposting (worm composting). I had heard of vermicomposting before, but hadn't really read up on it much so I started doing a little research. There's a lot of information out there! Last year our school had a fresh fruits and vegetable program. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays the kids were given either a fresh fruit or vegetable for their snack. My mind immediately went to using the waste leftover from this program and the waste from lunch and turning it into compost rather than simply throwing it away.

Alli and I discussed it and, despite the initial disgust with thinking about having worms in our room, we decided to go for it! An added bonus? Learning about decomposers is part of our 4th grade science curriculum! Our first step was to find out how to even get the worms. For composting, you can't simply go outside and dig up some earthworms. The worms need to be redworms. We found some on Amazon for a decent price that came with quite a few worms. I just happened to be talking to my mom about our idea and she mentioned that a family friend was actually vermicomposting and we could potentially get worms from her! We called her up, and she was more than willing to donate worms to our classroom. Woohoo! When we went to visit our family friend, we were fortunate enough to have her give us a mini lesson on running a vermicomposting system. She walked us through setting up our first bin and talked to us about maintaining the bins and potential problems that could arise.

It is very important to have a balance of "brown and green" materials in your bin. The majority of your bin should be brown materials when you begin, but the worms need "green" materials as well to survive. Brown materials= high carbon and Green materials=high nitrogen. "Brown" materials consist of items like cardboard, newspaper, sawdust, and envelopes. Coffee grounds, tea bags, eggshells, and food scraps are all "Green" materials. It is also important to keep the worm bin moist but not wet.

For our rollout of the worm bins in class we split the kids into 5 groups. We gave them resources to use to research how to make the worm beds. However, that was all the guidance we gave them. We really wanted the first round to be experimental and to have it be totally their creation. Well, needless to say, we have had some worm casualties! These casualties have sparked some great problem solving conversations and an understanding for the importance of research. We check our worm bins and record observations every Friday.

We will be starting our more structured rounds of vermicomposting soon. We will post more findings as we dig deeper into our worm bins!

We Are EPIC!

Check out our introduction video to get to know the members of Team Epic.

  In order to create this video we used a green screen, an iPad and then a computer to put everything together.  Each learner decided on a word that they felt described themselves.  We then took a video using the iPad camera, a green screen, a microphone, and an additional iPad as a 'chalkboard.'  We created these videos while all 45 of our kiddos were in the room so there was a lot of background noise.  We were able to use a microphone which helped and with future videos we will use the new iMovie update which has an option to reduce background noise.  The video was produced by using iMovie.  Using Google Drawing we created a black background with both our school logo and our team logo.  I love using the green screen effect in iMovie, if is very simple!  All we did was add our Google Drawing image and then when we added each child's video we just dropped it on top of the drawing background and iMovie gives an option to chose a green screen effect, easy peasy!

How to Survive Week 1. . .

Well the first week finally arrived and do I dare say it was the best first week ever?!  The title of my post is deceiving but I usually look at the first week as surviving because there is so much going on and after being off for so long the end of the week is always very welcome.  That was not the case this year with Team Epic, I heard many staff and kiddos looking forward to the weekend after the long and draining week but, I couldn't believe it was Friday already!

After a summer full of classroom renovations and planning the kiddos finally arrived with their families on Monday night for our open house.  We had great responses!  I couldn't even count the number of times I heard, "wow, I wish I had this when I was in school!"  Last year we tried to educate families throughout the year about personalized learning and what multi-age means at our school, so luckily for us most of our families knew what their child was going to be a part of.  For our 4th and 5th graders we only had a few families that were new to the school who were completely blown away by the classroom and multi-age.  Hannah and I had decided to create stations for the families to take part in and therefore we were able to meet with each family as they came into the room and were able to explain our room and personalized learning, we were also able to answer any questions they might have.  The first family that I talked to who did not know that their daughter was a part of a multi-age class had many questions.  My immediate thought was oh no, how are they going to respond.  By the end of our little mini question and answer session they were one of those many families that said, "wow, thats cool, I wish I would have had this."  Overall it was a great night and we were even more excited to start our year on Tuesday morning!

For the first week we decided our most important task was building our relationships as a team.  We did a lot of getting to know and understand you activities along with team building activities.  We decided as a group on a team name, EPIC, and then had our kiddos design a logo.

Our learners created learner profiles and then linked them to their individual Google site which they will use to better understand themselves and how they learn best.  This coming week we will have our first goal setting conferences where we will meet with each individual learner to discuss their goals for the year and then to set their first goals we will be working toward.

Our week was full of many other activities but what stands out most to me is the reactions and interactions we had.  As an educator my goal is always to make learning exciting and to create an environment where each child feels safe, important, and successful.  This week was so rewarding as I continuously saw and heard kids and parents excited for school.  I saw our 4th and 5th graders working together, encouraging others, and working out conflicts together.  I am not saying that we didn't have our fair share of challenges, but what I am saying is that each day at least 5 times a day we looked at each other and said, "this is amazing!"

So if you are on a personalized learning journey, or would like to be and have no idea where to start, (we've been there!) here are a few take aways or pointers for that first week.

-Open House Night Stations:  These stations provided us the opportunity to meet with each family and interact with them.  It also spread the families our so our room of 47 kids and families was not so crowded.  Our stations were, canvas painting, green screen photo booth, writing a goal with their learner, explore the room, and get to know our worms :)

-Send a letter home to all families when they register:  we did not do this and I wish we would have.  Families that registered online did not know that their learner was going to be in the multi-age classroom.  For next year I would like to send a welcome letter for them to receive before open house.

-Team Building, Team Building, Team Building!  This was our focus for week one, and I couldn't be happier.  Our kiddos might not all be best friends but they have a mutual respect and understanding of each other.  I think it is the very most important part of creating the environment necessary for a successful personalized learning classroom.  We just Googled team building activities or used ones we have used in the past and did a couple at the end of the day.  It will be interesting to see when we do the same activities again, how their teamwork skills have grown.

-Getting to know yourself:  We focused on each learner as an individual and then how the learner can contribute to the team.  Each of our kiddos created a learner profile by answering some questions about themselves, taking the Multiple Intelligences Self-Assessment, and taking the What's Your Learning Style? questionnaire.  We will use these learner profiles to guide learning experiences throughout the year.

-Shifting Mindset:  In order to be successful in this environment each learner needs to understand how they learn and they need to be independent in their learning.  One struggle with introducing personalized learning in an older grade is getting learners back to this mindset.  As a kindergarten teacher my kids were already there, they had no problem showing me what they knew in their own way but, this year our kiddos are used to being told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it.  This first week we had a lot of discussions about what this will look like and then we provided activities for them to be creative and produce whatever they wanted to meet a goal.  One example of how we did this is our Kid President project.  We watched my favorite YouTube star and his Pep Talk for Teachers and Students.  Kid President asks us, What are you teaching the world?  We asked our learners the same question and had them produce something that shows how they are making the world AWESOME!  This first introduction was a bit of a struggle but we noticed the fourth graders being leaders and setting examples which the fifth graders picked up on.  Most of our 4th graders have experience with personalized learning as they had Hannah last year, while most of our 5th graders have little to no experience with personalized learning.  Later in the week we introduced the sustainability project and all the different ideas and directions our team went with this was amazing!  In just a couple days they truly embraced what we were asking of them and have started to create some wonderful projects that I cannot wait to share!

Alli's Journey to 4/5

For the last 3 years I have been teaching kindergarten here at Lincoln Elementary.  I love the kindergarten kiddos but ever since my fifth grade student teaching experience, I have wanted to go back to teaching fifth grade.  After implementing personalized learning in my kindergarten classroom last year the opportunity to apply for a multi-age personalized learning classroom presented itself and I applied.   In order to apply for these positions we had to create an artifact and then we had to interview.  Then we waited, and waited, and waited!  Our administration had a lot to figure out in order to release our personalized learning implementation plan so, while all that work was happening I thought I would go and rupture my achilles tendon.  The only thing I remember from my post-op room was constantly asking when I could go home, and then receiving a letter.  I seriously have no idea what the letter said but I do know that somewhere on that piece of paper I saw the two numbers I was waiting for, ⅘.  I’m not quite sure how I got my phone or how I found her number but I do know I called Hannah immediately because I remember fighting very hard to stay awake and focus while I asked her what she was.  Again, not quite sure what happened in that very brief conversation but she assured me she was ⅘ as well, we were a team!  

So in my dazed state I had gained a new position as a fourth and fifth grade teacher and a new “work-wife.”  We were anxious to get started as we were both extremely excited at the possibilities before us.  As the 2014-15 school year ended we had big plans and throughout the summer we worked hard to refine and implement those plans.  I was constantly receiving and sending messages to Hannah most along the lines of, “hey look what I found,” with a response along the lines of, “awesome, we’re doing it!”  This could have been anything from simple Google sheets, to a full year sustainability program.  We have been very fortunate to be on the same page at every turn (I was a little hesitant about the slimy worms but even they have wriggled their way into my heart).  Luckily for us, so far, the struggles of implementing a multi-age personalized learning classroom have all been structural things that we have to work out together.  Through this blog we will, as our principal encouraged us to do, “share our story” as we figure out how to work together, build a team, and be a part of the educational shift to personalized learning!