Getting Students Moving in the Classroom

Students may end up sitting the bulk of their day...with the exception of the time it takes them to get to their next class. As any adult knows, sitting in classes all day can be stifling and  exhausting. Limited oxygen circulation and blood flow impacts our students ability to be their best selves in our classroom. These are some ideas for promoting learning with movement...adaptable for any age student...these aren't brain breaks...they're ways to teach with embedded movement...

1. Chat Stations
2. Secondary Classroom Physical Activities 

Using open-ended questions in the math classroom

We want students to have plenty of opportunities to speak mathematically during class time. One way to promote that is to think about the types of questions we ask as teachers, specifically focusing on shifting from strictly single-response answer-type questions, to those that would open up a range of possible responses. (As an added benefit, this may also encourage less verbal or confident students to participate in the class if they know there isn't one correct answer.) Here are some links to get you started...

1. Developing a Classroom Culture That Supports a Problem-solving Approach to Mathematics
2. Examples of how to change the way a question is presented.
3. A broad framework for using question to stimulate mathematical thinking.
4. Deepening conceptual understanding in the mathematical classroom.
5. Ideas for promoting more conversations in the math classroom including sentence and question stems. Here is a protocol for a pair of students to solve a math problem. And another that aligns stems to the 8 mathematical practices.
6. A UK-based research group developed a cohesive Mathematics Assessment Project organized around PD modules on formative assessment and questioning. 

Supporting English Language Learners in the Classroom

These are the documents that WIDA (housed at UW-Madison but known nationally) produces as core understandings for what ELLs can do in terms of language production and how it varies by level.

1. Grade 6-8 Can-Do Descriptors (from WIDA) Gives you an asset-based persepctive on what students can do at each DPI Language level. (You can find a student's ELP level in Infinite Campus under the Student Profile/ELL tab.)

2. Language Acquisition Chart-this associates instructional practices with each of the ELP levels

3. English Language Proficiency Standards/Language Arts pp. 44-47 (as printed on the document)  Th e language profi ciency levels delineate expected performance and describe what ELLs can do within each domain of the standards.

4. WIDA has developed the 12 Essential Actions to support ELLs in the classroom.

5. Strategies for supporting ELLs in the mainstream classroom.

• Cult of Pedagogy (12 strategies to help all students, but especially ELLs...)
• Supporting ELLs in the Mainstream Classroom 
• Edutopia's Supporting ELLs
• Using Digital Storytelling to foster critical thinking, creativity and communication.

6. Consider the role your students' home languages play in your classroom. This blog posts delves into that question and how it may impact your classroom.

Sex? Sexual Orientation? Gender Identity? Gender Expression?

Teaching Tolerance this month wrote an article about the differences and implications of and between sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. Specifically, it explains the spectrum of understanding of each of those terms and how that might play out in schools.

In March, 2015, the Wisconsin State Journal wrote a story exploring how those issues play out in MMSD. Much of our language around those issues is rooted in a binary understanding of sex and gender.

Gender Spectrum offers a wide range of resources to help us understand ways we can create more welcoming and inclusive classrooms. And Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) groups can be found around the district.

Class Opening Activities

When deciding which to try, think about what your particular students may need at the beginning of the class. Is it something quiet and individual? Group oriented and social? Musical?

Opening response. Using Google Classroom (or Socrative, Padlet, etc.) where you can ask a question, share a quote, and have students see one another's responses. You can use this for feedback on what will be happening in class or choose something that simply redirects their attention towards something more academic.

Seating Chart Challenges. As a way to get to know her students and for them to get to know one another, this teacher gives "challenges" at the beginning of class for 5 days near the beginning of the year.

Random Word Generator. One teacher shared three words at the beginning of class which would serve as the basis for a short story. This site can help you generate those three words, and offers a host of other word-related words and prompts. (Or here is a word generator where you can simply determine how many words it will generate for you.)

Or maybe you're looking to tie in current events to your classroom. 

1. New York Times Learning Network, On this Day in History.
2. History in the Headlines from the History Channel.
3. Newseum Front Pages gives you a glimpse into how the rest of the country is reading the news

There are other places that simply offer a variety of ideas. Keep in mind there are plenty of ideas floating about; how will you store, organize, or in some way access all that find?

1. Bell Ringer exercises from Edutopia
2. Teach Thought
3. Teaching Channel 

Other teachers consider using mindfulness meditation as their bell ringer as a way to increase student focus and prime their brains for focus.

Creating a Safe & Predictable Classroom Environment

Creating classrooms that are safe and predictable can help students recreate highly-cognitive neural pathways previously stuck in survival mode. Students whose brains have been wired to survive can be reshaped with  "patterned, repetitive experience in a safe and predictable environment.” (132)

1. Routines. Routines and procedures for classroom processes allow for more focus on learning as the year goes on. Overteaching procedures pays off for everyone in the long run.

What are some classroom activities that benefit from routines and procedures?

• Getting into groups (including specific formations that you could have a picture of to demonstrate what the classroom should look like...ie. put the desks into "A" formation)
• Presenting to the class
• Entering the classroom
• Labeling papers
• Collection and distribution of papers
• Going to the restroom
• Late arrival
• Asking questions
• Finishing an assignment early

Here are some other reminders on which activities could benefit from a routine!

Some strategies presented by the Houston ISD to focus on practicing procedures:

Teach/polish two or more procedures per lesson. Practicing procedures can change the nature of what is possible. For example...

1. Getting into groups of 4 in 12 seconds then seeing if students can beat that time. (kinesthetic and auditory)
2. Using photographs as a rubric showing what the procedure should look like (ie. readiness to learn photos helps visual learners) Students can then assess what number they are at for a particular procedure.
3. Keeping a circulation ring of correct procedures accompanied by a photograph allows you to discreetly show a student what they should be doing without a verbal redirect. For students who struggle significantly, you could create a placement with 5 pictures of what should be happening at any given time.

2. Positive Relationships. Creating relationships with students is one of the most significant things you can do to promote a classroom community devoid of behavior issues. Here are some ways how:

• Positive Connections. Taking briefly with a student for 2 minutes a day, 10days in a row, showed 85% improvement in behavior and subsequent academic success.

3. Consistency. Procedures precede content and should be used consistently. Be sure you're giving congruent directions, in other words aligning non-verbals with verbal. Be mindful of content, tone, gesture, and volume. And when consequences are used, remember the following:

• students test the people they trust to provide them with safety and structure
• get comofrtable with your consequences or change them
• go under the wave with consequences...let them do the work

Selecting Relevant and Appropriately Challenging Texts

A slightly different genre of resources is starting to emerge around student texts, issues, and current events. These resources are organized thematically and some, by reading level.

1. Teaching Tolerance, an anti-bias and social justice organization maintains a Central Text Anthology: that chronicles people's struggles and triumphs.





2. Newsela makes current news stories accessible to students. Newsela, has begun creating and maintaining Text Sets that revolve around books and the themes within them. Additionally, those texts are offered in multiple versions according to various Lexile levels. Teachers can create their own Text Sets and access those created by others. | Text Sets | Here is an example of a text-set created around the theme of overcoming obstacles.