Types of Questions for Real World Application 10/31/16

After reading a blog post by Engineering is Elementary on questioning strategies, I wondered how the intentional use of these types of questions could help us strengthen our scholars' understanding of each phase of the Engineering Design Process. Check out these five effective questioning strategies to help students process, engage and troubleshoot their own problems.

1. LEARNER-CENTERED QUESTIONS

• “Tell me what you are making?”
• “Can you tell me more about your design?”
• “What materials did you choose?”
• “Can you describe the materials you are using?”

2. HIGHER-ORDER QUESTIONS

• “What did you find out in your research?”
• “Why do you think this will work?”
• “Can you think of another solution?”

3. PROBING QUESTIONS

• “Tell me more about what you mean by that?”
• “How did you come to that answer?”
• “Let me see if I understand you. Are you saying . . . ?”

4. EVIDENCE-GATHERING QUESTIONS

• “What happened when you tested your design? What did it do? What did you see?”
• “What do you think is happening? Why do you think that?”
• “What would you change about your design? Why?”
• “What do you think will happen if you make that change? Why?”

5. STUDENT GENERATING QUESTIONS

• What do you need to know about ________________ in order to improve your design? (Examples of the blank could be “wind energy” or “force in motion”.)
• What do you know how ____________ works in the real world that will help you improve your design? (Examples of the blank could be “turbines”, “fences”, “roller coasters”, “bridges”

I also realized that #5 - Student Generating Questions not only aligns directly to the iteration process, but it also applies to the Distinguished category on the T-TESS rubric Dimension 1.4 (The teacher plans engaging, flexible lessons that encourage higher order thinking, persistence and achievement.) In order to reach the Distinguished level, the rubric states that the teacher must design learning that provides: Opportunities for students to generate questions that lead to further inquiry and promote complex, higher-order thinking, problem solving and real-world application.

So.... beyond the fact that developing great questioning skills can deepen student learning, as well as strengthen our own instructional practices, it is also simply an important skill to develop....for life! I leave you with the quote from the book A More Beautiful Question.

What is an Expository Essay 10/24/16

What is an Expository Essay According to TEA?

This question comes up from time-to-time and people often find it confusing in the elementary teaching world. I thought I would give a little insight into a traditional expository essay vs. the state tested expository test we prepare our students to take.

I found this generic definition online: The expository essay is a genre of essay that requires the student to investigate an idea, evaluate evidence, expound on the idea, and set forth an argument concerning that idea in a clear and concise manner

Well, in Texas, an expository essay is what I call a "personal expository". A type of informational text that clarifies or explains something. Students must explain their opinion, or knowledge, or thinking about a given topic. Expository writing is explanatory. Please read through these notes from Victoria Young, Director of Reading, Writing, and Social Studies Assessments at TEA.

Victoria Young's Discussion about Expository

• Expository essays must explain what the student thinks about a topic. The student is free to explore the ambiguities of the issue.
  
• To be focused, an expository essay must be centered around an explicit, specific controlling idea, which represents the student's take on the topic.
  
• The controlling idea must be a direct statement of what the student will explain and must give the reader a clear idea of the goal of the essay.
  
• The best development is real, based on a student's own experiences and thinking about the world.
  
• Good development can't happen without good progression, and good progression requires meaningful transitions.
  
• Student's presence in the writing itself, his personal feelings and thinking about the topic all expressed through what the student chooses to develop and how.
  
• What impedes thoughtfulness and individuality: formulaic approaches and 5 paragraph essays=lack of thoughtfulness student uses fill in the box strategy

All of our Kinder-5th grade teachers need to keep this in mind as you ask your students to do expository writing in the classroom. In 4th grade, students are required to write expository essays for STAAR, from their own experiences and thinking about the world. Introducing this type of thinking/writing earlier than 4th grade is critical to their development and success on 4th grade STAAR!

Click here to read an expository writing prompt and 4 exemplars that address the prompt differently-but very realistically for students.

Student Led Conferences 10/17/16

Student led conferences are approaching quickly in 2 1/2 weeks on November 3rd. Please take a look at this article & examples of her 3rd grade classroom's goal setting in writing (this easily transfers to ALL SUBJECTS) from the blog Two Writing Teachers.

Betsy Hubbard explains the steps she took to get the students owning their own goals, how she supports and holds them accountable. What I like most about Hubbard's article is how she had to build goal setting conversations into their everyday routines to be impactful. Make sure you read to the end "Steps 6-7" and her "Next steps to think about..." to gain the most insight into her journey. With a system in place like this, student led conferences will go smoothly because our scholars will be used to discussing their growth, goals and plans to improve.

Digital Textbooks in Arms 10/10/16

BIG NEWS!!!

All text books are now accessible with a single sign on through ARMS!!. There will also be nightly uploads of new students once they are processed through our system, which takes about a week. Please take a moment to watch the video below to learn more about this!

If in the event there is an issue or you are missing students, please submit a work order in Eduphoria <HELP DESK< Digital Textbooks. Or, if you email the issues, I will be happy to submit one for you.

Student Voice 10/3/16

As we begin the new T-TESS and work towards having student-centered classrooms, I think that "student voice" is going to be an important piece to help students have more buy-in as well as personal responsibility in their learning. Russell Quaglia states inStudent Voice: The Instrument of Change:

"All human beings want their voices to matter. We like giving our opinions and offering ideas. We want to be the subject of our activities, not the objects of someone else's. We want to be active agents, not just passive spectators."

Please consider joining the STUDENT VOICE group to show you how to gain valuable feedback from your scholars to help design meaning work that will be engaging and fit with their learning styles. If you haven't checked out this Student Voice Smore that was shared with the district, please review it. Dr. Newell is hoping to engage folks in a variety of ways and encourage participation. There are sample surveys in the Smore for a variety of grade levels if this would be helpful for you.

The Student Voice meeting is on October 10 from 4:00-5:00 in Panther Den at PDEC. Please join to discuss ways you are using Voice as a tool in your classroom and learn new ideas from your colleagues. The following link will allow you to register in Eduphoria, and PLEASE fill in this quick 3 question Google form to share where you work.

Education Galaxy 8/26/16

Education Galaxy is up and running! If you haven't set up your classes, it's very easy to do! Go to www.educationgalaxy.comand log in using your email as your username and your last name for your password (unless you changed it last year.)

To set up your classes, you can go to "Student Center" and then "Create a Class". There's a video on the page that shows you exactly how to do it.

STUDENT LOGINS:

Use Safari and create a bookmark on their home screen -www.educationgalaxy.com

You can find the student ID's and PW's after you have set up your class. There is a way to print it out and I also have templates for stickers if you want! Let me know if you want the stickers! I have attached directions for finding the student logins.

Growth Mindset- 9/19/16

THANK YOU!! The Two-by-Ten Challenge created GREAT conversation in 5th and 4th grade PLCs this past week! ! (We ran out of time in 3rd grade but will add that to our next agenda)

Mindsets:

Now that we have completed 4 weeks of school and spending time to review concepts is coming to an end, you may begin to hear students voicing frustration while attacking new concepts. It is important that we listen to our scholars, because those negative comments are often about their own struggles and we need to support their feelings.

Consider having a quick lesson about "fixed mindset" vs. "growth mindset" in your classroom. This is appropriate for all grade levels. I have share some examples that you might consider to help your students change their language in the classroom.

Remember that "one small negative thought can turn into: a huge, speeding ball of ugliness. On the contrary, a small positive thought can have the same effect blossoming into a beautiful outcome."

Mindset Design Challenge idea: Using Play Doh, pipe cleaners, and multi-colors of Post It papers, create models to represent a fixed mindset, a growth mindset, and an innovator’s mindset. Take a picture(s) of your structures and insert them into a single Google Drawings. Also insert a text box and write a brief blurb describing your thinking.