Sixth Grade Teachers

It’s been three days, and the sixth graders are in full swing at Trinity School. They are choosing school themes in values class, reflecting on their Scimatician summers, organizing their new lockers, making folders (both electronic ones and “regular” ones!), preparing binders, learning the importance of leading by example, and of course, exploring their new tablets!

The sixth grade teachers have been conducting a three-day Tablet Workshop where students rotated through different lessons in small groups, instructed by a variety of teachers. As I think about the past three days (as crazy and hectic as they were), I am certain that it was time well spent.

When asked to reflect, one student noted that on Tuesday, the word “nervous” came to mind. Nervousness about technology and tablets is normal and this student explained that much of the anxiety came from the fact that “I knew I didn’t know as much as the others did.” The same student provided a different word to describe Wednesday, the second day of using tablets. The word “enthusiastic” described the day because the student “was excited…and knew so much more about the tablet.” By “trying new things and going to new places,” the comfort level with the once foreign and intimidating piece of technology was growing. Finally, on the final day of the Tablet Workshop, the student chose to use the word “confidence.” Because of the thoughtful approach to the training, the student felt “proud and comfortable” and noted the desire to explore even more outside of school.

To grow from anxious to excited to proud in three days…wow.

In my trek across the country (Boston to Atlanta, Atlanta to LA) today and my flight across the Pacific (LA to Kahului) tonight, I will have plenty of time to process my experience at BLC this week. I feel encouraged by what we are beginning to do at Trinity with education and technology. Obviously, there’s so much more out there, but the sixth grade team of teachers and students jumped in last year with enthusiasm and courage. And, as a result, we have great stories of success.

In Ewan McIntosh’s Keynote, he asked us to think about three questions as the week progressed. I wanted to include them here, as I’ll try to address them in my mind and hopefully in writing over the course of the next couple of weeks.

1)      What simple tools make learning become remarkable?

2)      How can one create a shared awareness of learning goals?

3)      What changes could be made to get small, passionate groups creating themselves?

Overall, I am most excited about the connections I made this week. I already feel as though my network is expanding, and I am anxious to learn more about teaching and technology from people like John Davitt, Laura Deisley, Clarence Fisher, Darren Kuropatwa, Ewan McIntosh, Brian Mull, Bob Sprankle, and others.

I am challenged by so many of the things I learned as well. Alan November’s presentation (and book) on Webliteracy has inspired me to teach the grammar of the internet with the same gusto that I teach English grammar (and sentence diagramming!). Jessica Flannery’s KIVA presentation on Wednesday caused me to re-think the way I teach my students about community service. I see the implications of this new approach directly affecting the focus of my explorations class next year. My conversation with John Davitt at lunch (as well as his presentation) inspired me to think about how my students can live in both the digital world and the real world. How can their writer’s notebooks, art sketchpads, and blogs be combined to capture and reflect on the world as they see it? 

Although it’s tempting to broaden the scope of my thoughts to Trinity School and the total sixth grade experience, I know that I need to think about 2246 and my class of sixteen students. I want to make a measurable difference by changing and shifting, not by adding. To do this, I have a lot more thinking to do…

Luckily, I have many miles to travel before I sleep…

It’s sad to say that it’s been since the end of March since my last post. But, is it okay to say that I needed a break? At the end of school (I’ll include both the April and May whirlwind), my brain was dead. June was a glorious month of rest and relaxation, and summertime has been a great time to renew and reflect. It’s also provided some time to begin to think about next year. We have 46 tablets prepped and ready to go…it’s hard to believe that August will be here soon enough.

This blog post specifically serves as my warm up for the Building Learning Communities Conference in Boston next week, which will definitely stretch my thinking in amazing ways. I’m excited and ready to make connections, explore possibilites for next year, and strengthen best practices from last year.

And, as if I need another excuse for being a blogging slacker, I’m trying to keep my mohawk dog, Maisie, from destroying my house! 

The time I spent in Kenya this summer will have a lasting impact on who I am. I love the country, the people, the culture. It is a place where joy truly thrives. 

Since I had an opportunity to travel to Kenya this summer, I especially enjoyed teaching our social studies unit on African empires. As a culmination to our unit, sixth graders completed an “African Adventure” with one of the sixth grade teachers. One group learned about symbolism in African art with Mrs. Bauer and made clay masks with beads, cowrie shells, and raffia. Another group studied endangered animals with Mr. Parrish and used their understanding of scale to enlarge a photo of their favorite African animal. Mrs. Berry taught a group about African music and dance, and the students carefully created their own rendition of a tribal dance with drums, costumes, and all sorts of instruments!

My group explored a variety of current events occurring in rural and urban areas on the African continent. After learning about deforestation in Ghana, the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, economic decline in Zimbabwe, and the illegal ivory trade, students researched an environmental, political, or social issue that is affecting the African people. After conducting research, students worked individually or in pairs to craft a narrative that highlights how one person (male or female, adult or child) is personally affected by the environmental, political, or social issue. The narrative, told in first person through the eyes of the imaginary character, was recorded in a Windows Photostory.

I will link to all of the photostories in another post, but I wanted to highlight Lizzie and Mariam’s work because of its connection to Martin Fisher, a definite hero of mine and social entrepreneur. I had the pleasure of meeting Martin when I attended Renaissance Weekend in Charleston over Thanksgiving break and his work is affecting hundreds of thousands of people. His commitment to ending poverty in Africa and KickStart, his non-profit organization, give me great hope for the continent which I love so much.

Mariam and Lizzie have both written posts about the impact that Martin Fisher’s work has had on them. Their posts are powerful and well worth reading. Additionally, their photostory is articulate, creative, and moving. I am proud of these girls and their interest in what is happening in the world around them.

KickStart

 The sixth graders are still studying writer’s craft in Writer’s Workshop, and it’s been quite an interesting journey! After an intense study of Cynthia Rylant and Mem Fox, we decided to do an experiment that would allow some of our students greater academic leadership. I often joke that a few students in my class could TEACH many of my mini-lessons. We decided to climb the Bloom’s pyramid and give it a try…

On Monday, our teachers were Christopher, Maggie, Callie, Jon Farrell, and Emma K. They lead groups of seven students through Libba Moore Gray’s “My Mamma had a Dancing Heart.” I thought their reactions to assuming the role of a teacher were interesting, poignant, and even a little humorous!

“I thought today was a great experience for both the participants of each group and the leaders.  I learned what it was like to be in a teacher’s shoes and how to fulfill my opportunity of leading something that I am very passionate about.  Today, I realized that people learn differently, have different motives, different personalities, and different ways of absorbing the information they are given.  For example, some people are able to get the most out of a lesson and use it the rest of their life.  Others don’t see the value of simple day-to-day lessons.  I learned that people have different interests, and it takes a truly good leader to be able to connect to people and make decisions that will benefit the entire community—or group.”

“Just by participating in this one small event, I learned more about reaching and connecting to fellow peers.  I found that leaders cannot truly teach a lesson well unless they not only appeal to the audience as intriguing, but they also have to reach down into individuals and make sure that they are absorbing the knowledge benevolently. I definitely believe this is something that should be done again–so students can learn what it is like to lead, and so group members can learn how to take full advantage of their position.”

“I learned that it is not that hard to tell whether or not someone is listening. It is really easy to tell by the way their body is positioned. For instance, I saw that when a person is looking around the room or lying their head on the table (even if they are looking at the speaker) they are not completely listening. I really enjoyed hearing new people speak about the things they found in the writing. I really enjoyed this entire process…I wish we could do this again, but I think that it might be an interesting experiment to make the people who are very quiet be assigned to the leadership role.”

“I thought it was helpful for the students to lead because it gets everyone involved in the conversation. We got more covered in small groups.  Our group worked well on working together to contributelots of ideas.  We each had our own thing that we did best. I would definitely do this again!”

“What I learned from this unique activity was that many people have many different ideas, and it is sometimes difficult to choose one idea over another. I liked having the ability to contribute ideas more often, but I feel like sometimes too many people talk at once, or not everybody pays attention.”

A couple of group members reflected on their experience in writer’s workshop on Monday…

“Interacting with people from other classes today was a chance that I really enjoyed.  I realized that you don’t have to talk all the time to be a good group leader…my group leader didn’t talk the most by far, but he kept our group on track and on top of our game.  I never knew how different it was to work cooperatively with people who voiced and contributed their opinions in very different ways and today gave me a chance to really notice those things.  I appreciated the fact that you let us have independence and freedom to lead the discussion into the places that we wanted to lead it to.  Our conversation went off into directions that my other ones hadn’t in class.”

“I would definitely like to do this again because I like working with other people in our grade. I think it also helped to have a leader because they kept things under control. I think that my group did a really good job with coming up with things for the chart and we didn’t really step on each other’s toes.”

 

I am often amazed by our sixth graders at Trinity.

They can sit in a values circle and maturely discuss prejudice, racism, and a field trip to the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. They can blog about a class novel and its effect on their thinking and actions. They can clean discovery trail in 45 minutes, ensuring with great attention to detail that all limbs are moved and all trash is cleared. They can lead a second trimester conference with two to five adults in attendance. They can use technology with ease and are willing to teach their teachers about anything from iPhones to Google SketchUp. They can stand in front of their peers in the morning and give a reflection about their veggie beliefs. They can give a teacher a smile or a hug in the hallway “just because.” They can lead at lunch, in their buddy classrooms, at carpool, in the classroom, at recess, in RWR, during assemblies, and (sometimes!) in the hallway.

They can also write. Each student can really write. Here are a few examples of students who posted their most recent work in writer’s workshop to their personal weblog. Although this writing is amazingly powerful, I am inspired by what they will be able to do in the future.

The following excerpts are from pieces that were published in conjunction with our week-long study of Cynthia Rylant’s style and craft. Forgive the length of this post…but the work of each student is noteworthy.

Eric: “And, oh, the ripples. Ripples that seemed to go on forever. On and on and on. Just like the way a cloud floats in the sky without a stopping point.”

Helen: “Brina Beads is a place of memory. When you walk in, there are beads to the left and beads to the right. There are beads behind you and beads in front of you. Beads and beads and beads.”

Emma K.:”And on Broadway how the people sing and dance and act like people who they are not, and in the bustling streets how the people briskly walk from place to place, and in the parks filled with beauty and wanders seeking serenity from the busy city. This is their life, their routine, their city. New York City.”

Wellie: “Also in the kitchen, there are walls painted chocolate brown. There are walls covered in clear tile with a green background. There are walls that are pushed outward. There are walls that are pushed inward. Many walls.”

Christopher: “Suddenly, my grandmother’s call rings out. A stone shattering the calmness of a lake. Reality is tearing me from my dreams in the tree. I slide down the tree. I should not be disappointed. For, of course, I will climb again. Yes, I will climb again.”

Linzy: “And why do all of these people come here? Why the food of course, and the company. The food, succulent and tasty, is always plentiful. The cooking goes on and on and seems to stop…    …until it starts up again to produce more hearty meals.”

Anne Torrey: “For me, the soccer field is so much more than just a place, it is a home. It is a home filled with welcoming people, wide open fields with green, green grass and soccer balls.”

Grant W.: “Memories are special, they never disappear but remain in life for forever. They are comforting like a kitten and soft like pillows. They are exuberant like little kids. And they all live in a far away home.”

Phoebe: “I spend most of my day on the porch, reading, sleeping, thinking. The porch is like a dog. It waits for me. Waits, waits, waits. Greets me when I get there. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome. Says good-bye when I must leave. Good-bye, Good-bye, Good-bye.”

Isabelle: “I have a corner. A little corner all to myself. Mo one has ever been there or sat there or read there or slept there or hidden there but me. It’s my corner.”

Emma R: “And at the end of the day, as I snuggle up into my bunk bed I think. I think and think and think. I think about my day. I think about tomorrow. I think about my life. Oh, how great my life is. How I wish could stay at camp for the rest of my life. Camp is where I am most happy. Camp is where I am free. Camp is my home.”

Margaret: “In the afternoon, the air is filled with the sweet, melodious song of larks. Bumblebees play tag, zigging and zagging, while their black and yellow stripes seem to zoom every which way. Butterflies flutter gracefully around, clad in every color of the rainbow, settling delicately on tiny flowers, allowing anyone who happens to pass by to admire their beautiful attire.”

Matthew: “Hills of rock rise over the whole river. Climbing rock hills. I can clamber up these hills, eager to get to the top. Once I do, I begin climbing others. I could climb these forever. Endless hills.”

Austin M.: “These all bring the small children joy. This is the room…  … The room for everyone.”

Jon Farrell: “And, oh, the pool. It taunts me with its cool, crisp water. It knows that I am very hot under the scorching Florida sun. It beckons me to dive into the refreshing water, and finally rid myself of the heat.”

Ta’Neal: “And, oh, the stars at night. How they twinkle in the bluish-black colored sky. There are old memories, of course. The best one being when Angel first came there, sniffing and running and barking, then immediately starting to play.”

Our sixth graders have finished their personal essays and Stephen Kennedy’s post, “Reflections on Reflections,” honors their diligent work. In writer’s workshop, we have (finally!) moved on to our study of writer’s craft - one of the sixth grade teachers’ favorite units!

After a study of Cynthia Rylant’s works, Dog Heaven and Long Night Moon, sixth graders are crafting personal pieces about a specific place and posting those pieces to their blog. Armed with new knowledge about “triple action,” “powerful punctuation,” “filtered fragments,” and “word art,” the sixth graders in Ms. Howard’s class will have their pieces published tonight! I can’t wait to link to some of Trinity’s published authors…

Do you want to learn more about Cynthia Rylant?

• A Short Biography by Inez Ramsey and Herb Wilburn
• Cynthia Rylant’s Letter to Children
• Interview with Cynthia Rylant

Although I have a few more report cards to write and (what feels like) miles to go before I sleep, my thoughts keep jumping to the exciting things that are happening in the sixth grade hall. This list is more for me since I haven’t posted in over a month, but I am making a March resolution to post much more often. It’ll be my own March madness of blogging since the UVA Cavaliers have no hope whatsoever. Anyways, here’s a quick list of the things that are inspiring me (in no order)…

• - White Lilacs (the novel), our class discussions around hard topics (prejudice, racism, civil rights), and my class’s engagement and excitement about their work on the WL wiki

• - field trips to the Civil Rights Institute in Birmingham, the Joseph Sams School in Atlanta, and the Breman Musuem in Atlanta

• - a very intelligent and interesting student in Mrs. Bauer’s class, Graha, and his independent posts

• - my PLC at Trinity (and the potential to do some innovative things next year with the Trinity community)

• - my own learning as a result of PLP with Will and Sheryl

• - overwhelmingly positive feedback from my class on their experiences with maintaining their own blogs (when I am in need of inspiration, I read their reflections on what they have learned about themselves, their classmates, and this new medium of making connections) which initiated an article in TTW 

• - the Africa Adventures project (14 students are writing narratives and making photostories about current issues facing places and/or peoples in Africa)

• - Isaba, Grawh, Emmre, Jonbr, Erith, Linsc, Welde, Phojo, Allla, Chrke, Stebo, Emmku, Annmc, Ausmc, Tanch, and Heljo - sixteen kids who are doing some amazing web 2.0 work on top of everything else they have on their plate

In light of our conversations about prejudice in values class and our study of Africa in social studies, I wanted to share an email I received from a friend who is living in Kenya. I visited her last summer, and she was back in the States for a few short weeks in December. After traveling for over 24 hours, Allison arrived in the Nairobi airport and entered a chaotic country - one that was peaceful only days earlier.

I think you will find her words interesting…

“In Nyeri, the school is still functioning as normal. Classes are still held and homework is given out as expected. However, at the moment, we are taking extra precaution by not having students leave the campus for cross country or other activities where the security might be questionable. At night, our security guards, armed with their usual bows and arrows, watch over us…”

“While there is no violence here, there is obvious tension around campus as the radio is constantly on in the staff room and conversations rarely touch on anything other than the current and developing situations in the country. In addition, we’ve had some of the school employees, as well as our first student today, leave Nyeri due to the fact that they come from a tribe other than the Kikuyu, the predominate tribe in this area and that of President Kibaki. They fear that after suffering at the hands of angry tribes who blame the Kikuyu for the flawed elections, the Kikuyu will act on revenge and therefore, they do not want to be seen as a possible target…”

“The major problem areas are the Rift Valley and the slum areas of Nairobi where many people come from tribes of Western Kenya. Many of those are the people who were promised by Rila Odinga, such ludicrous things as other people’s legal land and property, something that sounds awfully similar to what Robert Mugabe has done in Zimbabwe. Because Odinga lost the election,and therefore is unable to make due on his promises, many of those people have acted in anger, demanding to obtain the coveted land. However, there is rumor that the violence was planed long before the election and actually funded by one of the acting Members of Parliament, Ruto. More than anything, this supposed political violence, has become something rooted more deeply along tribal lines.”

“I  continue to love this country, but my soul aches to know and witness the raw brutality of the human race. Why is it that we refuse to learn from history? I can not, for all my efforts, understand the idea of people turning on one another simply because of the tribes they come from. And yet, this is not the first time humanity has witnessed it.”

“Let’s all pray for peace, love and unity - words that come directly from the Kenyan national anthem and realities that are so desperately needed now.”

I am interested to hear sixth graders’ responses - especially in light of our studies of Kilwa, Zimbabwe, and (next week), the Kongo. Here is a question that my friend posed:

What is it about human nature that forces us to put ourselves at such great odds with those who are different from us, be that in regards to race, religion, or ethnicity?

“If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.”

                                                  -Rudyard Kipling

In school, there is a time for reading and a time for social studies, a time for math and a time for music. Textbooks are neatly labeled with appropriate titles and pictures highlighting the subject area, and children know in which subject folder to file their notes. But what if social studies and reading collided? What if the lines were blurred and subject folders were kept closed?

Story telling is part of our day to day lives. Everyone has been on the other side of the table as a family member recounted a story from the past, and everyone has spun a tale to entertain others. Sad, funny, or scary, we enjoy hearing stories of ordinary heroes, antagonists, and climactic moments. Some of the greatest stories ever told, however, don’t get discussed at the dinner table. They remain “locked” in the pages of a social studies textbook.

In reading we talk of main characters, conflict, climax, and resolution. Our antagonists and heroes come from short stories, novels, and poems. The sixth grade teachers decided to do an experiment: in considering our unit covering the Empire of Islam, what if Muhammad became the main character of our story and the climax was the Battle of Tours? What if the fall of the Abbasid Empire in Spain was the resolution?

The three Photo Stories contained in this post reflect the information the sixth graders studied over the past few weeks. Told as a story, will it be less likely to be forgotten?

Sixth graders, please revisit the stories of the Islamic Empire. Retell the story to others, and visualize the pictures in your mind. What are your opinions on this style of social studies? How has it helped you to understand?

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ISLAM UNITES

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ISLAM EXPANDS

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ISLAMIC SPAIN