Hard Work Pays Off

I said before that be ready for some exciting news and I'm finally getting around to sharing! Let's start at the beginning....

This year during one of my graduate classes, we were required to try doing some of our own writing because being a good writing teacher means practicing writing yourself. I decided that I was going to try blogging (hence this blog!) and grant writing. It took me a long time to find a grant that our school qualified for, would fit my project and did not have a passing due date. 

I finally landed on the Michigan Literacy Legacy Fund. After brainstorming, drafting, editing, revising, more editing and more revising I sent my grant narrative to my teacher. I thought that this was going to be as far as I would take this grant, but no more than a week later my teacher emailed me saying that she thought this was one of the best grant narratives she has seen and even wanted to use it as an example in the future. She said "Let me know if you get it".

At this point I was not planning on sending the grant in. I did not think I had a chance, but based on my teacher's feedback I decided to give it a go. I only had a couple days to get it turned in so I finished up the paperwork and sent in the grant. 

To be honest I kind of forgot about it, but one day our secretary came into my classroom and said "You know that grant that you sent in? I just got a call and you got it!" I yelled out "What? No way!" I could not believe it. Our secretary said the letter would be coming soon.

It's not a huge amount of money, but it is helping out my school get some much needed nonfiction materials. The best part was I got to share an important lesson with my students, which is that hard work pays off and writing is an important way of communicating to others, in this case a way of communicating to a group of people that will help fund projects in your school.

Alright I'm done tooting my horn now.

Changes occur over time

Sorry I have been MIA! We know, teachers, that the end of the year flies. I got lost in assessing students' reading levels (only two more to go!), meetings, planning special events and just wrapping up the school year. I have some exciting news to share, but that will be coming in a later post : ) I don't want to jinx anything quite yet.

One of the goals I set put for myself was to improve my provocations for each of my units. I want to get my students excited about the unit, asking questions and really diving in. So this last unit of the year is all about changes, specifically landforms changing, how schools/our community has changed and just over looking at the past. During this unit we usually go to a one-room schoolhouse, but unfortunately we were unable to schedule a field trip for both classes to go, so I had this amazing idea to bring the one room school house to our school! 

Now I'm not going to lie, it took a lot of preparation and planning to pull this off, including moving furniture, getting rid of students' pencil boxes and covering things up in hopes that students would be able to experience what it was like for a student back in 1886.

Students were given chalk boards and were introduced to a new piece of technology 'the pencil' during our typical computer time. At first students were very nervous and confused. It was actually the quietest they came into the classroom all year because they had no idea what was going on, wondering why their teacher was dressed in such funny clothes and I heard some of them whispering 'It's like the olden days.'

Students were introduced to the date and rules right away. Some of them even enjoyed standing up to speak, but a lot of kids did not like having to sit up straight all day or not talk to anyone unless it was lunch time. 

 

Throughout the entire day students were asking me questions like if different things were invented or trying to get me to talk about computers or phones, but I stayed in character throughout the entire day. Students were telling other teachers at recess that "Ms. Mulville is acting crazy. She thinks it's 1886."

At the end of the day we got both second grades together to discuss their feelings on the day, parts that they liked and didn't like as well as made a Venn diagram comparing schools in both years. My students have never been so excited to learn more about a unit all year. During our reading time students would want to (and still want to) read the McGuffey readers or read books about schools of the past. Interestingly enough, part of our school was a one-room school house, so students were really interested in learning more about our school and its history. 

It just goes to show you that a good provocation can get students really excited to learn about a specific topic, so much so that they want to learn more on their own and for me that is my overall goal in teaching. Creating lifelong learners. With well-thought out provocations, I think it is a good first step for my students in taking control of their learning and wanting to learn more.

Taking Action!

What an exciting week in my classroom. My students have been learning all about 'The Power of One' meaning that one person can influence change in the world. A big part of this unit is students figuring out ways that they can get involved and make a change in their school, community and the world. 

Action.

Taking action is a large part of the PYP. The goal is not just for students to learn different concepts and memorize them. We want our students to apply their learning outside of the classroom as well. We call this Taking Action. Each classroom at our school has a 'Taking Action' poster either inside or outside the classroom where we post pictures, notes and examples of students who are taking action.

Sorry about the blurriness...

  Originally, I thought that students had to bring in examples of what we are learning about from home and when I taught kindergarten it was very difficult to remind students to bring things from home. At an IB conference I went to in Indianapolis two years ago, I learned that action can take many forms. 

Since action is all about a verb, I started to write down on sticky notes when I noticed students taking action by sharing a thought wit the class or noticing something in books and let students know that this was taking action. I soon began to realize that students were taking action every day!

So back to second grade... My students this week really ran with Gandhi's quote "Be the change you wish to see in the world." They decided to come up with their own action plan. They wanted to encourage others to pick up trash, stop littering and recycle more. On Monday, they are going to be making an announcement to the school to get the community involved in their action, as well as make posters to hang around the school reminding people to pick up their trash and recycle. 

How awesome is that! Students taking action and getting excited about it! 

Also, something else we did this week was a Pathway to Change. I got this idea from A Year of Many Firsts. Students traced their feet and wrote on them how they can make a change. It is our hope that anyone who comes into our school will read our feet, which will inspire them to make a change. Check out the pictures below.

Our pathway goes from the front of the school all the way to the second grade classrooms. We have already received a ton of compliments from students, teachers and parents about how impressive and motivating this project is. The only downfall is that it has slowed some students down when walking to their next class because they are stopping to read our feet!!!

Whether you are a PYP school or not, encourage your students to take action with their learning. you could also start your own Action Board in your classroom or in your school to encourage students to take that next step to apply their learning.

Teachers Love Breaks Too!

Alright my blogging friends, the reason I did not blog last week is that we were on our Spring Break! We have had a cruise booked for 15 of my family members for almost two years and last week was the big week. Let me tell you... I needed this break. Teachers need breaks. We work hard day in and day out. We spend most nights, weekends, breaks and summers working to do everything we can for our students. (I'm not knocking any professions. Everyone works hard and needs a break too!)

This was the first break where I did no school work. 

No lesson plans.

No planning.

No paperwork.

No emails.

No Pinteresting (that counts as school work!)

I did not even think about my students until the last day of my break. 

And let me tell you... I needed this break.

I know I spend a lot of time working and being in a teacher mindset. I am constantly thinking about my students and how I can be a better teacher. As I once heard a great teacher say "teaching is not a job, it's a lifestyle" and it is so true. So at first before break I felt a little guilty not working on anything school related, but now I know that this Spring Break has made me a better teacher because it allowed me to recharge. 

Yes, all most? teachers love breaks too, but they need them to be the best teacher they can be. 

Here are some pictures from my trip! (My younger brother is an amazing photographer)

Remember teachers, take time for yourself and recharge!!!