Motivate Students with Daily Reflections~FREEBIE

Are you in need of a way to motivate your students and hold them accountable? I am all about intrinsic motivation and doing your best because that is just what you are supposed to do. This quarter, I decided to start a daily reflection.

Each morning, students complete the top half of the reflection (related to homework and materials going to home from school and coming back to school). Throughout the day, students reflect on whether or not they gave "110%" in each of our subjects.

Last, before students pack up, they complete a reflection on what they are really proud of and what they need to work on from the day. Students must have this ready for me when I sign their assignment sheets (this is how they get out of the room to pack up) AND I require that they are thoughtful and write in complete sentences. If it is not completed in an acceptable manner, I send them back to their desks to try again. I also expect them to be specific. Instead of "I need to focus more," students must name a specific time when they should have focused better that day. To me, this helps them target that the next day.

What do students do with their reflections? Each morning, reflections are returned to students and they glue them in their "Morning Meeting" notebook.

The best part of this "motivational" strategy is that students are creating a record of their days at school. If they have a pattern of leaving materials at home, it is documented. If they have a pattern of not completing homework, it's written on the sheet. If they repeatedly choose not to give 110%, they have recorded that. Parents will see these at our quarterly student-parent meetings in a few weeks!

Another "best part" of this strategy is that students tell themselves what needs to improve. I think reflection is more powerful when it comes from within...back to that internal motivation! Hopefully, continuing to say the same things need to improve motivates students to put forth more effort to change that behavior.

I hope you can use this! Grab the free-editable template here in google docs. This version is in Times New Roman so that the formatting comes out correctly. You can change all of the student tasks to match what you do in your classroom.

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Happy motivating!

Student/Parent/Teacher Conferences and FREEBIE

Since we just wrapped up our quarter, we also had report card conferences. Have you ever implemented Student Led Conferences? I have done a number of conferences where I ask that students are present where we also set 1-2 goals. I'm a big fan of making sure that all involved parties (student, parent, and teacher) are on the same page, having the same conversations when appropriate, but this year I had a totally crazy idea!

What if students and parents led the conference? {I have to admit, part of this idea was PURE selfishness. Conferences take up a ridiculous amount of time, including many late evenings. This idea quickly started to evolve into a way that I could have multiple conferences happening at the same time and potentially finish them in less days and less long afternoons.} I had other great reasons too, including the positive experiences I have had with leading goal setting sessions with students and parents and having students attend their report card conferences.

How did I go about setting this up?
1) I chose 4 evenings that I would block off (over the course of 3 weeks) from 3-6 for parents/students to sign up. (I ended up doing this in only 3 evenings because I was sick one of the days and had to cancel all of those conferences.) I then sent an email to parents explaining how I wanted to do conferences this year.

Click the image to Go to the GoogleDoc version that you can copy and modify for yourself

2) Students completed a reflection on all subject areas during class prior to the start of conferences. (**I want to share this with you, but my best version is on my school computer. I will upload it later.)
3) I prepared a list of guiding questions for parents. (This matches the same order as the student reflection)
4) I decided what materials students would need in order to successfully discuss their learning. These items included:
* Readers Workshop Notebook
* Math Workshop Stations Folder and Math Notebook
* Writing Draft Folder
* Social Studies Assignments, including a nonfiction reading assignment

On the day of each round of conferences, I pulled the scheduled students together and asked them to sticky note two places in their reading journal that showed their best thinking. (One had to be a write about reading entry, but the other could be from minilesson and read aloud). Then students pulled all of the materials they would need and placed them in a basket.

Benefits:
* Students are in charge. Students are responsible for sharing what they have learned this year, including classroom routines and procedures.
* College and Career Readiness {baby}: Don't we all have to undergo annual reviews where we explain the work we have done so far this year, explain what we are working on, goals we have achieved, and things we would like to do better? This is such a great, real-world, career-related experience for students!
* I felt that parents received MORE infromation about what goes on in our classroom. Rather than presenting a report card and explaining 2's, 3's, and 4's in each area, they really could get a sense of what their child is accomplishing this year.

Wow! I didn't realize how rewarding this would truly be. First, just taking a look at students' reflections and seeing (in their own words, without any influence from me) how much they were loving 5th grade, how they were capable of recognizing the improvements they have already made, and how they were able to come up with ways to improve themselves was huge.

Second, it was AMAYahzing to hear students tell their parents what we were learning in class. I could not believe how everyone was able to spout off lessons I had taught...HELLoooo! They are listening!

What did I learn?
1) 3 sets of parents/students in the room at the same time is probably ideal. At one point, I had 4 in the room and I was concerned that parents might not have felt they were getting enough attention from me (although I don't think they felt this way, I was a little anxious for criticism of this new way of doing things).
2) Having a set of parents/student scheduled for a time slot ALONE was not ideal. It changed the feel of the conference. Since they were the only ones in the room, I was all to available for them and probably did too much leading of their conversation. These conferences also tended to go on for an hour because there was no pressure to finish or understanding that other groups of parents/students were moving along faster.
3) Some students were able to "blow smoke" when talking to their parents. I allowed the child to explain things from his/her perspective, but I was hoping the parents would probe more. When they didn't, I may have asked a probing question or let it go. In the end, the report card demonstrates a more accurate picture.

All in all, I think this was a great success and will do it again next year. For 2nd and 3rd quarters, I plan to have students complete the same type of reflection and invite parents in to do a check-in on what their child has accomplished with his/her goals that they set during 1st quarter conferences. I will probably offer two evening sessions for this and let it be solely parent/student led.

I've uploaded an editable version of the student reflection and conference questions to TPT. Of course, you will want to modify the questions and directions to fit your needs. If you use these materials or ideas, I would love to hear how it goes!

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Morning Meeting: Goal Setting

I love love love morning meeting! I feel like during this 15-20 minute block, I get to teach to change the world, the reason I became a teacher in the first place. This year, I decided to devote a few more minutes to morning meeting and to focus my morning meeting on one theme all week. I even decided to have students keep a "Morning Meeting" marble notebook for our lessons. Focusing on one concept all week has worked out well to develop a better understanding, and I feel like the themes we have touched on so far--kindness, belonging, legacies, compassion, and goal setting--have really stuck with students.

I began with themes that I thought were critical for kicking off our year, use them to piggyback on things we are learning in readers' workshop, and to focus on issues we are having in class. (In comes "conflict" as a theme this week because it became evident that we needed to have a "classroom community" and how to deal with conflict conversation).

Last week, our morning meeting lessons focused on personal goal setting. We discussed how important it is to take our dreams beyond "wishes" by learning how to set goals, develop strategies and plans to achieve them, monitor how we are doing, and adjust course as needed. It is important to remember that goals can be achieved by asking for others to support us (I think we sometimes forget this). It is also important to believe in ourselves and to make sure FEAR does not hold us back from pushing ourselves forward.

We watched the video titled Finish Strong earlier this year. It contains many inspirational quotes and a great message about persevering through adversity and challenges.

During the viewing of Finish Strong, we decided the Anatole France quotation was our favorite.

This quote reminds us that when setting and achieving goals, dreaming is as important as action, believing is as important as planning. Keeping faithful and continuing to work towards our goals is important no matter the adversity we may face.

Each morning meeting focus includes key words. Goal, Accomplish, Strategic, and Intentions are our key vocabulary words for Goal Setting.

To come up with two goals to focus on, we brainstormed ideas for four different categories: academic, character, personal, and behavioral. Students then chose the top two goals that they felt were critical for their success this year.

I believe that in the journey of being human, the true goal of any individual is to work on ourselves to the point that our inner self shines through on the outside--that our actions represent who we believe we are on the inside. I love having morning meeting each day because it gives us time to talk about how to help our true selves shine through. I think goal setting is a crucial classroom conversation that needs to happen on a regular basis. It is embedded throughout my classroom routines and language and we reflect on our goals (just two) once a week. Students write about what they have done so far to work on their goal and their plan for moving forward. I encourage them to believe that just because you did nothing to work on your goal last week does not mean you should quit. (This is true for weight loss, exercising, giving up smoking, and more!--just because we fall off of a wagon for a few days DOES NOT mean we should stay off of it for the rest of our lives. We have to learn to release any guilt so that we can move forward.)

What personal goals are you working on? Can you share your triumphs and struggles with your students so that they can see how a "goal setter" thinks? What strategies help you through the hard times? My students have followed me through the journey of National Boards and my "work-life" balance goal of being more healthy by exercising more and achieving teacher-weight loss!

I am working on a pretty extensive set of morning meeting focus materials. I hope to have these ready soon! Keep following along as I share more of our morning meeting lessons. Our next morning meeting theme is another great one...CONFLICT!

Peek at My Week: Show me the Plans!!!

Hi Everyone!

Spring break, now over. I nearly laid in the bed all day (well, until 11:30). Then did some blog-stalking-pretending-I-was-planning-procrastinating. I watched an episode of undercover boss and cried when the boss gave a kid a full-ride to college so that he wouldn't have to work and go to school at night. Wow! If only everyone felt as grateful as this kid to be getting his education paid for. As happy as he was, I cried because I knew he was getting an opportunity for higher education that he wouldn't have otherwise. {Did you know I'm a softy?} I finally talked myself into a run-jog, walk-around-and-look-at-the-birds around 5. Now I sit here needing a shower, needing to pack my lunch, needing to pick out tomorrow's outfit, and needing to finalize my plans for the week so that I can link up with Mrs. Wills' Kindergarten blog for her AWESOME Peek at My Week linky.

Don't get me wrong, I am excited about our upcoming quarter, but I always get a little paper-bag hyperventilating when it feels like we are starting so many new things at once. I know I will be fine by Tuesday, and seriously, I am planned-and-ready for tomorrow, so calm down!

If you take a close look at my plan...you.will.find.some.holes. Seriously, I am a 3-day planner. I want to see how things go and then re-organize. I have some ideas in my mind (usually) but I wait to make final decisions on what comes next based on what my kiddies do. So, don't-judge, please :)

If you click on the images above, it will take you to a google doc where you can click on the hyperlinked plans. (Can't figure out why the google doc does not allow you to click on hyperlinks, but if you download, you can get them that way).

I made these plans in word and converted them to a PDF. Then, I watched Deedee's video about how she makes her visual lessons and she does it in powerpoint. You know I love to make stuff in powerpoint over word but I thought word would be easier for these lesson plans...I might be converting over to powerpoint next week! If you haven't hopped over to see Deedee, you definitely want to check out her blog and the other bloggers that are giving a "Peek" at their week.

Focus Focus (Easy as Hocus Pocus) Strategy

Rounding out 3rd quarter, coming around the bend. I think some of you all are already on Spring break. My 3 weeks break starts on Tuesday after one school day and a teacher workday. WOOT WOO :) 

Is this the time of year that it seems your students are in need of a break? A few weeks ago, I found that my students were having a very challenging time listening, focusing, and treating each other with kindness. COME ON GUYS!!! This is the time of the year when I think I am supposed to be getting the most done--3rd quarter, pre-state-testing, still have major things to learn, and hey, I show up to work hard! Why aren’t my students doing the same?

Well, one thing I realized is that I had dropped the ball on morning meeting. With so many snow days and late starts, we stopped reflecting on our behavior and stopped setting new classroom goals to work towards. (Honestly, my kiddos repeat themselves every day when reflecting on morning meeting goals, and we had achieved perseverance in math for the most part. And my kiddos are DARN NEAR perfect...But hey, isn’t it better to give them the time to repeat themselves each morning--what went well yesterday, what needs to be better today--than for me to constantly have to repeat myself?)

Let’s just say the trade-off of cutting morning meeting this quarter turned into a week’s worth of lengthy morning meetings focused on problem-solving the issues we were having.

First, I had students reflect on what they wanted out of the classroom. “When you show up to school at 8 am, what are you looking to get out of our day?” In one morning meeting, we discussed these hopes and dreams.

Next, students listed the main issues they felt we were having. Next, we went around our circle and told our top two. While students were reporting out, I was taking notes and tallies. These were our issues:

* socializing/side-conversations

* getting off topic

* talking out

* group not getting along

* having fun at inappropriate times

* joking/purposely bothering people

* learning time being wasted

* not wanting to learn-motivation

* not learning enough time

* too many noises

* rudeness to teacher

* too many distractions

Wow! Does this list sound familiar?

We were able to group the issues into two main problems:

Kindness (how we treat each other)--I learned we were having problems at recess that were spilling over into our afternoon learning time and focusing-issues like too many distractions, side conversations, people joking, lacking the motivation to learn, talking while the teacher is talking, etc. all relate back to a lack of focus.

In comes our FOCUS reminder sign. 

While students did most of the problem solving in our next class meeting, I already had the idea of our FOCUS reminder. When I say FOCUS, students know to get it together. This doesn’t just mean focusing on me, but focusing on the task at hand, focusing on anyone who is talking, and being motivated to do their best with their best focus.

How do I use the FOCUS sign? The class starts out at O. (I simply place the clothespin on O). With extremely great focus, they can move up to an F, but with poor focus, they move down to a C, U, and lastly an S. In a given subject, they can always move back up the FOCUS sign. They can move down to a C in one minute, and immediately be returned to an O with appropriate focus. So far, no tangible consequences or rewards come from this strategy. It is meant to be motivating within itself. Pride in our accomplishments and compliments from the teacher should be reward enough!

Now, what if the kiddos are just having a bad day? With my strategic, wise teacher thinking, I decided that the FOCUS sign would reset to O for every subject. Students might think I am just being forgiving or easy on them, but I am really using reverse psychology AND helping them REFOCUS for a new subject area. By saying that I know they are going to RESTART their focus, it isn't like they have to move back up from a U or C during a new subject. They already start at O and just try to maintain it. (I'm not sure if I am explaining the beauty of this well, but I hope you "get" it :)

I found that focusing at transitions (from quiet reading to a whole group math lesson) is one of our biggest challenges. Now, I feel dumb putting that in writing because DUHHHH! but sometimes I think we (I) forget to give students time to refocus because we (I) am rushing to the next thing we need to learn.

As I write this, I once again feel like I am doing "beginning of the year" stuff. But, I am starting to learn that kids need us to revisit "beginning of the year" lessons ALL YEAR LONG. When I'm frustrated with my kiddos (behavior, learning, etc) I eventually come around to "what can I change to help them change?"

OH.....AND I ALMOST FORGOT TO TELL YOU ANOTHER AWESOME PART OF THE FOCUS SIGN....It can travel with us!!! This week, it went to the computer lab with us :)

You can download the FOCUS templatefor free here. I hope you can use the FOCUS sign, and STAY TUNED for a MOTIVATING classroom management strategy that my students and I came up with, including how I am dealing with those "stinkers" who just can't seem to control themselves no matter what I've tried (or can they??? :). I am putting the finishing touches on multiple themes for my positive management strategy and can’t wait to share (something soooooo simple) with you. Look for it tomorrow! 

(PS-The cool chevron frames in my FOCUS logo are from Mrs. Dixon at Teaching Special Thinkers and the swirly purple frame is from the 3 AM Teacher. Be sure to check them both out!)

Morning Meeting Routine

 

Do you have a morning meeting? This year, I decided to commit to morning meeting. I was reluctant to add it to our schedule because we are always pressed for time but this year, I thought it would be the perfect way to start the day. School officially starts at 7:55 and we try to have our morning meeting from 8-8:10.

To lead morning meeting, I elect a "Speaker of the House." I choose this student strategically (a child who would benefit from the spotlight of leading the meeting and is someone who does not typically take on leadership roles.) Morning meeting provides an easy structure for the Speaker of the House to follow and a way to engage in appropriate conversations with their classmates.

First quarter, we used morning meeting to go over the classroom goals we are working on. At the beginning of the year, we were working on 1-walking down the hall quietly and 2-making sure that no one in the class felt like a "Big Al" (Have you read Andrew Clements book Big Al? Big Al didn't fit in with the other fish, but he wanted to. The book taught us to reach out to others to make sure everyone felt included.) I tried my best to make it seem like students had negotiated these goals all on their own. I gave the Speaker of the House sentence starters to help them lead the conversation. They say "We are working on.....How do you think we did yesterday? Anything we could do better?" We post our goals on index cards on this file cabinet:

We also use morning meeting as the time to reflect on our behavior from the day before. I started using a marble jar system with my students because negative reinforcement wasn't working and I felt like I was constantly issuing empty threats (because my students are so nice, wonderful, and well-behaved in general, it's hard to punish them--and I am not a softy!). So, I decided they might respond better to starting the day with 10 marbles and trying to hold on to them. I simply write "10 Marbles" on the board and subtract as necessary. Each morning, we add the number of marbles from the previous day to the marble jar. It's an understood rule that if they maintain less than 7 marbles, they don't earn any marbles for that day.

Now that these routines are in place (it's second quarter), we can spice it up a little. Here's my new daily routine for morning meeting.

Monday: Smile Moments: Pictures that make us smile or a funny video to start off "grumpy Monday" with some smiles and laughter (follow my pinterest board to find some Smile Moment pictures) We squeezed in quite a few "smile moments" last quarter.

Tuesday: Student Goal Setting Reflections: During report card conferences, students set a few goals. Now, they will make them a reality by reflecting on how they are doing each week. Here's my template:

My hope is that just like we go over our classroom goals ("We are working on..."), students will become comfortable enough to share what they are working on with the rest of the class. I would love for students to use this meeting time to increase accountability, to show support for one another, and to share strategies. This is the only day of morning meeting that I lead, rather than the Speaker.

Wednesday: Classroom Goals reflection: Now that we have our routines for morning meeting down, we can start reflecting on our classroom goals weekly instead of daily. If we have a day where we lose too many marbles, of course we will reflect on why. Our current classroom goals are: 1) persevering through challenges, 2) listening and following directions, and 3) making our transitions faster.

Thursday: Appreciations: Share appreciations for someone else in the classroom

Friday: Building Background Knowledge Videos: Last quarter, we were alternating "Smile Moments" and educational videos. I pull up videos from wonderopolis.org (If you haven't used this site, check it out! They have a daily wonder video with a follow-up nonfiction article. You can check out the archives and quickly find things that relate to your curriculum or that you just think your kids would find interesting.) Sometimes I see something on the news that I think would be good to share with students. For example, when the Chinese Olympic badminton team threw the game, I thought it would spark an interesting conversation about winning and sportsmanship.

I have also used Teachers Domain. They have some really great videos on Algebraic Thinking that we watched last quarter. This quarter, I also plan to use some of the School House Rock government video clips from youtube and a few youtube songs that related to what we are learning. Using this time strategically, I can squeeze in something that we might not get to during our content time.

Lastly, we use our morning meetings to resolve any conflicts that have come up. Two examples from our year that were serious conversations I needed to have with my students included: a really bad behavior report from Spanish and arguing and screaming at each other during recess.


You can download the reflection document for free by clicking on the image. I would love to hear more about your morning meetings and suggestions of how you make them work.