by Dr. Shawn Clark

Induction Teachers April 22, 2014

drclark — 2014-03-24 20:03:16 UTC

Welcome to your final virtual meeting! Please be sure all of your assignments are turned in by 5:30pm on April 22, 2014.

After reading Chapter 8 "Improving Your Pacing" in Teach Like a Champion, do the following 3 things:

1. POST THE NUMBER ONE TAKE AWAY YOU WILL PUT INTO PRACTICE.

2. POSE A QUESTION REGARDING THE CONTENT IN CHAPTER 8.

3. RESPOND TO SOMEONE ELSE'S QUESTION.

To post messages to this board, please do the following:

-always type your name in the post

-double click anywhere on the board to create a post

-when you respond to someone else's question double click near the post you are responding to and use their name when you respond

{please see the exemplar below}

2. What are some ways you close your lessons in order to "brighten lines" like on p. 228?

2014-03-24 20:21:49 UTC

Abbey Duggins

3. Abbey, have you tried an exit slip? I find that exit slips are an effective way to both close an activity and formatively assess. Check out the ideas on p. 35.

2014-03-24 20:23:50 UTC

Shawn Clark

1. I will put "Every Minute Matters" (p. 230) into practice because I find it shocking that 75 hrs of instruction can be lost if we give those final minutes away.

2014-03-24 20:26:23 UTC

Abbey Duggins

1. I will put "Work the Clock" (pg. 232) into practice because I believe time does matter and students need to understand this concept.

2014-03-24 20:54:49 UTC

Julia Drautz

2. Does the "Age Plus Two Rule" really work to figure out your students' average attention span?

2014-03-24 20:56:51 UTC

Julia Drautz

3. Mrs. Duggins, I like the example they gave in the book about "start signal." (pg. 229)

2014-03-24 21:06:53 UTC

Julia Drautz

1. On page 228 I read about "Brighten Lines" it states the "You could make the transition even sharper and more visible by giving a start signal" and I have actually tried this and will continue to put it into practice. There are always new creative ways to signal students to begin or end an assignment and they love the thrill of it.

2014-04-14 21:43:17 UTC

Jacque Kuney

2. On page 233 under Reflection and Practice as I was reading #2 I kept thinking about how much I do this naturally when planning, but I am always wrong on the timing. Will this get easier as my years of teaching continue? Or do you know any tricks when it comes to measuring your minutes?

2014-04-14 21:55:41 UTC

Jacque Kuney

3. Julia Drautz- It seems that this is going to change over time. After reading page 228 it states "I suspect that people in the seventeenth century did not need or crave intellectual change at the same median rate we do today." Times change, we live life a lot faster now and unfortunately most kids now a days do not know what it means to slow life down. We always want things faster and better and that is the mentality of our students.

2014-04-14 22:09:10 UTC

Jacque Kuney

Jacque Kuney- I use the rule of thumb that it will take students three times as long as it would take me to complete an assignment. It doesn't always work, but it does give me a better range of how long to spend on a certain topic.

2014-04-21 15:55:08 UTC

Carrie Forrest

1. I have been trying to implement Look Forward (p. 231) and using statements similar to the first bullet on p. 232 especially in a math classroom because students so often see real world examples of the same material as a detatched topic.

2014-04-21 15:57:29 UTC

Carrie Forrest

2. I try to use countdowns and working the clock with my students, but sometimes it's like they do not here me counting. Are there ways of improving that behavior this late in the year, or is this something that should be implemented from the beginning with expectations?

2014-04-21 16:00:51 UTC

Carrie Forrest

1. Something I plan to out into practice in a more efficient way is "Brighten Lines"(p. 228). It is sometimes hard for me as a first grade teacher to not blur the lines that need to be brightened. For example, the majority of my morning is ELA; but, my ELA blakc is broken down into many differnt subjects like: Word Work, Shared Reaidng, and Writing. i find it very easy for myself to just sweep right into the next portion of ELA without give a distinct break.

2014-04-21 19:17:26 UTC

Carolyne Brooks

2. I use a visible agenda for the day in my classroom and the students and I read it every morning, but I find myself leaving it at that and not refferring back to it. I am having a hard time finding ways to utilize my agenda to benifit my students AND my pacing (mentioned on p. 232). How can I better make use of my agenda to benifit my students learning and my pacing?

2014-04-21 19:22:55 UTC

Carolyne Brooks

3. Carrie Forrest- I don't belive it is too late to change this! I found that I had trouble with this too. One thing I tried was prompting my students at the beginning of the day/ class. I would mention to them that when I count down for that day I may do it in a different voice, or different tone, and they need to be really lisenting for it. This caught their attention and made them actually listen for my counts, instead of me having to wait for them to hear me.

2014-04-21 19:28:00 UTC

Carolyne Brooks

1. The number one take away for me in Chapter 8 is the Every Minute Matters on pages 230 and 231. Never have I thought about how those "few extra minutes" at the end of class would add up to so many hours. I love the suggestion the book gives for how to use those minutes to your advantage, especially the multiplication questioning while going to the restroom and the reading a book while the students pack up. I have found that at the end of the day is when the most minutes of my day are waisted.

2014-04-21 19:36:45 UTC

Jessica Wash

2. I use countdowns all the time in my class, as suggested on page 232. I will tell the students that they have 10 minutes to complete their assignment and I find that they have done almost nothing. I stress to the students how important it is to get things done within that time limit, but it seems that they have no idea really how much time they have. How can I help them have a better understanding of how long they actually have?

2014-04-21 19:42:30 UTC

Jessica Wash

3. Mrs. Duggins, I use a ticket out the door at the end of most of my lessons. When my students hear me mention the ticket out the door, they know that the lesson is over and it's time to pack up. This has really helped my students transition from one subject to the other.

2014-04-21 19:47:36 UTC

Jessica Wash

3. Jessica Wash... Do you think your students would do better if you gave them intervals of time remaining? For instance, "You have 6 minutes left to finish" and then again later. OR maybe a visual timer on the SmartBoard. That's actually something I should try too!

2014-04-21 21:31:47 UTC

Hollis Harmon

2. With the Change the Pace strategy on page 227, the changing the format idea sounds wonderful. However, does anyone else feel like that would still be distracting to the students? I know with my students, as soon as I do anything different within the format, they are off topic or say "Do we have to do something else with topic sentences?"

2014-04-21 21:36:10 UTC

Hollis Harmon

2. My take away will be implementing more brighten lines strategies. Having my students all day without changes classes seems to make this harder for me because exit tickets make so much sense when you are actually exiting the classroom, but if I established these lines, I could have this transition between subjects without leaving. But I have lined my kids up and walked around the building just to experience the transition!

2014-04-21 21:43:11 UTC

Hollis Harmon

1. "Look Forward' is the strategy I will take away from this chapter. On page 231, it says to create excitement put a catchy name to some of the topics on your agenda. This will make them look forward to reading the agenda and what is coming next. If we are excited about the lesson, they will be too!

2014-04-21 23:08:11 UTC

Lisa Decker

2. The "All Hands" strategy was a bit confusing. Could someone suggest another time when I could use this strategy?

2014-04-21 23:15:29 UTC

Lisa Decker

3. Jacque Kuney, I started using a timer after going into Mears' room the other day. During activities, she would set it for the students to know exactly how much time they had. It really seemed to help keep the pace of things going and keep the students engaged. It also helps me to not spend more time on something than I had originally planned.

2014-04-21 23:19:05 UTC

Lisa Decker

1. My take away will be implementing an exit ticket. I feel like this holds the students responsible for their own learning, which is something I stray away from doing on a day to day basis.

2014-04-22 11:15:15 UTC

-Aubrey Oswald

When discussing "all hands", what is a way to implement this strategy without making the students think they have to rush, but still get the sense of speed and a steady pace?

2014-04-22 11:19:05 UTC

-Aubrey Oswald

Carolyne, I feel like this is something that will improve with practice. Almost force yourself to stay on task (the agenda) and over time it will become second nature to you. Having said that, if you do stray from the agenda I don't feel like it's a big deal. After all, you have to cater your teaching to your students.

2014-04-22 11:20:47 UTC

-Aubrey Oswald

Ruzanna Carter

2014-04-22 13:03:02 UTC

1. I like the idea of changing paces, this works well in the art classroom although not with every lesson. I do agree that it is important to have active and passive activites plannes so that there is a balance.

2. My question is about using "work the clock". In the art classroom with 28 students, how do you do this and maximize instructional time yet have sufficient time for clean up?

Ruzanna

2014-04-22 13:08:06 UTC

3. Julia I was wondering that also with the age plus two rule and I believe it to come very close with my kids. With special education students it might be less though.

Lisa Decker, when I was reading about this strategy, I immediately thought of using students as visual representations and models for a variety of topics, especially math, where models are continuously needed. I have found that when I involve volunteers and use actualy "bodies" instead of the usual block or cube, students are automatically interested and engaged.

2014-04-22 13:36:54 UTC

Kristi Foster

1. My number one take away from the reading has to be "Every Minute Matters". Not to dog on my self, but I tend to do this at the end of the day right before dismissal, or sometimes right before transition to related arts. I need to realize that those few minutes can be used for a variety of meaningful learning experiences, or just to simply review what we discussed and learned for the day.

2014-04-22 13:40:30 UTC

Kristi Foster

2. Throughout the reading, the one thing that struck me as something I tend to struggle with is changing the pace. At the beginning of the year, I felt like I was boring my students with endless ELA lessons and activities that felt so drawn out and pointless. Since then, I have realized that incorporating shorter mini-lessons and activities has proven to benefit them greater. I like the example the book has on page 227, and I am really good at doing this with math, but does anyone have any suggestions for breaking up such a long ELA block? I like the idea of spiraling previous topics, so maybe now would be a great time to start doing this for an "end of the year review"?

2014-04-22 13:44:36 UTC

The one thing that really stuck out to me that I will take away from this chapter is the topic of Every Minute Matters! I often find myself throughout the day saying "I need more time!' This is so true...I always need more time to teach what needed to be taught that day. I have learned that it is truly important to utilize every minute given to us for instruction. I now use a timer a lot during the day, this helps myself as well as the students to know our pace for the day.

2014-04-22 16:06:51 UTC

Colby Martin

How do you address those students who have panic attacks when they are not finished with something and we are moving on? This is true of a lot of my kids with disabilities.

2014-04-22 16:11:24 UTC

Colby Martin

Hollis, I completely agree with you about this. I feel like it is a distraction.

2014-04-22 16:22:40 UTC

Colby Martin

Gary Asbill - 1) I will put into practice the "Brighten Lines" method to enhance understanding. I feel like, especially after my first year, that I could have been more discreet and given more focus to individual lessons. There were times where the entire lesson would often run together and would seemingly end without a true, definitive end. If this is confusing to me, this should definitely be confusing to my students. I will try to "brighten" the "lines" from here on out!

2014-04-22 16:34:39 UTC

- Gary Asbill

Gary Asbill - 2) With each lesson I develop, I try to work the clock both before the lesson and during. Having no experience in my first year to base pacing, I have struggled at times. Although working the clock is something that should be done in every lesson, what are some ways to make sure of pacing in the future? Are there any concrete ways that help this on a consistent basis?

2014-04-22 16:36:31 UTC

- Gary Asbill

Carolyne, I also find myself struggling with pacing and making sure I stay true to the agenga. Obviously, I am no expert on this since I am asking a similar question, but perhaps recording the start and finish times for lessons throughout the day will help you daily, and it will certainly help you in the future. I have tried, and of course, with me teaching individual periods, it helps me throughout the day; however, with you having the same kids all day, maybe there is a more time-efficient way in doing so that would be more beneficial. I hope this helps!

2014-04-22 16:39:45 UTC

- Gary Asbill

Brad Johnson-1) I will start incorporating the "Look Foreward" strategy. A lot of times students can get lost through the monotony of starring at a computer screen for 100 minutes. Any way to create excitement for the students, I feel, can be used for positive instruction. I feel that if I can keep excitement in the lesson then the students will be engaged in the lesson.

2014-04-22 18:40:46 UTC

Brad Johnson/ 2) I really like the strategy of "All Hands" and it makes sense how to use it in a core class. How could I incorporate this straegy into my computer classes?

2014-04-22 18:58:58 UTC

Gary, I also have trouble of pacing during my lessons. I feel as first year teachers, as well as PACE students, we were more new to this than the traditional education majors. One idea that has helped me this year with my pacing is keeping a daily journal of notes based on my lesson for that day. If something went really well I try it again in the class. If something went bad then I may improve it and try it later in the year.

2014-04-22 19:03:08 UTC

-Brad Johnson

" Nothing for more than ten minutes, people of all ages begin to lose focus after ten minutes and need something new to engage them."

2014-04-22 19:11:00 UTC

Taylor Simmons

How can limiting myself to ten minutes benefit the success of my students? Also how is that EVEN possible?

2014-04-22 19:12:07 UTC

Taylor Simmons

Carolyne- Maybe have a helper that is responsible for checking off items on your agenda that the class has completed. Every time the helper checks an item off that will remind you to look at the agenda and get the kids excited for the next few activities. You could even provide a reward when the class completes an activity on time, which may motivate your students to get their work finished.

2014-04-22 19:23:17 UTC

Taylor Simmons

Chelsie Hastings- The biggest thing that I took away from this chapter was how important it is to change up activities every ten minutes. Many times I've caught myself second guessing activities that are short and trying to lengthen the activity; however, through this chapter, I realized it's ok to keep activities short as long as they're engaging. I've also noticed that a lot of times, after working on something for 10-15 minutes, my students seem to get off task. This chapter reassured me that it's okay to break these types of activities up in order to keep student interest.

2014-04-22 19:44:19 UTC

2. Chelsie Hastings- The Brighten Lines technique seems like a great mechanism to help solidify mastered material in students' minds and to help give them a reference point to look back on. However, in my classroom, everything builds on itself. I would love to get some ideas on how to incorporate this technique in a language classroom.

2014-04-22 19:54:51 UTC

Lisa, for the All Hands technique, you could try having students call out the different questions. We used to do an activity in my AP English class in high school where we would come to class with several discussion questions ready. We would go outside and someone would pose a question and throw a ball to the person they wanted to answer the question. You could integrate All Hands into this by posing a question then having several students respond to the person next to them at once; then, allow another student to pose a question.

2014-04-22 20:01:24 UTC

Chelsie Hastings

All Hands-- Get more students involved and engaged in the activity. I've tried a variety of activities to make sure all students are engaged, but this is the one thing I've had to consistently work on.

2014-04-22 20:07:00 UTC

-Gilda Tafolla

Brad and Gary, I too have struggled with pacing during my lessons. Transitioning from 7 standard classes to block classes was quite a struggle at first, but I have kept the list of strategies we were given in PACE on my desk and on my podium so that if my pacing is off or I have time left at the end of a class period, I can quickly use on of those strategies to help them with the lessons. I love the idea of keeping a daily journal based on lessons for that day. Mr. Shealy mentioned this as well for his ideas on classroom management. He said that if something went well, we should write that down in our journal/notebook. If something went wrong, write that down as well. Then, when we plan during the summer for the following Fall, we can pull that journal out to assist with our planning.

2014-04-22 20:09:04 UTC

-Gilda Tafolla

Change the Pace--I don't think students can focus for 10 minutes even in high school. How do we keep them focused to ensure the age + 2 rule? I find that many times I have to lecture for more than 10 minutes on certain items, but I lose them in less than 10 minutes. Any ideas on how to break things down in shorter time frames? This is especially true with grammar structures.

2014-04-22 20:15:02 UTC

-Gilda Tafolla

Carrie, I love your thoughts here! I never really thought that through before, but it does make sense now that I think about it. I'll make sure to think about that when I gauge timing on an assignment.

2014-04-22 20:19:48 UTC

-Gilda Tafolla