Always Teaching

Last minute communications had been issued, exit conversations were held, and end of day high fives had been handed out. A hectic, but fulfilling school day had concluded. Because I was still talking to my kids as we made our way downstairs as they began making their way home, I uncharacteristically found myself on the first floor, where I spied our  principal who was monitoring one of the street exits.

She had recently returned to our school after a couple of days away for training or meetings. I made my way over to  sarcastically introduce myself  and genuinely welcome her back. While reaching out to shake her hand, I said, "I remember the face, but I don't quite remember your name."  She replied "Mrs Smith, and you are?" We laughed, shook hands, and I turned around to head back upstairs. Then a bloody murder scream snapped me around to see a little girl led by her mom coming back in through the double doors.

The mom looked frantic. The girl, flushed with pain and confusion, had blood streaming down her face. There was a request for a band-aid, but I met that request with a "come with me." I scooped the little girl up, which was met with an seemingly impossibly louder scream, when the little one couldn't see he mom, who I asked to follow me upstairs to my room.

In the same drawer that I keep confiscated student distractions, various contraband, and my secret stash of candy, is a quick pack of medical care supplies. Rubber gloves, bandages, cotton balls, alcohol wipes, etc, all at the ready for minor elementary wounds. I sat the girl in my desk chair and handed her a couple of the many Spongebob's that adorn my desk in an effort to calm her down. It worked. Of course it worked, everybody loves Spongebob, even when sweat and blood have made your child-fine hair stick to your face.

A little swabbing, a little cleaning, and a fresh new band-aid fixed the little one up. She handed back the yellow toy that decorates a grown man's work space, gave me a little hug, and grabbed mom's hand to leave. I hadn't really noticed through all the chaos that a couple of my students had stayed afterword to help recover our classroom and set-up some morning elements for me. "That was so amazing Mr Johnson!", one of them exclaimed, "You were like a doctor", said the other. Of course it was neither, I was just doing what came naturally. I've seen much worse and I have had a lot of practice with such minor incidents as a father of a thirteen year old boy. I saw a kid that needed help. I helped.

Then the realization that even though the school day may be done, I'm always teaching. My helpful students made the connection to some of the lessons on community that we've had this year. "You showed that little girl such compassion" the students observed, saying further "just like our community circle on compassion."

As a teacher, you don't know if you reach the kids with your words. That day, I was sure that I taught my kids through my actions. I'm always teaching.

 
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Fun Formative Assessment - Socrative.com

 My 6th grade class isn't a 1:1 classroom, but when I noticed at the beginning of the year that my school's laptop signup sheet hadn't even been created yet, I thought I would take advantage of the omission to see what 1:1 could be like. For the first couple of weeks our computer time was extended from it's weekly session of 40 minutes on Friday, to all day access and use. That extra time allowed us to get rolling much faster on our web tools than I had planned and  was like being given the gift of time. We used that gift to try out a new web tool, Socrative. (thanks to @coolcateacher for sharing the resource)

From the Socrative website:

Socrative is a smart student response system that empowers teachers by engaging their classrooms with a series of educational exercises and games. Our apps are super simple and take seconds to login. Socrative runs on tablets, smartphones, and laptops.

The site accurately promises 'real-time' formative assessment and seeks to provide a student response system that is easy to use while driving student engagement. It makes formative assessment fun (yes, fun). The teacher sets up a sort of control room where you can set into motion activities that kids can respond to and can immediately view the results 'live' as they come up. Kids log on and join the room and wait for the teacher to begin the activity. Once we begin, kids are instantly 'hooked in' to what is going on in the classroom discussion. I noticed immediately that I was even getting responses from the most reserved students in my class. That fact alone should be enough to get a teacher to try the site. A demo is available on the site.

There are a number stand alone activities available such as true/false, multiple choice, and short answer polls. Socrative also features quizzes that allow me to take a quick snapshot of student learning. I can easily create and store quizzes. Initially, I only used the tool at the end of the day or lesson, but I have grown more comfortable using Socrative during a lesson. I also like to use the tool at beginning of a lesson to help quickly determine prior knowledge for the topic, and the instant polling results help me point the lesson in the right direction. Socrative now has a permanent folder on our class' Edmodo sidebar.

I've used the tool during science, grammar, and math instruction, but the student's favorite activity is the Space Race.  In the Space Race, students can click assigned teams or choose 'rockets' as they answer questions from  lesson questions. Our room is usually 'dead' quiet as teams work together and quietly (so as not to tip off other table teams) to choose the correct answers. Their rockets move across the screen and I can monitor completion on their terminal or watch with the students on the projected screen at the front of the room. Very exciting! At the conclusion of the race, results are sent to the teacher's email in a Googledoc or Excel spreadsheet, scored and graded by individual respondent.

 The site is in Beta currently and promises to make more devices compatible soon. Sign up and give it a try. Your students, and you, will be happy you did.

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