Verb Cafe 12/2/09

We have completed our unit on verbs, and we have exposed the boys to some very difficult concepts like predicate nominatives and predicate adjectives. It has been challenging material for them, but it's incredible to see the progress they have made. Today we did a verb cafe to review the concepts we have covered, and a number of boys said they understood complements much better after the cafe. Again, I have seen the incredible advantage of letting the boys take ownership of their learning and giving them agency. Simply put, they learn and understand much more when they are in charge.

Verb Cafe Reflection from Courtney Humphreys on Vimeo.

Verb Cafe Reflection 2 from Courtney Humphreys on Vimeo.

Verb Cafe Reflection from Courtney Humphreys on Vimeo.

Ladder of Feedback

Untitled from Courtney Humphreys on Vimeo.

LWW Project Presentation (4D) from Courtney Humphreys on Vimeo.

Yesterday we used the Ladder of Feedback routine to critique each other's final projects for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. The boys did an excellent job presenting their projects, and instead of rushing through that part (even though it did take the whole class period-- so it was hard for me to slow down), I thought it would be more beneficial for the boys to give feedback to each other. They are beginning to see the difference between clarifying questions and concerns, and they were able to give valuable feedback about the depth of the work, the quality of the presentation, and how well the team worked together. I said very little the entire time because I realized the boys were saying all the things I would have said! It was pretty incredible to watch. We will continue to use this routine throughout the year to give feedback on projects and writing assignments.

VA Games

I've found that the boys develop a much better understanding of our VA words if I make sure to weave the words into everything we do during that week. I've also gotten some great ideas from other teachers who teach VA. Liz Parks shared a game called "If _____ is the answer, what is the question?" from Harvard. We used this in class the other day-- I had the boys work in groups, and they generated questions for several VA words and wrote them on index cards. We placed the cards around the room, and everyone tried to match up the words with their corresponding questions. They realized that the best questions used specific examples, and I will definitely use this routine again. I have attached several boys' reflections on this routine.

Untitled from Courtney Humphreys on Vimeo.

Pronoun Cafe

We did a cafe yesterday to review before our test on pronouns, and it was maybe the best experience I've had yet with a cafe. The four stations were as follows: 1) Write two sentences with your group- using 1 subject pronoun and 1 object pronoun in each sentence. Label the pronoun with subject/object, singular/plural, and 1st/2nd/3rd person ; 2) Use possessive pronouns to list items you might find in a gym; 3) Use reflexive pronouns to write sentences related to The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; 4) Write a sentence using "its" and "it's" correctly and another sentence with "their" and "they're". As I watched the boys, I realized how much joy I get from watching their excitement. They have grasped some really difficult concepts, and I am much more proactive about talking about their understanding of concepts instead of rushing to the next thing. The stoplight cards have been really helpful with this as well as our conversations after a thinking routine or other experience. I have attached video of the cafe itself and of several boys' reflections after-- I asked them to reflect on how their understanding of pronouns has changed.

Pronoun Cafe from Courtney Humphreys on Vimeo.

Untitled from Courtney Humphreys on Vimeo.

My Goals

This year I will be blogging about my professional development goal to develop a culture of thinking in my classroom. After attending Harvard's summer program, Project Zero, I want to integrate what I have learned into my classroom. This is much easier said than done, I realize, and there are far more things I want to do than I am able to do. I hope to narrow my focus and make some very tangible changes to the way I understand teaching. I hope that at the end of the year, I will be able to look back and say that my true focus was my students' understanding, not what technology we used or what projects we did. I hope that I will be able to say that my language with my students evolved into a conditional and communal language of thinking. I hope that I will look back and see that I incorporated thinking routines, gave my students a sense of agency in the classroom, and made it less about the answers than the questions. This feels like a lot, but I plan to take it a step at a time. I will post reflections (mine and my students') that will hopefully reflect the way the culture of our classroom changes throughout the year.