Sunday, September 27, 2015

We Are Epic!

Check out our Team Epic introduction video!
Here is how we did it:
  In order to create this video we used a green screen, an iPad and then a computer to put everything together.  Each learner decided on a word that they felt described themselves.  We then took a video using the iPad camera, a green screen, a microphone, and an additional iPad as a 'chalkboard.'  We created these videos while all 45 of our kiddos were in the room so there was a lot of background noise.  We were able to use a microphone which helped and with future videos we will use the new iMovie update which has an option to reduce background noise.  The video was produced by using iMovie.  Using Google Drawing we created a black background with both our school logo and our team logo.  I love using the green screen effect in iMovie, if is very simple!  All we did was add our Google Drawing image and then when we added each child's video we just dropped it on top of the drawing background and iMovie gives an option to chose a green screen effect, easy peasy!

Monday, September 7, 2015

The First Week with Team EPIC!!!

Well the first week finally arrived and do I dare say it was the best first week ever?!  As Carrie mentioned, our kindergarten trio has split up, and although we no longer teach kindergarten as a team it is WONDERFUL to have these ladies on my side to celebrate our successes and to figure out our failures.  Fortunately for me this first week was full of successes.  I am teaching in a 4th and 5th grade multi-age, personalized learning classroom with the talented Hannah Barry.  Most of our 4th graders have experience with personalize learning as they had Hannah last year, while most of our 5th graders have little to no experience with personalized learning.

After a summer full of classroom renovations and planning the kiddos finally arrived with their families on Monday night for our open house.  We had great responses!  I couldn't even count the number of times I heard, "wow, I wish I had this when I was in school!"  Last year we tried to educate families throughout the year about personalized learning and what multi-age means at our school, so luckily for us most of our families knew what their child was going to be a part of.  For our 4th and 5th graders we only had a few families that were new to the school who were completely blown away by the classroom and multi-age.  Hannah and I had decided to create stations for the families to take part in and therefore we were able to meet with each family as they came into the room and were able to explain our room and personalized learning, we were also able to answer any questions they might have.  The first family that I talked to who did not know that their daughter was a part of a multi-age class had many questions.  My immediate thought was oh no, how are they going to respond.  By the end of our little mini question and answer session they were one of those many families that said, "wow, thats cool, I wish I would have had this."  Overall it was a great night and we were even more excited to start our year on Tuesday morning!

For the first week we decided our most important task was building our relationships as a team.  We did a lot of getting to know and understand you activities along with team building activities.  We decided as a group on a team name, EPIC, and then had our kiddos design a logo.
Our learners created learner profiles and then linked them to their individual Google site which they will use to better understand themselves and how they learn best.  This coming week we will have our first goal setting conferences where we will meet with each individual learner to discuss their goals for the year and then to set their first goals we will be working toward.

Our week was full of many other activities but what stands out most to me is the reactions and interactions we had.  As an educator my goal is always to make learning exciting and to create an environment where each child feels safe, important, and successful.  This week was so rewarding as I continuously saw and heard kids and parents excited for school.  I saw our 4th and 5th graders working together, encouraging others, and working out conflicts together.  I am not saying that we didn't have our fair share of challenges, but what I am saying is that each day at least 5 times a day we looked at each other and said, "this is amazing!"

Our first week in Team R.I.S.E.

As some of you are aware, our amazing kinder team has been split up :(  But before you get too weepy, let me tell you how amazing it is!!  Alli went to teach a 4/5 PL multi-age classroom (at Lincoln), Tiff went to teach 6th grade Comm Arts at Franklin Middle School (in Janesville), and I'm teaching K/1 at Lincoln (now named Team R.I.S.E.).  Why is it exciting?  Well, for one, we are attempting to share what we learned this past year and expand personalized learning into more grades, and more schools across our district!  Second, it's going to be awesome for you, the readers, because you will now get to know about what goes on in a K/1, 4/5, and a 6th grade PL classroom!  You're welcome!

Ok, so let me jump right in on what happened our first week of school in K/1:
1.  I learned a lot this week about what to do, and what NOT to do :)
2.  I have never been as tired in my life.
3.  HOT weather + no air conditioning = cranky kiddos and sweaty teachers
4.  I can't wait to get them all started on their goals

As I'm sure you could gather from my list, it's been a stressful start to the school year.  There were a lot of lessons to learn, but the great thing about PL is that we are constantly teaching out students that it's OK to fail, and that we should learn from those failures to improve.  What better way to teach that lesson than to model it?  I'm keeping notes on what to do better next time, and constantly looking for the positives.  I'm sure some of you want to know about the failures, so I'll share one with you for now.  You know me...Captain Honesty :)  In Janesville, we get to have our Kinders start on opposite days of the week (split your class into 2 groups, group A attends on the first day, and group B attends the second day, then all kids attend on the 3rd day).  This always helps with getting to know the children, gives their families a chance to ease into the transition of "big" school, and let's the students become familiarized with their class and school.  Sounds perfect, right?  Well, because of the staggered start, the first graders never got a chance to become familiar with the room themselves, nor did they have time to learn what it meant to be a leader in this scenario, nor did they get to know their other teacher (my awesome co-teacher, Mrs. Johnson) before all the new Kinders and their families came into the room.  Lesson learned?  Next year, only the first graders will come that first day, and all the Kinders the next.  It was a shame that the first graders weren't ready for the leader role right away because of all the different events involving the Kinders.  We were able to roll with it, but it took a lot of re-teaching that I think could have been avoided by front-loading the expectations before the Kinders came to school.  On the positive side, each day has been exponentially better than the last.  Next year will be AMAZING from day 1!

The best thing about our PL K/1 class so far?  The kids are having FUN.  They love school.  One kiddo sobbed onto my shoulder one day because he didn't want to leave school.  I don't know about you, but I think that's pretty amazing!  

I'll share more pretty soon...I just wanted to give you a quick glimpse into our multi-age life as of right now.  It's going to be wonderful, and I can't wait to share more with all of you!  Until then, here's some adorable pics from our open house the night before school started.  We set up a photo booth in the classroom and invited parents to take some fun pictures with their kiddos!  Enjoy!
My new co-teacher for Team R.I.S.E.!  ~Mrs. Johnson




Yup!  That's Tiff with her adorable daughter who joined our team!



One of our awesome aides and her son :)







That smile!

Another amazing aide we have at Lincoln and her son :)