Lincoln Elementary: Where Greatness Begins!

Wow!  Where to start...
So we just had conferences again and it was awesome.  It never ceases to amaze me just how much our parents support the change we have made from legacy classrooms to personalized learning.  Our principal wanted to compile a video of parents and their feedback about personalized learning because we wanted to know how they thought it was going...we thought some of them liked it, but we were blown away by all the love!  I had parents in tears talking about how amazing this year has been, how much their child has grown, and how much their child LOVES school.  And in the end, isn't that what it's all about?  Every educator I know only wants one thing; to create a love of learning.  Well educators, it's super easy...just give the child the control to customize their own learning, and they will AMAZE you.
So, onto other great things, we recently unpacked our vision statement for Lincoln Elementary as a staff.  The vision is as follows (get ready to be inspired...)
Here at Lincoln Elementary, we will not follow the status quo nor will we fall victim to the unrelenting pull of the downstream current.  We find ourselves truly and deeply invested in crafting the future of our profession and taking the challenge to swim upstream.  We are willing to be pushed beyond the edge of our comfort levels and take risks, because we know that is precisely where innovation occurs and growth happens. With strength, vision, and determination we will change the educational paradigm.  We are committed to being the place ‘Where Greatness Begins’!

It was a great activity for the staff to be able to look at the vision, pick it apart, and think about how they see themselves on this "journey to greatness." It was one of many steps towards creating a climate and culture that has everyone on the same page.

We wanted to begin with the vision because we want teachers to do the same "unpacking" with the mission statement in their own classrooms to build a similar culture. The mission statement is short, sweet, and awesome.

Lincoln Elementary: Where Greatness Begins!

So, I asked my kiddos what greatness means to them and how they are great.  There was no prompting, no previous discussion, terrible videography, and obviously, no editing :)  Next week, we will make new goals for our PLPs and fully unpack our mission.  But this is cute in the meantime ;)

Personalized Learning For Parents

3 Ways Parents Can Spot Student-Centered Learning

My Dream For Public Education!

Also my dream for public education! Children not being grouped in school by their age or grade level.  Instead, transitioning freely from room to room, based on their interests, passions, and natural talents!  I think we're on our way!  I've got my seat belt on and I can't begin to tell you how excited I am for the ride!!!

From Industrial to Agricultural

I haven't posted in a while, but today, I felt strongly to.  Our principal sent a link to a TED talk and asked the staff members to take 15 minutes to watch it.  Well, I did, and I'm fired up!  So now, I'm encouraging you to take 15 minutes to do the same.  Ken Robinson speaks about educational reform and how education thinks it is changing, but reforming is just a fancy way of trying to improve a model that is already broken.  Instead, he urges for a revolution- a transformation into something else.  I bet you can guess what that "something else" is....YUP!  Personalized learning!  Innovation is hard, it's a lot of work, but so, so, so worth it.  Check it out here.

Why Personalized Learning?....Why not?

It just makes sense!

Watch our journey so far!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcfeUcuaDq4

Wowza!

So it’s the beginning of trimester 2, and I don’t know where to start!  The kids in my class are so amazingly smart at this point, that it’s blowing my mind!  They are meeting end-of-the-year expectations left and right.  The most difficult part, recently, has been trying to keep up with where they are going to be.  For example, when your kiddos are flying through sight words, you have to be prepared for the next level.  So making/preparing things for them to be able to reach their new goals has been time-consuming, but amazing all the same!  Who would have ever thought that by December, I would be needing to work on fluency phrases with my kindergartners?!  I don’t care who you are...that’s exciting!  Here's a super cute video of one of my adorable kiddos teaching a little girl how to count by 5's. I caught the tail end of their "lesson," but it was so stinkin' cute...I just have to share!

What’s even more exciting, is that the kids aren't just making academic gains; they are becoming independent in every aspect.  In kindergarten.  At age 5.  Let that sink in.  All the teachers who may be reading this know of the recess struggle this time of year.  It takes the kiddos 15 minutes to put on their snow gear.  You’re ready to pull your hair out because 20 voices are yelling for you to help with mittens, zippers, and good Lord, those snow pants!!  By the time they go outside, they get about 5 minutes to run around before the recess bell rings to come back in and you’re ready for a tall drink!  Well, I don’t want to brag….but I’m the honest one, so I will :)  The very first day we went to put on all the winter gear, I was prepared for the typical whining….but I did nothing.  Nothing.  I literally stood there and watched as every one of my children put on all their own stuff, got ready, and lined up to go outside.  WHAT?!  Well that either had to be a miracle from the big man himself, or it was a fluke.  The next day….same thing!  And it’s not just my class!  Tiff and Alli were both standing in the hallway with their kiddos and we all looked at each other and though, “What is happening?!”  Our only conclusion we can come to, is that the kids are becoming independent in every aspect of their lives.  They are independent learners, and as a result, it is evident in everything they do.  

I recently had a conversation with one of my favorite moms in my class.  She is going to college, has two kiddos, both of which attend our school.  She said something to me about a month ago that really made me happy/thrilled/amazed.  At conferences, we had talked about personalized learning and how it has changed my instruction.  She was like most parents and listened quietly, nodded her head, then left.  She texted me a few days later and said that she’s been thinking about personalized learning.  She thought about how awesome it is for her boys...but more importantly, it’s made her think about the way she learns.  What?!!?  How amazing!  So, the way we teach kindergarten is causing her to think about the best way to learn for herself...in college...OMG!  That’s amazing!    

I can’t tell you enough times….personalized learning is the BEST way to teach.  I will never, ever, ever go back to the old “sit and get” way of teaching.  It’s a ton of work in the beginning (literally), but sooooooooooooo worth it.  So, my challenge to you is this:  What is one thing that you can change this month?  It doesn’t have to be huge, or life altering.  Just one thing that moves your kids in the direction of taking responsibility for their learning.  I guarantee you will see a change.  In the words of Nike, Just Do It!

October Conferences

We just finished up October conferences at our school and, holy cow, was it awesome!  I finally had time to sit down with each of my students’ parents to discuss this crazy thing called “personalized learning.”  I was super nervous to even bring it up.  I mean, what were the parents going to say?  Would they see the benefit?  Would they understand why I would try something like this?  Would they run screaming to the principal to remove their child from my crazy class?  Of course not.  As a matter of fact, it went super.  Great.  Wonderfully terrific.  

I like to start conferences by having all the items I want to cover with the parents in a folder, easily accessible.  That way, I won’t forget what to say.  So, I wrote up a quick blurb about personalized learning, what it is, and a link to this very blog.  So if you’re checking out the blog, parents, this is all about YOU!  I then explained to them how their child is learning in the class, how it looks differently than when we were in kindergarten, and how their child is improving.  Normally, at this conference in October, I show the assessments from the beginning of the year, talk about some of the gains they may have made, and then explain how I expect them to make much bigger gains by the end of the trimester.  You know, the usual.  The amazing thing about this year, though, is that ALL my kids have made HUGE gains already!  There’s no need to hope for an improvement, because they have already grown significantly!  I mean, kids who came into kindergarten with NO sounds, NO letter recognition, NO number recognition, and couldn’t count past 10, are suddenly able to count to 100, know most letter sounds, and can name all capitals and lowers!!  Let me be honest (since that’s what I do best) not all of my students are there yet, but most of them are.  And even with most of them achieving this much, this soon, it’s enough to make me literally tear up from excitement and joy!  So, with that kind of data to back me up, no parent was going to say they wish I would go back to the old ways of teaching where I stand at the front and they have to sit perfectly to listen in order to learn.  I even had parents ask if their child could be in a class like this next year!  That made me happy to think that they saw the merit in the method this soon in the year and want to see it continue.  

The point of this post….I’m so excited that my students and their parents are starting to get just as excited as I am about personalized learning!  I hope you’re getting excited too!