A Hard Pill to Swallow

Have you every had that moment where you felt so defeated and disrespected that you could literally walk out of the schoolhouse and never look back?!? Today was one of those days. A day where a pill, called Pride, the size of your fist had to be choked down in the middle of your classroom. I was with my small group, in the meat of interpreting remainders, when I heard surfing music blaring from a Chromebook. Naturally, I stopped what I was doing and investigated this noise, I knew was NOT coming from DreamBox, or TenMarks, or Google Classroom. To my surprise, I see one of my students on a site that was NOT 'Mrs. Ritter approved.' This sparked the question in me, 'Who else is misusing their time in my class?' When given the opportunity to be honest, or reap the fruits of a referral, EVERY STUDENT came forward claiming to have misused their device, at least once this school year. It shouldn't surprise you that the waterworks started (on my part) and I had to leave the room. Yes, I am pregnant, but I am pretty sure that incident would have made me cry regardless. I have never felt like such a failure! How had I made it TWO SIX WEEKS and not realized what was happening under my nose. I consider myself to be a pretty attentive educator, and I understand that I can't be everywhere in the room all of the time, but seriously, ALL 44 OF THEM?!!? Surely I should be expecting a pink slip tomorrow, right?!

So, I did the only thing I could think to do....after the loooong lecture of course. I had each student copy down our district Device Pledge, that they signed at the beginning of the year, word-for-word. They were instructed to take it home and have it signed. So sure, I swallowed a Pride-pill the size of a small planet today, and I may have cried (a little) in front of my kids, but the thing that hurt the worst was removing the technology from the classroom. I live for those Chromebooks. My teaching style is very effective with those Chromebooks, but the only way to let them FEEL the consequence of dishonesty was to take them away. So, for the next week, the lives in Room 32 will feel a little more archaic than they usually do.

I am hopeful this experience will bring us closer together as a learning community. I am hopeful that we will learn what it means to be respectful. I am hopeful we will learn to be good citizens. I am hopeful we will become accountable to ourselves and our learning. I am most hopeful that these kids will understand how much I care about them, and how they DESERVE the EDUCATION I am trying so hard to give them. Be rooting for us. We are capable of great things..... and say a little prayer for me...my eye is already twitching just thinking about the lack of technology that is in this room.

Guided Math 2.0

My first year of teaching I was thrown into Guided Math. When I say thrown in, I mean I was sent to a workshop and told I didn't have a choice but to implement this the next day. Thankfully, I was in a district that was super supportive and was given an immense amount of resources. Looking back, I am very grateful to have not been given a choice. It forced me to figure it out. Every year the rotations stayed pretty consistent, and my level of comfort and confidence remained steady.

Then came this school year. Our schedule made a 180 degree turn, which really threw me (and my math cohorts) for a loop. Our schedule went from a 90 minute math block to a 70 minute block. We were also given another subject (social studies). Needless to say, August came and my head was spinning. Guided Math was my comfort zone. I felt it was the most effective way of teaching, for myself. We began rotations the fourth week of school. They lasted a whole day....yes, that's right, ONE DAY! It wasn't that I hadn't set expectations, or that I wasn't properly prepared. My kiddos just weren't ready yet. They weren't ready to take responsibility for their own learning. This was very disheartening for me. Then I realized that Guided Math is supposed to be what is best for the students, not Mrs. Ritter. So, I swallowed my pride and continued whole group instructions, with multiple brain breaks and instructional learning strategies being implemented. 

Last week began a new six weeks, an amended schedule, and a new approach to Guided Math. I began by creating anchor charts of expectations and posting them around the room. We went through each one and cleared up any misconceptions. Each station was explained in great detail, and instructions were clearly posted for each station. The rotation schedule is the thing that changed the most, and as it turns out...for the best. I used to start my class off with a mini-lesson and then would break into small groups. My mini-lesson is now my teacher station. This allows me to better chunk my time and see EVERY GROUP EVERY DAY. Groups can change weekly, as they are content and data driven. So, the kiddos rotate through 4 stations in a, now, almost 90 minute block of time. They have a teacher station, (this is where they get their daily math lesson), a partner station (where they are exposed to anchor stations of previously taught TEKS), an independent station (sometimes this is a daily grade activity, or a technology assignment on DreamBox or TenMarks), and a Social Studies station. You may be wondering why they have a Social Studies station during math rotations, but it really makes perfect sense. At the start of the new six weeks, we were told we have an hour for both social studies and science and that we can use that time in a way that best benefits our kids. I felt it would be helpful to take about 20 minutes of that time and add it to math. This allowed me to add another station to the rotation, therefore adding another group to the rotation...making my group sizes smaller. So far, it is working beautifully. Everything takes time. I feel with time, these kiddos will become very proficient at rotating through their stations. Establishing consistency in rotations and continuing with our growth mindset can only lead to successful mathematicians.