Ms. Natasha Theodora
Quotes

Weekly Wisdom

Weekly Wisdom

Teaching isn’t the easiest job in the world. It takes a lot of hard work and perseverance to get the job done. Some of my teacher friends have already begum summer vacation while some us are still going strong. I have 10 days left! 

Over the summer many teachers take time out of their holiday to engage in professional development. Teachers just never stop learning so they can continue to grow and get better for their students! I have a stack of books that I plan on reading and I have some webinars I will be completing.

Are you engaging in any professional development over the summer? If so, what are you planning on doing? Or, are you planning on unplugging completely from your teacher life? That’s what I did last summer and it was the best thing for me. Don’t feel afraid of either option. Do what’s best for your teacher soul. 

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Quotes

Weekly Wisdom

Weekly Wisdom


The culture of math classrooms is rapidly changing to become more inclusive. The days of math classrooms revolving around the students who understand while letting the students who don’t understand get left behind are fading into the past. THANK GOODNESS! When I was a kid usually Kevin was the only student called on in math class. Kevin was a kid who got answers in math very quickly and always correctly. Kevin was working to complete 90 math problems on a time test in 60 seconds while I couldn’t even solve them all in 3 minutes. The days of only teaching Kevin while the rest of the class strung along are dwindling!

When kids see answer getting as the way math is done they not only miss out on the connections and the value of knowing how answers are formed but they also start to count themselves out of the game. Kids who can’t get answers quickly begin to not identify as a “math person.” On this topic, enough with this I’m not a math person mentality. Once I knew a teacher who referred to herself as a not mathy math teacher. What sort of message is this sending to students? Anyways… I’ve seen kids as young as kindergarten begin to count themselves out of the math game. That is not ok. Math is so much more than arriving at answers quickly. Please listen to Phil Daro’s Answer Getting in Math for further information against an answer-getting mindset.

How are you working to shift the culture of mathematics within your classroom? Let me know in the comments below!

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Quotes

Weekly Wisdom

Weekly Wisdom

I have to be honest, I have never been a big fan of shushing. Oral language is the foundation for student learning. We want to immerse our students in a language rich learning environment. That goes a bit beyond reading stories to them and putting words up on the wall. It also means creating classroom conversations and dialogues. It means letting them share their ideas with one another and it means not shushing them while they’re sharing ideas. Sometimes the most clever ideas and responses are the ones that teachers shush. 

Now, I am in no ways suggesting that we should just always allow students to talk all the time. We need to consider the purpose for their talk and allow a lot of talk time throughout their day. That is the way they will grow as learners and as humans. Take a moment right now to think about the kids in your classroom. How much time do they have to talk with one another throughout the day?

Earlier this year my morning routine had students come in, put away their snack, and read a book. I noticed that my class was a very talkative one. For a while I would remind them of the procedures and have them grab books to silently read. Then one day I had to respond to an email while they were arriving and I didn’t have a moment to redirect them. Instead, I listened in. They were talking about what they did the night before and were sharing stories and plans with each other. Regular chit-chat that most teachers have over their first cup of coffee. I love it! Why should they be forced into silence at the start of the day? From that day on I allow the kids to chat amongst themselves when they arrive at school and I can tell you that it has strengthened our classroom community. It hasn’t gotten out of control. I love our morning chats and I actually have less management issues throughout the day. 

Listen in while your kids are chatting this week. What are their conversations about? What ideas are they developing together? Does their chat sounds similar to teachers chatting before meetings? Try to build on the language in your classroom. 

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Best Teaching Practice

Weekly Wisdom

Weekly Wisdom

So many times we have this idea that a published piece of writing is a completely perfect and finished piece. Or for that matter, a math test is the finished piece of learning or a running record, whatever it may be.

Over the weekend I read a quote from Leonardo da Vinci,

“Art is never finished, only abandoned.” 

I just love this quote so much and I believe that we need to start shifting to this mindset in the classroom. We understand that learning can be placed on a continuum where there is always room for improvement and always more to learn no matter where you fall. Why should any work that students finish be considered complete? Its ok if they spelled a word wrong or missed punctuation in their final draft. Now you know what to focus on next. It is ok if while they’re reading they are reading choppily or so fast you can’t keep up. That should inform your next teaching moves. It is ok if in math class they add 7+8 to be 14. Now you know what they are missing.

There is value in mistakes. There is value in not having everything tied up perfectly with a bow. 

Too often in education, we want to package learning or growth or finished pieces up into a perfect little package but that just isn’t the way learning works. Learning is never finished… and hopefully not abandoned either.

Happy Sunday! What do you have planned for the week ahead? How will you try to value all the imperfect little pieces of your learning environment? 

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Quotes

Weekly Wisdom

Weekly Wisdom


Scaffolding! I just love this quote. Can you teach without scaffolding? Yeah, but I don’t think it would be the best teaching possible. Scaffolding truly is an art form that the finest educators have mastered. It sets them apart from the rest as they work to provide scaffolding for each student.

How do you scaffold in the classroom? What struggles do you have with scaffolding learning for students?

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