Mystery Skype for the Global Read Aloud

Mystery Skype has been on my Edu Bucket List for the last several years, and I checked it off today! It was so much more than I imagined it would be, and I can’t wait to do it again.

Mystery Skype is where you connect with another teacher, decide on a time to meet online, and have your students ask each other questions until they figure out the locations of each other’s classes.

Kim Hewitt and I set up a practice session a few days before to make sure our equipment worked and have our students run through what it felt like. (Kim is just across the hall from me). The teacher she would be Mystery Skyping with had sent her some tips about how to make this work better, and we were able to prepare ahead of time for things like holding up a sign for think time.

We had roles the students would take on in order to ensure that as many students as possible had an active part in the process. This was really helpful because it took a lot of the management off of me. We had Researchers that were on Google Maps narrowing down the search. They would come up with a question to tell the Runner, who would tell the Questioner, who would speak to the other class on camera. Then when they asked us a question, the runner would go back to the Researchers who would figure out the answer, tell the runner who would tell the Answerer, who would then give the answer on camera.

Before the actual event, I had the students write down what jobs they wanted, and justify their choice so that I could assign them their roles. I have never seen so much focused writing out of some of them! They gave reasons like: I would like to be a Sign Shower because I don’t like to appear on camera, or I would be a good photographer because my dad taught me how to take clear pictures.

Our class decided to have a strategy of asking a broad question first like: Are you in the United States (See pie diagram in image above). Then we could start to narrow down the questions. That worked pretty well, although we got sidetracked today when they gave us the hint that they were on some type of military establishment. We had already narrowed down their area to Southern CA when my students jumped in and asked if they were in Area 51? Comedy!!

Our goal today was to discover each other’s location and then discuss a bit of the Global Read Aloud book we are both reading, Pax. (We found each other on the Facebook group for the Global Read Aloud.) Our class prepped for the discussion today by having small group conversations on the questions the other teacher and I had agreed to ahead of time.

When it was finally time to meet our partner class, the excitement level went through the roof! They all got into position, and the girls who were the greeters read their script to introduce our class to them (without giving away our location)! We traded back and forth asking and answering questions. Things got a bit loud in the background because there was such excitement going around about their answers to our questions. That excitement energized some into greater focus for their jobs, and threw others off into an emotion overload! That will be something to come back to and visit next week.

The students really had to think about how to communicate, how to politely respond, and how to listen to others.

One of the most interesting jobs that 3 students had was to be a Director. They sat in the back and watched everything that was going on. They made a T chart to take notes on what was going well and what we could improve for next time. That job took insight, focus, and finesse when they reported back to the class afterward.

One of the most coveted jobs were the photographers. They took all of these pictures on iPads so I could upload them to my Drive. Their goal was to stay out of everyone’s way and capture everything. They loved it!

We also had students who recorded the questions the other class asked and our answers on one of our whiteboards, and another student recorded our questions and their answers. This will be great evidence to analyze before we do our next round.

They were coached on being good sports when the other class found out our location, and also not to go crazy when we found out theirs. Here is their quiet celebration:

Being in the middle of it all, it was hard to understand the impact of the process, but in looking at the pictures, hearing their verbal feedback and collecting individual feedback through a Google Form afterward, I now get the power that this process holds. So many skills were practiced in the prep as well as the actual event. It was pretty amazing.

Building a Growth Mindset in 5th Grade Using Multiple Sources

Building a Growth Mindset in 5th Grade Using Multiple Sources

My students had worked on the Growth Mindset philosophy last year, and I wanted to build upon that foundation. I decided that using mixed media and multiple sources would be most interesting for them. I knew I wanted to work up to the Darth Vader and Yoda posters, put together by Nigel Holmes, which are pretty high level texts.

In order to access the ideas from that source, I needed to scaffold up and provide a lot of discussion time.  I started out by putting the text from the two sources into two different word clouds. I thought that they would turn out obviously different, but because the main vocabulary words are so similar in each source,  it was hard for my students to distinguish the differences. The format of the word cloud did catch their interest though, and they were able to have discussions on what words they noticed and what they thought the text would be about.

Next, I showed them the first 5 Class Dojo Growth Mindset videos. They were almost too babyish, but students were able to soak up the concepts quickly, which was the point of using them as a source.

I had students work through this document during the week, and after the videos, I asked them to reflect on what language was sticking with them. Here are some of their responses:

After watching all of the Class Dojo videos, what language are you remembering most?

I learned that although you get stuck never give up. I am remembering that they never give up. And they are trying their best. And helping each other. That your brain is like a muscle. I remember that they said I can do it a lot. They also said that your brain is a muscles, and in order to become smarter you have to do challenges to build muscles and work it out. The language i’m remembering most is even though you fail you keep on trying They are trying to teach to not give up and to do anything you want in life. Mistakes are a step to success

After that, based on the video, Austin’s Butterfly,  I modeled how they could help me change from having a fixed mindset to a growth mindset if I was given specific, and supportive feedback.

I started with a very quick and basic butterfly and told them that I didn’t like it, and was going to give up. They discussed what they could say to me so that I would keep trying. I took some of their suggestions and tried again. I spoke my thoughts out loud to them about how it was hard and didn’t feel good, but that I would try to take their suggestions. We repeated that process one more time, and I modeled how successful I felt at the end! Here are some of their suggestions:

Mrs. Hoyt is trying to draw a butterfly, but is having a tough time. What advice do you have for Mrs. Hoyt?

Take your time, add more color, add detail to the body, and different designs Use more color. Keep trying My advice for Mrs. Hoyt is to do more designs on the wings, add a face, take more time, antennas, and fix the body.

This was a natural transition into introducing them to The PIT. They thought this was hilarious because we had just discussed wearing deoderant, but they only needed to giggle for a short bit before we could move on. The PIT is the place you go in your mind when something is hard, or feels uncomfortable. Students thought to themselves about some strategies for getting out of The PIT. They recorded them on the doc, and chose their favorite one.

Then, they lined up facing each other and shared their idea with their partner. I told them that the purpose of this sharing was for them to hear ideas from their friends, and share their own with others. I told them that it was important they they listen to their partner as well as share. After each round, I had one of the lines move 2 people down and share again. They got to hear from 5 different people before I had them go back to their seats and add the ideas that they heard to their chart.

Then, I asked them do a quick draw on a sticky note with the one strategy they thought they would use the most. This chart has turned into a resource for any student who is stuck.

Next, I read the book Ish to them. After they got the idea that anything could be done in an “ish” way, they did an ish sketch on a sticky note.

They came up with all kinds of “ish” drawings. The students tend to put a lot of pressure on themselves, so this book sent an appropriate message to them that perfection is not the expectation, but commitment to the process is.

Finally, they were ready for Darth and Yoda. I had our Special Education teacher read over the text with a few students ahead of time. Then, I strategically partnered them up for success in reading. One partner would be Yoda and the other Darth Vader. They needed to read the contents of one row at a time, discuss the differences, and take notes on their understanding. It was interesting to watch them grapple. I told them that working with the text was the goal and that if there was a tough word that they needed to try to figure out the overall meaning of the row with their partner. Some students looked words up, but most just engaged in a lot of reading and discussion.

The final assignment was for them to write a quick summary about what having a Growth Mindset means. Here are a few of their responses.

Having a Growth Mindset to me is to never give up because when you give up you are doubting yourself. When you doubt yourself sometimes you think you are not good enough . If you have a growth mindset when you fall you will get up.  People with a fixed mindset when they fall they can’t  get up and they think because they feel they aren’t good enough.

This is what I think of growth. I think growth mindset means that you can learn something  from your mistakes and get better at it.  Also never giving up. Another thing by learning new stuff this will grow your mind.That is what I think of growth mindset.

I think a growth mindset means to always believe that you can do it. When I read the paragraphs with yoda I noticed that it was all about the things you think might be bad actually help you get better. When Mrs. Hoyt tried to draw a butterfly the first time she had a fixed mindset because she said it was bad. At that moment she was in the pit. When we gave her criticism she took it very well, and drew a butterfly that she liked better. Also when we watched the Class Dojo videos mojo felt the same way when he didn't get the math problems. He eventually tried and tried again and got better. That's what I think a growth mindset means.

It was a week’s worth of work that will set the foundation for the rest of the year.

My Wonder Wall

Kids have a lot of questions, but how often do we give them an opportunity to ask them? This year I am trying out a Wonder Wall in my 5th grade classroom. Whenever students have questions, they can post them on the wall, and periodically I will give them a chance to research some answers.

Here’s what it looks like so far:

My goal is to work up to Genius Hour, but I want to scaffold up to it in a way that teaches students how to ask a good question and how to research effectively. So far, I’ve given them interesting sources, a chance to discuss them, and a designated space for wondering.

One routine we have every morning is a practice of noticing. I put an image up on the projector and they pull out details. We have worked on the quantity and quality of their noticings, and are working to define quality descriptions of details. It’s a great start to the day when students are asked to look at details, write about them, and have a chance to discuss their ideas. It only takes 5-10 minutes, but it is my favorite morning routine. I have seen these skills transfer into writing, speaking, and listening.

Here is one image students worked on:

Source: https://www.facebook.com/NewsOMatic/?fref=photo

Students silently wrote down a few details they noticed about all 4 quadrants and then chose the most interesting detail that they wrote. They shared that idea in a circle of friends where others listened and responded with, “I agree with you because…” or, “Interesting, I would like to add on to your idea.” From that discussion, they were encouraged to post a question on the Wonder Wall.

Students wanted to know

• Why there was smoke coming out of the ground?
• Where the bulls were going?
• And how many animals there are in the world?

I wouldn’t have known they were curious about those things if I had just moved on.

We read an article about the Refugee Olympic team together at the start of the Olympic games, and that generated some great questions for the wall.

• Why did people have to leave their country?
• Why would someone want to make children become soldiers?
• Why is there war?
• Why doesn’t the refugee team have any medals?

I also showed them the website Wonderopolis. They had a chance to read whatever they wanted, explore the site, and come up with wonders.

They only had 15 minutes on it, but they posted the following questions on the wall:

• Why do peaches have fuzz?
• Why do we have emotions every single day?
• Why does your stomach hurt when you eat?
• How do websites remember so many usernames and passwords?
• Who invented numbers and letters?
• Why did the Greeks have a different alphabet?

I am so jazzed about the potential this wall has for sparking curiosity. These kids are going to do a lot of reading, writing, speaking and listening this year.

My next steps will be to investigate the difference between a Googleable question and a BIG question. We will practice crafting BIG questions, and I’ll give them some time to research. We’ll hone our searching skills, and practice writing and presenting. Eventually, we’ll work up to a larger Genius Hour type product. I can’t wait to see what they create!

And by the way, there are a bunch of standards we are covering with these activities. BAM!

BreakoutEDU on the 1st Day of School? Why Not!!

BreakoutEDU on the 1st Day of School? Why Not!!

I designed a Breakout for the first day of school, and the energy was electric. The kids have been begging for another one, every day since. After participating in a BreakoutEDU session at the Stanislaus GAFE Summit this summer, I was intrigued. In order to really understand all the pieces though, I had to make my own. That’s just how this girl’s brain works!

I started out by thinking of the things I would normally do the first day: Put students in ABC order by their first name, have them join my Google Classroom, get them to explore my website, etc… Then I worked out how to make those tasks into clues. It took me many pages of scratch paper, a Google drawing, and several hours of my summer to put it all together, but it was so worth it!!

Here is my map with all of the pieces, put together on a Google Drawing.

I started it off with a Google form I wanted to them to fill out so I could get to know them better. At the end, they saw the following message. My intent here was to get them familiar with the logo.

Next I had them line up in ABC order by first name to get their class numbers. I recorded their names on the number chart, and put the list right underneath this sequence of numbers on the board. This would lead them to the 5 letter word lock.

Then, I showed them the Google Form that would be their lockbox for the day (My next breakout will be with a physical box and locks, but the digital one worked great too!). Each lock is set with Data Validation so they had to put in the exact code in order to break out.

I explained how a Breakout worked and that a key piece would be teamwork. I made it clear that for this Breakout, they could help each other, share ideas, and that the whole class was one team. It was helpful that each student had a chance to enter the codes in on their own Chromebook so that they all felt success.

The date lock came from this poster I had on one of my bulletin boards. I put the Breakout logo on the bottom as a clue, but it was the last clue they discovered!

To get to the directional lock, they needed to join my Google Classroom and open their first assignment. I posted the Classroom logo with my class code in several places around the room. The students had never participated in a Breakout before, so I gave them more hints than I will in the future.

The discovery of this lock took about 15 minutes, and went something like this:

Me: Does anyone know what this logo is? (Pointing to the Classroom logo)

Them: Yeah, Google Classroom.

Me: Hmmmmmm.

Them: (Not getting the hint)

Me: (5 min later) So… Has anyone joined my Google Classroom yet?

Them: No, how do you do that?

Me: I don’t know, can anyone figure it out?

(They used Classroom last year so they knew how to get to it)

Them: OK, I’m in classroom, but I don’t see yours! How do we find it?

Me: I don’t know! Is there anything on the screen that will help?

Them: (The excitement is building, and buzzing around the room) Hey! Click the plus sign!!!!

Them: It says I need a code!!! What is your code??!!!

Me: I don’t know!! How can you figure it out?

One of them: (Yelling across the room) I found it!!! It’s right here on the board!! Type in z1dd4l!!

A bunch of them: I’m in!!! There’s an assignment!!

(They open the assignment)

One quiet student whispers to her team: I figured out the directional lock.

It took a while to trickle around the classroom, but they eventually all got it. Now the energy is spiking and there are kids all over the room with Chromebooks. They are working with different people, asking for help, sharing ideas, and watching for the next person to pick up a trail. I can’t stop smiling.

The next clue involved a note I left on their desks to welcome them into the room in the morning. After they read it in the morning, I told them to put it in a safe place because they would be needing it later.

The clues here led them to a page on my website with an infographic where they discovered that I had 6 job titles, 2 college degrees, 3 hobbies, and 3 professional pillars. This was the number lock.

(Thanks @creativeedtech for the template and idea)

I had shared this infographic with them earlier in the morning, and one student figured out that the note referred to the infographic. He asked where he could find the infographic, and I told him it was on my website. That clue trickled around the classroom, and they eventually discovered a bit.ly link on the board that took them there. Number lock solved!

The first pair that broke out had the best facial expression. I wish I had captured that to share!! They all helped each other figure the pieces out, and we gathered at the carpet for a reflection session.

Here are some of their comments:

“It felt good when I was the one who discovered what the clue meant.”

“I liked the challenge.”

“I liked the teamwork.”

“It was exciting.”

“I was glad when someone helped me.”

It was a winner of an activity that achieved the main purpose of a BreakoutEDU: Collaboration. I will definitely be doing more, although now that I get the ins and outs of the whole piece, I will gladly use one that someone else has already built!!

Thank you, Mark Hammons and James Sanders for sharing this goodness with the educational community. You can join the movement here: http://www.breakoutedu.com/ There’s a very active Facebook group and Twitter feed as well where people are sharing ideas all the time. Not only is this getting students to collaborate, but educators too! @breakoutEDU