An Honor to Honor

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I was raised in the military.  My father was an officer in the United States Air Force.  I was always filled with such pride when military personnel would salute my dad.  I love my country and I love those who serve in the Armed Forces.  Up until 9/11 it was difficult to get students to truly understand Veterans Day.  They often confused it with Memorial Day.  They couldn't really grasp the concept of modern day Veterans because we were in peace time. They saw a veteran as being only a soldier from WWI or WWII.  They thought of their great-great grandfathers.  The unfortunate events of 9/11 lead to our country engaging in military actions in various places throughout the world. Our students soon experienced fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, neighbors and friends being deployed overseas to defend our freedoms.  The term "veteran" gained a whole new meaning and perspective in their lives.  

Every year I volunteer to conduct Veterans Day activities at my elementary school.  Some years I have brought guest veterans to speak to our students at an assembly. One year I put together a truly heart wrenching video that included pictures submitted by over half of our 800 member student-body. personally spotlighting the veteran dearest to them.  One thing I always do is create a bulletin board with the assistance of our students.  We've mounted letters of thanks, stars of honor, and even a miniature monument.  The students and faculty all proudly honor "their" veterans.

Last year I chose to display dog tags. Each student was given a set of paper dog tags.  They wrote their veterans name and branch of service.  I then strung gray yarn on them and hung them under the appropriate branch heading.  The display was stunning.  As parents entered the building they would immediately to into the office and ask if there were dog tags they could fill out to honor a veteran they knew.  It was a wonderful tribute and a community building activity.

This bulletin board has become a favorite spot every Veterans Day at Whittier Elementary in Salt Lake City, Utah.

It was so amazing to see how quickly the bulletin board grew as students saw others honor veterans they knew.  It was also fun to see students, especially non-native students, who don't know any veterans, ask teachers to tell them names of veterans that they could make dog tags for.  Yes folks, we had dog tags for George Washington, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and of course, my dad, Wayne S. Bullock.

I hope many of you are as enthusiastic about honoring our veterans as I am. Perhaps this can give you an idea on how to involve your entire school.  Don't forget to play TAPS at 11 am.  I get on the intercom and ask the students and faculty to stop what they are doing, stand quietly as we play TAPS in honor of all veterans past, present and future.

Taps mp3 free download

I love the pride our faculty, students and parents display and express at our school every year on Veterans Day.  It is truly and honor to honor those who have proudly served.

No Regrets November!

Where has the time gone?
I can't believe that it is already November.  It seems like it was just yesterday that I was preparing for school to start, and here I am, preparing for the term to end.  I guess I should be ashamed that I have been so lax in keeping my blog up to date.  But alas, I am not. :)  This has been a great first term.  I have been trying so many new things this year.  

I was lucky to have been able to go back to Rockaway Beach, Oregon in October.  It was there I took a long look at the things I have implemented this year in my classroom. 

ISN's

 

May I say that I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE using ISN's. My students love doing them. I feel like I have found a way to improve direct instruction and increase their level of understanding in a creative way.  I admit, they are a lot of work, but man, oh, man, it is worth every minute of preparation.  They are not only creating great reference material for themselves, but honestly, some of them are true works of art.  I promise, I will post more ISN pages very soon.  

A/B Schedule

I have also have been piloting an A/B schedule, similar to those in high school. So, on Monday's and Wednesday's we have Language Arts and Utah Studies. On Tuesday and Thursday we have Math and Science.

Friday is spent wrapping up all four subjects while squeezing in Reading Buddies and computer lab.

I love that we are able to actually finish what we start.  Imagine a classroom where you DON'T have to use phrases like, "Hurry! We are running out of time!" Or "I'm sorry, I don't have time for questions or comments.  We have too much to get through."  There is nothing more frustrating then having to quickly move on, even though we haven't covered all the intended content nor been able to take the time to investigate the subject and its complexity.  An A/B schedule has allowed me to embrace depth and complexity in all core subjects.  We actually get to finish what we start as well as investigate applications in real life situations.  Students are accomplishing so much with greater understanding and with an opportunity to engage in activity that has been impossible in the past.  They are free from traditional time constraints and they are producing a much higher quality of work.  I embrace this schedule and wish all my colleagues could enjoy what I enjoy.

In early August I attended the Flippin' Utah Conference.  I immediately joined forces with hundreds of other Utah teachers who are frustrated with the lack of time afforded us in the classroom to delve deeper into curriculum, to investigate real life applications, and the sacrifice of creativity for increased assessment.  I became a teacher, not to lecture, lecture, lecture, but instead to lead my students on a journey of exploration, creative expression and inquiry based discovery.  Flipped instruction changes the look and feel of the classroom.  The lecture, traditionally a part of daily instruction, now takes place via video instruction online, at home.  Students watch the video instruction as homework.  When students return to class we briefly review concepts taught in the video and then we engage in individual, partner and group work. 

After this conference, I decided that I really wanted to FLIP my math instruction.  It has been my experience, that since parents are not familiar with the multiple strategies we expect students to learn, they tend to focus only on the computation of mathematics.  This makes it difficult for parents to be supportive of concepts they not only don't know how to perform, but in many cases, do not understand.  Flipping Math has decreased parental stress when it comes to helping with homework.  

Three weeks ago, I flipped my first math lesson.  After fixing a few technical glitches, we are full speed ahead.  The level of investigation that I have been able to provide my students is so professionally fulfilling.  My students love the challenge problems and, thanks to my A/B schedule, and the flipped instruction time, we are able to creatively engage in exploration.

A typical mathematical investigation block includes grid paper, dry erase markers, and creative expression.  The noise level often goes from silence to the squeal of excitement.  This is why I teach.  I love the level of excitement for learning.  

Chromebooks

I guess my greatest frustration has been with my 1-1 Chromebook implementation.  I received 25 new Chromebooks the first day of school.  They have sat in my classroom just waiting to be used.  Unfortunately our IT department is petrified of these marvelous classroom tools.  Because these are internet dependent, they have limited our wi-fi access.  Student, parents, and of course this teacher, are getting impatient.  Hopefully, my next blog can be a celebratory post of Chromebook usage!

So, as this November starts, I look back on the school year thus far and am not filled with regrets.  I do want to find the time and energy to blog more.  I don't know how some of my favorite bloggers post as often as they do. Perhaps one day I will too.