Patton @ AMLE 2017

I attended a short Speed Learning Session with Vicki Meigs-Kahlenberg and enjoyed it so much that I ended up purchasing her book The Author's Apprentice . Essentially, Vicki's session was on not letting narrative writing fall by the wayside in the world of high-stakes testing. She talked about teaching students to develop their writing voices by studying the works and process of popular young adult authors such as Kwame Alexander, Jacqueline Woodson, Jason Reynolds, and Lois Lowry. I have always been interested in using mentor texts to teach students writing strategies such as "Show, Don't Tell" and dialogue that develops characters, but I felt like Vicki's process takes this one step further because she has students research the actual authors and learn about their lives and writing processes. There is no one correct way to write. Every author plans, drafts, and revises differently, and I think sharing this with students makes the whole writing process seem m

One session I attended was titled, "Integrating Technology into a Dynamic and Brain-Friendly Classroom."  The presenters introduced an interesting tool called Spiral (https://spiral.ac/).  This is a free resource that allows for quick assessments, class discussions, brainstorming, and several other features.

The first session I attended was on Advisories.  The presenter acknowledged that not all schools have Advisory programs, others have beginning programs, and others have long-established programs, so the presentation would address the research-based facets of long-established programs that have shown student success and growth. Advisories are times for social and emotional development and growth.  In order to "work" Advisories should be at least 15-20 minutes each day.  There are three components of every  Advisory meeting: Belonging, Significance, and Fun.  Each student should feel like they belong  to that group (their Advisory), which, in turn, develops into a larger belonging  to the school family.  The activities done in Advisory should have obvious significance for the students - and not the type of significance where the teacher knows why it is significant, but the students shrug their shoulders when asked.  Students play main roles in developing content of Advisory

Brain Basics 101: Creating Socially and Emotionally Healthy Classrooms Key ideas/emphasis: Trauma and stress are big challenges to learning Emotional health is not an “appetizer” or a “dessert”- it is the plate Teaching students about the parts of the brain and what they control Helping students understand dysregulation  (acting out and acting in) Teaching students the proper way to breathe-the prefrontal cortex (which is used for complex thinking)  “goes offline” during times of stress, and correct/deep breathing helps bring it “back online” and also releases oxytocin Pyramid of trauma, stress and learning (below)- students who form ONE healthy, supportive adult relationship can offset this pyramid Big takeaway: CHASE THE WHY-The Posture of Curiosity Easy to begin using tomorrow When dealing with students who are either dysregulated or not exhibiting the desired behavior, use the following phrases: “I wonder…” or I noticed…”   Examples: “I wonder

Debbie Silver's wit, sense of humor, and passion for education was evident in every facet of her presentation at the National AMLE Conference. She presented herself as human (and all of the faults that are associated with that) and wasn't afraid to identify singular mistakes that she made during her career; mainly buying into the idea early on that we should praise every child, often, and often times for things that they ultimately couldn't control (i.e. naturally smart). This was the prevailing educational thinking (even now in some circles) at the time (I still recall an undergraduate professor lecturing me on the evils of red pen on self-esteem). She went on to detail that she felt it her duty to insulate her students from failure or struggle. She summed all of these ideas up with one word, wrong. That led us to the not so new, but seldom used pedagogy of growth mindset. Debbie identified a few people as being responsible for helping her to shift her thinking from e

"Middle School:  A Place to Belong and Become" was presented at AMLE by Dr. Laurie Barron, principal,  and Superintendent Patti Kinney.  I LOVED THIS PRESENTATION!! Some thoughts presented:  (Many things we already knew but some new thoughts) . Effective middle schools are where students feel they belong, are safe, respected and valued. . The foundations of middle school have to be strong. . We need to educate the whole child....physical, social and emotional. . The first biggest growth spurt in a child's life is birth to two years of age.  The second biggest spurt and most critical time of development is ages 11-14....our middle school kiddos! . We need to focus on the outcome, not the structure. . Remember students are stakeholders too.  Involve them and seek their input.  i.e., designing a playground. . The first day of school:  don't focus on rules and consequences.  Instead, make the first day AWESOME! Some ideas presented to make middle school a plac

This session presented by Charles Beaman was phenomenal.   He is such a dynamic and engaging speaker.  His main points were how important it was for teachers to try to reach students by using expression, stimulating AHA moments, use multiple strategies to reach all types of learners and have "hooks" to increase engagement.    He shared ideas on the importance of using brain compatible strategies and how critical it is to make learning fun.  He emphasized 3 things the Brain Loves:  Choice, Novelty and Challenge.  Lastly, he talked about how important it is for teachers to be  "Life Touchers" for students.  The slightest word of encouragement can make all the difference in the world and you may not ever realize just how big your impact was but how critical it is to be mindful of the impact you can have. The Difference between Teachers and Life Touchers.  All Life Touchers are teachers but not all teachers are life touchers.  Strive to be a Life Toucher.

I attended a few technology sessions rich in ideas that can be implemented very easily into most content areas. I’d like to share some of those here, in case you’d like to check them out. Hacking Google for Educators (by Brad Currie) Poll Everwhere: Add-on; Can be embedded into Google Slides Flip Grid: Post video clips (like asking students questions) and use in lieu of or in addition to a live classroom discussion; can be accessed through Google Classroom Mind Meister : Google Doc Add-On; takes bulleted lists and turns into a more dynamic mind map Screencastify: Google extension; use to create tutorials or how to’s; students can create these to demonstrate a skill; teachers can use to create tutorials which can be uploaded to Canvas ReadWrite for Google Classroom: Google extension; use to differentiate reading content for students at various reading levels Google Classroom: now has the ability to give different assignments to each student And a few good

Quizizz, Quizalize, and Quizlet Live... Oh My! Please scroll down toward the bottom to see the email from the presenter. She included links to her presentation and many useful resources. You can follow the presentor @EdTechTiff tiffany.elberfeld@gmail.com She is a former French Teacher and now serves as a tech integration teacher working throughout her district. Here are a few interesting tidbits :) Kahoot! Can now be assigned as HW!!! Big change. Other game modes on Kahoot! are: "Jumble", "Ghost Mode" and "Blind Kahoot!" Quizizz www.quizizz.com play live or as a HW assignment students can view on their own screens shuffles answer choices within the classroom Memes!!!! Scroll down to see answers inclusive Self-paced! immediate feedback question library avatars Possible uses: pre-assessment, exit ticket, review, intro a new topic, student collaboration Quizlet Live www.quizlet.live term/definition/pairing must have at

This presentation's mantra was essentially "teach the kids, not the content." It was all about how middle school is such an important time in our students' lives to be recognized as individuals and to form relationships with each other and with adults. I really responded to it. One of the tips that I took away from the presentation that I really thought, "Wow, we have to do something like this at Patton!" was about how to ensure that every student in our building feels connected somehow. The two presenters (building principals) said that something they do is that they print out an entire spreadsheet of every student in the building and ask teachers to place a checkmark next to the students whom they feel they have a good connection with. After each faculty member has had the list, it becomes evident that the students with abundant checkmarks are the very high achievers and the students who receive the most academic support. The students in the middle, howe

I think my favorite session was called "Lead Like A Pirate" which was titled after the book.  The presenter's school theme is "Making school a place where kids are banging down the door to get in, not out".  I thought this sounded a lot like our school philosophy. She shared LOTS of great ideas that her school uses including Teen Tweet, hiding secret eggs, Birthday carts, and more.  It got me thinking about different ideas we could do in our school and I can use in my Advisory to make school an enjoyable place for the students and for the teachers.  There was an emphasis on taking care of the teachers so they will take care of the kids.  It made me try to think of ways we can take care of each other.  I went online and bought the book "Teach Like A Pirate". I also went to another presentation on scheduling intervention in a tight schedule.  It gave me some great ideas for trying to help us bring math intervention into the school day.  I don't t

The "Thrive" session had some great videos that we could use in Advisory or Hawk TV.  I think students really connect to inspirational videos. Soul Pancake puts up some inspirational videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/soulpancake?disable_polymer=true

I had never heard of and did not know of Debbie Silver.   I came to find out very quickly that she had presented in Unionville School District prior to 2004, when I started in the district.   She was an engaging, enthusiastic presenter.   Debbie Silver’s sessions were full of practical and usable ideas for not only for my classroom, but also to apply in my own life with my children.   She conveyed one of the simplest principles; encourage children on Effort and Choices.   Encouraging children based on things they can control rather than those things they cannot control.   Doing so will create more intrinsically motivated individuals and learners.   Most people complement and encourage by telling children that they are so smart.   I had never thought of it this way.   Something so simple that makes a tremendous difference.   So, when you think about encouraging your students or your own children, remember praise them for their hard work and effort.   This encouragement wil

I attended the presentation of teaching throughout movement. It was really eye opening how vital preparing the brain and brain breaks are for a class to learn. The emphasis on "fitness over sitness" applied to all students. When the brain is activated it creates new brain cells which helps stimulate growth. By doing this, the brain learns through implicant learning. Implicant learning, the brain's preferred way of learning, happens through movement, emotions and life experiences. Utilizing movement and preparing the brain through either brain breaks or quick cross the midline activities (jumping jacks in circles and hand tapping-toe clapping) the student's learning will increase. The practical strategies of brain breaks and quick brain stimulation activities I can apply to my classes. Overall, the speaker was engaging and did some of his activities to give us an idea of how to apply it within our lessons.

I attended a session on teaching through movement. The speaker led with "your immune system is eavesdropping on your inner dialogue." - Deepak The speaker used John Ratey's research support from SPARK detailing the science of exercise and the brain. The emphasis was on "fitness over sitness" across all academic classrooms. Practical strategies were given to easily incorporate movement into any class that were immediately applicable on my return to the classroom on Wednesday. The speaker argues that meaning making is state dependent and learning is a very powerful tool to make learning relevant. It was an engaging session because the speaker practiced what he was preaching by engaging session attendees in many of his suggested activities.

I was struck by the importance of creating a positive environment for my students.  One presenter showed a picture of a woman who had a fearful expression on her face.  Most of the teachers in the room said she looked afraid; however, the presenter said 8/10 middle school students thought the teacher was angry.  We need to be careful how we express ourselves in front of our students, knowing that they misread some of our thoughts.

At AMLE 2017 I attended Todd Bloch's presentation, " Social Media and Our Middle School Students ."  His message was strong: Don't deny students access to social media.  Model how to use it!  While I've embraced technology in my classroom, I've been very wary in incorporating social media; I think I've been scared of putting a public face to my classroom.  But why?  Because of those news stories of teachers fired for inappropriate posts?  I have enough common sense to keep my posts professional, so why not use social media as a means of promoting and advertising my students' work?  By doing so, I'm: showing the community the work I'm proud of connecting with parents connecting with other educators from whom I can find inspiration getting students excited (they love social media!) modeling how to shape the cyber footprint I leave Remind me again why I've been hesitant?  According to US News and World Report , 35% of college adm

I attended number sense and problem solving-this was a great session confirming that many middle schoolers and more just do not understand number relationships to other numbers and are lacking in the "why" for solving problems.  In my day, most of us were good memorizers and did not understand the why.  This should not be happening in today's world and educators/parents need to emphasize the importance of understanding numbers and not just getting the right answer!! Another session I went to was Brain Basics 101-emphasized how important it is to develop socially & emotionally health classrooms. We learned the why to deep breathing exercises helping and I tried it with all my classes and the kids really enjoyed doing it and knowing the why it works!! Thanks again to Steve for allowing us to go as a team-got to reconnect with many !!

Much better than Kahoot! I have already created 4 quizzes of my own; first aid, anatomy terminology, and conflict. I have used them as a pre-assessment. We are able to see percentage of correct/incorrect answers. We can review each question one by one. It has great memes; kids like the competition aspect. They take 20 minutes to set up a 10 question quiz. There are pre-made quizzes you may borrow from other users. Two months are free; $30 a year for a membership after that. Just another neat/fun activity to get class started! Matzie

Round 1 Everyone gets to submit an idea without discussion. Round 2 Everyone gets a set number of votes to vote for their favorite ideas Round 3 Only the top idea(s) are left to create your shared vision.

The conference was filled with lots of great information and every session provided insights and snippets to utilize in the classroom. Here are a few of the highlights.  The Watershed project celebrated 30 years of a program that has had a significant impact on the learning and lives of many students.  A fully integrated program this took and continues to take a lot of buy in from all of the stakeholders. The Kinesthetic Classroom provided tons of tips interspersed with facts as to how best to keep students focused and acquiring knowledge throughout instruction. The session was lively, interactive and fun and he provided a great handout (I've printed it if anyone would like a copy).  I was disappointed by two of the sessions because it was nothing new nor was the information presented in a way that was useful. Having just had an inservice with the Mazzoni Center the program out of Arizona sounds great, but the delivery did not showcase this as I had expected. One on a girls group w

Presenter Jennifer Tamburlin showed us many great ideas for our classrooms. My favorite was Flipgrid. This site allows students to create video journals or vlogs. Classes can view their classmates in one spot and it organizes everything. Super easy and useful! All the sessions I attended were great.

I attended a session on how to create time in MS schedule for Reading and Math intervention.  While other sessions I attended celebrated the whole child, and what we can do to enrich the middle school experience, this one was focused on the basic blocking and tackling of core subject remediation.   The school that presented experienced an achievement gap that was most pronounced in its special education population.  The administrator invoked a 'moral imperative' to support these kids, which really resonated with me. A few things I really liked:  The intervention happens in 3-week rotations, in 20 minute periods at start of school day.  Each 3-week intervention period covers a specific standard in either ELA or Math, so only students who were not proficient in that standard would be invited to participate.  This makes it seem more fluid; students may be in one intervention period, but not the next. Students who are not in an assigned Intervention period attend a 'Special

As someone new to teaching middle school, I was really excited to be given the opportunity to attend the AMLE conference.  I enjoyed learning about the differences between teaching middle school as opposed to the "junior high school" model.  One of the sessions that I attended, Motivating Reluctant Readers Through Technology gave a lot of ideas for different education and reading apps and software that help to engage students with reading, especially those who don't like to read.  The session that I enjoyed most was It's Not Drama, It's My Life, which was a demonstration of the research based girls' empowerment program called Girls Unlimited (http://girlsunlimited.org/). This LGBTQ friendly program is used in middle schools to help girls learn empathy, empowerment, social media safety, kindness and respect, body image positivity, and conflict resolution.  The creator of the program presented a few of the lessons from the curriculum, and they were really powerf

Grading  Many aspects of grading reflect traditions that have been a part of education for over 150 years. Yet, no research exists  demonstrating that grades positively contribute to the learning process. Establishing grades arose from a need to rank and sort high school graduates so college admissions officers could more easily select candidates. Why? Between 1870 and 1910, the number of American public high schools exploded from 500 to 10,000. Think about that massive migration of adolescents and teenagers into schools--and that equally long line of high school graduates wanting to attend college. Unprecented growth. Colleges had no idea how to handle it. The lingering problem is that the tradition is so ingrained (we are doing the heavy lifting for university admissions offices) that we likely couldn't imagine "school" any other way. Imagine parents learning that a school district might drop class ranking, the use of the GPA, or the designation of a valedicto