WWWD. →
Today in my collaborative classes I did a mash-up of teejay82 and allisonunsupervised’s amazing lessons on growth mindset and the vibe in the room was spectacular. Well, at least it was after I tweaked the lesson post-fifth period; I flipped it to be more discussion based because I…
I gotta say, that lesson is going to go down among my favorite things I ever did because I love the tenor of the classroom every time I’ve referred back to it— and picked up that hand weight— in setting up our ongoing vocabulary and extensive reading initiatives. The usual suspects still won’t always (often) like that easy isn’t good enough, but man, it’s the best buy-in I’ve ever had for challenging oneself being worthwhile.
Also, side side note, not at all to contradict: providing some kind of sentence-frame or opportunity for kids to jot down their thoughts before they must share them aloud or discuss is super duper for increasing ELL participation.
Also also, sincere apologies to those who asked for forgetting to retrieve the documents from school every day so far. The materials aren’t any great shakes; what matters most is the conversation.
Tots to allison’s side side note. That was my reasoning for originally setting up my pl*ns up that way – writing before speaking helps my shy kiddos feel more prepared, my strugglers have time to think, and it helps my honors feel less put on the spot in front of their peers. I figured, it being the first week and all, that it would be necessary because these precious babies are just scared of everything (truly).
Today, however, it was having the opposite of the desired effect. My best guess is because stopping to write felt like jabbing a knife through the flow – write for two minutes, talk for ten seconds – and it was a drag. There was already a lot of quiet because I was asking them to read two different articles silently (one short, one long) and the quiet was overwhelming. The balance I found between quiet and noise in the second two lessons was perfect.
