One Tool to Rule Them All

I was in search for a multi-tool, a Swiss Army Knife. A tool that had it all, one-stop shopping. Why? Because I was operating under the assumption that parents/learners needed, demanded it. But wasn’t my assumption based on just a few loud squeaky wheels? In life outside the classroom we have various tools for various jobs, various recipes for various occasions, even various forms of exercise depending on need/want.

I remember some years back students coming to me fresh at the beginning of the year and all they wanted to do was slideshows, they’d ask, “Can we do a Google Slide? The danger of “One Story”. The danger of one platform. We talk of personalization and differentiation and then we give them standardization, TPT, Slidesmania, Seesaw, Google Classroom, Bitmoji classrooms, etc. where all the illustrations and fonts seem vaguely similar. I love Google Classroom, it’s my USPS, my logistics— delivers and receives.  Seesaw is great for parent communication and blogging. OneNote Class Notebooks almost has it all, especially with Immersive Reader but I still need Google Sites, Flipgrid, WeVideo, Adobe Spark.

This summer we were shopping for a chair for my wife who had developed severe back pain during Emergency Remote Teaching in the Spring of 2020. Ended up we got the one that had the most ways to individually adjust it for her comfort, no one size fits all. We don’t all shop at Walmart, we don’t all buy Crest. Variety is the spice of life they say.

This is one thing I like about Eduprotocols they give me the foundation and frame but then it is up to my learners and I to actually build the house. And no we will not use just a screwdriver.

Of course, it would be easier for me to just use one tool like Seesaw for everything, but is that the goal? And wouldn’t you get tired of having oatmeal as your staple every day? Here are oatmeal and meatballs, oatmeal parmigiana, oatmeal sous vide. Ridiculous sounding isn’t it.

It Has Become Complicated

After more than 25 years as a teacher, I am finally realizing my dream of being a 3rd-grade teacher. So, one of my first thoughts was to build my classroom library. I wanted to create a diverse, relevant library with many genres of literature and many nonfiction topics. I received many donations from my fellow teachers. I asked my school librarian for any pointers and she was very helpful and also gave me some websites and booklists. I also reached out to our district literacy and diversity staff. My next stop was to check with my PLN on Twitter as well as a few of my known sources such as Donalyn Miller, Pernille Ripp, and Jerry Blumengarten. This journey lead me to these sites:

Ready-To-Go: Favorites, Grade 3

NCTE Statement on Classroom Libraries

Creating a Diverse Classroom Library-Edutopia

ASCD-Creating a Classroom Library Together

15 Diverse Books for Kids to Include In Your Classroom Library

Checklist: 8 Steps to Creating a Diverse Book Collection

It’s Not Complicated

and then I ran smack dab into this:

“King & King”— and Teacher Who Read It—Under Fire In North Carolina

So now before I spend any more time and possibly some money on my classroom library I need guidance.

I’m wondering if my school board has any current policies that I might run afoul of in my endeavor to provide opportunities for my learners to increase the breadth and volume of their reading lives?

How(what)-When-Why? Revisited

How(what)-When-Why? was originally posted just about a year ago on 06.28.2021. Since that time an increase in the politicization of the classroom has occurred. After I read Joanne Jacobs post, “Behind the classroom door” I was struck by these points: “The debate misses a key point, writes Robert Pondiscio, who’s now at the American Enterprise Institute. We don’t know what’s happening in our classrooms. Teachers are do-it-yourselfers when it comes to learning materials.” “Teachers’ favorite sites are Google, Pinterest and the lesson-sharing website Teachers Pay Teachers, writes Pondiscio. It’s a “curriculum bazaar.” Quality is uneven, at best”.  And I would agree. So how then in such an environment can equity be achieved? And what is a teacher to do? And I know why we turn to such grab-n’-go sources, we don’t have time.

As I pointed out in How(what)-When-Why? states provide standards for learning and I listed all of the standards from my state for my 5th-grade learners. I now provide some further evidence for thought.

Exhibit #1

Will it be enough to maintain that I in good faith was merely attempting to educate my charges as best I could? Since I have not received any guidance to “incorporate the Computer Science K–12 Learning Standards into” my grade level should I ignore the law and merely only teach the curricula, in this case—none,  which the district provides?

How(what)-When-Why?

Photo by Emily Morter on Unsplash

How (What), When, and Why? 

Once again, I am amid the Summer Planning Institute. This is a self-imposed, self-created institute I have attended for the past 25 years. The goals of this institute are based on this quote: “Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better.” Dylan Wiliam

Yet once again, I have come up against the above three questions. 

How do the learners in my charge become proficient in all these standards and with fidelity to these curricula (what)? 

STATE STANDARDS 

Art State Standards (2017) Media  Theatre Visual Arts 

Computer Science K-12 Standards (2018) Grade 3-5 

EdTech K-12 Standards (2018) Grade 3-5 

Financial Education Standards (2016) Grades K-5 

Math-Common Core State Standards Operations & Algebraic Thinking  Number & Operations- Base Ten  Number & Operations – Fractions  Measurement & Data  Geometry  Mathematical Practices (2014) 

Reading – Common Core State Standards-  Literature  Informational Text  Foundational Skills (2014) 

Science - Next Generation Science Standards 5th Grade Guide (2013) 

SEL (Social, Emotional Learning) Standards (2019) 

Social Studies-WA State Standards (09.17.19) 

Speaking & Listening-CCSS (2014) 

Writing-CCSS Language- CCSS (2014) 

DISTRICT CURRICULUM 

 Reading/Language – FPC: RML, IRA, SR, IR, GR & BC 

Writing/Language – Units of Study 

Spelling – Spelling Strategies and Patterns 

Math – EPS Scope & Sequence 

Science- STEMScopes 

Keyboarding – Typing Agent 

Social Studies – None 

Speaking/Listening – None 

Social-Emotional Learning – Zones of Regulation 

  WHEN - (constraints) 

District Calendar (180 days)

2019-2020 Elementary Assessment Calendar

Band/Orchestra – most learners 2 hours/week 

Safety Patrol – arrives late and leaves early 

Recess 3x/day

Math Club – some learners and amount of time varies

Committee Meetings, IEP Meetings are before/after school

*Early Release every Wednesday (some Fridays) dismissal at 1:35 

*Music 60 min./week, PE 60 min./week, Library 30 min. Week 

“A full-time classroom teacher, day-in, day-out, is teaching 90 percent of their contract week. 

This leaves a mere 10 percent of time given to complete two remaining, yet fundamental, aspects of the role: feedback and planning. This places an incredible burden on that 10 percent – and leaves all other tasks to be completed in our own time. 

To reduce workload, we need to consider reducing the teaching load to one-third. That way, we could teach for 33 percent of the time and divide the remaining 66 percent between planning and feedback.” – Ross McGill

The starred (*) components above are meant to partially provide for some planning/feedback time. However, in reality, this planned time is often taken up by impromptu meetings, phone calls, bathroom breaks, problem-solving of some sort, etc.

As for the Why, it is common sense that all these standards are needed for the modern learner, or are they?  And why 180 days? And why Sept. – June? And why 9 to 4? 

How and When will we be able to accomplish the What? 

And again, Why? 

“When we no longer know what to do we have come to our real work and when we no longer know
which way to go we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed. The impeded stream is the one that sings.”

Wendell Berry