Told you I wasn’t finished with the pickle post. I know I took a long break between but I’m totally swamped. Only writing now because I need to clear my head.

Back to pickles. Those who love pickles know there are so many ways to “make” them. Whole dill (kids love those!), bread and butter, spicy wickles, BUT my all time favorite is fried pickles! I HATE fried food, but there is comething about a fried pickle dipped in Ranch that I cannot resist. What genius came up with frying a pickle? Has to be a southerner! (People who hate pickles I’m sure are gagging right about now, so moving on.)

What is a pickle? A cucumber soaked in something right? We take this funny looking bumpy cucumber and put it in a jar. All pickles, fried, dilled, etc, all are really just a pickle.  If we can come up with so many ways to serve a cumcumber, why are we asking kids to just give us information in one form? (See I am going somewhere with this!)

We tell students to research information but do not give them choices on how to share it.  Well tell them to write a paper, or (God help me) make a PowerPoint, but rarely do they get to choose.  Students need to use creativity in ways they feel comfortable.  There was an #edchat a few weeks ago on creativity and one thing I kept think about is that all kids have something to share, they just are not comfortable to share in all ways.

When I assign most projects I give a variety of choices.  Many, but not all use technology.  I did a space project (this is just one example) this year and here were the choices that catered to most learning types:

1. They could create a slide show that was interactive.  This was great for those who were comfortable with computers AND for those who love to be in the spot light. These kids loved to get up and talk to the class. I had a few who did not like to talk, but were very tech savy that included audio so they would not have to speak to the class.

2. They could create an online or pencil and paper comic book. My shy and/or artisitic kids did wonderful with this option. I really was impressed by their skills!

3. The students could create a website or a wiki. The techy but quiet students jumped on this assignment.  They hey had all their info on this website so they did not have to say much. My students who were excellent writers chose this assignment too.

4. The students could create a twitter account and pretend to be an astronaut. Only one student choose this, but I noticed he was a student that is usually very “with-it” when it came to social media. He was the only one who already had a twitter account.

5. The last two were projects the kids had to build. One was a gravity gauge. My “science” boys jumped on this. All 3 were students who you could tell liked cars, how things worked, etc.

6. Lastly I had the old school Build the Solar System.  The students who did not like to write nor speak to the class mostly did these.  It seems like a cheesy activity, but they had to get it in order, plus include moons, etc. It was not an easy way out and did show they understood the location of planets and how they rotated, etc.

7. There is the “Or what ever you feel comfortable doing, just make sure you run it by Mrs. Dykes first”

I’m not telling you about this project to brag but last week I asked my kids to tell me their likes and dislikes about the year.  All the projects where they were able to choose how to present their information or what information to present all fell in the like category!  The projects that I kept noticing in the dislike was the projects I did not give them a choice!! Many hated the blog project.  At first I could not figure out why, then it hit me.  If they are not writers or comfortable with using technology this project would be difficult.  I would much rather be on a stage in front of 100s than to be writing this blog post right now to be honest.  I have “writers stage fright.”  I freeze so many times.  I wonder how many times that happened to my students.

We have to start giving students choices.  Give them freedom to express themselves the way they feel comfortable.  I am not saying we should not teach them how to use all these ways, but once they figure it out, let them choose.

One more thing, when students do use their creativity remember not to grade their creativity, use a rubric to grade the content.  They are still learning what their skills are, they may not always make the best choice this time!

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I’m packing up ready for the move.  For those who do not know, our high school and middle school is finally splitting.  We have a brand new middle school waiting for us move in.  I have a little over a week to get my classroom packed.  Those who know me (especially from twitter) know my number one goal in packing is to leave the rodents behind!!

Every year we start fresh and new. Next year I’m really starting fresh and new!! That does not mean that everything I did this will stay behind nor will all of it come with me.  End of year is time to reflect about what I could have done better or what I did that was successful.  I wanted the student’s input on this.

So today I told my students they had an end of the year quiz.  The quiz had 5 questions:

1. Write a paragraph giving DETAILS about your favorite unit we learned about this year in Science.
2. Do the same as number 1 but for social studies.
3. What was your favorite activity/project we did this year?
4. What was your least favorite activity/project we did this year?
5. Give Mrs. Dykes advice on what she needs to change about her class next year.

Numbers 1-3 are easy. We like to hear about what students learn and can recall and what we did right. Number 4 & 5 were the scary ones! Asking students to be honest and tell you what to change.  We tell them what they can improve on on a regular basis. Time to ask them to do the same for us.  Of course there were the few who wrote “nothing, your are wonderful!” or my personal favorite “Maybe your classes will be nicer to you so you won’t have to fuss at them, its our fault you have to, not yours.” (his check is in the mail!) But most were pretty honest. They did not like the way the desk were arranged (I do not have much of a choice, we are literally wall to wall with desk right now). Many did not like the textual reading time, I don’t blame them. **For those who have not read my past post, we are required assign and teach textual/factual reading because of AYP goals** One put they did not like the blog project – I have another post coming soon about that.

Here was one thing I noticed though, there was not one particular thing that kept showing up over and over.  I realized the things they did not like were the opposite of their learning styles.  Out spoken students hated projects that included reading and writing. Quiet students hated acting out parts of history or class discussions.

The students offered really good advice for next year! They were very mature with their answers! I was so proud of them. It has taken an entire school year to train them to think out their ideas and share them considerate manner.  The majority of the students were not afraid to state their opinion and most even had reasons to back them up.

As I pack up the rest of this school year, I will be taking with me more than the few things that are in the boxes.  I will know I took as chance today with my students.  The accepted my challenge and I am proud of what they have accomplished! Also, there are a few things, thanks to their opinions I will abolish and something I will do again!

We’re moving on up! Moving on up! (yeah you know you are singing it too now)

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I like pickles. Bread and butter are my favorite if you are ever at a farmer’s market pick me up some OK, thanks! My daughter on the other hand from the time she was 2 would order her Chick-fil-A sandwich then say AND NO PICKLES please.  Isn’t it funny how two people can have almost same personality and even look alike  and one HATE pickles and the other order extra?

Well our students are like that as well. Just because they are all the same age, from same community (well my kids are from a HUGE variety of communities, but that is not typical) does not mean they are all the same. They all learn different, and they create different.  Nothing they will do will ever be the same.  That is what make standardization so frustrating!

A student reminded me the other day that I teach the same thing “like 3 or 4 times a class, can’t ya just do it once?” Yeah I could, but only part of the class would even 1. pay attention and 2. remember what was said.  I have 90 minutes of class time.  I will never complain about block scheduling.  Only one day of the week (usually) I lecture.  My lectures are never the entire 90 minutes (I think even I would die of boredom!). The kids are usually assigned activities or PBL problems for the other times.

I usually spend 45 minutes on lecture.  The thing is, I DO NOT lecture too much during that time! I try to reach all learners. I do all the below focused on the same piece of content.

• I assign quick, short reading passages (We are required to give factual/textual reading because school weakness on standardized test)
• Classes usually begin with a short “what if…” or role play writing assignment.
• I always show a show a short video clip of the subject matter (this will be more difficult now because Alabama no longer will pay for United Streaming)
• I give information on the subject (there is your real lecture)
• We always act out 1 or 2 things I’m teaching (a cold front pushing the warm front, etc)
• Lastly I always assign them to draw images or diagram, especially in science.

I’m not telling you this because I have the perfect way or that I’m a master teacher – I’m far far from it. I’m telling you this, because as I sat and watched my kids today with only 11 more days with them, I was thinking about how different all of them are.  Wondering which students I didn’t reach as well as I should have because their learning styles were emphasized.  I hate that thought.

I had a friend tell me the other day that I was “nuts focusing on 90 something people to reach, Jesus only focused on 12,” and pointed out that others still learn or you still can reach them even if not the ones you are not focused.  That is hard as a teacher for me to accept.

So back to where I started, kids all are different, which means they learn different.  We need to focus on all of them. Even the ones who do learn from hearing a lecture – just don’t do that the entire time or the rest will die of boredom! This is a reminder for me, and hopefully to you as well as you prepare for next year!

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I am a big believer in encouraging and teaching problem solving skills in a classroom. I’m not talking about math problem solving, I’m talking about basic everyday problem solving. I’m sure most forward-thinking educators can agree with this. My kids complain because I give them scenarios that have happened in history or “what if”s in science and there is no right or wrong answer.  They just want to know if their idea is correct is correct so they can move on. They do not understand that just knowing facts and not using these facts to solve problems is not good enough.

Last week Aaron Eyler wrote a blog post about asking if you read directions.  It made me start thinking about why people do not read them, because it is human nature to figure things out.  Most humans automatically go into the “figure it out” mode. If we train students to be “expert” problem solvers, if we give them chances to exercise trial and error, will some of the issues we deal with today be different? The past week problem solving in the “real world” has been on my mind. Let me explain.

You know everyone has something they just cannot learn enough about. Well mine, I have to admit, is the ocean ecosystem.  I do not talk about it much, because my whole life I’ve heard the groans of my friends and family when I get on my “Save the Oceans” soapbox.  In college I even took “Island Ecology” on the VERY uninhabited Andros Island in the Bahamas. It was heaven. Snorkeling, island exploring, etc, FOR A GRADE! I take my kids to the aquarium anytime I have a few extra bucks or a free weekend. There is not many sea life I have not encountered: sea turtles in the Virgin Islands, sting rays in the Gulf of Mexico, dolphins in the back bays of south Alabama, even flying fish, eels, and sharks (he was an accident) while in the Bahamas. I’ve seen (not touched) every type of coral and explored ship wrecks. Smuggled sea biscuits back into the US.  I’ve held wild starfish, sea cucumbers, even picked up a conch shell not knowing it was occupied until literally nose to nose with the slimy sucker. I wear pearls instead of diamonds because they remind me of the sea. The odd part of this obsession, I’ve never eaten seafood – ever! I always say if I lose everything I’m moving to the Sea Lab and work. So do you see my obsession?! It’s bad!

For Mother’s Day this year I asked to take my kids to see the movie “Disney’s Oceans.”  The movie was wonderful. I’ve seen every IMAX ocean movie and this one ranks up their with them.  But this time it was different. I spent the entire movie bawling. Sobbing.  On April 20, the ocean I know and love was devastatingly harmed.  I grew up going to Gulf Shores, Alabama at least once a month. My parents own a house there, and this is my “first” home.  I cannot express my love for this place.  An oil rig in the gulf is now leaking gallons upon gallons oil, which as of last night, has started washing up on the shore.  These animals and ecosystem are now suffering because of human error.

Error is OK, if you learn from it, and fix it. You cannot just leave error at error. BP has no solution for this horrific spill. They are choosing “too late” to be the time to problem solve.  We need to teach students to look at situations before there is a problem and have ideas on how to prevent and what to do when problems occur.  My students know that every situation I give them will not happen, but let’s pretend it does.  Let us look at worse possible scenarios.  We have to train our thinkers (students) to be able to see problems BEFORE they happen. There should have already been a “cap” developed and experimented with, not trying out one for the first time this week (which failed by the way).

We need to teach students to have “back up plans” or “plan B, C, D, E, F and G” before doing something.  They cannot just look at something as “here are the facts, it will always work and there will be no problems.” They need to think more critically, as in “Lets try this, if it does not work, try this.”  The world is not just a series of facts. It is a series of situations.  Situations that are in need of more and more ideas.

Where are these problem solvers?  Let’s get them thinking and solving now, so my children will not suffer the heart break the Gulf is suffering now.

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