So a  year ago today I wrote a blog called Don’t Put Me In A Box, which in hindsight was the beginning of a long journey to redefining myself as an educator. When I moved to Georgia I was a passionate teacher who had technology integration in her veins. I wanted more than anything to show others the power of teaching through technology . I was met with the firm message that I needed a degree to show my knowledge in instructional technology, and so I got one. I got my EdS in Instructional Technology and Media, and earned my certification in instructional technology as well. I had a good run in my role as a technology specialist, but in 2016 and 2017 I felt some frustration. If you read the blog from last year, you will see I felt very boxed in. I felt very misunderstood, and so I took a big step and decided to go back to the classroom.

JVand3rd has been a fun adventure this year for sure, but one of the best parts of this change is that I have broken free of the box! Now, I probably am seen less as a technology leader, but I am seen far more as a knowledgeable educational leader. I recently was given the privilege of serving on the district report card committee, one where we dig deep into standards based grading and reporting. We have a great book study in place, and I am loving the process of looking at education a new way. This has left me with several great A-ha moments recently, and that clarifies how important this change really was.

Today’s A-Ha moment I want you to think about is all about grading. Today I was grading my area of regular and irregular shapes assessment, and I found this on quite a few papers.

As you can see, the directions were not followed.  This student, like a few others, did not use arrays to find the area, nor did they show the work I had asked for. We did this in small group twice this week, so I know they know what I expected, but of course, they realized they didn’t need to multiply when they could just count. Now the natural teacher instinct in me gets fired up that they didn’t do what I asked, but then my newfound values jump in. The standard I am assessing is as follows:

MGSE3.MD.5.b A plane figure which can be covered without gaps or overlaps by n unit squares is said to have an area of n square units.

As you can see, the standard itself was determined to be understood by the 100% at the top of the page. That is what as a teacher I was told to assess. Now, we all know direction following is a very important skill, but is it the skill I am supposed to assess in the standard above? It certainly isn’t. Separating the standard from the soft skills is key. Should I evaluate direction following? Of course I should, but not mixed among my assessment of a standard. Stripping away the teacher pet peeves from truly assessing is crucial in standards based teaching and reporting.

So next time you sit down to grade, can you also separate the standard from the soft skills? I challenge you to try!

#newyearnewjaime

#ACT2018

 

Well 2017, it was an adventure but I am ready to move on! I thought it would be interesting to choose four words last year: Fierce, Fueled, Fun, and Fulfilled. In reflecting, I excelled in being fierce and fueled, but came up short on being fun and fulfilled. I showed great ferocity in all the change that came in 2017 for sure. I survived building a house and moving, and changing jobs in 2017. Both took a fierce spirit for sure. I was fueled in my desire to make it all work out, and that I did, but as a result I wasn’t nearly as fun! What I was… exhausted, which I feel is quite the opposite of fulfilled. So I think I hit about 50% of my 2017 goal, which based on the year, is not too shabby.

So 2018 let’s just get back to the basics. My #OneWord2018 is ACT. Three simple letters that were inspired by a TedTalk I watched that led me to more and more videos by @MelRobbins. I was captivated by the message behind her #5SecondRule and the neuroscience behind it all. If you know me, you know I am a highly motivated individual for the most part. I am a real go-getter usually, but last year I lost that spark a bit. I didn’t do many of the things that I had in the past, and distanced myself from the things I had been so passionate about for so long. So I guess you could say I got a little lost. So one night I stumbled upon Mel Robbin’s TED Talk, and I loved how she tied brain research into behavior, and I was hooked. I will let you do your research here.. but research you should do!

So ACT –

When I think about working out – 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – Move …. as opposed to my current state of I will do it later.

When I think I need to make dinner – 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Move .. as opposed to I will in a few minutes, and an hour later I order pizza.

When I think I should submit a conference proposal-  5, 4, 3, 2, 1  Move – instead of I need to think about it more before I do it.

When I need to make a decision about an event – 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 Move – instead of saying I might go, and eventually finding a good reason not to.

When I am asked to meet with/ work with vendor – 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 – Move – Now move here means make a firm decision now .. not always say yes. While I need to ACT, I do NOT need to always says yes. Learning to say NO is crucial when NO is what needs to be said.

So 2018 – I will ACT! I will move and shake and be sitting here a year from now a very different person.

Take a look at what hooked me on this path with this short video. This is what has led me to watch and learn more about this simple metacognition rule for success.

Week 1: I cried! Yes, it is true. After 5 years I had a lot to remember to make each day run as perfect as I wanted it to. When you are in the classroom, over time you get things working like a well oiled machine. My 5 year hiatus made me forget some of those little things, and so I cried. No shame here… No matter how many years you have in education, you can cry. It is totally acceptable!

Week 2: I got it together. I started to remember the little pieces, find some lesson planning strategies that worked for me, and start to sort out my whole group vs small group battle in my head.

Week 3: I succumbed to some paper. After 3 years of 1:1 technology, I wasn’t’ sure how my relationship with paper was going to go. Nonetheless I found a nice balance between hands on, whiteboards, technology, paper. While all my grades have come from paper tasks, I have found lots of formative assessment opportunities in Seesaw and Nearpod!

Week 4: I figured out those darn small groups! Whole group is no more than 10-15 minutes, and the rest of my ELA and math instruction is three small group rotations of technology, independent (and sometimes partnered), and ME! I bought myself a nice little crown and I am teaching my kids how important it is not to interrupt small group instruction. They are getting it! Nothing was perfect in week 4, but my use of leveled readers, white boards and dry erase dots, and hands on manipulatives gave me a good start to really making those groups differentiated.

Week 5: I wasn’t treading water anymore! I had what I needed, when I needed it, and even felt like we were ready for a 1:1 math lesson using Nearpod! I had lesson plans that helped me really break down my small groups. I had Google Slides made for respond to math and respond to reading prompts each day. I was finally able to see it all coming together.

Week 6: Well Irma wreaked some Havoc on Georgia, and so we had a couple days off. (This of course being the reason I had time to blog!) This little break did more than give me time to re-energize, it gave me the one piece of the puzzle I had not had time to get in place, blended learning! In my EdS program, I concentrated most on blended learning, and using resources to show that learning could, and should take place outside of the classroom. Thanks to these days off, I dusted off my Educreations account, created some math and ELA lessons in there, and posted them to Seesaw. In these two days, 8 of my 19 kids have been working in Seesaw, and learning how to show their learning even when we are apart. These are 8 and 9 year olds… and they are making this connection in week 6 that I know will impact the rest of the year! Week 6- You win! What does week 7 and beyond hold? Well follow us on Instagram to find out! 

#happytobehere

Jaime

So the final days are upon us. In less than 72 hours I am back to work for the 17-18 school year. While there is some sadness to losing the days of sleeping in, working from my couch, and watching way too much Netflix, I personally enjoy getting back into the routine of it all. This year will be routine in some ways, and new in others. Going back to 3rd grade is going to be fun, but let me break down a few key elements that will make this round so different.

*11-12 3rd grade was in TX and 17-18 3rd grade will be in Georgia – Goodbye STAAR and hello Milestones.

*11-12 3rd grade was my first year as a connected educator using a little bit of every technology resource I could get my hands on … and 17-18 3rd grade will be my 7th year as a connected educator with a controlled and deep use of the best resources that fit my instructional vision!

*11-12 3rd grade was equipped with a SMART board, SMART response, and my very own iPad with three student PC’s… 17-18 3rd grade starts with a Promethean Activ Panel, and hopefully very soon a 1:1 Chromebook setting, 2 Student PC’s  and a sweet little tablet I won on Twitter a couple years ago!

*11-12 3rd grade was striving to be as paperless as possible using tools like Edmodo, Kidblog, and Glogster, whereas 17-18 3rd grade will be a Seesaw, Classflow, and Newsela kind of year. (Brain Pop Make a Movie and Make A Map are on the agenda soon too.)

 

*11-12 3rd grade was a team of amazing ladies who made me laugh… a LOT.. 17-18 3rd grade IS a team of amazing ladies who make me laugh A LOT! This team even gives me a touch of merry ole England too!

 

 

*11-12 3rd grade was a class of amazing kiddos who are headed off to high school this year…. 17-18 3rd grade is made up of kids I have taught technology too since they were FIVE! What a span!

*11-12 3rd grade taught me that you put your energy where it matters..17-18 3rd grade will be me doing just that. I won’t have a “classroom management” program in place….  We are a Leader in Me School and those habits need to drive us. Habit 1 – Be Proactive – I am in charge of me. Who needs to add anything more to that? You be in charge of you… PERIOD! 🙂

 

*11-12 3rd grade we had desks.. and well that didn’t give us very much wiggle room soooo… 17-18 3rd grade will be a flexible learning space. Work where you learn BEST y’all! Classroom reveal comes a just over a week!

So in some cases LESS is MORE… depth in technology integration over width ….

Classroom management within your school vision, not beyond it.. or in addition to it….

Less requirements… seats as a choice (when you show you can do what needs to be done).  LESS is MORE.

So in the words of 11-12 #JVand3rd — yes they had a few words.. and we blogged about it… Read our Blog HERE!  Wonder what 17-18 #JVand3rd will have to say in about 10 months?

#joyousin3rd

Jaime

 

 

Yes, I was always one of those teachers who had a morning work routine ready to go each day. Perhaps it was spelling practice, a skills review, or maybe even a writing prompt. I was that teacher. I don’t judge anyone who chooses morning work, just as I hope you won’t judge me for my more unconventional plan. You see, growth means sometimes reevaluating what you do, and keeping what works, while letting go of what you might be able to do better. Each year is a restart button, and I personally love taking advantage of that!

So let’s talk GOAL work! In knowing that my students can arrive anytime between 7:10 and 7:40 each day, I realize there is a large disparity in how much time students will have to work prior to our morning meeting.

I simply don’t feel comfortable holding a student who arrives at 7:40 to the same work standard as the student who was in my room at 7:10. This allows me to make some changes I think will help in a variety of ways.

Goal work will start with each student completing the linked sheet. Students will need to choose one ELA or Math goal each week. They will need to write in complete sentences what their goal is, and why they are working toward that. They will make a list of possible resources we have in our room to work with, and each morning and during down time, they will work toward these short term goals.

On Friday each student will need to assess whether they met their goal or they need more time. If they met the goal, they can decide on a new goal, and if they need more time they can address how they will use that time best to make sure the goal is met in the next week. They will write one success and one challenge they had, and then they need a mini conference with me. We will both sign, and agree on the path of the week to come, while also celebrating the successes!

So let’s consider how this fits into differentiation.

1. Students are all choosing a goal just for them. There is no comparing themselves to peers AT ALL!

2. Differentiation BABY! While one student might set a goal to read a small chapter book in a week, another could be setting a goal to skip count by 3’s fluently. Those students who are strong readers and math stars can be setting lofty goals to push themselves more. Those who need remediation in skills can be setting goals that help to catch them up.

3. While I must move on to new units regardless of 100% of students mastering the content, goal work can help over time to get those who aren’t there quite yet, caught up.

Now, let me just say I am well aware this will take a few weeks … or more… to truly be impactful. Goal setting for 8 year olds won’t be easy, but learning shouldn’t be easy, it should challenge us! Now for accountability each week we will upload these goal sheets into Seesaw! This will show our families what we are working toward as well.

I am also certain this is going to take more work in the beginning than a traditional morning work plan would. I truly believe that if you are doing something that makes a difference, you are going to have to put in a little more work. SIMPLE.AS.THAT!

So keep an eye on how our GOAL work takes shape next month when my #JVand3rd kiddos get busy!

 

#goalgetter

jaime

 

 

 

We are no stranger to the homework debate, and how it ignites some strong opinion in the education field. If you know me, you know I do not debate, I simply share why I feel the way to do, and support it with experience or research. I simply like providing a different view of what learning outside of the classroom should be.

Let’s rewind to the 2011-2012 school year. I had just become a connected educator and my mind was swirling with all the learning and sharing I was now a part of. I made a decision that year to kick homework to the curb, and try something different. I used Edmodo and opted for what I called Learning Challenges. Each week I took our learning targets in ELA, Math,  and SS or Science, and started three threads with a challenge on each. Students would need to at some time during the week show understanding through text, image, or video, and post to the corresponding learning challenge thread.

My favorite memory of those challenges was math vocabulary. I had tried for years to make sense of the word ARRAY. It truly isn’t a word that stuck with kids and I hated that I felt like I was always reviewing math vocabulary. One week our learning challenge was to find and share an array with our class. It was like I had hit the jackpot. I had kids walking down the halls of the school pointing out how the hallway tiles were arrays, and our ceiling tiles were arrays. They stopped to see classroom displays and point out they were arrays too! It hit me like a rock. I finally found out how to make math vocabulary meaningful and understandable.

Conversation around our learning changed so dramatically. One week when learning area and perimeter, our learning challenge was to measure our beds at home in feet. Since they had the whole week to submit it, I had a few responses roll in each day. As we started our day I would pull up the thread and we would look at what our classmates had shared. It was amazing how our conversation about area and perimeter changed. Suddenly kids were questioning the math. This led to kids sharing that some had bunk beds, some had twin beds, and some had full beds. Our math wasn’t all the same, because our lives are not all the same. It gave my students a glimpse into understanding that we all have different experiences, and it all came from an area and perimeter learning challenge.

Now here we go into 2017-2018 and here is what is changing. My go to daily will be SeeSaw. I will create a learning challenge folder on Monday of each week, and students and families will easily be able to find them and complete them at their leisure during the week. As a mom of a soccer player, we have two or three nights a week that we simply aren’t home, let alone doing homework. The nights we are home are a great time to jump on the learning challenges and submit them. I have a feeling many families have lives just like mine!

My learning challenges will start off with one Book Snap . (Find Tara Martin on Twitter and Book Snaps Real to learn more!) What a great way to teach kids to truly connect with text rather that just reading it! Students will also need to complete one mentor sentence, and one math or science task based learning challenge. We will wrap up our Monday morning meeting by planning out our learning challenges, and our Tuesday – Friday morning meeting wrap up will be us looking our peers examples and celebrating their learning. If you missed my blog on morning meetings, fear not you can find it HERE!

I truly can’t wait to see what amazing learning and sharing comes out of our learning challenges this year. You won’t want to miss it either, so follow JVand3rd on Instagram and @jaimevanderg on Twitter.  I will be sharing our amazing journey daily! If YOU don’t tell your story, someone else will!

#learningtogether

jaime

Don’t ya just love some great alliteration! I sure do, clearly! While titling the blog was fun, truly digging into the content of it has been even better. I won’t lie, I have been trying to nail this down for weeks. To backtrack a bit, lets start from the beginning. This spring I started talking with another teacher in my school about culturally responsive classrooms. At that time I was planning a move from my technology specialist role, back to my love, teaching 3rd grade. Our discussions made me dig deeper and take time to look into what might be relevant in my #JVand3rd classroom this fall. In no time at all, I fell in love with the idea of morning meetings and closing circles. Herein lies the planning vision of the past weeks!

Let’s start with morning meeting. It is designed to build a strong classroom culture, social emotional skills, teamwork, and communication. It rides on basic expectations and can be set up in a variety of different ways. It teaches kids (and adults) to have eye contact, to give speakers their true attention, and to engage in 15 or 20 minutes of becoming a stronger team. Here is my 5 step plan.

1. Greeting – Students greet one another in a variety of ways. I watched a great video on Twitter of a hand stack greeting, and there are tons more on You Tube! What an amazing way to make every child in your class engaged from the start of the day. How many kids come into classrooms and don’t feel like others see them, or don’t feel like they are a part of the group. Why not eliminate that in your morning meeting?
2.  Skill- Our meeting will have us circled up on my carpet, and of course kids will find their friends to sit by. This second part will mix them up. Using index cards I will choose an academic skill and put the individual parts on a index card. Every student will get one card, and then they need to find their partners. Say students have the following cards:

 

You can probably see we would be reviewing place value and expanded form. The kids with these cards would need to find each other, then share something with one another. I may just have them share their favorites in week one. It will help them learn more about each other. Then those kids will sit down together for the rest of the meeting. I can switch up the skill and the share every day!

3. Team Builder – I saw a few neat ideas here.. puzzles they must work together to put together, class jenga, kerplunk.. so many choices. What a great way to teach cooperation, as well as supporting all members of them team, especially when your tower falls!

4. Share – Each day up to 5 kids will know in advance it is their day to share. It can be anything they want us to know about them. This is going to help us learn so much about each other, and give all kids a voice! This won’t be a show and tell… they won’t bring anything to morning meeting, rather they will learn to share from the heart. Sure they can tell us about their soccer accomplishment, but it won’t be about a trophy, it will be about THEM!

5. Day Preview/ SeeSaw Review – As we wrap up, I will give us a view of the day. Knowing what is coming takes so much pressure off the day. It will also be the time we review our learning challenge replies on SeeSaw. In lieu of homework, we will have weekly learning challenges. That blog is to come. I will share what we will be doing over traditional homework, and WHY checking in each day on Seesaw matters! Hope that is a sweet little teaser for ya!

Lastly – Closing circle… the last 10 or 15 minutes before dismissal we will wrap up the day. We will share victories, set new goals for the day to come, and who knows… let’s just say I still have some planning to do there. What I do know for sure is this.. it is going to be our SHAKE IT OFF time. If you had some struggles in that day… shake them OFF. Tomorrow is a fresh start! These are what I hope will be the keys to building a classroom where instruction isn’t interrupted, rather it is fostered by our teamwork and culture!

#meetyathere

 

Jaime

 

 

Let’s face it, educational leadership is a climb. It starts somewhere in the classroom, evolves over time, and becomes a opportunity for change. It takes time, energy, focus, and a willingness to reflect along the way. My climb is one I think has a great message, and may perhaps help others to see that climbing the ladder is one thing, but knowing when to take a couple steps back is crucial.

If you don’t know much about me, know I have been a teacher, a consultant, and a school based instructional technology specialist. That climb was a lengthy one, and took a lot of patience. It required a great PLN, connecting and sharing, but most importantly, it took a willingness to keep climbing. I have held the role of the technology specialist for three years, and in that time I felt I had a nice little view from the top rungs of the ladder. I was afforded the opportunity to be a part of our connected classroom initiative, which will put amazing resources in our classrooms this fall. I served on committees, presented, and promoted our school in every way I could. What I found was that when I really took a hard look at my view from the top of that ladder, what I found was that I was pretty lonely. I could look far and wide, but when I looked deep, I didn’t see the change I wanted to see. I was sitting atop a pretty quiet and solemn ladder. It was time to make a change, and a change I certainly made.

Next year I am climbing back into the classroom. I plan to be sitting on the ladder and looking across at others who are going to climb with me, making this a far better climb indeed. You see, I have done tons of reflecting, and what I truly believe is that a title is just that. Being a knowledgeable and driven technology specialist doesn’t magically make change happen. Change comes from within. So as I settle into my new role, my goal is simple. I intend to show that teacher leadership is the difference maker. I plan to show that strong teachers who are growing and sharing will make growth happen. I will be part of a growing vision rather than the cheerleader calling out from the ladder above.  I will be walking the journey with my peers, and that I truly believe will be what makes change happen. So if you want to take some bets… or just watch it all unfold.. follow me @jaimevanderg and watch #TeamMinter and #JVand3rd in 2017-18!

Let’s just see what happens when climbing the ladder isn’t as important as being part of a team committed to growing!

#readysetgo

Jaime

When you have a dynamic group of friends who are also your professional sounding board, you get some very deep conversations going, and often a blog is formed. Amy Pietrowski  started us off with this great blog post that asks some pretty solid questions about what our roles are.  When I say “our roles” I am talking about those of us who hold a technology titled role in education. For months now I have been seriously thinking about how others see me, and considering how very limited that title I hold is. When I was a teacher, you saw me as a education professional with abundant knowledge that I shared with students and peers. Since I am in elementary, my knowledge ranged from content, to assessment, parent engagement, curriculum mapping, and more. You could make a pretty good judgement about my daily role. That was my TEACHER title.

Fast forward to today.  I don’t think I have an official title, but I know the job posting title isn’t what is in my email signature. I titled myself the Instructional Technology Specialist, as that was a close as I could get to what the job asked, and how I morphed it. When I say I morphed it, I did, but without a doubt I could never have done it without a leader who had the same vision I had. If you don’t follow Erinn Angelo on Twitter, you should. While she tweets mostly from Sara Harp Minter, she would be a great person to connect with in educational leadership for sure. Her leadership has allowed me to make that role exactly what I wanted it to be… and for three straight years it has looked different every year. Year one I just wanted to redesign a lab and rethink a learning space. She supported that. Year two I wanted flexible furniture and yes, you guessed it, that happened too. Year three I suggested I change rooms, change resources, and change my whole schedule. As you probably guessed, that happened too. So to say the least, my role has been very different in all three years. So how on earth do you define my role?
In three years I have.. just to name a few

Taught 1:1 PC’s with K-5

Taught 1:1 Tablets with K-5

Taught 1:1 Chromebooks with K-5

Mobile Device Management

Lead Professional Learning

Redesigned Learning Spaces

Troubleshooting Like A BoSS

Led our school to two straight years of Common Sense Education Certification

Led our school into a contest that yielded us 15,ooo dollars in new Chromebooks

Brought Google Expeditions to our school

…..

While all of this sounds delightfully in line with the title I hold, guess what is missing?

Building Leadership

Curriculum and Instruction

Assessment

School Culture

Teacher Instructional Support

Stakeholder Engagement

….

 

You see, it is so easy to put me in a BOX. It is so easy to assume I don’t know much about true leadership, curriculum, instructional practices, evaluating assessment data to drive instruction, and building culture. It might be easy, but it is all WRONG. I know all of those things. When given the opportunity, I can contribute to success in any one, or all of those practices. I simply feel that the last few months I have been put in a BOX, and I hate that feeling. I hate that you can’t see who I am beyond the fact that I am helpful when there is a technology problem to be solved. I hate that this week I sat in a large room with teachers, and when the speaker needed technology support, I hesitated. I hesitated because all I could think of was that BOX that room was about to put me in. That BOX that was strictly knowledgeable troubleshooting. I hate that I cringed in a room with a speaker who kept asking if the tool she was showing was good with us “techs”, as in separating us from the teachers in the room. I don’t like that BOX. In fact I want out of that box so bad I can’t stand it. I no longer want the word technology in my title. I think I want to be the Digital Literacy Specialist, yep, free of the stigma that we “techs” just know how to make the technology work. Let it be known that no matter the title, I am way more than technology. I am a strong educational leader, and I think if my Voxer group helps me shout it from the rooftops, maybe someone will listen!

 

#steppingoutofthebox

#smashingthebox

#meanolebox

jaime

 

 

 

 

First and foremost.. Happy New Year! What a wonderful opportunity to refresh, rethink life habits, and gain a wonderful new perspective on it all! I love seeing so many people embrace writing, processing, and digging deep with new practices for the year to come. It reminds me that I am surrounded by amazing people with growth mindsets and determination strong and true!

Now you are probably thinking I am hating on the #OneWord2017 practice, but really I am not. I simply chose to instead write a 2017 mission with FOUR words that need to drive me this year. This year I plan to live FIERCE, FUELED, FUN and FULFILLED. Each word means something important to me, and is designed to help me walk away from 2017 stronger in mind, body, and spirit. Here is how I believe each word will make me a better version of myself in 2017.

FIERCE- I am going for it. I simply can’t sit on the sidelines. I need to step out there and show others who I am. I am way more than technology. I know curriculum. I am a leader. I am a strong partner in planning and implementation. I will be fierce this year, and hope others will see me for way more than just a knowledgeable technology specialist.

FUELED – As we know, if the gas tank is empty, the car isn’t going very far. I am no different. I have to have fuel to make the kind of impact I want to make. I have to be rested, clear minded, and sharp. That is going to take some disconnecting, curling up with a good book, working out, socializing, and just focusing on me.

FUN- I have recently realized how little I truly laugh. I am not talking about your everyday chuckle, but a real belly laugh, the kind that makes your ribs hurt! I realized that when I have to look for joy in a day, I am not in the place where I can find deep gratitude in a day. I want that to be something I drop kick in 2017. I want to laugh, hard! I want to see joy, and have gratitude no matter the day. I want fun!

FULFILLED – This one is met pretty easily if I can keep up with the other three, but being fulfilled for me is simply having a well rounded life. I want to have a good balance of work, family, fitness, socializing, volunteering, and taking time for me. When all those buckets get filled a bit, fulfillment is achieved. It is only when one of those things overrides all the other that fulfillment is lost.

So instead of #OneWord2017 I chose a mission comprised of four words that will hold me accountable this year. I made the graphic on Canva, and now when I open my Chromebook, I see it every time! Having a visual is crucial.

How are you tacking 2017?

#fourwords2017

Jaime