Month: March 2019

I never realized just how much bias is found in children’s books. Every night, my husband and I read three books to each of the boys. As we read, I focus on their reactions and we talk about each book afterward. The conversations with the twins are usually fairly superficial but Jackson, my 6 year old, is extremely tuned into the world. If someone looks different than he thinks they should, he will be the first to speak up and ask why, but as I sit here and reflect on everything you and I see as bias, I can honestly say, he has never caught on. I chalk that up to kindergarten innocence, which I am completely jealous of…how amazing to be that innocent??? I got to thinking, I want to raise humans who question, who stand up against stereotypes and I want students who do the same.

Of course I will make a conscious effort to preview texts before presenting it to both my boys and students, but I wonder if I could almost do a lesson like we did in class to teach citizenship and how to demyth stereotypes. Is that too advanced for 3-5th graders or even too daring for me to attempt? A lot to think about…

As a lifelong resident of Virginia, learning about Jamestown has essentially been a lifelong thing. I remember learning the basics in lower elementary and then in more detail once I hot 4^thgrade. Of course, a highlight of my elementary school years was the field trip we made to Jamestown. I remember the trip so vividly. We walked around and saw actual artifacts from the time of settlement. We spoke with reenactors and even watched glass being blown. What I don’t remember is my teachers doing anything beyond taking us to the settlement to enhance instruction. I don’t remember exposure to primary sources that we could discuss and touch. I don’t remember any connections having been made to fictional texts to enhance our understanding of the content and allow for a different perspective. Who knows, maybe they did, but just not in a memorable way. For the record, I have a pretty good memory and am able to name off a decent amount of lessons that have stuck with me since my elementary school days. Anyways, I guess what I’m trying to say is that now that I know super-efficient strategies to enhance instruction, I can’t help but wonder, were those strategies not prevalent in education when I was in school or did teachers just not care/see the value in utilizing different strategies?

As far as class was concerned, I really enjoyed the opportunity to hear about a non-fiction and fiction text that would enhance instruction. I also loved the map activity. Being able to work collaboratively was an amazing was to combine what we already knew and think critically about a primary source related to the content. As a student, what I had discussed with my group, as well as what I read on the charts displayed around the room, would stick with me throughout the Jamestown unit. I see incredible value in a student being able to take what they got out of that activity and use it throughout the unit to become more engaged.

With Jamestown in our backyard, the opportunities to enhance instruction are endless! I’ve always been on the fence about whether or not I would want to teach 4^thgrade, leaning more toward a yes, but now I’m pretty excited about the opportunity to get my students excited about all things Virginia, Jamestown included.

While this class was super informative, I have to admit, I was a tad bit overwhelmed.

I love the idea behind the Virgina Quality Criteria Review Tool, but I’m super overwhelmed by the thought of having to refer to it with each assessment. I know Dr. Stohr said maybe 4ish times a year, but with the shift toward performance based assessments, I can’t help but wonder if it will become the tool which we will have to place all of our assessments against. I’m probably getting ahead of myself(shocker, huh?) but I can’t stop thinking about what that will look like. Will this become second nature? Will I feel more comfortable once I am more familiar with the tool? Even though the VQCRT is used for the big assessments, will it become the norm for all assessments?

Ok, now that I’ve gotten that out, I feel better. Time to focus on the exciting part of class-when Megan and Diane showed us how to implement DBQs. Having the two of them present and not only tell us how it was done but SHOW us was huge. The handout on DBQs was great, but seeing how it would actually play out was super helpful!  I would definitely incorporate this strategy into my instruction especially given how DBQs also go hand and hand with UbD and incorporate all 6 deep learning competencies, both ensuring student success!