Looping

  Middle of the Year (MOY) is one of the biggest data points of the year. In the world of assessments, there is one right after another for the students. It is a tough time of year as the hope is to get through all of the assessments by the end of January. We have iReady (which is our diagnostic for both Reading and Math) and ACCESS testing (for out multilingual learners). Plus we have end of module assessments, pre-module assessments, middle of the year assessments, etc. It is tough to be a student (or faculty) in school during the month of January. I usually spend most of January with post-it-notes all around my desk with assessments and names of missing students. I feel terrible about the students getting so bogged down with the assessments and they groan every time I mention a new one. That said, it is an opportunity for students to show what they know. Assessments, especially iReady are indicators of where students are at the halfway point and how close they are to being profi...

  Students, like any other people, can get reputations. Sometimes good, but most times not so good. Sometimes students excel in certain enviornments and in others, not so much. Sometimes students that are labeled 'behavior problems' can be seen as exceling or growing...just because administrators aren't getting calls about them. There are many layers to student/teacher relationships and it is extremely hard to judge from the 'outside looking in.' One day I had the door open to get some ventilation in room 304. It is an old, stuffy room that gets too hot and too cold. Add twenty-six 11 year olds, post physical education and you can imagine what the smells could get like. I suddenly heard a loud noise, screaming, cursing, etc. I came into the hallway and saw a shorter student...screaming and swinging his arms wildly, trying to punch the taller student. I immediately came out and raised my voice to try to shock the two students, but when I realized that there were two ...

  A few years ago, I was working one of my side hustles at Rhode Island Comic Con. While deep in the dark corners of Amica Mutual Pavillion (AMP), I started a conversation with an AMP security guard. We started talking about teaching and during the conversation in which he explained that he was formerly an Assistant Principal, who just recently went back to the classroom...he called me a name. He called me a unicorn. The definition that everyone knows of a unicorn is, 'a mythical animal typically represented as a horse with a single straight horn projecting from its forehead.' What he was referring to was the secondary definition, 'something that is highly desirable but difficult to find or obtain.' When I got into teaching, because I had no experience in any sort of teacher preparation course, I needed to get an M.A.T. (Master of Arts in Teaching) degree. Since then, I have attained another degree, M.Ed. in TESOL (Teaching English to Students of Other Languages) and go...

The makeup of a class is so important. Classroom management and engagement have so much to do with how students respond to school daily, but the makeup of the class needs to be there. I saw it last year with the combination of students I had. Sometimes, they don't mix properly. One of the main reasons for looping with students is to be able to have more progress and acheivement from the students. In 'The Looping Handbook', Daniel Burke states, 'research on school efectiveness has consistently suggested that long-term teacher/student relationships improve both student performance and job satisfaction for teachers.'. When you don't have to worry about the first six weeks of school and routines and procedures (as much as with a brand new group of students), you can get to learning almost immediately. After the year began, room 304 was at 23 students. The maximum roster size in Rhode Island is 26 students. A few weeks of the school year went by and we quickly realiz...

I love a good bargain and I love films. Once my first love, I always enjoyed viewing new films. I had gotten a membership to Showcase Cinema's Film Club and it entitled me to two tickets for two films every month. When I went looking for films to go see in North Attleboro or Providence (two closest locations in which I didn't have to go over a broken bridge), I noticed a documentary film premiering in Providence called 'Secret Mall Apartment'. When I looked up information about the film, it stated, 'In 2003, eight Rhode Islanders created a secret apartment inside a busy mall and lived there for four years, filming everything along the way. Far more than a prank, the secret apartment became a deeply meaningful place for all involved.' Having lived in New England (mostly Rhode Island) since 1996, I remember hearing about this story and just had to go to see it. I clicked on two tickets for one of the opening night showings, in said mall (Providence Place) with a Q...

The first day os school is filled with excitement and terror. Both for the students and the teachers. I usually use 'The First Six Weeks Of School' by Mike Anderson as a responsive classroom guide to establishing routines. This year though, I decided to scrap that. My first six weeks of school had been done in 180 days last year. You may say, 'But some of the students are new to the class.' That is a valid point, so I figured since we were starting school on a Wednesday, that I would use the first day or two as a refresher...then jump in. The excitement in the class was palatable. My students rolled up to the new classroom. Once they saw me, it wasn't fist bumbs or high fives (like normal), they dove in for hugs. The smiles on their face were huge and it was clear that our 'family' was back together. I was intentional about seating arrangements, as I made sure my groups were filled with learners of varying abilities (to assist each other) and I integrated th...