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Classroom Environment

Session 3: Building Habits

Teaching Rituals and Routines to Automaticity

Guidelines

Scholars must be explicitly taught and then practice the rituals and routines moving from novice to mastery in all K-8 classrooms.  Teachers gradually release responsibility adjusting pace based on student attainment of each habit.  It usually takes about 20 days to roll out all of these mini-lessons.  Scholars should be engaged in meaningful reading/content as the habits are taught and constructed by scholars.  The goal is independence and automaticity, over the first 20 days of school the teacher will be providing a great deal of ongoing effective feedback.

 

Name It

Creating a Shared Vision, Goal Setting

  • Anchors (vision of excellence)

  • Clear simple language

  • Annotated photos

 

Claim It

Practice, Redo Until 100% of Scholars are Successful

  • Use a timer

  • Process

    • Reflect

    • Set Goal

    • Plan

    • Act

    • Reflect

    • Celebrate

  • Noticing - Effective Feedback

    • Remind

    • Reinforce

    • Redirect

    • Re-teach 

  • Ground it in the anchor - Vision of Excellence (VOE)

  • Slow down, less is more…

  • Once the expectation is clear, expect 100% 

  • Remind - once taught, anchored and practiced

  • Before a transition, remind

    • ”Who can remind us what a transition should look like, sound like and feel like?"

    • "Use the anchor to help you remember.”

School Wide Systems

Goal

Readers must be able to make meaning of text, independently at increasingly sophisticated levels of text, across genres and within the context of the development of meaningful and relevant world knowledge.    Readers and writers demonstrate that understanding in writing and in discussion.  The definition of consistent school-wide components, structures, vocabulary and tools supports that goal. 

 

Why do we need consistent components, structures, and vocabulary for learning K-8?

The use of clear and consistent language and structures frees the learner to focus not on the structure, but on the rigorous thinking work necessary to achieve deep understanding of text and intellectually demanding world knowledge.

 

It is helpful to think of the car metaphor to make this important distinction more clear:

All cars are designed primarily in the same way. It is safe to say that any vehicle we get in to drive has the gas, the steering, the radio etc. in the same place.  Think about navigating a new road with poor conditions, you would be challenged for sure but add the component of all the basic structures being changed such as gas on the left, brake on the right and now your focus would be pulled to learn the structure instead of on successfully navigating the treacherous terrain you had been faced with.  The same is true for our students; if we keep the structures simple and elegant, predictable and strong then our learners are freed up to focus on the challenging new learning that they are faced with each day.  It is this that prompts us to clearly define our structures in a K-8 vertical articulation.

 

The process for before, during, and after reading is a repeatedly do across genre and text complexity.  Components and structures are consistent for each genre/unit of study and for each grade, academic vocabulary, visual representation/non-verbal cues, these things are what readers do to make meaning and actively transact with text within the reading/writing community. 

 

  • First, teachers model the whole process consistently through interactive read aloud, we do not teach these in isolation but in the context of whole text.  

  • Next, readers do this collaboratively through discussion with partners and the whole class.  

  • Finally, the inner dialogue learned becomes internalized allowing the reader to apply this thinking independently. 

 

In order to achieve the demands of the common core, 21st century skills for college and for life students and teachers together must approach all learning tasks from a stance of inquiry.  Inquiry is a process of both problem posing and problem solving. 

  • Begins with what learners already know, perceive and feel.

  • Brings multiple perspectives from many knowledge systems

    • Social Studies and Geography

    • Science

    • Math

    • Literacy

  • Allows for alternative sign systems, or ways of creating and communicating meaning, to support student exploration and research

  • Involves immersing oneself in a topic

    • Having time to explore that topic in order to find questions that are significant to the learner

    • Systematically investigating those questions. 

  • In short, inquiry is an attempt to construct learning contexts that advance the democratic mission of both our school and society.  

 

Components

 

Structures and Academic Vocabulary within each of these components are defined more fully in the overview module

Teacher Cues

  • “Circle up for a whole Class Conversation”

  • “Turn and have a partner conversation

  • “When you hear the chime or see the zero noise signal, finish your thought, thank your partner and return to school listening look position.”

  • “Track the speaker” (eyes on the speaker)

  • “Talk to the group not the teacher”

  • “Thinking all the time, use your non-verbals”

  • “Stretch it out”  (scholars should be speaking in complete sentences)

 

 

 

 

Attention Getting Signals

 

Clap

  • Teacher XX-XXX (bump, bump da bump bump)—this should be silent--- Scholars:  XX 

    • Purpose:  Instant attention in times where a quick interruption is needed or safety concerns are present

    • Immediate silence, eyes on teacher

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Zero Noise

  • (hand signal for a slower attention getting moment, teacher is silent until all scholars join)

    • Purpose:  When the chime is not available this will provide scholars an opportunity to finish their thought or last sentence of work: respect.

    • Use during partner conversation, small group or independent work times

    • Teacher puts two fingers in the air silently

    • Scholars join in until the room is silent and all eyes are on the speaker

 

 

 

Chime 

  • Purpose:  Provides scholars time to finish their thought or last written idea before returning to school listening look: respect.

  • Teacher rings chime and lets it fully go until the sound ends

  • Teacher is silent and waits until the chime is done to expect 100% school listening look

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Greetings

Purpose:  This develops social awareness-social management-and provides opportunity for scholars to repeatedly articulate the vision for the future and make a connection between current work and future goals. It also supports development of the 4 C’s Capable, Connected, Count and Courageous.

 

Arrival 

  • All teachers greet scholars at the door

  • Shake hands

  • Good morning and how are you

  • Research each scholar's emotional state as they arrive

  • Follow through during breakfast and morning work to support self awareness and self regulation of emotion.

  • Make personal connection (family, outside activities etc.)

  • All Scholars greet each other every morning (see open circle for suggested greetings)

  • Eye contact

  • Include everyone, greet all not just my best friends

  • Say the person's name

  • If a scholar arrives late or leaves and returned they should be greeted by the teacher and welcomed into the community by all.

 

 

When a Visitor Arrives 

  • Scholar meets them at the door and greets them:

  • Eye contact

  • Name 

  • Hand shake

  • Future goals (college/career)

  • Current Learning (not doing)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Transitions 

Purpose:  Quick and efficient transitions reserve instructional minutes, and provide consistency in all classes, hallways, gym and more.  

123 Move

  • 1 stand up

  • 2 gather materials

  • 3 move to new location

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Learning Arrangements

Purpose:  Brain research supports that sitting up in a state of relaxed alertness allows the brain to take in and retain new information.

 

School Listening Look

  • Rug:  

    • Criss-cross

    • hands in your lap

    • eyes on the speaker

  • Chair:  

    • feet flat

    • sitting up straight and tall

    • eyes on the speaker

 

EEEK position (for partner conversation)

  • Eye to eye

  • knee to knee 

 

Audience Position

  • In rows facing the teacher

  • Sitting next to a partner for partner conversation

  • Practice the transition from audience to EEEK and back again.

 

Shoulder to Shoulder text in between

  • Partner reading

  • Close reading

  • Any time scholars are working or reading together

 

Circle 

  • School Listening Look: in a circle so everyone can see everyone else

  • In chairs:  

    • feet flat

    • eyes on the speaker, 

    • speak to the group not the teacher

  • On Floor:  

    • Criss Cross

    • hands in lap eyes on the speaker

    • speak to the group not the teacher

 

Voice Modulation

Purpose:  Consistency in all environments K-8 these support the development of self awareness, social awareness and self and social management as well as the 4 C’s.  

  • 6 inch voice for partner or small group work

  • 6 foot voice for sharing with the whole group

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Silent Signals—Non-Verbals

Purpose:  Increases engagement, participation and thinking by all even when they are not the speaker.

  • I agree with that idea because….

  • I disagree with that idea because…

  • Me too…(connection)

  • Change/revise my thinking

  • Complete sentence—stretch it out

  • Look at the speaker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Problem Solving Steps

Providing Effective Feedback

Guidelines

 

  • Descriptive language that tells the learner what they are doing that they should do again (celebrate/reinforce)

 

  • Descriptive language that tells the learner what they need to change (prompt or teach)

 

  • Descriptive language that is connected to the strategic actions or knowledge that will support the learner as they make the needed changes (reference the anchor, use a mentor text)

 

  • Tone is one that indicates to the learner that you believe in them and that you will support all of them until they learn they become independent with the objectives

 

  • Timely (Immediate is best)

 

  • Follow up:  Notes are taken that capture the feedback given and allow for follow up either individually, small group or whole group based on the findings.  Notes all include other important findings that were not included in the teaching point for today, but are worthy of follow up.  

 

  • You do it

    • What are we noticing?

    • Remind

    • Reinforce

    • Redirect

    • Re-teach

 

  • Use data to inform your next step!

    • Where are we going?

    • Where are we now?

    • How do we close the gap?

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