GR TLC BLOG!

This week, I (Kyla Kiburis) attended the ICTM Annual Math Conference and I wanted to share my 2 favorite takeaways from the day.  I went to a session called, “Creating Classroom Discussions that Matter” by Jeremiah McGraw. He gave us two great examples that we could use right away (that is my favorite type of break out session).  First, he introduced me to the “Three Act Math Format” created by Dan Meyer. It reminded me of the guided inquiry that the new science and social studies standards focus on. The first act has an engaging and perplexing question.  This can be a picture or video. Act two is information and solution seeking and act three is the when the solution is revealed. I loved this format because it seemed to be something that all teachers could incorporate and it reminded me of Buddy Barry’s surprise and delight ideas.  Jeremiah actually walked us through a Three Act problem and I am excited to use it with our staff! Jeremiah also shared his be...

A few weeks ago I (Kyla Kiburis) had an opportunity to hear 3 of my favorite educational guru’s speak: Todd Whitaker, Jeffrey Zoul and Jimmy Casas.  I have read several of their books and I was excited to hear them in person. It was an awesome day, they were so engaging I was surprised when they announced it was lunchtime (for those of you that know me...that really says something!) The day was so full of great information, I have actually had a hard time deciding what my biggest takeaway was, so I  have narrowed it down to one nugget from each speaker: Jeffery Zoul talked about the importance of growing each day.  Making sure that you have a personal learning network. It made me wonder, what kind of PLNs do our teachers have?  What is my PLN? AND...how can I expand that? Twitter is a great platform for learning and I am working on becoming a more proficient twitter user.  I need to set a goal to actually jump in and take the risk to tackle Twitter. ...

Number Talks: Number Talks are a short quick way to get students thinking about how they can organize and group numbers to help solve problems mentally. Mrs. Welter and Mrs. Plett went to class this fall to learn about Number Talks. The week of May 7, they went around to the elementary classrooms to preview Number Talks with the teachers and students. They hope to continually educate the staff of the building on the benefits of Number Talks though some PD time next year. Everyday Math Technology: The sixth grade class went to visit the second grade classrooms to help them work on the Everyday Math technology.  The big kid helpers assisted the younger students with logging into their accounts and also playing a game with them.  The second grade students enjoyed playing against the sixth grade helpers.

Rise/Run, that’s how you can find the slope of a line.  The 7th graders have been studying this concept and other concepts related to linear relationships.   Several students were struggling to remember some of the essentials. So, I added “song” into my classroom.  Trying something like this for me was a first. I have to be honest, when I thought it up, I thought only a few of the kids would like it and the rest would hate it. I anticipated bad attitudes. What did I get instead?  Excited 7th graders! I told them they could use any school appropriate song and they had to write their own words to match the assignment.  They had to incorporate one of 2 main concepts and I challenged them to add more for additional points. If they did not want to sing, they had the option of doing a chant/cheer.  I let them have all sorts of choice on this assignment---the size of their groups, the people in their groups, song vs cheer, and concept(s) covered (fro...

As a model teacher,  I wanted to encourage our JH teachers to participate in an Interdisciplinary unit.  We used these with great success when we were a MS.  Interdisciplinary units help to keep the students engaged as well as to see how the content works together and is not isolated. On Friday, Feb. 16th, the 7th graders took part in our culminating activities for our Greek Unit (just in time for the olympics!).  In 7th grade math we used our ratio and proportion skills to make Math Proportion gods.  This took the students nearly a week to perform the task.  On Friday, the classmates voted on the best Math god to determine gold, silver and bronze places.  To be honest, all of the Math gods turned out great as the 7th graders worked really hard on them an followed the directions carefully.   In Science, the students learned about  the Greek Scientist Archimedes Principle (Buoyancy). The students then had 15 minutes to design a tin foil...

Co teaching. Let us tell you about it. This year we started out slow. We weren’t really sure what to do, where to go, or what it should look like. Our first step was dividing kids into groups in math and reading. We had to figure out scheduling groups to maximize the impact we could make on their learning. We also had to decide how lessons would be presented and by whom. Eventually mini lessons came to be shared but began with Ashley doing them. Planning time was used to discuss students and their needs. Areas where we felt they needed the most focus and intervention was our focus. Ashley feels that she knows her students better this year due to the opportunity to work with them in small groups. Diane is able to see her students as compared to their peers in the gen ed setting which was not always possible prior to this year. Co teaching has been a learning experience for both of us. We are able to meet and discuss student needs daily and immediately intervene where ...

Welcome to the Gladbrook-Reinbeck's TLC Blog!  The TLC leaders at Gladbrook-Reinbeck will be posting about the exciting changes happening in the district.  We are building the capacity of teachers and preparing students for their futures.  We hope you enjoy the GR TLC Blog!