Learning Targets

 

Learning Target Organizer

Directions: Enter the enduring understanding in the first row. Organize the learning targets you have brainstormed into the three columns as appropriate.

Enduring Understanding: (SWUT…)
Knowledge	Skills	Reasoning
...factual underpinnings of discipline, content...	...observable behaviors...	...ways that knowledge is used in the discipline...a mental process of using knowledge
tends to use verbs such as explain, describe, tell, identify, name, list, define, label, recall, match, choose, recognize, select…	tends to use verbs such as perform, use, do, read, speak, assemble, measure, collect, play, research, test, create, write, teach, design, produce, create, model…	tends to use verbs such as predict, infer, classify, synthesize, hypothesize, compares, conclude, summarize, analyze, evaluate, generalize, apply…
Student will be able to:	Student will be able to:	Student will be able to:

 

 



 

Teacher Resource

Link: Free Spirit Publishing

 

More then just books, I have purchased Leadership Cards, Chill Skills in a Jar, and Tools for Life in a Jar- comes in handy often!

 

Teaching at Risk Youth

Book Webinar This webinar should be available to view as an AMLE member in the near future. Associate membership to AMLE is free! So sign up and stay posted. Webinar Series- AMLE

Keys to Educating Middle Grades Students in Poverty Friday, January 24, 2014, 3:00p ET Join AMLE and Ruby Payne as we discuss essential ways to reach and teach middle grades students in poverty. Examine proven strategies that make an impact on the lives of students in your classroom and school. After registering, you will receive a confirmation e-mail containing information about joining the webinar. Ruby Payne

Social Contract- SWAG

After brainstorming the classroom rules, using the social contract, the students summarize our expectations and create a poster for class display.

Below are two ideas for summary/display:

1. Social Contract Haiku- During the guided discussion about our social contract I record every suggestion that the students make on the board, then together we categorize and prioritize the list.

Examples of student's suggestions for class rules and expectations:

• Student Suggestion- "Respect"
• I always follow up with a series of guided questions that help students explore what it means to show respect, such as:
• Respect for who or what?
• When do show respect?
• How do we show respect?
• Can you think of a time when someone showed you that they respected you? How did they show you?
• Can you think of a time when you showed someone else respect? What did you do to prove to them that you had respect for them?
• What does respect sound like? How am I communicating with respect right now?
• What is respectful listening? Are we showing respectful listening in this moment?
• How to we show respect for guest speakers or during a peer presentation?
• How should we respond when someone is not being respectful?
• Once the students have all shared at least 1 expectation for our social contract we organize and prioritize the list into categories:
• Category 1- How I should treat you.
• Category 2- How you should treat me and your peers.
• Category 3- Class norms (Example: Earned Friday Fun-day)
• Category 4- Grace in this space (Example: Pushing in chairs, putting materials back after use, keeping the classroom clean and organized)
• Category 5- Eats and treats (Example: Candy answers and class parties, also food in the classroom)
• The students are then paired up to come up with a social contract Haiku, the Haiku does not need to address all of the expectations that we talked about however it should provide an accurate overview.
• The students then vote on which Haiku to post in the room as a visual reminder about our agreement.
• Student Example:
• Kind, Honest, Friends
• Fun and Intellectual
• Dream It, Achieve It
• Second Student Example:
• Think outside the box
• Believe in your happiness
• Dream to achieve

2. Acronym: The process for this is the same as above however instead of a Haiku the students develop an acronym. See example below.

Social Contract

The social contract is an important tool for honoring student input while developing classroom expectations. There are many versions of the social contract so for now I will describe what has worked in my classroom. The social contract is part of my syllabus, it is a working document that we go through piece by piece on the 2nd or 3rd day of class. (See below for excerpts from my syllabus pertaining to the social contract.)

Participation Points:
Every day you show up to class you automatically have 5 participation points; these points may be "cashed in" at the end of every month to earn points towards your key assignments. In the space provided on the following page list 5 reasons why you think that participation points would be taken away.

Participation points are lost when I choose to:

1.____________________________________________________________

2.____________________________________________________________

3.____________________________________________________________

4.____________________________________________________________

5.____________________________________________________________

In the space provided here please list a minimum of 5 rules or expectations that you feel would bennefit our classroom and why? It is important to include your reason, for example if you feel we should have "candy answers" or free time why do you think that is important to our learning?
 
1.____________________________________________________________

2.____________________________________________________________

3.____________________________________________________________

4.____________________________________________________________

5.____________________________________________________________
Classroom Expectations/Rules:Using the list that you have provided above we will decide as a class what our class rules and expectations should be.

Some things to consider during discussion/guiding questions:
What kind of environment do you work best in?

What do you find distracting when you are trying to listen to someone speak?

What does appropriate/professional dress look like?

Why is a bad idea to bring personal items from home to class, such as iPod’s and cell phones? What should be the consequence for bringing these items to class?

Class is only an hour long, how do we make the most of our time together? Homework?

Everyone needs a break sometimes, how should we handle breaks?

What are three things that make school interesting and enjoyable?

What are three things that make school boring or uninteresting?

What makes learning easy? What makes learning difficult?

What is appropriate and inappropriate language in school (or work)?

How do we make each other feel safe?

How should we treat each other, and how do we respond when someone is not treating another person with respect?

Class Structure: Time	Activity	Purpose
10 minutes	Journal Entry	To bring our focus into the classroom, to understand ourselves and express our opinions, and to improve our written communication skills.
10 minutes	Intro to Lesson	To learn a new skill or concept.
30 minutes	Individual or Group Activity Based on Lesson	To put our learning into practice.
5 minutes	Clean Up and Review	To reflect on our learning.

Friday Fun-day, Relay Race

Obviously having a traditional "relay race" in a classroom setting is not a good idea in order to foster productive behavior management, however using this adapted version is a fun reward for positive classroom behavior, and an excellent way to provide team building opportunities. Depending on your grade level/content are find 4-5 brainteaser worksheets and print one copy of each per team. This activity works best with teams of 4, though I have done it with pairs, and up to 6 in each group with nearly equal success. The teams must select a "runner" this is the person who will collect and turn in each brainteaser. Begin with the easiest worksheet and work up to the most difficult. Following your signal to start have the "runners" from each team come to the front of the room to collect the first worksheet. The students must work through the brainteasers together, in order to win the student need a combined effort (4 heads are better then 1 after all). As the teams finish each brainteaser the "runner" turns them in, quickly check the answers and send the "runner" with the next worksheet. Once they finish their final brain teaser have the "runner", or another preselected student from each group, attempt to make a basket by wading up their final brain teaser and making it into the trash can from a challenging distance. This will allow teams who struggled through the brainteasers an opportunity to catch up as the team in the lead may have difficulty making the shot in their first try. If the idea of having a "runner" and a quasi-basketball hoop in your class makes you a little nervous take my word for it that with clear expectations this activity lends its self to promoting positive energy, without chaos. In fact as the student work through the brainteasers the room is quiet as they do not want to give an answer away to an opposing team. I usually act like a cheerleader providing encouragement and support to each teams as they compete. A candy prize is typically awarded to all for active participation, and good communication within teams. When trying out a new team building activity, if in doubt, run through the activity with your most well behaved class first to identify any potential for chaos/confusion in those classes containing more spirited students. Below are the PowerPoint slides I use to introduce the activity. Have fun, and don't be afraid to let lose once in awhile, after all this is an earned privilege for sustained academic rigor!

 

 

Video- Competition & Sportsmanship