1st Grade at Clymore

I had a great observation experience while I was in a first grade class at Clymore. It was interesting to see that the students were learning similar things to what we are teaching in our classroom.

The students knew what to expect as soon as they came into the classroom. They moved their name tags for their lunch choice and choice what kind of language arts activity they would do that morning. It was good to have this routine established because students entered class at different times.

As the day progressed, I got to see how they do reading groups. She played classical music during the whole 90 minute block. The teacher has two resource teachers come in to assist with reading groups. They focus on different skills. One teacher works on taking fluency notes on a student chose book. Another teacher worked with students on a writing assignment. The main teacher worked with a small group to discuss and read a book together. The comprehension questions were similar to what we ask.

For math, they do not have a math program. The teacher uses a variety of internet and other teacher resources to teach math concepts with worksheets and hands-on activities. I can imagine it would be difficult to not have a math program to follow but the students seemed to understand the concepts that were covered.

As for the classroom, it didn't have any of the students' work on the walls which was quite disappointing. She did have work displayed in the hallway which was good. There were lots of posters on the walls that encouraged positive behavior. There were also posters to remind students about reading and writing concepts.

Some things that I might use in my classroom are a wall for WOW words that the students come up with to replace plain words with more vivid ones. I also liked the idea of giving the students a "brain break" which had them getting up out of their seats to either do a quick song or dance to get them ready for the next transition.

Overall, I was pleased with my experience and learned a lot. There were certainly things that I would do differently but there were also things that I would want to try as well.

Emily L'Heureux

An Appealing Teaching -- and Learning -- Environment

I visited Buffalo Gap High School, which is in Augusta County’s school system and just a few miles from my home. When I entered the school, my first impressions were of quiet and cleanliness. The place gleamed. In the corridors, I saw students in clusters, and they were all speaking in low tones. I saw a number of teachers standing about and many students had engaged the teachers in conversation. Staff members from the office were efficient and friendly in helping me get checked in and headed toward Ms. Suzi Mace’s room.

Before my visit, I had written to Ms. Mace, the chair of the English Department, and she welcomed me with cordiality and professionalism. Unknown to me, Ms. Mace had been my daughter’s AP Literature teacher five years ago. She has been teaching at Gap for 15 years, and it was a real pleasure to watch her conduct her American Literature class at the beginning of the day.

The classrooms I saw were large and contained 20-24 student desks with plenty of extra room. On average, the classes I saw contained 17 students. As I sat in Ms. Mace’s classroom and in the others I visited, what most impressed me was the discipline. I do not mean that the teachers were disciplinarians. The discipline I saw appeared to be on the part of the students, who, as a group, seemed to possess a high degree of self-control. I am accustomed to chatter in classrooms, especially at the beginning of classes, when students come into my room and the especially outgoing types begin socializing and don’t stop until I begin class – and too often not even then. So I was pretty surprised as I watched the rooms at Gap fill up. Most students went to their seats and pulled out their books and notebooks and waited quietly. Those few students who did speak with classmates did so in whispers! That shocked me. After class started, I continued watching the students, looking carefully for giggles, covert conversations, cell phones, distracting behavior of any kind or in degree. I saw none.

Again, the teachers were not tyrants; they were friendly, smiling, helpful people.  The only unusual behavior I saw was that of the students, individually and collectively, who were orderly, attentive and respectful. For example, when the teacher asked that they open their books to 346, there was no delay, hesitation or confused whispers. Every student had his or her textbook and opened it to the correct page after be asked to do so once. Every student followed along and took a turn reading when asked without having to be shown or told where the previous reader had left off.  When the teacher asked the students to complete a worksheet or respond to a sentence on the board, they did so without any extracurricular conversation.

The students I saw did not seem to be gloomy automatons. They seemed happy and normal. Many willingly offered comments during group discussions. In Ms. Shields’s Advanced Composition class, students worked together in small groups, and from what I could see they stayed on topic. In the classes I observed and throughout the parts of the school that I visited (library, computer lab) and during the changes of classes, I neither saw nor heard any student speak above a normal tone of voice.

I was only in the school building for a small amount of time, so I have no idea what goes on in Buffalo Gap High School on a daily basis. I do not know if what I saw was anomalous or whether it is the result of a culture that seems to expect a certain type of behavior. I do know that what I saw in those classrooms was very appealing to me as a teacher, and inspired me to continue to help students in my classroom understand the idea of respect for the group and for the work of the group.

First Grade at Clymore Elementary School

Hello Friends,

I am Alisa George, first grade lead teacher at Stuart Hall Lower School. 

I had an exciting day visiting Clymore Elementary School in Fort Defiance.  I shared time with Jenna Rinker, a first grade teacher there.  There were many things I witnessed that I enjoyed and related to, and there were some things that made me proud to be a member of such a dedicated team of professionals who put the child first at Stuart Hall. 

We began the day with children trickling in at 7:50.  The stream continued until 8:25 when the last few children entered the classroom.  This class had 20 students.  The children had well-established routines that were engaging and meaningful.  Many students were reading books, playing on one computer, or chatting and reading with friends.  There were two teachers in the classroom and both were completing morning duties.  The children needed little supervision. 

The first part of the entire groups academic day began with a period of time they called "The Daily Five and CAFE time".  First the teacher began by reading to the whole group and focusing on a comprehension skill while she read.  

Three children left the classroom for Title 1 reading instruction.

Then, the remaining children were divided into three groups.  One group was independently reading books of their choosing, while a reading specialist listened to individual readers and made notes in a binder.  The notes referred to fluency, prosody, and expression of the reader.  She also asked comprehension questions as each child read to her.  She was only able to work with  2 or three students at a time. I assume she chose different students each day so she could here all of the children read to her by the end of the week.     

Another group was with an instructional aid working on several writing activities.  The children were looking for corrections to be made to a simple photocopied paragraph with 4 spelling errors.  There was very little interaction or instruction given in this area.  Then, once the page was completed, the children got a writing journal out of a basket and worked on adding to or editing previous writing works. There was no instruction given and some of the children had very week writing skills.  Few of the children used capitalization or punctuation in their journal writing.  (We encourage our first graders and kindergarteners to think about these elements when writing, though not ALL of our children have mastered these concepts.)  I felt that there was not much emphasis on writing during this activity period.  

The final group was with the lead teacher having a teacher-lead reading group.  They were reading a trade book focusing on the comprehension skill of making inferences. The children actually read for about 10 minutes and were not required to read with the group, but were allowed to participate - or not.  I was a little perplexed by this.  They did not finish the book and the children do not have homework, so I left wondering if the book would be finished or not.  I was later told that the books the children choose when being observed (the first group I talked about here) are stories that were read or introduced in the reading group time and the children would pick from this bag/box of books that included all the books that had been read over the year in their reading group time.  She made it clear that they did monthly running records to assess reading level and they chose books that were on an instructional level based upon the reading scale they currently used (Reading A-Z).   The school did not use a basal reading program and all classes used a shared library of multiple copies of trade books.  She had 4 different leveled reading groups - same as we have in first grade at STU.    

Each group worked at a "station" for 20 minutes.  Then they switched to one of the others for the next 20 minutes and then switched again until they visited all three stations. 

The framework for their teaching was using the Daily 5 and the CAFE techniques. 
The Daily 5 refers to the 5 choices that students can make. 


1. Read to Self - Students will get their book bags (full of good-fit books of their choice) or choose from the classroom library, find a comfortable spot in the classroom, and will read to themselves.

2. Read to Someone - Students will pair up with a partner. They will both get their book bags, find a comfortable spot in the classroom, and will take turns reading to each other.  

3. Work on Writing - Students will get their journal and write about different topics (some of their choice and some of the teachers.)  

4. Listen to Reading - Students will sit at a listening center and hear a book read to them while they follow along.  I didn't see this - and the teacher said that the students did not do this anymore at this point of the year.  I did observe someone reading a story to the students three times that day.

5. Word Work - Students will use different means to create words or work on spelling skills and patterns.

CAFE refers to reading skills.
The C stands for Comprehensions - I understand what I read.  A stands for Accuracy - I can read the words. F is for Fluency - I can read accurately, with expression and understand what I read.  Then E is for Expand Vocabulary - I know, find, and use interesting words. This framework was the impetus for their instruction.  I did like this framework, and the visual posters hung in the classroom included other clues for ensuring these skills were successfully mastered.  Clues like "Check for understanding" or "Back up and reread"  helped students ensure their comprehension.  I'm certain much time was spent teaching this framework prior to the children getting to the independent state they were at during this part of the year.   

I learned that the teacher, reading specialist, and instructional aid switched which group they worked with each week in order to give all of the students a chance to have the teacher lead instruction in each area (independent reading, writing, and reading group instruction) over a period of time.  When the lead teacher was observing and making notes, she would write notes to the other teachers about things she wanted them to focus on while they were listening to readers.  While the lead teacher was with the group working on writing skills, she would begin new writing projects or ensure completion of previously started projects.  I thought the time was a great way to incorporate important literacy skills into a fast paced morning.  The children did not have an opportunity to work in self-guided centers like they do here at STU.

I was a little wowed by the amount of time many students were disengaged during the 90 minute time period, but the concept was very appealing.  

Throughout the morning some students were pulled out for independent practice of skills whenever there was a snippet of time.  

The next big part of the day was their math time.  It began with calendar - much like we have in first grade at STU.  However, she had a smart board program for her calendar activities which I really liked.  To keep children engaged, she had them complete a worksheet with calendar skills while one student lead calendar.  The bottom of the page had boxes similar to our "Math Boxes" that are used with the Everyday Math program we use.  She had to make them up each week to fit what she was teaching.  I was very surprised to find out that they did not use a math program.  Jenna told me that they had reviewed many programs last year and had found one that everyone agreed upon, and then the county told them that there was no money in the budget to adopt a new math program, so the teachers were told to use whatever they wanted to teach math skills.  They, of course, had to follow the curriculum guidelines set forth in the Virginia SOL's as their guide.  But, none-the-less, there was no textbook series or math program being used.  

The math lesson for that day was learning to divide sets of objects into fractional parts.  The children completed a work sheet and then were given another sheet to glue pom-poms onto the page.  The pom-poms were three each of three different colors.  Then the children were to fill in a blank that said I used_______ parts of ______ that were ______.  The children had to write 3 parts of 9 that were red, and then write the fraction in a box at the end of the line.  I went around helping children and most did not have a clue what they were supposed to do, but they seemed to be able to complete the task with a little additional instruction.  Children who finished quickly were encouraged to complete math games with each other.  

The children in the first grade when to lunch at 11:00 followed by 1/2 hour of recess. 

After lunch, an adult came to the classroom to read to the children, and then they went to specials.  

Upon returning to the classroom, the children were read to again to introduce the unit of the day.  Since it was Earth Day, the teacher read The Lorax.  She then had the children complete a writing activity to tell what the Lorax could do to help make the world a better place.  Most children wrote very little and there was not enough time for all students to complete the assignment, because it was time for Power Ups.  

Power Ups is a time where all the children in first grade are grouped by math strengths and weaknesses and sent to a different first grade classroom for extra math help.  Some of the children, of course, stayed in the same classroom.  Then the teacher in that classroom focused on a weak skill to help ensure mastery of a specific math skill.  The children in my classroom were working on recognizing if the teacher was counting up or down when saying numbers.  The children had to go around a circle a give the next consecutive number as they counted down from 35.  Many of the students struggled with this skill.  Then children were instructed to play math games that had been previously introduced.  Most of the games were working on counting back two or reinforcing one-to-one correspondence.  One group of about 6 students were sitting out of teacher sight playing with colored tiles and not working on math skills at all.  Again - this really got to me.  The classroom teacher did have an aid working with her, but she was getting other groups started on the games while the lead teacher was working with individual students to practice or assess their math skills.  

The day was basically finished after the children returned to their own classes.  I didn't stay to witness dismissal, but I don't think I missed much.  

So overall, I learned a lot from observing.  I liked many things I saw and learned some new concepts I would like to incorporate into my own routines.  The day also helped to reinforce my teaching skills as I saw and heard many of the same phrases and routines I use in my own classroom.  The teacher was young and energetic, but kept a well run classroom.  The children were fully aware of the many routine changes and flowed easily from one activity to the next.  There was very little teacher control, which seems strange to me, but seemed to work for her.  The only thing I asked myself at the end of the day was, "What will these children go home and tell their parents they learned today?"  I was sad to say I would not have had much to contribute to the dinner table that evening if I were a first grader, but the children did have very strong reading skills and the were very happy.  I didn't see any of the community building and attention to caring about others that is such a part of our core here at STU.  It just didn't feel as warm and loving as it does in our fine little school.  I saw only one child get a hug, because she gave the teacher a birthday gift.  I wasn't even introduced to the children and they were only mildly curious about who I was as I sat and observed for 6 hours that day.  I loved coming back to my loving little first graders who were very happy to be back to school.  It's good to be home.
..            

Lylburn Downing Middle School

I spent the day at Lylburn Downing Middle School in Lexington observing Karen Doyle teach her middle school band classes which meet 40 minutes, 1 day/week for a zero hour Jazz Band, 50 minutes in length, 5 days/week for grades 7 and 8 band, and 3 days/week for 6 band.  The reason I chose to observe Karen is because she incorporates the Kodály Method, a sequential method of teaching music known for use in general and vocal music and best known for the solfege hand signals (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti, do’), into her instrumental ensemble rehearsals.  

Karen places a great deal of emphasis on the warm up portion of the rehearsal because, similar to my own philosophy, this is where students develop technique and musicianship skills that then transfer to literature.  I was able to write down a list of 10 new warm up/technique building exercises, many of which were solfege-related, that I will be able to adapt and use with my instrumental classes here at STU.   

Something I found interesting was that Karen did not tune the entire ensemble as a whole but on an as-need basis.  Her reasoning was more from a classroom management perspective.   When she did work on tuning with the students, she used it as quick teaching moments so that all the students could become better at hearing intonation issues and learning how to fix them.  She never just did anything for them which takes time but will pay off as they become more independent musicians.

I witnessed two other great spontaneous teaching moments.  One involved a saxophone player who was having difficulty getting her G# to play.  Instead of just fixing it for the student, she asked the class to hear the problem, hypothesized a cause (i.e. saliva creating a suction so the particular key would not open), and offered up a solution (i.e. popping the key up to release the suction).  The student did what was suggested and the problem was solved.  More importantly, because Karen used this as a teaching moment, all the players in that band suddenly had a new trick for solving similar problems on their own instruments.  

I enjoyed my visit and am thankful to have had the opportunity to visit other great programs in our area.

Visit to Tandem Friends School in Charlottesville

I was interested in visiting Tandem Friends School because  it is one of the other institutions in our region that promotes education of the whole child through inquiry-based and project-based learning.  Tandem is a 5th through 12th grade institution in Charlottesville.

I met with the head of Tandem, and he told me a bit of history about the school. It was established as the first progressive school in the Charlottesville/Albemarle area in 1970. Both of the founders had worked in other progressive schools prior to creating Tandem.  Enrollment at the school waxed and waned over the years, with the school's purpose remaining progressive, but shifting in its target student population at different times in its past.  In 1995, the school became affiliated with the Society of Friends (you might know them as quakers), and gained a more solid sense of institutional identity, which it maintains today.  The school's motto is "freedom with responsibility," which is evident in the students' interactions with teachers on a first-name basis, their freedom to roam the campus or sit outside and play music or checkers during certain periods, and their involvement in leadership and decision-making processes.

Because I'm involved in the Leadership Area of Excellence at Stuart Hall, I was interested in learning more about a Tandem tradition that began in 1970 and continues today: student work crews.  At Tandem, juniors and seniors lead 5th through 12th grade crews in daily upkeep of the campus.  The school is on a four-quarter system, and students in all grades are assigned to 1st/3rd or 2nd/4th quarter crews, so that everyone works half the year and has the other half off.  They maintain all of the school's academic, administrative, arts, and athletic facilities and only have to spend about 20 minutes at the end of each school day on work crew duties.  Once a week their crew does the heavier "deep cleaning" jobs. Crew leaders work with the students assigned to them to determine the schedule, but most crews work from 3:30 to 3:50.  Students may request which crew they want to work with, so those interested in science might clean the chemistry lab, while athletic students might work on gym maintenance.  In addition to their leadership responsibilities on work crews, upper class members also have three days of service each year in which they may work on campus or in the community on a more in-depth project.  Andy explained that, because the student work crews have been in place since the school's inception, they have a highly systematic way of doing things and it works really well. More importantly, the students develop a strong sense of pride in their ownership of the school and care of its grounds.

I observed a 6th grade science class and then met with a 5th grade science teacher.  The 5th grade teacher has a self-contained, integrated classroom.  There is only one 5th grade class with a cap of 15 students.  In 6th grade, 15 additional students are admitted, and the students split into two homerooms.  The two 6th grade teachers divide the curriculum into Math/Science and Language Arts/Social Studies.  Most core academic subjects occur in the morning, with electives in the afternoon.  The target grade size for 6th through 12th grades is 30 students.

Today the 6th graders were all together in one classroom with both teachers, because they were ready to test the strength and structural integrity of bridges they had built out of popsicle sticks.  Each pair or group presented their bridge to the class. The students noted the structural strengths and weaknesses and hypothesized what weight the bridge could withstand and where it would first collapse. A bucket of was placed over the bridge using a metal chain, followed by a series of weights.  This seems like the kind of activity we would do (or already do?) at our school, since it is hands on, creative, and investigative.  They did not get to finish the competition today, but I'm sure the debriefing will be interesting when they discuss why certain bridges were able to hold up to 40 kg of while while others crumbled under <25kg.

I really enjoyed talking with Carolina, the 5th grade teacher.  This year she has been integrating Science and Social Studies projects using an environmental thread. Because Tandem begins in 5th grade, Carolina has the challenge of working with children from all different educational backgrounds and the varied knowledge that comes with that.  This year her students have learned/reviewed the water cycle while studying the impact of pollution and environmental factors on their local aquifers.  In the process, they learned about local industries and the environmental impact of their own communities on the water supply.  They also came to understand a variety of geographic features, and learned about topics like erosion and run-off. 

Students in 5th grade also did extensive research on biomes. Each student chose a biome anywhere in the world to study in depth.  Students eventually created models showing plant and animal life in the region as well as the people and cultures of those areas.  In that research, they learned about the impact of people on their biome, as well as the impact of building civilizations within particular geographic regions. Her students clearly teach each other in the process of learning about their own topic of interest.  These are the sorts of projects that also go over nicely at our own school.

Carolina and I compared notes about our Science curricula.  She has been teaching a long time and gave me some great ideas to use in the future.  She usually has her 5th graders build an "average 5th grade body."  She uses math to have the kids find their mean height, arm length, etc., and then traces the kid who best represents that size.  Her kids work in teams to build each of the body's systems on top of the traced design. They can use any supplies they want, but they have to work with the other teams to successfully build the body, because each of the systems interacts with the others.  I like the way she has the students gain an integrated understanding of the body's many systems by having them build a life size, intricate model.  She then parallels her human body unit with her plant unit and compares human and plant circulatory systems, respiration, digestion, etc.  It makes so much sense to do that, but it hadn't occurred to me to teach these topics in that way.  We both concluded our meeting appreciating the opportunity to bounce ideas off of a colleague, as one of the biggest challenges for teachers in self-contained single-grade classrooms is not having someone to collaborate with on these subjects.  I invited her to come visit our school sometime if she gets a chance.

A Visit to JEB Stuart High School in Fairfax County

Because I decided to revisit my old high school, which is also the school I taught at for 31 years (until 9 years ago), I knew I would be traveling to the DC suburbs.  I didn't want to do all that driving on Tuesday and then return to STU the next day, so I planned my visit for Monday instead.  And I had a great day!  It turns out that a lot can change in 9 years.

I knew that I had left a highly diverse public high school.  According to a recent fact sheet put out by Fairfax County, JEB Stuart High School has 1835 students of whom only 491 speak English as their primary language.  In fact, students at Stuart come from a total of 74 countries and speak a total of 49 languages, including Amharic, Farsi, Somali, Spanish, Urdu, and Vietnamese.  JEB Stuart has more ESOL teachers than math teachers!  Though the school draws some students from the wealthy Lake Barcroft and Sleepy Hollow areas, 62% of the students at Stuart have fee waivers including free/reduced lunch.  The school also has a large and thriving International Baccalaureate program.

Most of the changes I saw at Stuart involved math department efforts at rememdiating their falling SOL scores.  The falling scores are, in my opinion, directly attributable to the county forcing the school to stop offering double-block math classes a couple of years ago.  Instead, to try to standardize their teaching, the math teachers now have to give the same unit tests on the same day; the teachers I talked with felt that the time put in to writing these common tests stifled the otherwise collegial-but-informal coordination that had already been taking place.  Also, weekly after-school remediation is now offered throughout the spring semester on specific topics for every SOL math course, with bonus points offered by some teachers for students who attend.  Teachers take turns conducting the remediation sessions.  I understand that attendance at these sessions is very low, with a few eager students accounting for the majority of the small number number who show up.

One little thing I also saw is that all teachers in the same department at JEB Stuart have a common planning period.  The math teachers seemed to apreciate this time to have monthly department meetings without staying after school, but mostly to have access to each other whenever informally needed (and to compose their common tests . . .).

Fairfax County now requires that every high school build remediation time into its daily schedule. Apparently the most common result of this requirement is a version of what JEB Stuart now does, which is the biggest change I saw during my visit.  Stuart has had block scheduling for many years--we'd had it for years even before I left.  Now though, 'red' days are periods 1, 3, 5, and 7; 'blue' days are periods 2, RP (instead of 4), 6, and 8.  All periods last approximately 90  minutes.  RP (period 4), however, actually consists of two 40-minutes slots called Remediation Periods.  The first RP day, for example, is used to remediate periods 1 and 8; the next day remediates periods 2 and 7; then periods 3 and 6; then period 5 and some sort of Advisory equivalent, after which the cycle begins again.  During the 40-minute RP time, teachers are not allowed to teach new material or to give any tests or quizzes.  What they do beyond that to 'remediate' is apparently up to them.  One teacher I talked with found this time to be an imposition, but most seemed to appreciate it as extra teaching time.

I've rambled enough.  I have some photos I took of their unexcused tardy policy, motivational posters, and mostly of small groups of kids.  Overall, I had an interesting day and really appreciate this chance to explore and think outside our walls at STU.

Hope you had a productive learning experience on Tuesday. We look forward to hearing about what you did, what you learned, and possible impact on you, your class, division, and/or the school. Feel free to insert a weblink like this stuarthallschool.org or a photo like this to share details with colleagues.