Rolling stone

Third column from the left is home sweet home.
I used to have a blog titled, "Rolling the Stone." Despite the vague Biblical allusion, it was really more about the fact that I change my mind. A lot. In fact, I change my mind so often that it can be mistaken for not being able to make up my mind at all.

But I can make up my mind. Seriously. The moment I decide something I do it. It isn't as often a fault as it sounds. I'm not impetuous - I think things through. But I don't drag my feet about once the thinking is done either. Like the moment I decided to do a series study the California content standards, I wrote the first post on it. Or at least I wrote it the first chance I got. I don't think I was actually near a computer when I made the decision.

Three weeks ago, I made a decision to study the standards in a holistic way. I wrote one post on it. And then changed my mind. Not because it isn't worth it to study the standards in that way. It is highly useful. But I've just come to realize since then that knowing the standards is really less important than knowing my students and their needs.

So I'm spending more time studying the modern student. Which means less available time studying the standards. Which is tacked onto formal lesson plans like an after-thought anyway. And, like always I made that decision a few days ago, so I'm acting upon it now. Which means no more standards. Until I change my mind again.

On a related note, I was offered an NET job last week. I turned it down because they needed me to go across the Pacific immediately. The job is full-time, but short term, only through June. I wanted to take it, I really did. However, I couldn't bring myself to drop my current tutoring students - especially the NCLB kid, who already had two other tutors drop on her before I showed up. I told them no, and I asked they would keep me in mind for future positions.

Today, I was thinking of asking if that position was still open. My NCLB kid finishes tutoring May 2. My other tutees are traditional students. They can live without me. My other obligation can live without me too. I can get on a plane on the 2nd, arrive on the 3rd, and do nearly two full months as an NET with the possibility of renewal in the fall. That would be sweet.

Still some more thinking before I actually write the email. I like my yes to mean yes, and my no to mean no. The position may not even be open anymore, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

Standards Sundays: A holistic approach, history/social sciences K-6

From bud to blossom to compost, the whole kit and caboodle.
So here's the plan with this thing I call "studying the standards." It makes much more sense to me to look at each subject throughout the grades, following the strands and getting an overall view of what students are supposed to learn in each grade. I did something like this in my social sciences pedagogy course and, well, let's just say I have a much clearer understanding of what I'm supposed to teach for social studies now.

Which says a lot, considering how social studies is probably my weakest subject, content-wise.

Let's take the social science standards and look at the general idea throughout each grade:

Kinder. The official title is "Learning and Working, Now and Long Ago." In other words, it's about professions, how professions have changed, and what people did in the past as well as what they do now.

First. "A Child’s Place in Time and Space." Thus, community. Specifically, the local community.

Second. "People Who Make a Difference." I see historical figures here. Presidents, inventors, creators, scientists, authors, artists, thinkers, movers, shakers.

Third. "Continuity and Change." This one is probably the most mysterious, if you only look at the title. It's mainly about geography, politics and law, and economics.

Fourth. State history! Pull out your Play-doh and legos students, it's time to build a mission!

Fifth. Extensively studied in my series, starting with this one. The formation of the U.S.A.

Sixth. "World History and Geography: Ancient Civilizations." The most straightforward title of them all. My favorite history era. Ancient peoples are pretty awesome.

See the how the holistic factor helps to clarify what an elementary school kid should know before they enter middle school? It basically starts introspectively, personally (i.e. what profession would you like?) and grows outward, globally, from there. I especially appreciate how the standards actually match a child's cognitive growth - from egocentric in kindergarten to a wider world perspective for the pre-teens.

Standards Sundays: new format in construction phase

I've been getting a little bored writing about the standards using the way it's been done so far. Bored, and not really getting the depth of insight into pedagogy that I know I can get from this. So I'm going to change it. Teaching philosophy at work right here! If it works, keep it. If it doesn't, scrap it and do something new.

Taking a break from the standards this week to get my thoughts together before executing them. Sideways cookies until then!

Standards Sundays: Grade 5 Wakko's United States

The final CA history/social sciences fifth grade standard:

5.9 Students know the location of the current 50 states and the names of their
capitals.

My elementary school had a huge map of the US painted on the playground black top. My teacher tested each one of us by making us jump from state to state, naming them and their capitols. It was exceedingly fun.

Here's another creative, quick way to help students memorize 101, sometimes very hard to pronounce (and spell) location names:

Standards Sundays: Grade 5 westward expansion

Renewing an old topic.
I haven't done one of these Standards Sundays posts in a long time. Getting back to studying these has left me uninspired for some reason. However, knowing these things backwards and forwards just helps me understand where my students need to go in acquiring knowledge. Thus, I'm back!

Here's where I left off, the Social Studies/History standards for the fifth grade:

5.8 - Students trace the colonization, immigration, and settlement patterns of the
American people from 1789 to the mid-1800s, with emphasis on the role of economic incentives, effects of the physical and political geography, and transportation systems.

Immigration! Mexican-American War! Louisiana Purchase! Physical geography of the US! These topics are much more down my academic alley than any of the Pre-Revolutionary/Revolutionary War stuff.

Don't get me wrong, the Revolutionary War was important, but it's a little anti-climactic to me. There's so much other stuff that shaped the way the nation is today. Stuff I never knew when I was in grade school. Stuff that formed American policy on trade, agriculture, immigration, and even on international affairs. Everything is interconnected in some way.

That, and I'll get to have Oregon Trail tournaments. Awesomeness!

Standards Sundays: Grade 5, oh say can you see?

"Purple mountains majesty" probably wasn't about the Coast Range, but it's close enough.
While reading through these standards again, I'm constantly surprised at how MUCH there is for a fifth grader to learn in social sciences. I'm not sure I remember half this stuff from when I was a fifth grader. Is it about time for me to put aside the surprise? Maybe.

The next strand in this subject, in this grade level, deal with the US Constitution and "American values." Whatever they are.

Three substrands strike my interest:

5.7.1. List the shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation as set forth by their critics.

and

5.7.5. Discuss the meaning of the American creed that calls on citizens to safeguard the liberty of individual Americans within a unified nation, to respect the rule of law, and to preserve the Constitution.

and

5.7.6. Know the songs that express American ideals (e.g., “America the Beautiful,” “The Star Spangled Banner”).

The first two above are quite intellectually stimulating. Why are there shortcomings when the founding fathers (supposedly) put a lot of careful thought into writing the thing? Is it really the average citizen on the street's job to preserve the Constitution when we have congress people and presidents and other public servants to do it for us? Are there any laws that DON'T safeguard the liberty of individual Americans; if so, how and why were they ratified and how can they be corrected so it does protect individual liberty?

The last of the three is just plain hilarious.

Don't get me wrong, those songs are great. However, I can't help but think of the rodeo scene from Borat.

Which is horribly sad because those songs are gorgeous. "America! America!/
God mend thine every flaw/Confirm thy soul in self-control/Thy liberty in law!" And then, "Till selfish gain no longer stain/The banner of the free!" Rather more noble than what most people learn. I didn't realize that "America the Beautiful" had eight stanzas. I thought it was more like six. Which is still longer than the one that most Americans know. And by "most Americans," I mean the relatively small number who actually know of the song.

The meaning of the songs are more important than the song themselves of course. All those "critical liberals" sometimes do go a little too far in mocking the singing of these songs. Conversely, all those "red-neck conservatives" do the song injustice by taking only a little bit of it - and out of context at that.

In any case, it would be fun to perform these songs with my class. In a rap, or an opera, or interpretative dance, or through sign language. That would put a fun and challenging twist to the lesson.

Standards Sundays: Grade 5 the course and consequences of the American Revolution

In the next chapter of understanding the standards, I'm most interested in the first and seventh sub-strands.

The first one says students should identify and map the major battles, campaigns, and turning points of the American Revolution. I know I love a good mapping activity. It's relatively easy to set-up/clean-up and hits a whole bunch of other academic subjects. I can just hear some students complaints of "But NO ONE read a map anymore! We have GPS!" My reply: "GPS IS a map, doofus."

Ok, maybe without the doofus.

The seventh sub-strand says students need to understand how the ideals of the Declaration of Independence changed the way people viewed slavery. I love this one because it basically sets the stage for the next major events of American history. See kids? Ms. B isn't crazy when she keeps blurting, "It's all connected! It's all connected!"

Standards Sundays: Grade 5 causes of the American Revolution

Who was she? What did she do? Why should we name buildings and parks after her?
The main strand says:

Students explain the causes of the American Revolution.

Which is a pretty big area. They are supposed to go into all the taxation acts, the continental congresses, and something called the "Committees of Correspondence," which doesn't even ring a bell to me.

On top of that, students are supposed to study the lives of key people of the era and the events they participated in. This part seems pretty fun. I like biography lessons. It would be fun to do a little reader's theater, bringing all the characters together even if not all of them knew each other.

Standards Sundays: Grade 5 political, religious, social, economical - historically the easiest to upheave

For some reason, rocks and water nearly always evokes religion for me.
There are seven sub-bullets under standard 5.4 in the social studies-history subject area for the fifth grade. I didn't find much meaning when I just read these bullets straight. It just didn't make sense to me - what am I supposed to teach? What are students supposed to learn? It's one of those instances where there's lots of verbiage but very little being said.

So I have to remind myself that all these standards are placed in the backdrop of the formation of the nation. And that nation formation always involves politics, religion, society, and economics. Then it starts to make sense.

Sort of.

Standards Sundays: Grade 5 natives vs. foreigners, fight!

For all the fighting, the world is slowly turning fusion anyway.
From the California standards on history and social studies:

5.3 Students describe the cooperation and conflict that existed among the American Indians and between the Indian nations and the new settlers.

Competition and cooperation is a prominent theme in the fifth grade. Developmentally, it makes sense. Fifth graders are good at competition. They are also good at cooperation. These are very tangible things to them, which make this type of history pretty appropriate for them to understand.

Now, I know there's a whole bunch of political, unrecorded history on Native Americans and their interactions with Europeans. That's the nature of history - any history, not just of North America. I know I'm interested in those things, but not every fifth grader will be. In teaching, I have to remind myself that I can't teaching it all in one year. There are so many stories that don't get told in the classroom.

Which makes me think one of the purposes is to have students feel it is worthwhile to do the research themselves. Such a simple, straightforward purpose. Why do I forget it so often? And more importantly, how can I remember it more so I can teach better?

Standards Sundays: Grade 5 early exploration

Explorers - just another name for tourist.
Bullet points for brevity:

> Exploration is a pretty fun unit to teach, if only because I can turn the classroom into a mini-world, using thumbtacks and yarn to trace where Columbus, Coronado, Amerigo, Polo, and others traveled.

> It's funny that in the Making a New Nation text by McGraw Hill, there is a little snippet that describes a Chinese explorer. It really does make exploring into this glamorous thing. Which it can be. But it doesn't really describe why some nations (i.e. China, Japan) didn't do much exploring around this time. Well, another subject for another grade level, I guess.

> It would also be an excellent tie-in to visit some sort of maritime museum. Then students can actually see things like sextants, and old world compasses.

> Reading maps is huge. In the age where cell phones are locatable by GPS, there is still nothing like using your own head to figure out where you are. I would love to paint a map of the world on the playground blacktop and have students race to see who can go the fastest from nation to nation.

Standards Sundays: Grade 5 major Pre-Colombian North American settlements

Older than Europeans.
Fifth graders in California are supposed to study the geography and climate influences, customs and folklore, and economies and government of the following:

- cliff dwellers and pueblo people of the Southwest
- Pacific Northwest Native Americans
- nomadic nations of the Great Plains
- woodland peoples of the Mississippi River

That's a lot of different tribes. The way the MacMillian textbook describes these nations isn't very easy to comprehend. It's not presented with any sort of connection from one group to the others. Which sort of defeats the purpose, no? Students have already gotten a lot of Native American history through the 4th grade mission unit. So why do more when there is no connection?

They have to be related in some way. I don't actually know how they are related though - that means more research on my part.

The one main point that I did get from the MacMillian text is how it acknowledges that Europeans weren't the first ones to land in the Americas. Although, later on, the text still makes it seem like the Europeans were the most influential in the making of these modern nations, which is debatable really. A whole lot of history happened before they arrived - it's probably mostly lost though. Sad.

Standards Sundays: Grade 5 social studies/history

So I've written about the other core subjects (math, language arts) and science. It's time to move on to the social studies standards.

I've only taught all of three social studies lessons in my three semesters worth of student teaching. Too little? It's pretty average actually. Which is quite sad since I like teaching social studies, especially the geography and mapping topics.

The fifth grade theme is called "Making a New Nation."

Students in grade five study the development of the nation up to 1850, with an emphasis on the people who were already here, when and from where others arrived, and
why they came. Students learn about the colonial government founded on Judeo-
Christian principles, the ideals of the Enlightenment, and the English traditions of self-
government.

The above is quoted directly from the standards book. And there are a lot of standards. I'll get to them one section at a time for the next several weeks.

Standards Sundays: Grade 5 investigation and experimentation

Both are focused, just on different things.
The fifth grade standards for investigation and experimentation are very similar to the other grades' standards for investigation and experimentation. They just added a little more complexity with each grade level. Almost as if it was a "copy-and-paste" job. Almost.

But what I'm questioning now is less the completeness of the standards. I'm pretty sure no one can say that the California standards are not utterly complete and thorough (maybe a little too thorough).

I'm wondering what happens when the student's goals of investigation in science do not align with the standards? Or the textbooks? What if they have other questions? What if their focus isn't necessarily the focus of the "focus questions" that MacMillian/McGraw Hill (and Open Court) love so much?

Because frankly, I sometimes can care less about what a textbook is telling me to focus on during my teaching. I would rather focus on what my student's specific needs are in content area, social skills, and critical thinking skills.

Is that wrong? Instinctually, I know it's not. Most people would say it isn't. But then, I also have to justify it with what the state and the school governing boards think are important for students to learn. And that gap is sometimes wider and more vast than any ocean on earth.

Perhaps education should move towards what graduate students do. I like how I'm able to study anything I please, as long as I'm doing it in an academic fashion. What is wrong about analyzing, critiquing, and creating rap music? That can be academic in so many ways too.

Not to mention this would solve the incredible pressure on teachers to differentiate, differentiate, differentiate.

But it is also time consuming. There is a reason why grad courses are usually capped at 15 students per 1 professor. And the ratio is even smaller on some campuses.

What would I not give to be able to teach 15 students at any one given time. That would be sweet.

I've drifted off from studying the science standards, but really, investigation and experimentation - the title already says it all.

Standards Sundays: Grade 5 earth sciences

The photo above is my sixth grade science teacher's manual. A lot of the topics covered in this text overlaps with the fifth grade standards for earth science. The water cycle, how the sun affects living things on earth. I think only the solar system isn't in this text.

The solar system isn't in the fifth grade science curriculum either - well, at least I'm told that they won't be able to reach the solar system within the school year. It is one of the reasons why they use Open Court's Astronomy unit so heavily.

Bunny trail: Open Court sucks. I'm not a fan.

In any case, my goals would be to get in at least half the science material in these texts in the year. I would rather spend less time reading those boring stories in Open Court and more time reading the science books. Much more interesting, many more vocab words, and I can still teach the mechanics and comprehension skills lessons that they all need.

Standards Sundays: Grade 5 life science

This post should also be known as another reason to flaunt the cuteness that is my rabbit.

In fifth grade, the life sciences are all about systems. Systems for breathing, eating, excreting, and the transport of materials within an organism. I'm still not so sure about this "students know" terminology splattered all over the standards. Know is a very, very low order of thinking. Besides, just because a kid can regurgitate something from a textbook doesn't mean much when it comes to true comprehension.

I'm no longer teaching fifth grade science in my current classroom. The fifth graders go out to another class, while the sixth graders stay. I like sixth grade science better, so far. It is nice to have a small group of fourteen students for a 50 minute period each week. The possibilities for labs and demos are nearly endless. My CT showed me where to order owl pellets, which this class will dissect in December. Can you say awesome?

Standards Sundays: Grade 5 physical science

The photo doesn't exactly speak "science," but it does remind me of what my area of the lab benches looks like after four hours of college chemistry experiments: bunches of stuff scattered here and there, each pile representing an attempt at the experiment. Most of them were failures.

And in the end, I didn't end up being a pediatrician, as I had dreamed of doing my freshman year. Ah well.

The fifth grade physical sciences consist mainly of elements, their properties, and the structure of atoms and molecules. Every standard in this section begins with three words:

Students will know

Say what? How come these state mandates standards begin with the pedagogical word which is forbidden of all student teachers? Know is such a vague word. It is also low on Bloom's Taxonomy, lacking any higher order thinking skills. Which is a little backwards to me, since science is all about the higher order thinking skills.

I wonder why physics isn't included in the physical sciences. Ok, so atomic interactions is technically physics (transfer of energy between atoms, movement of electrons). But I think physics is a much bigger part of science than chemistry. Perhaps chemistry is just more readily teachable?

In any case, I intend to have one targeted science lesson each week in my classroom, no matter K or 6th grade. I'll probably have a couple integrated science lessons here and there too. And these science lessons aren't from the text either. Yeah, I know. Lots of prep associated with this, but it'll be worth it.

Standards Sundays: Grade 5 science

Cars are physical sciences and deer life sciences. Dig down into the grass, or look up at the sky, for earth sciences.
The fifth grade science standards are broken up into four main parts: physical, life, and earth sciences, and investigation and experimentation.

Actually, investigation and experimentation is present in all the grade levels. Important much?

I've been lucky this semester to have been able to witness a science lesson once each week (with the exception of this past week, due to benchmark testing, and next week due to Veteran's day). In total, we have done one experiment and two demos.

Most of the time, the students read the textbook, answer the workbook questions, make posters and present them in groups. Which is not the most dynamic way to teach science. Nor the most effective in terms of content retention and synthesis. But we have one 55 minute time slot for science each week. And the prep for experiments is so intense, I don't even want to think of the clean up.

So of course, it doesn't seem unreasonable that most 5th graders score below basic in science. They don't receive all that much background on it in the year. The curriculum my current school uses has twelve chapters. My CT informs me that he's lucky to get through four of them by June.

Standards Sundays: Grade 5 speaking applications (genres and their characteristics)

Confidence will make any presentation - including banging on trash cans - decent.
It's been a while since I've posted something of substance here. It's been a busy, busy few weeks. And of course it won't slow down yet. At least there are three no-school days in November.

Speaking, as in presentations, are a large part of my current classroom. Much larger than any other classroom I've been yet (other than ESL that is). Here are what fifth graders are supposed to master by the end of the school year:

Basically, students deliver narrative, informative, and oral responses to literature using supporting evidence, showing rather than telling, and with a mastery of the English language.

This is pretty much what they are supposed to do in their writing. Now, it's just through spoken words.

I would add a little something here. Students need to speak clearly, audibly, with expression and eye contact with the audience, and with fluency of the materials they are presenting. Which means they don't need prompts from the teacher to keep them going to the end.

All of this is really difficult to do. Which is probably why we practice to so much in my classroom. I highly agree with this. Fifth grade students need a chance to speak in front of a group of people at least once a week.

And that's the end of the ELA content standards for 5th grade. Whew! Next up: science!

Standards Sundays: Grade 5 listening and speaking strategies

For some reason, it seems like fountains are good listeners.
Listening and speaking sometimes are rather "soft" academic content areas, which makes teachers cut corners around these things. But students need to listen everyday, and hopefully have at least one formal speaking assignment per week.

Here's what 5th graders are supposed to know/show by the end of the school year in this area:

* ask questions not already discussed
* interpret speeches - verbal AND nonverbal
* make inferences based on oral reports.
* make oral presentations that have a focus (topic sentence), supporting evidence, and engage the audience with voice and posture
* identify, analyze, and critique persuasive techniques
* analyze media sources for entertainment, information, persuasiveness, etc

Listening and speaking really should be infused into everyday lessons. Asking questions is really something that should occur in every single lesson, not just language arts. I really like how my CT makes our students speak as a group in front of the class - while everyone listens respectfully. I would like to bring that up a level and have the audience write questions to ask of the speakers. With some careful guidance, we can get a decent debate going.