Summer Course: Connecting Art & Math

Kids aren't the only ones who have to go to school. I took three classes this summer as part of a continuing education requirement to maintain my teaching credentials with the Teacher's Standards and Practices Commission. The goal is to keep teacher's up-to-date and excited about some of the topics, tools, and practices associated with quality education.

One of the classes I took was one day one credit class called Creating Better Writers. It was taught by a fourth grade teacher from Eugene with many years of experience and even more wonderful lessons and ideas to create motivated and successful young writers. 84% of her students past the state writing test last year, which is an amazing feat. I'm looking forward to implementing many of her suggestions and following her sequence of building skills in young writers throughout the year.

This blog is a product of a four credit course I'm taking this summer as well. I'm taking it online and it's uses for the classroom are exponential. I've enjoyed every aspect of the course so far and look forward to using with my class this upcoming school year.

The pictures above are a product of a three credit course I took a week ago called Connecting Art & Math. It was a week long course taught by a Portland artist/educator named Roger Kukes. He has come to Sexton Mountain before as a guest educator. All the pictures in this posting are of art work I completed in the class - with a torn ligament and splint on my right thumb! The class was invaluable and I came away from it with three-ring binder chalked full of lesson plans and ideas to help me continue to incorporate art into my classroom as much as possible. This course in particular focused on connecting art and math as the title suggests. The first picture is the culmination (final copy) of a lesson on geometric solids and the second and third pictures are final copies of polygon tessellations. I plan to do both of these lessons, as well as others, in my classroom next school year.

Classroom Activity

BIZTOWN!

This year our three fifth grade classes had the opportunity to go to Biztown. This was the second time our team and school participated in this program and it is quickly becoming the "highlight" of every student's fifth grade year at Sexton Mountain. The word is spreading through the younger grades like a rampant case of head lice.

The premise of the program is to interactively teach kids about economics, community development, government, and civic responsibility through hands-on and engaging curriculum provided by the wonderful team at Biztown. Our job as teachers is to teach our students the ways of "adult" world through twenty different lessons. After lessons on business, business ethics, philanthropy, and civic responsibility the students elect a Biztown mayor, create resumes, fill out job applications, apply for jobs, and participate in a group interview with staff members. Now they're ready to be put into their business teams. Each business consists a CFO, CEO, and various other titles pertinent to that particular business. They work together to create newspaper ads, TV ads, set prices and many more things related to operating a successful business.

Ultimately, the big trip to the Biztown warehouse comes a few days later. The students - with the help of parent volunteers - run their own city for the day. Long story short, it's a hoot of a time for all. Especially, teachers because we get to sit back the entire day at Biztown while the kids and they're parents run the show. Great times!

How I'll Use a Classroom Blog

The potential for a classroom blog is endless and right in line with the current technological trends that encompass the lives of our students and their families. I happen to work at a school where 100% of my students last year had access to computers at home and the only technological connection we had between school and home was either through email (mostly to parents), or an antiquated web page used strictly for our daily planner and homework, which was minimally checked by either parents or students. I think a specific blog tailored to the goings on in our classroom would increase both student and parent involvement, and ultimately strengthen the relationship between schools, parents, and community.

A goal of mine for next year is to start a school garden at our elementary school. I started this project late in the year last school year with my fifth graders. Although, we weren't able to get through the district's bureaucratic red tape for official approval before the end of the school, we were able to get things moving in the right direction, do some activities related to gardening, and even grow some veggies in individual pots outside our portable. The kids loved every minute of it and the educational opportunities are endless. Had my classroom blog existed last year I would have used it to chronicle our efforts and progress to continue momentum and gain the support of our community. I plan to use my classroom blog for this purpose next year.

Lastly, I think a classroom blog can be used to give students a purpose to write on a daily basis with their peers as an audience. I can pose questions related to a topic of study or short writing prompts as homework and my students will simply be expected to respond. Soon, they'll be posing their own questions and responding to each other.