N.+Ornat

=Teacher Observation= I observed Ashley Jackson's 8th grade ELA class last Tuesday. I had never been in the 8th grade hallway and right away I was struck by the noise and the BMT shepherding kids to classes. Everything was very chaotic until I stepped into Ms. Jackson's classroom. Her students entered quietly, grabbed a book from her shelf and sat down to read. She locks her door so that students who come late must knock and cannot just slip in.

While students are reading Ms. Jackson conferences with one student. She discusses the student's most current test grade and goes through one question with them. The student must explain how they answered the question. Ms. Jackson slowly goes through the question, talking through strategies she would use to solve it. She gave the student time to work on the question again while checking it students were reading. Independent reading lasted for a full 20 minutes.

After Independent Reading, Ms. Jackson's class did a learn check on the board about the meaning of a poem. She had students right in their journals. Then she had students move to different corners of the room, depending on their answer. She went around to each corner, asking students to defend their choice.

She then took them into a grammar lesson, having them pull out specific grammar books.

Ms. Jackson seems to have a wonderful relationship with her students. She speaks with a warn, yet firm voice. I saw her laugh and have small conversations with students. The scholars seem to genuinely enjoy her classroom and appreciate the work they are doing.

=Pre-work for our first webinar=

__Creating a Strong Classroom Culture__

1. Steps and Expectations

A. Entering the classroom 1. Calmly walk through the threshold, leaving your daily problems and concerns at the door. 2. Greet Ms. Ornat. 3. Pass the Materials Table to pick up daily papers and drop off homework. 4. Walk to your desk and sit. 5. Begin the Do Now.

Expectations: Students should complete this in a quiet, orderly fashion.

B. Do Now 1. Open notebook to the Do Now section and complete the prompt. 2. Signal you are finished by closing notebook and having your eyes on the teacher.

Expectations: This is to be done silently and individually.

C. Active Listening Position 1. Sit up straight. 2. Hands are folded on the desk. 3. Feet are flat on the floor. 4. Eyes are on the speaker.

Expectations: Students should go into active listening position when prompted by the teacher, usually after the Do Now or when the class must be reset because of distractions.

D. “I’m So Smart” Props 1. When prompted, students lean back in their chairs, fan themselves with their hand, and proclaim with pride and attitude, “I’m so smart.” 2. Students should then go back into Active Listening Position.

Expectations: This form of giving class-wide props should happen in sync and take no longer than 5 seconds. Distractions will have automatic consequences.

E. Leaving the Classroom with Exit Ticket 1. Students will gather their supplies in their seat. 2. Stand and walk towards the door to line up. 3. When officially dismissed, students will exit the class while handing exit slip to Ms. Ornat.

Expectations: Like entering the classroom, this should be done in a quiet an orderly fashion.

3. Common Requests and Nonverbal Signals

A. Bathroom Requests Students will have a bathroom signal card given to them to keep in their class binder. This can only be used during work time and cannot be held up during instruction time. The expectation is that students use the restroom during their breaks between classes and this card denotes an emergency.

B. Getting a Drink of Water Students will know by the first day of school that they are allowed to have water bottles with them in class and are free to use the water fountains during their break periods.

C. Sharpening Pencils On the first day of school it will be communicated to students that they must bring to class 2 pencils and a pencil sharpener. They should never have to leave their desk to use the sharpener since they hold their own.

__Five Principles__

Discipline: “At the core of this definition of discipline is teaching—teaching students the right and successful way to do things.”

Management: “Management…is the process of reinforcing behavior by consequences and rewards.”

Control: “The more I have the power to exercise responsible control, the more freedom I can give my children, ideally in ways that truly matter.”

Influence: “Although less visible than getting kids to behave, getting them to belief—to want to behave positively—is the biggest driver of achievement and success because it happens when kids want it for themselves and when it is real.”

Engagement: “Champion teachers keep their students positively engaged not just so that they are too busy to see opportunities to be off task but because after a while, they start to think of themselves as positively engaged people.”


 * What are big goals that you want to set for your scholars this year at Ranson? (Year bound, middle school bound, high school bound..) **


 * I want to instill in my kids the understanding of how their actions and choices today, within the 6th grade, can help or hinder their future lives.


 * As members of my classroom and the Ranson MS community, my students will become aware of the world around them and their abilities to dynamically interact with this global world.


 * Through the interaction with a variety of diverse texts, I want my students to develop a lifelong love of reading for reading’s sake.


 * I envision my students to become both curious and confident scholars that can clearly envision their college acceptance letters.

· ** What connections will you make between the content you will teach and success in school, other content areas, in high school and in life? **
I think it is vital to display how literacy and the capacity to communicate in this world will strengthen their freedoms and enhance opportunity. I think it would be helpful to examine moments in history and current events where humans are stripped of individual freedoms through being deprived of language and communication. Students will come to value and be invested within the content when they can see the connections to future success.

I also want to make the connection between how their actions and choices within the 6th grade affect their future lives and goals they hold for themselves. Being successful in school has direct benefits that may not be clear in the present but hold power later in life.

· ** How do you plan on investing the students in these goals? (How will you inspire and motivate?) **
I want to show my students how the leaders we study and are in our community achieved their goals and got to where they want to be. I want them to trace how their decisions and actions led to their expanded opportunities. I feel that giving my students a diverse range of role models and displaying the steps they took to success will help invest my students in staying motivated and driven in school.

I want to share my personal story of how my success in the 6th grade led me to where I am today while highlighting my college experience. I want ongoing discussion about the values of a college education and what it takes to get there. I want students to identify their goals and future aspirations while mapping out a way to get themselves there.