CCES Bulldogs Ignite

Welcome to my first, and quite delated, blog post about my Innovation Project. I have been avoiding that task, because I am nervous about verbalizing it. I am hoping that that process of writing about it makes the process less terrifying. Let’s try it and see! For my Innovation Project, I am creating an Inquiry Unit for a small group during my ELA block. This small group has been reading Ida B. and Her Plan to Maximize Fun, Avoid Disaster, and Possibly Save the World --an adorable story about a rambunctious and colorful young lady who faces some tragic and drastic changes in her life. Our focus throughout this unit is character, so this text is an excellent segway into our project. As students read, they will be developing sketchnotes based on the text. Students will draw features of each chapter that stands out to them. Then, in small group, I meet with each child to discuss their sketchnotes and dig deeper, asking inference questions and forcing students to make conclusions ab...

You have to walk before you run; you have to crawl before you walk; and you have to learn to swim before you can dive into the deep end. Who knew? Passion Projects are an amazing way to empower students to take ownership in their learning. When we read Inquiry Mindset over the summer, I was excited to begin this journey. After our Passion Project PD, I was hyped to jump right in! (Who doesn’t catch the hype of Jamie’s enthusiasm?) We met as a team and I had the highest of hopes for my students. It didn’t take long for the daunting reality of implementing true passion projects set in. Twenty-two different projects? Twenty-two different topics to research? Twenty-two different products created? TWENTY-TWO. My face slowly morphed into that of ¨The Scream¨ by Edvard Munch. Things that helped me: To Do List: I created a To-Do List for each of my kiddos on one document that I updated each time I met with them. Students knew when it was passion project time, th...

Call to Adventure       This year has been full of firsts for me: first time having a digital classroom; first time learning the basics of computer science; first time teaching digital citizenship; first time participating in Twitter chats; first time attending an EdTechTeam conference (which was also the first time I have been away from my husband overnight since we got together in 2014). From these firsts, I have grown to love the idea of adventure, taking a risk, and trying something new. I have loved stepping out of my comfort zone. Most of all, I have loved asking myself the question: If others can, why can’t I?      This exact question is what propelled me to implement Flexible Seating in my classroom. I was speaking to an inspiring first grade teacher who has successfully used flexible seating in her classroom. The “dreamer-alert,” as we call it in my house, went off in my brain. If first graders can do it, why can’t my third graders? ...

Watch the video, "Piper." Pay close attention to the role of the mother in the short film! Imagine: What if the mother continued to feed Piper? What if the mother helped Piper catch food? Problem-Solving is a skill that our students need to learn and practice. Productive struggle is OKAY! Getting stuck is OKAY! Feeling uncomfortable is OKAY! Taking risks and failing is OKAY! Struggle, discomfort, risk-taking, failing--these should be valued norms in our school!

Watch this youtube video. Pay close attention to the "color" of the characters.  Innovative instruction is a way to teach students the content while keeping their curiosity--their color-- alive. In the book, Empower, by John Spencer and A.J. Juliani, a conflict is posed between compliance vs. empowerment. “If you grew up in an education setting like we did, then you spent much of your time being actively compliant--trying to navigate a system that was designed to produce people who followed the rules and waited to be told what to do. Then you graduated. And you waited for someone to tell you what to do.” This is exactly what we see in the short film. The boy becomes compliant--follows the rules, completes the assignment based on the rigid expectations, even robotically puts his arms up for his backpack to be placed on his back. But what happens to his color, his essence, that spark that encourages him to play, to daydream, to take risks? It is snuffed out in orde...

Welcome Cox's Creek Leaders! The CCES Bulldogs Ignite Blog is a window to innovation in the classroom here in our school community. The CCES Ignite Team will be posting tips and tricks for implementing innovative instruction, as well as celebrations and failures as we travel through this unpredictable journey! Please stop by and visit us through this blog to support us and our students on our #NCnov8 adventure!