Am I a Tier 1 teacher?

A colleague of mine told me about three tiers of students and the different supports they receive.  That is, students at the top of the pyramid, or Tier 3 students, are students with profound challenges that cannot be met in the classroom alone.  Tier 2 students have challenges that can be supported with a few additional measures.  Tier 1 students are the bulk of students; their needs can be met within the classroom.

I was writing an email in reply and came to a realization: I am a Tier 1 guy. That is not to say I reject or ignore Tier 2 and 3 students. I think it is my goal to have all needs of all students met as much as possible within the regular classroom. It is also my goal to support all my students so that they don't turn into Tier 2 and 3 students. 

Here are some thing that I think about in terms of supporting all students:

• I have the design point of view that works in service of Self-Regulation, and that classroom environment must be in sync with instruction.  (Tier 1)
• I am a classroom teacher who has had some success with kids who have real challenges because I build strong relationships with those students, create a place where they belong, and try to be consistent in terms of expectations, discipline, and instruction.  (Tier 1)
• I believe in the UDL framework that what is good for some benefits many.  (Tier 1)
• I work from strengths (not deficits, and not one size fits all). (Tier 1)

Everything I do seems to operate from a Tier 1 perspective.

Animal Trading Cards

In the last month, I needed a quick project to do for an Animal unit in Science.  Last year, when I did Superheroes as a theme, I did a trading card on each student's every day hero.  Each student made one card which we put on display to honour their hero.  This year, I decided to do the same thing, but as an animal theme, so I geared the information on the card to match the curricular learning objectives. 

After more thinking, I realised it would be richer if students were able to trade cards with each other. That is when I pitched the idea to the other teachers of my grade that we all do Animal Trading Cards, we each pick a different habitat to cover with our classes, we photocopy multiple copies of each students' card, colour them to match our series, and then get together on Trading Day to exchange cards.  I know, I know, it is slightly stupid to pitch a project in the last month of school, but I pointed out: these cards could theoretically be done in one day, it would be a good way to quickly cover some curriculum, and it would be loads of fun.

I got 4 other classes to join in, and we quickly created a template.  (See below).

The left side is the front and the right side is the back.  When folded and glued, the paper turns into a two sided card.  The front has places for the name of the animal, a small picture, and a place for the student's name at the bottom.  The rest of the card is about information on the animal.  Each teacher picked a series or habitat: river, seashore, savannah, etc.  These series had  a matching colour to clearly denote the habitat: dark blue for seashore, green for river, etc.

The students did a draft, filling in the information and got it checked over by the teacher.  Students then completed their master copy which was two of these cards on one sheet.  The master copy was done in dark pencil which was then photocopied 2 times for each student; that way each student now had 6 copies of their cards which they now coloured, cut, folded, and glued to look like a card.

Trading Day was amazing!  We met in the gym, went over expectations, and then let loose 120 students to trade cards.  It was just like a real card swap. They talked to each other, haggled, exchanged information, and when kids had cards from each series (the objective), the sat on the sides and read or sorted their cards.

Intentionally blurry, identity-concealing picture

of students exchanging Animal Trading Cards

during Trading Day,

 underwater.

A bunch of cool, unexpected things happened:

• The kids really got into it.  Some really dug into the research and found some really interesting information or printed off multiple picture for each of their cards.  Teachers told me some kids who were not strong in their writing were able to be successful because the template was easy to fill in, plus they could show their understanding verbally during the exchange or artistically with the small picture. Very UDL.
• During trading day, students used a whole bunch of skills, and learned a lot, in terms of animals but more importantly about human behaviour. 
• The teachers really got into it.  One teacher picked one animal for the whole class to study which made filling in the cards easy, and was a culmination of his animal study.  One teacher, instead of picking a particular habitat picked Canadian animals (this time, as a culmination of some Social Studies content), and then when we exchanged with other classes, students were able to see the overlap of habitats across Canada.  Another teacher picked the Savannah, so we were able to sharply contrast that habitat with the others. 
• We teacher were able to collaborate in a different way.  We have done some whole school projects and activities and some "buddy" work, but this was the only work I can remember the grade 2 and 3 classes doing together.  It showed we can probably do more together if the project is right. 

Interesting use of ubiquitous blinds

I was walking by another teacher's room a while back and noticed this.

Rem explained that her blinds were broken and would not longer move or open.  So she got some string and attractively fanned them. Now she could get some light into the room and increase visibility. 

I thought it looked terrific and was a way to turn something that is pretty common into something really attractive and eye-catching.

Who is reading?

I am always surprised who reads this blog.  Scratch that.  I am surprised anyone reads this blog.  It is nice that people read it, but my main goal is really to use it as a journal to keep track of some of my thoughts at the time. 

So when Gail, my colleague on my staff, mentioned something on my blog, I was taken aback.  I'd forgotten that I let people see inside my head.  Same thing when Roxanne started talking to my about electric bikes.  Or when a school trustee was talking about my favourite action hero. 

I guess in the back of my mind, I write for other people, but in the front of my mind, I am really writing to myself.

Specific Reasons for Designing Classroom Environments

Last week, we had a professional development day at my school, and one of the topics we talked about was classroom design in the service of increasing self-regulation.  During our discussion, someone said, "It would be really great if we all went into each other's classrooms and told one thing we liked and one thing we didn't like about each other's spaces."  Though I didn't say anything at the time, that suggestion really stuck with me. 

I have come to realise that all of the changes I have made in my classroom have been made with very specific reasons.  For example:

• The lighting is low because it helps keeps kids calm and focuses their attention on the places that are lit.
• The books boxes are on the floor by the wall to keep the counter lines clean and available as a workspace. 
• The risers replace as many desks as possible to give more choices for body positions, to give me as much easy access to my students, and to give my students as much access to learning as possible.
• There is a definite lack of commercial borders and posters to keep down the visual noise, and to reflect more of a link to the classroom with the real world. 
• The big piles of junk in the cloakroom are kept there because I need access to those materials, but they are too big, ugly, or unwieldy to be kept anywhere else. 
• The big clocks are there because I am bad with time so they remind me.  The big round faces break up some of the right angles and grids that are predominant in this building, especially the beams and the prison-like grid on the windows. etc.

When people tell me they like my class, I just kind of nod.  When people tell me they don't like something about my class, I just kind of nod. As I have said many times, the classroom environment is, should be, and must be in synch with the teacher's teaching style, philosophy, and personality.  The classroom is such a personal reflection of the teacher. 

Have I given advice to teachers about classroom design? Sure, lots, but that was after a discussion of what they wanted and who they were, or even better after getting a chance to see them in action, in that room, with students in it.  Plus, they asked for my advice because they were starting the process of rethinking their learning spaces.