What's an Anchor Chart?

One of the focuses this year in our walk-through's is seeing if teachers have anchor charts in their classrooms and are they being used effectively.  So what's an anchor chart?  (No, it isn't a picture with an anchor on it.)

An anchor chart is a tool used to support instruction.  They are a way to help students be more successful in your classroom.  They may have classroom expectations on them.  They may have friendly reminders of daily procedures.  An anchor chart could be as simple as a formula which students regularly need.  An anchor chart could be up all year, be used for one unit, or could evolve throughout the course of the year.  Many times they are just "friendly reminders" or "things to think about" for students to look at if they "forget" the next step or process.

Anchor charts are often created collaboratively with the students but do not need to be.  They can be hand-written or typed.  They can be purchased from a store and tweaked or "stolen" from a fellow teacher.  

How can you use anchor charts effectively?  Point them out when students should be referencing them during a lesson.  If you don't, then they are just decorations on the wall.  Have students create or add to the anchor charts, throughout the unit or year.  

If you want ideas of what you could use in your classroom, check out the awesome anchor charts already in our building.  (There are many more but I couldn't include them all.)  Or Google it!  There are so many great resources out there, so use them!

Why is this my new normal?

While sitting in a training on inquiry last week, my mind kept wondering to "how will this work in a math classroom?"  And then I had to stop and remember I am not only a math teacher anymore.  I need to retrain my brain to think about all subject and how these things could work in all classrooms.

For the past ten years, I have been a math teacher at Waukesha North.  I love teaching. I feel comfortable doing it.  It's where, I feel, I belong.  I have also been a Grading for Learning coach, an Infinite Campus coach, and had many other teacher leader positions.  When the instructional coaching position became available, I felt it was something for me.  I am blessed to be able to still teach my AP Statistics course and now "coach" other teachers, too.    It just seemed so natural of a position for me and I definitely hope I do it justice.

Each day I learn more about how I can do my absolute best in this role and I can't wait to see what the rest of the school year brings.

My New Normal

Hello Everyone!

Well, here it is, my first blog post.  I didn't think I would ever have one of these but here I am writing one.  Funny story, I have a younger cousin, who is now 23 years old, who came up with the word "blog" long before it became popular in today's culture (she was probably five or six).  For some reason, if you would say this word she would tickle you, so it turned into a game where we would try to trick her into saying it.  She refused to say it for years.  One day we finally tricked her into saying it and she cried for hours.  She, to this day, will not say blog.

This week has been fun getting to know my new normal and figuring out my new position.  I have loved getting into so many classes and seeing what other people are doing.  As of right now, I have only missed 5 teachers in the building.  I plan on spending as much time in classrooms this year as I can, even if for five minutes when I have down time.  This is the only way I know how to get to know what is going on in our classrooms.  Be used to me being in your classroom and stopping in to see how things are going.  I want you to think it is abnormal if you don't see me, rather than if you do.  

In my "travels around North", I saw some pretty awesome things going on in so many classrooms.  Here are a few of my shout-outs for the week:
- Nancy Senger did a scavenger hunt around her classroom so students noticed all the resources available on the walls.  They had to find posted targets, vocabulary on the word wall, and other math resources.  During the lesson that day, I saw students turning and looking at the things on the wall.  What a great way to get students used to using the awesome resources available to them each day.
-  Dan Knuth did a getting to know you activity with a twist.  Each student had to learn one thing about one of their table partners then write about the thing they learned but with a mythical twist. After reading the stories out loud, the rest of the class had to guess what the story was about. The stories I heard were incredible and had much thought put into it.  A very unique way to get to know each student.
- Heidi Vanderbush did a very traditional "introduce your self and say one thing about you" but added a twist that engaged her students immediately.  Once they were all done introducing themselves she went around and said each students name, memorized right away.  She only missed one student!  How impressive and a great way to connect right away to your students.
- While talking with Robb Syverson he mentioned how awesome it is to have Matt Carrell in class.  In his years of teaching, he has had several co-teaching experiences, and he said none have stepped up and been a true co-teacher. Robb said day one Matt was comfortable teaching the class.  Robb is very excited to teach with Matt the rest of the year.

Hope everyone continues to have a great week and enjoy your weekend!  Take time for yourself.  

Kristin