"Oh, you have Mrs. H.!" I heard a familiar voice exclaim, just outside my door.

As usual, I had butterflies before the big "Student Walk-Through Day" which takes place a few days before the school year begins.  Meeting my students is important to me, and it makes the first day of school much less intimidating (for all parties involved). When I recognized that voice in the hallway as one of my beloved students from the year before, I hurried towards the door to greet that familiar face in the sea of strangers.  I could feel my butterflies disappearing already, but before I made it around the corner, the conversation continued down a much more awkward path.

"How do you say her name?" questioned the new student's parent.  

I headed through the doorway to introduce myself just as my beloved former student's mom spoke.  When she saw me, she said, "Oh, this is Mrs. Hinrichsen.  Your child is going to LOVE her."  

She was too kind... Well, that sentence was kind.  

She went on to explain, "She is a FUN teacher.  Your child will do all kinds of fun and cutesy things this year.  He [pointing to her child] just loved her, but if you want your child to LEARN, you'll wish she had _________."  

What?  I was standing RIGHT THERE! 

See, my goal is for my students to learn, first and foremost.  Those words cut through me like a knife.  One part of my brain was thinking of all kinds of sassy things I could say.  My heart rate tripled, but then the professional side of my brain took over (thank goodness).  I smiled and said, "Oh yes, __________ is a wonderful teacher.  It is so nice to meet you!  Welcome to 3rd grade."  

As I showed the new student around the room, I avoided anything "fun" as much as I could.  I kept my mini-tour basic, and within a few minutes she had heard all of the essentials.  Her eyes appeared to have glossed over, and my butterflies were back in full strength.  She didn't have one question about the classroom.  It was as if she had already lost interest in school, but it hadn't even started yet.

I decided quickly that it would be okay to show her just one "fun" thing to get her excited about the year.  She smiled from ear to ear when she learned that she would be using an ActivExpression/Clicker "device" for lessons.  She asked if she could try it out, and then she told a quick story about how it reminded her of the remote control at her grandma's house.  Then she went on to tell about the two weeks she spent with her grandmother that summer.  As I listened to her talk, I noticed that she had a few issues with her grammar.  "Her has a remote that looks like this," was one of the first things she said.  

Oh, she was so excited that I had to show her just one more thing.  The bus tent was a curiosity, so she led us in that direction.  I explained that students earn money in order to buy a "bus ticket" for a day.  That led to more conversation, and based on her spoken grammar alone, I could tell we would have a lot of work to do together.  However, as our conversation shifted to the classroom bank, I realized that she was a bit of a math wizard.  She asked how she could earn money in the classroom, and soon figured out how many nickels it would take to earn a bus ticket ($1.00).  I let her in on a little secret, "On 2-hour delay days, the tickets go on sale for 50% off."  

"That means they is only 50 cents!" she called out as her eyes lit up.

It was at that moment when her mom announced she was ready to go.   

My new, bright-eyed student gave me a quick hug before she went on her way; my mind was left racing with ideas about how to make her have a successful year.  

The school year began, and I assigned her to be the banker for the first week of classroom jobs.  The first writing prompt was about grandparents, and she enjoyed revising and editing hers so her grandma would like it.

When I asked her how she liked school after the first few days, she said, "It was so fun!"   Oh no...

Well, I guess it WAS fun.  I even enjoyed it.  Why did I think "fun" was such a bad word to hear?  Was that parent right?  Was I the "fun" teacher in a classroom of non-learners?  

I realized that the comment I once regarded as harsh criticism was actually a compliment.  At least, I would take it that way.

See, I want students to have fun.  They are kids.   But my underlying goal is for students to learn.  When my students have fun learning, they ask questions, put forth more effort, and care about learning.

It is easy to give a written test, to copy a worksheet, and to follow a manual to the letter.  Those things are only my tools. I use them, but I also use what I learn about the human beings with whom I interact.  I make every effort to personalize learning experiences (even in a subtle way) to make learning meaningful.  If meaningful is "fun" for a child, then I will admit to being a "fun" teacher.  Just because I am "fun" doesn't exclude me from being effective.  

Data drives instruction, but not all meaningful data comes from a standardized test.  I talk to my students, too.  Personalized learning opportunities are strategically placed in "fun" places for students IN ADDITION TO typical day-to-day lessons from the curriculum.  It takes extra thinking and planning to make things personal and meaningful.  

What Did You Do in School Today?

When parents ask their children what they did in school, a common answer is, "Nothing!"  

They could say, 

"I did a really awesome worksheet."
"I copied definitions."
"I did the same thing I did yesterday but with different math problems."

Most likely they won't.  They will talk about something that stood out as interesting. Just remember, inside that "fun" story is a deliberately hidden, valuable lesson.  Just don't tell the class.

Now that I think of it, that "fun teacher" criticism was actually one of the biggest compliments I could have gotten.  

Who doesn't love the challenge and adrenaline boost of a good old-fashioned game of Whac-a-mole?  I admit it.  I've played the game "a few" times over the years.  It always starts out easy, allowing me to stay on top those pesky little moles.  Gradually, they pick up speed, and there aways comes a point in the game when I either stay focused and continue at an adrenaline-boosting pace, or I completely lose focus and fail miserably.  Eventually, everyone loses (well at least I always do).  It's impossible for one person to get them ALL at the same time!

Realization: My Job is One Big Game of Whac-a-mole!

When my lessons take place in the computer lab, the Whac-a-mole likeness is quite obvious to me.  

Everything starts out smoothly.  Only a few students need help at first, and I can usually predict who they will be.

As the students become more involved in their individual projects, the hands start going up more frequently.  This is when it is the most fun for me (for real).  There's an adrenaline rush, but I still feel very much in control.  As they continue to work, students try new things, take risks (which I encourage), and occasionally get stuck along the way.  At this point in the game, I learn the most about my students.  I see common mistakes they make, but I also get to know the individuals.  I even gain a lot of perspective about work habits, priorities, and interests.  While I am "in the zone," I get a good picture of what my students are capable of doing independently.

After a while, the hands start to pop up at a more rapid pace.  I look around and notice that several students are waiting for me.  My heart starts pounding...  But then I realize that some of those students are simply signaling that they are finished.  I only need to approve their work, but doing that also requires more of my focus.  At this point, I realize that I'm NOT going to be able to keep up with everyone's needs.  Luckily for me, I'm the boss of this game. In my version, students are allowed to join my team to help others learn.  


Creating and Managing the Team

As students finish their independent work, they may join the team or work  independently on something else.  Most of my students love to help.

When a student has a question, I send a capable team member over to assist.  Once the team member is in position, they naturally check in with those other students seeking help.  I am amazed by how much my students can figure out together.  As more team members are in play, I am able to approve or assess the finished projects that those team members have left open for me.  

If there is a common problem students make, I quickly train a few "specialists" to help me.  For example, some students may forget how to add pictures to the project.  Those students in need of picture-assistance use a special hand signal when they need help, and those "specialists" go to work helping.  That frees me up so that I can continue to answer more difficult or unique questions.

My team members know from the beginning that helping others does not mean doing things FOR them.  For the most part, they have to be "hands off" with their help.  The process of explaining how to do something proves to be challenging, even for my most competent team members.  It is an invaluable experience.

Don't Make the Starters Play the Whole Game

Everyone is good at something!

There comes a time when I bench my original team members and allow others to join in.  Eventually everyone has the opportunity to "play the game" and help out.

I do this because:

• Early finishers often need to go back to their projects and make adjustments;
• They may have learned something from someone they helped, so they go back to modify their own project; 
• I want students to know they can take their time and still get a chance to help others;
• Original team members deserve time to pursue their interests with other projects or activities;
• A student doesn't need to know everything to be able to help;
• Everyone needs to have an opportunity to lead and feel important.

If someone does not have time to help during the class time, they can always lend a hand at the end. There is always something to be done, even something as simple as making sure everyone logged out of the computers.  

At the end most class periods, I feel so proud of my students.  Most importantly, I think they are proud of themselves and each other.  

We get so much accomplished by working together.  

Have your students ever seemed disconnected from grammar or writing lessons?  Mine certainly have, so I had to make a change.  I decided it was time to take off the training wheels.  

The Problem - Training Wheels

Well, I was frustrated.  My students aced their weekly "common assessments" each week, but as soon as the next week's lesson began, that "old" knowledge disappeared.  I could tell in the daily writing.    

While instruction consisted of more than worksheets, I needed to expose the students to at least one worksheet.  After all, the format matched that of the tests.  [Yes, teaching to the tests, I guess.  But students need to be taught how to read and follow directions or they'll be tricked on the "big" tests.]

Well... Using the worksheets is deceiving, really.  

See, if the class did really well on the worksheet(s), I would cut that lesson time a little short to spend extra time on other more difficult concepts in language arts.  I had the peace of mind knowing my students were going to do well on the test.  Students would be happy, parents would be happy (with the grade), but my students weren't learning. They were fooled; I was fooled.  

There it was. They learned (and were tested on) writing and grammar skills with their training wheels on.  That was the problem.  We never took them off.

Independent Writers - Training Wheels Off

Is it easier to teach a child to ride a bike if he wants to take off his training wheels, or if he is happier just riding around with them on?

My first efforts to create more independent writers failed.  I was surprised by how reluctant my writers were.  I simply asked them to write their very own sentences to apply a skill.  This took forever, and some students complained of "not knowing what to write."  The few students that did write quality sentences shared their work in small groups, but language arts was over, and there was very little practice time applying the skill.  At least with the worksheet, students had more practice, and they had something to take home.  But wait, that's right.  That didn't really help them learn to be independent writers (which is our true end goal).

Finally, I got an idea.  It came after a reading lesson where we discussed the character traits of Clementine in great detail.  Students found text evidence to demonstrate those traits.  They really saw how the writer developed the character of Clementine.  

Before the next language arts lesson (on dialogue and quotation marks), I had each student create a character.  It could be anyone.  Each character was sketched, named, and described with many character traits.  I explained that we were not writing a story about the character.  It was only going to be a friend to them to help them practice writing. 

I was AMAZED at how quickly students did this, and at how creative the characters were.  That took no more than 5 minutes.  I made up a character while they did, and I used her for the example to show quotation marks in dialogue.  The students cracked up at my character traits, and they couldn't wait to make up sentences for what my character would say.  I wrote down the dialogue some of them suggested.  It was hysterical.  Of course, we talked about where to put the quotation marks, but then it was their turn.  They had to write one sentence.  

In less than 5 minutes, many students had several sentences, and whoa, I was seeing mistakes!  We stopped.  I showed them all some examples of mistakes I had seen. We corrected them and tried again.  There were more mistakes.  We stopped, made corrections, and tried again.  

The lesson was self-differentiating.  More advanced students tended to create more difficult opportunities for using quotation marks.  They wrote more as a whole, and dared to veer from the examples' patterns.  Other students wrote one sentence, and I was able to use it as an opportunity to remind about capitals, punctuation, and spelling.  I did not read every sentence in every notebook; I just went around making corrections as much as I could.  It was surprising how many students raised their hands to have me double check if they were "on the right track."  THEY CARED! It was not uncommon to hear someone randomly blurt out laughing.  The dialogue from their off-the-wall characters was making them crack up. 

They were writing solo, and they were loving it!

At the end of class, some students begged me to allow them to take their notebooks home so their "characters could say more things."  I had to remind them that they were not allowed to write stories yet.  I told them it is like soccer practice.  You can't play a game until you practice.  I overheard one student whisper to another, "How will she know, especially if I write it on a separate sheet?" 

Those characters are going to help me teach writing and grammar from now on.  This will not be the last you hear about them!  

They only had to create their characters once, and we can use them for rest of the year!

Note: They still did the worksheet in 5 minutes, and they aced the test.  I am anxious to see if they remember how to use quotation marks in the future!