GMAIL: Home Writing Program - Year 1 Reflections

I absolutely love this program with my students. Over the past year and a bit, I have learnt so much about my students through this initiative and it literally makes my day when I get the sweetest emails from them.

For the first few weeks of the first year of the program, I documented my weekly reflections. These are my thoughts from October - December from 2013 as the home writing program began to unfold.

Week 1 Reflection

Well, it’s out in the world now, let’s see how it goes. The students seemed pretty excited that they didn’t have to write on paper for the homework each week. By providing an example of what was expected in the email really allowed students to get a visual of what was intended.

I am glad I emailed the parents prior to the assignment – it can be difficult at times understanding the perspective of the email being sent and I could find myself in tricky situations potentially if a student emails content of concern so it’s good to be completely open about it first and educate the parents instead of trying to backpedal later. I even got a response from one parent being really supportive of the idea and excited to see what comes of this.

The first night I had a few students email me with their letters. It is interesting to see the range of emails. Some students are sticking specifically to the options, others are writing about their own topics. It is a quick glance at who chooses to be creative or follow the form.  The range of work is quite wide from a sentence to a couple paragraphs. Hopefully, I can get all of my students writing at least a few paragraphs each week to me.

One thing that also happened today was that a student emailed me about an issue that took place last Friday (not as part of their homework). This was the first time I have received an email like this from a student. It is clear that this outlet can provide students with a comfortable environment that allows them to connect with a teacher without having to have difficult conversations face to face. While I still believe face to face interactions are important, it simply provides students with another avenue to communicate with me so that we can problems solve together.

 

One thing I learned today is that I should draft the email from the students as I receive them. This way I’m not writing to 20 students on Sunday night. It is a bit much to do it all in one go. Therefore, this week I will try drafting the emails as I receive them and still send them out on Monday morning. I’m going to let my students read their email from me first thing Monday morning once they get settled for the day.

Some of the most common areas of improvement for writing emails include :

• Using capitals for  Ms.  and all names
• Using a comma after the person's name  in greeting (Ms. Mac,)
• Writing a salutation ex: Sincerely, or Many thanks, or Take Care
• Adding detail to explain their thinking and expand paragraphs
• Ensuring name is on a line of its own after the salutations

Ex:  Sincerely,

      Ms. Mac

• Rereading emails before sending

I loved how some students also included pictures in their emails. It was a great start with a lot of potential still to come.

Week 2 Reflection

Week 2 of the email writing. I emphasized to my students they should aim to write at least 3 good paragraphs to me if possible when we were reviewing our homework for the week. Hopefully, this will help them continue to develop the length of their writing.

Monday, October 7, 2013– Today was the first day my students got to read their emails from me. They were all very eager to read their responses from me. By the time I got home at night, I already had a few emails from students. Many responded to the questions I had asked them but the biggest thing I noticed was that the length of the emails had grown to almost double for most students compared to the first email they had sent.

Another thing I noticed was that I received questions about class work. I had 2 boys in my class email me to ask to meet with me tomorrow to review some of the work they were unsure of. All I thought was wow! Already my students are using this assignment not only as a vehicle to fulfill their weekly homework but also using it as an educational tool to reach out and get help. For these two particular boys, they both need extra help and rarely participate or ask questions in class. For me, this was a major success this week. These emails are truly opening up the lines of communication with my students and making them feel more comfortable reaching out for support.

I was discussing the project with a colleague tonight sharing some of my successes. I was also mentioning how labour intensive it was right now as it required me to write at least 20 long well thought out and grammatically correct emails for students each week. But how can you argue with the results?  A little work could mean a lot of rewards and right now I am enjoying getting to know my students better and being able to help them personally, socially and academically.

Topics that have come up so far in the first 2 weeks:

• personal issues – feeling alone, adapting to a new environment, playground issues
• academic – not understanding a topic, asking for clarification to fully answer questions, lots of students asking how to improve writing, not liking a topic and why, making connections between school and home life
• social - how to deal with friends
• appreciation – thanking me for help, joining teams, advice
• learner profile attitudes – balanced, risk taker

Week 3 Reflection

• There are a few students still writing really small paragraphs. How can I get them to expand their thoughts? Do I push it? Ask more questions back?
• Trying to get students to review work before sending  - how do you ensure this is happening?
• Paragraphing area of growth for some -- need to do a small group lesson about paragraphing with these students
• Some students are really expanding their writing.
• I am seeing the effects of writers workshop in terms of descriptive writing carrying over to the emails as well.
• I waited until the last minute to answer all emails this week– doable, but still time intensive and hard to write longer emails for each kid when doing them all at once

Week 4 Reflection

• I’m seeing the boys writing more without complaints.
• I’m noticing less ‘computer typing’ errors (punctuation, capital I, etc).

Week 5 Reflection

• Writing this week is not mandatory due to 3 day week. It will be interesting to see who writes and who doesn’t when not being “told” to write.
• The majority of the class wrote emails still, some longer some shorter this week but kids still wanted to write which was great to see /
• When I told them they didn’t have to write an email this week,  some of them told me to expect an email from them including some of my ESL and reluctant writers.
• I am happy to see kids are enjoying writing and receiving the feedback.

Week 6 Reflection

• Noticing patterns in questions for clarification of assignments. This is good to know so I can clarify to class and help make sure everyone is on the same page.
• Students talking a lot about fears and concerns (books)
• Students are providing feedback for things changing in the classroom (addition of music, dancing, etc)
• I’m still struggling to get a few boys to write. What other strategies could I be using? Need to get some feedback from other teachers on ideas.

Week 7 Reflection

• I have been receiving emails about our updated house merit system and their thoughts. It’s great to get this feedback, praise and suggestions from my students. It’s also really nice to know they feel comfortable telling me what they think about it.
• Kids are wanting to dance more in class. This should become a regular part of our class.-       questions about math
• A few kids didn’t do emails this week (5) – Could a summative due this week be the reason?
• I sent emails to kids who did not submit emails to inquire the reasoning - some summative due, internet down, others forgot. This created a discussion about how we need to be accountable for our work. If students feel they can’t complete the task on time, they need to have that conversation at least the day before and happy to give them the weekend as an ‘extension’ or depending on the situation, allow the student to miss a week. This helps build responsibility.

GMAIL: Home Writing Program Plan

Last year I began a writing program in my class where the students would write me an email each week and I would respond.  I created a thought out plan with input from our Director of Education Technology and off I went. After just over a year of doing this, I opened up the same document to check in and see if I was still doing everything I had set out to do and reflect on the overall effectiveness of the program.

Here is the plan created in October  2013:

Rationale:

In my first year of teaching, a colleague of mine had a grade 4 class who did ‘Thinking Thursday’ every week for a lesson. The concept was simple – write what you were thinking about. Students had an option to write a letter to the teacher, choose a topic from the jar or write about whatever they wanted. Surprisingly, most students would choose to write a letter to the teacher.

We had many discussions about the power of a letter back and forth between the teacher and student

• Get to know your student
• Improve student writing
• Tailor individual writing with feedback
• Challenge students by questioning things in their life
• Provide meaningful guidance and support (pastoral)

And yet, when faced with my own classroom as a relatively new teacher, I was struggling to find time to have students write each week with the given curriculum and school demands while also giving them the choice of what to write. As a school adopting the Writer’s Workshop, it provided limited room for writing the way individual teachers view writing and more of a formula to generate writing.

I personally have never been one to be good at communicating in person and have found writing a better form of communication for me as I am able to think through what I want to say before saying it. While it takes away the initial face to face conversations, it will allow for more meaningful conversations inside the classroom and help me relate to my students more.

I have decided to incorporate this as part of their homework rather than an in-class assignment for the simple reason that it utilises technology and writing in a way that will captivate students and allow them to develop their writing skills without feeling they have to write a polished piece to publish.

Why Not Blog Instead:

• Lack of response/ meaningful feedback
• Forced writing
• No authentic audience
• Hard to have a targeted audience when you don’t know who will read it

Purpose:

• To build a mutually respected relationship between students and the teacher
• To have writing opportunities that are authentic, meaningful and inspiring
• To provide the student with individual feedback
• Write with a specific and targeted audience
• Improve technology skills and digital literacy (eg. Email etiquette, typing, etc)

Writing Task:

• Students are expected to write an email to their teacher each week about any topic of their choosing.
• The teacher will respond to the comments/questions the student has written about in their email. The teacher will also provide general feedback for writing style, conventions etc.
• Email is to be submitted by Friday of every week.
• 
  

Guidelines for Students:

Students must:

• Use proper email etiquette
• Dear Ms/Mr.
• Sincerely
• The specific title of an email
• Use capitalisations
• Use punctuation
• Use paragraphs (eventually)
• Reread your work before sending
• Utilise the spell check function prior to sending
• Maintain an understanding that the emails are confidential UNLESS you are in a position where you will hurt self or someone else
• Should these guidelines not be met, the student will receive an email from the teacher outlining that their email should be modified to meet these success criteria before resending.

Sample Email for Introduction to Students

Dear Ms. Mac,

I hope this email finds you doing well. This week at school I really enjoyed doing our summative assignment. I liked that we were able to work in groups to make our buildings. I found it tricky working with Roger on our project because he did not listen to my ideas. Do you have some suggestions on how to work better as a team?

In cross country this week, I came 4th. I ran as fast as I could and really tried my best. I would have done better but I tripped over a log on the path and rolled down the hill. But I did pass one person because I rolled really fast.

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Sheila

Foreseeable challenges:

Challenge	Proposed Action Plan
ESL Students	Students may write in their native languages. I will Google translate their answers. Then write in response back. The point is to get them writing. Slowly transition from native language to writing in English.
Students without access to a laptop at home	When students are finished their work in class, they may work on their assignment. Alternatively, they can do it during ‘work in progress’ time on Friday afternoon Students can also write a handwritten letter if necessary.
Learning disabilities (dyslexia)	Remind students to utilise spell check. Importance of trying and writing for length and meaning. Focus on building a love of writing. Less focus on spelling etc.
Lack of technology skills (typing, the inclusion of sentence structure and conventions)	Students will develop typing skills by doing assignments online Students will be made aware of exclusions of capitalisation, punctuation as part of the written feedback given each week.
Mandatory – reluctant writers	Students are writing about themselves and what interests them They can share as much or as little as they want with me about themselves or choose one of the topics of the week to write about Choice allows for more buy-in
Parents not wanting students emailing teachers ‘personal’ information or at all	Students can complete a writing assignment on paper and submit each week. Students can choose from a list of optional topics.
Coming across questionable emails	Speak with the students for clarification of what they meant in their email When necessary, discuss concerns with Year Group Coordinator, JYP, PYP coordinator
Assigning this as homework instead of in-class activity	Students can write at their convenience when they feel like writing Doesn’t have to be related to course content
Responding to emails on weekend	This will be part of their homework and homework is marked over the course of the weekend. All other emails will wait to be responded to on Monday during work hours
Parents wanting to be CC'd	Parents will be notified about questionable comments only Email parents in advance about the purpose of the assignment

Email Sent to Parents Prior to Beginning Program:

Dear Parents,

I wanted to take a moment to write to you in anticipation of our next unit of inquiry which is about personal awareness. The central idea for the unit is “A person’s behaviour and how they choose to present themselves can project aspects of the identity.” We’re really looking forward to exploring it.

As part of the writing homework, students will be asked to write a weekly email to myself. Students may choose to write about one of the selected topics in their homework package or choose to write about something of their own interest, but each email must be submitted no later than Friday along with their regular homework. All emails will be sent from the student’s Chatsworth email account to the teacher’s Chatsworth email account as usual.

There will be two parts to the teacher feedback to these emails. The first part will be a response to what the student has written, while the second part will deal with writing styles, grammar and conventions.  I will read them over the weekend and students will have a response in their inbox on Monday mornings - at which point they can ponder the questions posed by myself and include their answers in the next email. I’m excited at the potential for some very interesting conversations and dialogue.

Chatsworth’s mission includes developing students as internationally aware, responsible digital citizens. By connecting with students through email, they are building skills in digital literacy and developing their writing skills in a 21st-century environment.

Students who are enrolled in the ESL program are welcome and encouraged to write in their first language if they feel more comfortable. The purpose of this writing exercise is to allow them to express themselves without feeling restricted by language. I will translate emails through Google Translate and respond in English. Students may choose to read the English response or translate it back to their first language. (Please note: No translation is perfect).

This assignment will provide students with many learning opportunities and has the potential to develop our classroom community tremendously. Students will learn how to write letters and use proper email etiquette as well as developing their writing skills with individually tailored feedback. It is important for students to become familiar with typing on a computer and remembering to incorporate appropriate capitalisation and punctuations.  

In doing this, I hope to continue to develop an ongoing relationship with my students and allow them to write about topics of personal interest in a format that is meaningful and timely.

Should you have any questions or concerns, I would be more than happy to discuss this with you at your convenience.

As always, it is a pleasure learning with your children.

Sincerely,

Ms. Emily MacLean

Why I Love My Job - A Collaborative Classroom Community

Most days I come to work with a plan of what’s to come. Yet somehow it never happens - in the best way possible. So many days my students railroad my plans with THEIRS - and it is quite frankly what I love most.

Take today for example. I sat down in my classroom around 11am with my students all ready to share our summative assessment task for our How We Organise Ourselves unit about Food Systems. Simply put, the task was to create a recipe using procedural writing for a cookbook and provide a detailed rationale for the meal and choices of ingredients based on what they know. They were to demonstrate their knowledge as a consumer and document the reasoning behind their choices. We had thought they could then make and share their recipes one day in class. A good idea that has simply inspired the 'want to get started NOW', when I hadn’t planned on it until early-mid next week.

I had only got out that we were going to create recipes when the ideas came spewing from their mouths. Of cours,e they wanted to invite their parents first and foremost. Ever since we first invited our parents to our end of unit celebration for our first unit, my students have found sharing their work with their parents to be one of their top priorities forthe following units. Many teachers struggle to build that connection to home but when students are proud of their hard work they want to share it with an audience that is meaningful - who better than their parents.

My class also likes to create an atmosphere and experience for their parents when they share their work. Then they decided they wanted to make food stalls where they would offer samples to their guests. The idea of a market was a highly popular idea. Each booth could have a name and a display of some sort about their meal. They want to create a class menu for their parents with a map of the food market so parents could easily decide what they wanted to try and where they could find it. At the booths, the displays could display videos of how to cooking shows or commercials, animations or other ways of demonstrating their understanding.

One of my favourite ideas was the idea of connecting it to our new math unit about data handling. We had ONLY started the unit the period before and already they were thinking that they could have parents complete a survey to show their rating of the dish on a 1-5 scale for overall appeal, I had a student even asking me how we could use technology to create graphs so when the survey was being done it could be updated in real time.Once they gathered their data, after the market they could graph their individual data and then compare their findings with the other dishes in the class to see how their dishes rated compared to others. There was also talk about using a survey to help them decide which dish they wanted to create to begin with. If they surveyed the type of dish people liked or the flavours that were most popular or the cuisine people liked most first, then they could use that data in deciding which meal they wanted to prepare for the market. I was surprised and amazed to hear these students creating their own transdisciplinary experiences and wanting to use math in a meaningful real life context.

One thing I have learned is to let them go with it because as a class, they just build upon each others’ ideas ata rapid pace. It’s definitely part of their learning during our design thinking studies in our inventions unit and they’ve just taken off with it. It was hard to not adding my own ideas, but making it all about them is what it NEEDS to be.

I can’t even count the number of times this happens any more whether it’s redesigning our class website, creating and leading their own lessons, planning an assembly and parent classroom experience,  taking a small homework assignment and turning it into a full exhibition or changing any other lesson, assignment or summative task on the fly. They make it their own and they make it better than anything I would have planned on my own. They take their learning into their own hands and they make me a better teacher. But at the end of the day, they teach me more than I teach them and that, I can’t be more thankful for.

My Own Worst Critic

It’s true. There is no one I am harder on than myself. So often I complete something or accomplish a goal and only look at what’s still left to be done instead of celebrating what I have done before moving on. It’s something that, when you think about it, is not very ‘teacher’-y of me at all. Where’s the oreo feedback in my own practice? By that I mean, the good, the area of growth and another good comment. I’m always giving my students praise for their work and then guiding them where to go next, and even better than that, usually having the students self-identity their ‘glows’ (great things they are doing) and grows (areas of potential growth for the future).

I am constantly asking my students to reflect. What did you do well? How do you know? Why are you proud of this? What makes this a ‘good’ piece of work in your mind? How can this help you moving forward? Of course, we also have the opposite side to all of that - what do you need to work on, etc. We foster the ability for students to see the good in themselves and others but do we do this in our own practice?

Why does this not happen with teachers?

Why is it so hard for teachers to celebrate their own growth? Is it simply because we are always looking for ways to improve that we are almost blinded by our successes? Is it because we don’t want to ‘waste’ time on a plateau of praise when we could be jet-setting upwards with growth?

Even when we plan with other teachers, often the first thing we think about when we are reflecting on the unit or the part we spend the most time on is how to improve what we did, what didn’t work and how will we change it for next time. The very idea of ‘wow - great unit because of x, y, and z’ is often glossed over in order to get right to the growth section.

I love my Friday afternoon with my kids when we do our Positive Post time where we write notes and deliver them to people in our class and around the school who have positively impacted us or our class. I always try to send one to at least 1 staff member to help celebrate the positivity they’ve spread to me.

This past year I’ve slowly been trying to do a better job at the idea of personal self-reflection with the good things happening in my own teaching and professional life. Twitter, blogging and even presenting have helped with this but it still is something I struggle with. It’s easy for me to see it in others and what they do, but with myself, I sometimes have only one speed moving forward and don’t always look back.

What result would it have in our own teaching practice if we spent more time reflecting on our ‘glows’ -  individually and collectively as a staff community? How would this change the culture of the school?

The old saying goes ‘stop and smell the roses’ - so maybe it’s time for us all to start planting more gardens in our own backyards.

PERSERVERENCE – My Journey to Google

“The brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They’re there to stop the other people.” 

― Randy Pausch, The Last Lecture

Here I am, in mid-flight, with what I could only describe as challenging and stressful weeks leading up to the flight. In general, I’ve become a very casual traveller with simply throwing what I need in a suitcase the day of the trip jumping on a plane and figuring the rest out upon arrival. Passports, visas, supply plans, etc. can cause bumps along the way. In my case though, I'm pretty sure I hit every bump on this unpaved road on my way to the Google Teacher Academy India 2014.

When I first began working at my current school last year, I was coming from a school with minimal technology. I was put into a classroom with 1-to-1 laptops and began using the Google Apps for Education (GAFE) as part of my everyday practice. Technology became something I tried to weave into my classroom and I took the opportunity to challenge myself in new ways as I explored different strategies, tools and programmes. I became aware of the Google Teacher Academy (GTA) and thought it was something I wanted to strive for but pushed it to the back of my mind as I felt I was nowhere near ‘application ready’ and would maybe apply in a couple years.

This past summer, I decided that I wanted to apply this year even though I was still doubtful of being accepted and was encouraged by a few colleagues to do apply anyways. While I may not have the years of experience using GAFE and technology in the classroom, I decided I had to take it upon myself to help prepare myself for the application process. I began doing the Google Educator courses as well as the YouTube Digital Citizenship course to solidify my baseline learning and knowledge of GAFE.

Then the application schedule for Fall 2014 GTAs came out. First up was #GTASYD. While I managed to write my responses to the questions with ease, it was the video that was a struggle for me as I couldn’t imagine summarising all I wanted to include in a 1-minute video. I did a video, submitted it… and I didn’t get in.

I little bit disappointed I knew I had other opportunities and decided to apply to the next one, #GTASEA. This time I decided to take a different approach to the video but again...not accepted.

I decided to not give up and try 1 last time in the 2014 GTAs with #GTAIndia. Finally, I got the letter that I was accepted into the GTA and thrilled that it would also take me to a country I had not yet had the opportunity to travel to. Once getting over the initial excitement, I quickly realised I needed a new passport before going as I didn’t have enough pages to travel to India and then a friend’s wedding in Vietnam shortly after. It was surprisingly quite a simple process submitting my renewal passport application overseas at the High Commission of Canada. It was due to arrive back in Singapore a week about 12 days before I needed to go to India, plenty of time to get a visa. Unfortunately, it was delayed a day plus a weekend. There was doubt of whether we could get the visa in time as it required 7 days to process it. We had exactly 7 working days from the day I picked it up until the date of my flight (including the day of flight).

As soon as the passport came in, I was at the High Commission picking it up, only to hand it over to begin the application process for the Indian visa the same day. When my paperwork and passport went off to the agency, I found out they needed an additional signature. I spent most of my night there and the issue of needing additional paperwork first surfaced. Handing over every letter I had at the time, I had to write an additional letter stating I was presenting at the ‘conference’ to get the conference visa I was applying for. It seemed to be sufficient and I was told the 7 days included the weekend so I would be able to pick it up the following Monday -2 days before flying.

As Monday came, I tried calling to find out when my passport would be ready to be released to me. Later that night, I received a call asking for even more paperwork.  I immediately was calling the Director of EdTech at my school asking for a favour of drafting a letter that evening to submit and then also forwarding a letter noting I was presenting at the GTA. Thankfully, I work at a school where people go above and beyond to help others out and had all the paperwork sent back to the agency for the visa and was told I would find out in the morning.

Tuesday morning came and went...nothing. I decided to call to find out the status of my application. Currently – denied. Devastated, I was told I needed a more official letter from Google about the ‘conference’. So I did what anyone would do, I used my technology to WhatsApp one of the organisers and emailed as well. Everyone working for the Google Teacher Academy was so helpful, kind and reassuring that I would be able to get the visa. Google legal drafted a letter and we sent it off to the High Commission asking for the process to be expedited.

I also knew if I wanted to get the visa in time I had to go to the High Commission of India in Singapore and go for a visa interview. This meant taking off an entire morning to figure out how to get it. In the interview, I was told they wouldn’t approve my conference visa without a letter of authorization allowing the conference in India and a letter stating that the Google Teacher Academy was indeed a conference. This was after 11am on Wednesday and I was set to fly at 7:30pm that evening. If I could get the letters, the High Commission would approve the visa. I was concerned with the time constraints and asked the interviewing officer if there was any other way of getting a visa. At which point, he informed me I could do a new visa application for an entry visa and it would be approved. 

The time crunch was on. I had to do the application online pay for it 12 noon in order for it to be processed and ready for pickup at 4pm. I jumped on a computer filled it out and paid with 15 minutes to spare. A lucky chance I had a passport picture and the correct amount of money in my wallet. All I had to do was wait for 4pm.

Back at school, I found out my flight ticket had been cancelled because my initial visa had been denied but we were able to get it reissued with minimal issues. Because I had a new passport, I also had to have my employment pass transferred over to it and the paperwork wasn’t finished being processed we found out. The school was able to get me a letter stating it was in the works but I would need my old passport – which was sitting at home.

As class wrapped up for the day, I told my students I wasn’t sure what would happen that night and I may or may not be in tomorrow. We talked about how if you really want something you have to go after it, no matter how many obstacles stand in your way. One of my boys even said to me, "This is so frustrating. You've worked so hard for this. They can't make you wait any longer to go!" (too sweet). With fingers crossed from 16 of my favourite people, I whizzed out the door after school to pick up my new passport, head home to find my old passport and off to the airport.

Check in went smoothly and I was ready to board with 2 hours to wait in the airport, which in my mind meant a safety net for anything else thrown my way.

So many times I really thought it was over and I wasn’t going to be able to go but for every problem, a solution appeared.  It has been a roller coaster ride and I am so thankful to be en route. There were so many people that played a role in making this trip happen who I can’t thank enough. I am so excited for what awaits me tomorrow as I head to the Google Gurgaon building, for the talented educators I with encounter and for the learning experience to begin. 

As a colleague said to me at some point during the chaos, "If it doesn't work out this time, it would make a killer application video for next time showing how badly you wanted to go to the Google Teacher Academy."  Luckily, I won't have to.