First Day of School Quiz

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What is Mr. Arakaki's favorite iCarly episode?

That was the number eight question on my 3rd Annual First Day of School Quiz! For the past two years of doing fourth grade, I kicked off the year with this quiz.

It's a great way for me to share some of personality with the students and I hope it shows them that I'm a person, too. A person who lives outside of the school building. Someone who was once a kid, too.

The style of the last question, though, was new for me this year. I wrote an open ended question, not multiple choice like the first nine Qs. It reads, "If Mr. Arakaki wanted to be the BEST teacher you've ever had, what would he need to do?"

Here are some of their answers. FYI, some of these students had me last year for fourth grade.

  • Go to middle school because he's awesome. Then, go a little older and teach high school, also.

  • Be himself. Be fun and creative. Do what he did last year.

  • I don't care as long as I learn and pass.

  • I don't know. He is already a great teacher. Maybe let us eat snacks.

  • I think he is already the best teacher.

  • Nothing, because last year in 4th grade he gave us cookies in the middle of a math class for no reason.

  • Stay young.

  • He is already a good teacher, but to be a better teacher, give (name of student) $100.

  • Play laser tag.

  • Be himself. (Don't change)

  • No clue.

  • Nothing.

After giving the class time to complete it, we go over the answers together. I usually share a short story that goes along with every question, and sometimes the different responses available. A lot of times, the multiple choice options are derived from a personal experience, or some of my friends.

I think it was a good quiz. My building admin and the district super came in on a walkthrough while we were going over the answers. They stopped in during questions five and six. They hung out for quite some time, and expressed some interest to find the right answer to number six.

I drew out number five at length and elaborated on this answer for an extended period of time, hoping that they'd leave before I would have to reveal the reasons why I was sent to the principal's office when I was in elementary school.

They left.

Anyway, here's a copy of this year's quiz embedded below.

5th Grade Eve

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I really should have started this two years ago, during my first year of teaching, but I'll start year number three off this way. With a blog.

Today is the day before school officially starts. I'll have to say I'm pretty nervous considering I've switched to a new grade level with my only experience being in 4th for two years. My team is great, and I kind of wish they had Twitters or blogs that I could link to, because they are all phenomenal teachers.

Anyway, I've got a few ideas for tomorrow. Getting to know your classmates. A rundown of the expectations and goals (&hopefully how to get there). High energy ice breakers. And my traditional first day of school pop quiz.

This pop quiz is something that my high school science teacher did, and I totally ripped it from him. It's a ten question quiz. Mostly multiple choice (for added fun) with a few true/false, fill in the blank and short answer questions as well.

This is something that I've done every year (the past two) that I've taught. So far, it's been great. This past year, my principal was doing a walkthrough and sat in on this quiz as we got to the question that asked, "What’s the lowest grade Mr. Arakaki ever received on his report card in high school?"

Yeah. I never heard the end of it.

Here's what I gave to my last year's class. I've updated and modified some questions this year, since I had some of them already. Haven't shared many things in the past, so this is something new for me.

It was a D, by the way.

5th Grade Present

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Today was a screening test day for elementary students in our district and middle school started in full swing yesterday, with sixth graders going in on Monday to learn the ropes. I had just finished up testing my last student while also trying to get ready for my first full day with students when I found that some of my old students were in the building.

It was two boys. We'll call them Scott and Alex. Scott wears glasses and shoots beams out of his eyes. Alex has blond hair and projects plasma blasts from his hands. Not really. Anyway, they were part of my first real class was back in 2008 when I taught fourth grade. Earlier this year, they graduated from our building and have now gone on to several other schools. So it was these sixth graders who were back during their first week of middle school, for who knows what reason.

So I asked them. "Why are you guys doing here?"

They answered. "You told us to come visit you."

"Oh."

It was a great experience having some of my very first students recalling and acting on a few words that I had spoke to them several months ago. They told me about their first days of middle school and how they're excited. It was great.

Having them come in was the encouragement I needed the day before I start teaching a new grade. It has added an excitement to my already anxious state of starting a new school year.

I hope they come back again.

Twitter

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I've been using Twitter for some time now. I don't really remember when I started, but it was around this past spring. For the first few months, I only used it to follow people and randomly update my few followers with useless information.

Really useless information. Like where I was or what I was eating (especially while I was in Hawaii for summer vacation) or how the weather was. Very boring stuff.

Then in the fall, I discovered that I could use Twitter to help my profession. I could use Twitter to connect with other educators and engage in thoughtful and productive discussions on popular topics. I was able to find resources that others have been using successfully for years. In turn, I was able to share what I had found with my colleagues.

Now, I am attempting to show some of those colleagues how to tweet themselves. I've tried to collect some of the best Twitter tips and start up guides here.

Resources

Twitter Handbook for Teachers This is a good place to start. It reads like the missing Twitter users guide for beginners. It also have a few FAQs at the end and can also be printed out for quick reference.

Sue Waters' Twitter Wiki A wiki devoted to the importance of PLNs (Professional Learning Networks) and how to get started.

100 Twitter Tools for Teachers Organized nicely into several categories: Managing Twitter, Finding Friends, Sharing, Games, News & Research, Twitterers, Groups, Organization & Productivity, Integration & Classroom Tools.

Twitter Links for Educators Complete with links to PLNs to get you started.

Thoughts on differentiation

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This is copied from I don't know where, after a Twitter-hosted #edchat.

Can you meet the needs of every single student you teach? If you are teaching 5 kids, 10 kids even, probably. More than likely if you are a middle school or high school teacher you could be teaching over 100 kids. You have to realize that you can't do something different for everyone, no matter what your administration tells you. (I say that because mine always told me I had to provide different instruction for the over 130 students I taught. Oh and I only saw them for 50 mins a day. Yours may be telling you the same.)

So what do you do? Shake things up. Once you understand your students (by connecting with them) you know one day you might need to do an activity that gets them up and moving around. And the next day an activity where the students have to create. And the next day an activity where the students are reading and discussing with their peers.

You can't walk into the classroom day in and day out teaching exactly the same way. First, that's boring. Second, you are going to reach more students when you vary your instruction. Have fun with it! Dress up, sing, draw, kids love it when they see their teacher as human. (And they might just learn lots!)

Thoughts on grading

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These were some strong points made on a Twitter #edchat revolving around grading and the like.

  • Grading should be based only on learning, not ability, not effort. Students should be required to show learning.
  • When we worry about having enough assignments to justify the grade, instead of focusing on proficiency levels we miss the point.
  • Giving and grading assignments so that one has enough to give a grade is not effective in providing valuable data info.
  • A focus on grades instead of a focus on ability/proficiency level with certain skills or standards is not as effective.
  • Today I realized if grading is based on a rubric then final mark should be calculated based on Mode rather than Mean.
  • My students leave with a portfolio and a grade. Portfolio elements and the quality thereof determine the grade.
  • Will somebody please tell me the functional difference between an 80, a 76, AND A 74.