Important Review of Today's Discussion

We’ve done an incredible job of learning so far this year. We deserve to be very proud of that. Now we just need to do it more consistently. This morning we added some new things to our routine:


Every week you need to create a new WEEKLY FOCUS. This needs to include:

CONTENT AREA: A focus for Reading, Math and Science

OBJECTIVE: what skill(s) you need to improve the most in these areas

METHOD: your plan to accomplish this improvement

ASSESSMENT: your measurement of whether or not learning and growth has taken place


METHOD & ASSESSMENT
1. I will provide you with a weekly test (assessment) in each area

i. READING – this will be our weekly story, which includes the spelling and vocab tests (which give you your Language Arts grade)

ii. SCIENCE – this will be your specific chapter

iii. MATH – this will be your specific Unit

2. The goal is for you to come up with your own daily assessments. I will provide you with these until you learn how to do this on your own.

i. For example, today I had everyone read “Katie’s Trunk” and practice your weakest skill (i.e. finding the main idea, context clues, etc) – This should be included in your Daily Assessment.

ii. Homework will be answering the review questions at the end of the story. I’m hoping this helps you take the story more seriously than some of you did on the last test (Paul Revere)

3. Finally, I want you to send your Weekly Focus to your parents in the form of an email. This way they know specifically what you tests you are responsible for, your individual weekly goals, and how you plan on achieving them.

If doing your weekly focus doesn’t come easy at first, keep trying. This is a high-level skill that once learned, will benefit you for the rest of your life. And remember what Winston Churchill said,

“Never, never, never, never, never, never, never……..quit!”

If you never quit, you can never fail! I will never give up on you. Don't you dare give up on me by giving up on yourself!

We have succeeded at an incredible rate. Let’s keep it up.

The Struggle and The Slam

Today the desks were removed and the classroom became a giant circle. We reviewed a reading assignment and discussed the thinking behind our answers. The level of thinking these 10 and 11 year-olds are capable of is remarkable.

Bridget even turned the entire dialogue and debate into a play-by-play basketball game. I had mentioned that as impressive as an athlete slam dunking the ball is, a person using their brain at the highest levels is even more impressive.

As an example, Dunk-a-Rena Serena clears up an argument using evaluation, the very highest form of Bloom's Taxonomy of thinking.

Bridget's creativity and well-developed brain power allowed her to understand what was going on so well that she analyzed what was going on (by breaking it down into its parts) and synthesized it (put the parts back together applying it to an entirely new situation).


Today's lesson was termed "The Struggle and the Slam". In order to be able to do the slamming, a student must be able to do the struggling. The struggle with a problem and thinking it through is what develops the thinking muscles of the brain.

A ball was passed across the circle when someone had something to say. Needless to say, EVERYBODY had to get the ball. In this "mental gym" everybody works out. The harder the workout the greater the growth.

Thanks to Skyler and Serena who took pictures while still being heavily involved in the debate. It wasn't possible to match every picture to the action but I did my best.

The game begins. Dallas starts with the ball, as Belle distracts him. Dallas shoots.............and Scores! Coach Stuart yells out for someone to explain why Dallas' shot went in.

Serena uses her super strategy so that she could make a score. She did not want Mr.Stuart eating his food before lunchtime.

Serena and Amanda are 1 on 1. They steal the ball various times, until Jessica cuts in.

Amanda loses it, and she and Jessica chase Serena to the hoop. Serena passes it to Summer, who prepares to shoot.

They dribble..... and Mr. Stuart calls a time out, asking the team to explain the play-making going on.

Now Nick makes a basket, with a very good point.
Jessica just slam dunked, after missing a couple shots! HOORAY!
Amanda and Nick and Jessica are playing 3 on 3! Now, another time out takes place. A penalty for those off their bench.

Dallas did not know why he missed the big shot.

Mahrukh steals the ball, and runs for the basket, but Skyler stops her on the way there.

Amanda almost makes it, but Jessica saves the ball and it's hers!

Jessica shoots with all her might, but it hits the board and falls back.
Serena the slam dunker catches it and speeds to the other hoop. She passes it to her teammate, Malcolm. Times Up!

Time for the next round. Mr.Stuart has a pep talk with his team. Everyone feels better, and gets ready to get back in the game.

Malcolm has the ball. Can he make this shot, and can Ryan show up for practice in time?
Skyler quickly takes the ball and makes a shot. He got his team a point.

Sandeep got passed the ball. He makes a really good shot, and his team gets 2 points!

Mark starts with the ball. Then, he drops it and Summer gets it. She makes a shot! Almost a slam dunk!

Mr. Stuart calls a time out. There are 2:00 left in the game until the next round. He tells his team that some of them are starting to struggle, which is a good thing because it means they're making their brain power grow.

Dallas and Jessica keep convincing him that they'd like to get back to the game. The game begins, and Zack passes the ball to Nick, who makes a shot.

Briana catches the ball and prepares to make another shot. She shoots, and Mr.Stuart calls an immediate time out.

Another penalty for Dallas, who shouted out a bad play during the game.

Haseeb tells the team a very good plan for the last ten seconds of the game.

Then, when it begins, Summer slam dunks! Time for the next round.

Mr.Stuart fills them with words of wisdom before they continue. Skyler also shares some very good words with his friends. He calls one of the final time outs, just as Hasseb takes the ball.

Belle quickly comes up with a useful plan. Skyler agrees and adds to it.

Briana now has the ball. She dodges everybody in her way. She passes it to Hasseb, who passes it to Ryan, who scores!

Everyone high fives, and heads to lunch. Lunch Break!!!!