The Breakfast Club – #BFC530 – is a 15 minute, 1 question Twitter chat every weekday. We chat in 4 timezones Mon-Fri – 5:30am Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific Times. The mission of BFC is to empower participants to make a difference in education by engaging in consistent reflective practice in a supportive community that inspires and challenges one another.
Good Friday morning, #bfc530 friends! Heading out for a run and it’s well below the freezing level here. I hope you all have a Fantastic Friday and a Wonderful Weekend! 😊❤️😍
Our students need lots of power and choice in their own learning. We should be intentional about how much time we spend as their facilitator/co-learner, not just their teacher. #bfc530
The only way we learn is to make our own choices and to be allowed to enjoy the consequences of those choices. Even if it is hard; learn early so they don’t have to learn often. #bfc530
We need to give Ss assignments that present problems and challenges, we need to ask open ended Qs where even we don't know the best answers, and we need to give them skills like research and collaboration to help them when they get stuck. #PBL#Creativty#bfc530
What consistently works for us is Project Based Learning. #PBL allows students to think, solve problems, collaborate, and iterate on solutions to real world problems. Beats a textbook or worksheet any day. #bfc530
We need to scaffold directions as well as content. Build in supports for students to go when they need help. You don't need to be the arbiter of all knowledge is the classroom. #bfc530
Show Ss little by little they can accomplish things w/out the T. Having them track their progress in a mastery tracker gives them hard evidence of their growth #bfc530
I have really been working on this the past couple of years. My work learning form @joboaler has really helped! Also reading of #drive from @DanielPink#bfc530
We can start by having those expectations. Then we can guide them to tasks that will foster that mind set. My gamers all know that they must take charge of their learning. I'm a teacher if they want to be game developers they must learn how to game. #bfc530
If we want students to think and learn for themselves, they need lots of opportunities for guided decision-making and risk-taking. Too much choice and we set them up for failure or success at the wrong things. Too little and we teach them to comply and compete. #bfc530
While we still need to teach basic stuff, we need to allow our Ss to follow THEIR passions & learn how THEY want to impact the world, not what WE think they should be doing. #bfc530
The term is executive functioning supports. You can build a lot of structure to help your kids learn how to fend for themselves. We cant expect them to just have that skill. #BFC530
Yes! Facilitating growth experiences tailored for each student vs one-size-fits all. Harder? Of course. But not only worth it, but the students deserve it. #bfc530
React your natural response as a teacher to always help a "kid in need". Most times what a kid really needs is the experience that personal struggle is often needed to accomplish your goal. Our goal is encourage them not to give up #bfc530
Giving Ss a chance to struggle is one way to help them learn to depend on themselves. I hope my students see the struggle as an exciting opportunity!#bfc530
Khalil Gibran said, “The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.” Asking Ss big, juicy open ended questions in a Socratic seminar has been what’s worked best for me. #bfc530
React against your natural response as a teacher to always help a "kid in need". Most times what a kid really needs is the experience that personal struggle is often needed to accomplish your goal. Our goal is encourage them not to give up #bfc530
No kidding: I had a 1st grader come up with a pretty cool strategy for working through some of the #HourofCode puzzles. Gave him a shout-out sharing what he was doing, then could see others dig a little deeper. it was #EDUawesome! #bfc530
We play lots of logical games like those from @ThinkFun that allow kids to practice these important thinking skills while also encouraging collaboration. Of course, they are tons of fun too! #bfc530
We can help by letting them pose the questions and using less “what’s in my pocket” (love that @i_am_nahoko.) Give them open ended, no right answer real world tasks. #bfc530
Spot on! It's messy and not everyone will be in the same place at the same time (as it should be). But facilitating learning in that challenging environment is what my peers & I love doing! #BFC530
We need to get out of the way and allow for productive struggle. if everything was easy for students the first time around then why are we in the room? #BFC530
We need to scaffold directions as well as content. Build in supports for students to go when they need help. You don't need to be the arbiter of all knowledge is the classroom. #bfc530
No kidding: I had a 1st grader come up with a pretty cool strategy for working through some of the #HourofCode puzzles. Gave him a shout-out sharing what he was doing, then could see others dig a little deeper. it was #EDUawesome! #bfc530
Prepare Ss for the remainder of the 21st c through assessments of application and opportunities for innovation and creation. Please do not prepare them solely to be on Jeopardy some day. #BFC530
Think of a skill that it took you a while to learn. Think of how great it was when you got it. Why would you take that feeling away from a kid? #BFC530
I’m never satisfied as a teacher. I have daily moments, but satisfaction can lead to complacency. I always want to push forward and never stop learning because my scholars deserve the best version of myself. #edchat#bfc530#KidsDesereveIt
Good morning trying to join in again:) when we give Ss an audience & actually let them lead us they become empowered to think & learn #bfc530#learnlap#geniushour
I agree Ss can & should be taught to self reflect and manage their thinking. Let them know it’s okay to be wrong, change thoughts, & take risks. #bfc530
We need to give Ss assignments that present problems and challenges, we need to ask open ended Qs where even we don't know the best answers, and we need to give them skills like research and collaboration to help them when they get stuck. #PBL#Creativty#bfc530
Agreed. Have you ever had a T tell you that they need to “cover” the content? I think that mindset is what pushes the patience for S learning aside. #bfc530
Everyday I have them journal for 5 min in silence - they struggle bc they want to hear everyone's opinion before they write theirs. I want them to reject on uninfluenced thoughts #bfc530
Agree. I was one of the worst baseball players in my town league my first year. In my 2nd year, I made a big play to help win a game, one of my most cherished memories & it encouraged me to develop my skills more. #bfc530
Anyone have any tangible/do today strategies to encourage independence in Ss? I know it is mostly about structure of class, but I’m interested to see if I can begin implementing something today that I haven’t considered... #bfc530
...and that starts with developing solid, trust-based relationships with each student. Know what they love and then find ways to connect relevant projects. That's the secret sauce of engagement & deep learning. #BFC530
Khalil Gibran said, “The teacher who is indeed wise does not bid you to enter the house of his wisdom but rather leads you to the threshold of your mind.” Asking Ss big, juicy open ended questions in a Socratic seminar has been what’s worked best for me. #bfc530
Always say the year I say I have nothing else to improve upon as a teacher or do not have the strength to improve needs the be the year I retire. #bfc530
We also need to remember that while struggle is tremendous for growth, if we dont provide encouragement & hope as a teacher, the results wont be success but despair. #bfc530
...and that starts with developing solid, trust-based relationships with each student. Know what they love and then find ways to connect relevant projects. That's the secret sauce of engagement & deep learning. #BFC530
Also, my boss @liz_berquist has done a lot of work in this area. Building Executive Functioning supports requires thoughtful practice. She is a great resource. #BFC530
Ha ha, yes, the whiff of success the Mets give me from decade to decade does help me to continue rooting, never realized that hope in them effects how I approach my students LOL #bfc530
Wish we had a snow day. I am going to be wet and cold on my duty this morning. #bfc530 I don’t mind either alone but the combination is tough. #gettingexperience
We as teachers also need to model the productive struggle and mistake making. We need to also keep taking risks. That is how we learn. We ask Ss to do it, we should too. I embed talking about the brain in much of what I teach each day so kids know the 'why'. #bfc530
I've always been a fan of debating, even in a math class. If students don't push themselves to prove their point, they are more susceptible to others who argue without proof. This accustoms them to the thinking process and a curiosity to learn more. #BFC530
Allow students to try and allow them to fail. Children /students will learn more from their mistakes -but you need to let them fail and that’s not easy sometimes ( you cant bubble wrap your kids forever- it’s not fair to them) #bfc530
Kids need to try and fail- if you always rush in to save them they may develop a case of learned helplessness where they end up just waiting you out ( till you rescue them ) #BFC530
Conversation yesterday:
Student Julia: I was named after the Beatles song "Julia"
Student Alexa: I think either John Lennon or Paul McCartney wrote that for their mother.
Yes, I have the greatest students in the world ...
#bfc530#FridayFeeling@OceansideSch5@DianeProvvido
Anyone have any tangible/do today strategies to encourage independence in Ss? I know it is mostly about structure of class, but I’m interested to see if I can begin implementing something today that I haven’t considered... #bfc530
Flip a lesson from T centered to S centered. Show them the lesson focus or prompt & have the Ss ask questions about it. Uncovers what they know/don't know & drives Ss to answer their own questions in the rest of the unit #BFC530
Morning, #bfc530. To foster students' independent thinking & communicating, this week I started playing around w/variations of discussion game shared recently by @ajjulianihttps://t.co/5k9d6O6jYu
