October 24, 2023 • 30 mins
This week, we are talking all about how we start out using various opening routines in our mastery-based classrooms. Specifically, we will share how we set up our courses and some daily activities you can use with your students to get them ready for learning.
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Featured Content
**For detailed show notes, please visit our website at https://edugals.com/135**
Opening Routines For The Semester/School Year:
- Unit Zero - 2 to 3 lessons long to learn about the logistics of a mastery-based classroom and learning
- Diagnostics - first 2 to 3 weeks, works well for ELL learners (oral, reading, writing skill levels)
- Focus on getting to know you activities and building classroom community as the premise to learn about the mastery-based learning model
- Use mastery-based learning terminology: lesson classifications, guided notes, etc
- Google Slides and YouTube for getting to know you activities, lessons etc
- Use of conferencing with students
- Lots of opening, whole class activities throughout the first few weeks of school
- Thinking classrooms, game-based learning (GimKit for example) are great ideas to engage students in whole class activities and build classroom community
Daily Opening Routines For The Classroom:
- Regular conferencing
- Group-based work based on STEP levels (ELL learners)
- Whole class lessons with all levels modelled (helps to set high expectations for all learners and builds motivation)
- Thinking Classrooms model (but not in a traditional sense) - use randomized groups of 3 (Flippity Random Name Picker), at the whiteboards, solving 1-2 problems related to on pace lessons, use mastery as checks for understanding
- Mix approaches up - other collaborative activities, demos, thinking classrooms, other whole group activities to set the tone, etc
- Do Now or Check-In (goal setting and/or SEL check-in) - can be done daily, weekly, more sporadic (end of unit/module)
- Weekly agenda slide deck
- Progress Tracker for informal check-in and goal-setting
- Modern Classroom Project: Guide to Opening and Closing Routines
- Accountability groups
- Tell me something good - students can share announcements and good news
Connect with EduGals:
- Twitter @EduGals
- Rachel @dr_r_johnson
- Katie @KatieAttwell
- EduGals Website
- Support the show
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rachel (00:40):
In this episode, we are talking all about how we start
out in our mastery basedclassrooms.
Katie (00:47):
We will share how we set up our courses and some daily
activities you can use with yourstudents.
Rachel (00:53):
Let's get started.
This week, Katie and I aretalking all about mastery based
classrooms and sort of how tostart class and what those
opening routines might be inyour mastery based classroom.
Katie (01:13):
And I think it's also worth mentioning not only how to
start class, but how to start acourse.
And so when you're diving intoit, how to get those students
prepared and into the mindsetof, Okay, we're doing something
a little different here.
And how they can kind of make itwork.
Rachel (01:28):
Yeah, it does take a little bit more sort of
strategizing and thinking aboutand being really, really kind of
intentional in your planning asyou're starting out in a mastery
based learning model.
Katie (01:40):
and find it takes a little bit longer to dive into
content, if that makes sense.
Because it's like getting thekids used to some of these
routines and this change ofdirection in some ways.
Rachel (01:51):
Yeah, so let's start out talking about how we start out a
course.
I think that's, that's a goodplace to start and then we can
get into the daily sort of grindof how we start class every
single day and some of thedifferent sort of ideas that you
can do.
So I think basically the way Ikind of lay out My course and
(02:12):
get started is I spend timedoing what I like to call my
unit zero and So it's not verylong.
I say unit but it's two or threelessons long.
So we're maybe spending a day ortwo three at most on this
particular unit, but it'slearning about all of the
logistics of my mastery basedclassroom before we get into
(02:37):
curriculum.
So doing mastery checks,grabbing and watching videos,
doing guided notes, like it kindof guides them through all of
those different pieces of mymastery based classroom in a
very sort of low stakes waybecause it's not curriculum
based.
Katie (02:52):
Yeah, and I usually take the first two weeks as kind of
like a diagnostics.
So, my mastery classroom looks alittle bit different because
they all have different coursecodes and different English
levels.
So, disclaimer, what it lookslike in my English as an
additional language class isgoing to be a little bit
different from...
Say, like a straight throughgrade 11 or 12 chemistry course
or whatever else.
(03:13):
But yeah, so my first two weeksare, you know, I have this
report that has been provided tome by the board or different
teachers that tells me thatsnapshot in time that they saw
in terms of English skills.
And it's my job to see where itfits in, if it does fit in and
each of the different skilllevels they have and can
demonstrate at the beginning ofa course.
Rachel (03:35):
Yeah, and I think you do have a pretty unique situation
in that you really do need tosort of assess your students
and, and see where they arestarting at, because those
assessments are not always spoton, are they?
Katie (03:49):
No, no, no, no.
And, and I find that um, I don'tknow what the difference is, but
for some reason, how elementaryteachers perceive step level in
the elementary context isdifferent than how we see it in
secondary, so there tends to besome pretty significant
differences.
Which I always find interesting,and I'd love to be on a fly on,
(04:10):
a fly on the wall when they'redoing them, or, or be there to
have a conversation about howthey see it.
but yeah, so it does take sometime, because I need to make
sure that I know theirindividual skill levels for
oral, reading, and writing.
Because that is how we arerunning our courses.
Mm hmm.
Rachel (04:26):
Yeah, I, it, definitely a lot different than what I do
with my classes, but my classestend to be, you know, that
academic track kind of studentwhere, yes, I might have a few
mixed in students who areEnglish language learners or
those with IEPs and, and stufflike that, but usually it's It's
(04:46):
pretty academic and we can getinto curriculum a lot quicker
than taking a couple of weeksand so I've kind of structured
out my unit zero with all mygetting to know you kind of
activities because I find that'sfun and then that's an easy way
to teach them how we're going tobe learning this year and about
the model without having toStand up in front of my room and
(05:09):
say, this is how learning'sgoing to work this year because
he wants to do that on the firstfew days of school.
That is so boring.
And, uh, so most of the time mylesson zero, what my first
lesson's called getting to knowyou and I have a video in there
where I talk a bit about myselfand who I am as a person and
educator, both inside andoutside of the classroom.
(05:32):
And, uh, I give them a littlechallenge of, okay, now you've
watched the video, come up andask me one question so that you
can get to know me better.
And then when they do that, Iusually ask them a question as
well to get to know them alittle bit better.
So it tries to, like, what I'mreally trying to do there is
alleviate any of that stress of,Oh my god, I gotta go talk to
the teacher, right?
(05:53):
I want them coming and asking mequestions.
So this is my first sort of pushinto, you know, it's okay.
Like, come ask me anything.
And they're super shy when theydo that.
Katie (06:03):
Yup.
Rachel (06:04):
And then my sort of mastery check for that lesson is
just getting them to fill out myAbout Me form.
So, you know, I, I do that andthen once they filled it out, I
can check it off on theirprogress tracker and they can
see themselves moving ahead, solike, they get super excited
about that.
Katie (06:19):
That is awesome.
Rachel (06:20):
and then my, my second sort of lesson goes into, okay,
now we need to get to know thecourse and we need to get to
understand what are, you know,the structures and all the
things in place.
So, got a couple of videos thatleads them through.
Brightspace, our learningmanagement system, some of the
other important details, andthen I usually do a little
digital mastery check just tomake sure that they're on the
(06:42):
right track.
Katie (06:43):
That's awesome.
Rachel (06:44):
Yeah, I think it works quite well, too.
And, and so they, they get toknow the lingo, right, and the
terminologies.
So I'll use must do, should do,aspire to do for my different
tasks.
So they start to get a feel forwhat all of those mean.
They understand what a masterycheck is.
And They understand what videosyou know how to go through and
(07:05):
watch a video how to take guidednotes.
So we, we kind of take care allof all of those basics right off
the bat.
Katie (07:12):
Yeah, I like it.
It's efficient.
Kids are done.
Rachel (07:15):
Yep.
Now, as, as I've kind of said inthe podcast, you know, in the
past few episodes, what wasgreat about this year's I taught
all the kids last year.
So I still had that introductorylesson, but I shortened it down
to just.
One lesson and sort of compiledeverything together that I
(07:35):
needed them to do so it was goodYou know I still collected data
About my students like I stillhad them fill out an about me
survey because who knows what'schanged over the past year and
it was Really neat because theythey shared different things
about themselves that they knewthey hadn't shared last year So
I feel like I just got an evendeeper understanding of who they
(07:56):
are
Katie (07:56):
There's something to be said about following them
through or teaching that samecohort next year.
Rachel (08:01):
Yeah, it's so cool.
Katie (08:03):
Yeah, and that classroom dynamic already exists.
So it's not like you're tryinghard to make sure, like, you can
build that kind of relationshipwith them and get them
comfortable.
Rachel (08:12):
It was two different classes, and I do have different
mixes of the kids from thedifferent classes, so there is
like a little bit, bit ofdifference in terms of dynamics,
but it's still, it's, it'sreally, really neat.
Katie (08:25):
So we spend tons of time on like the community building
and we do it like singleclassroom.
So me and the ones who are likeassigned to my physical
classroom.
But then we also do it likemixed group because we do so
many things as like a big wholeprogram.
And it's such an important time.
Because of the fact that a lotof my English language learners
(08:48):
tend to be nervous and anxiousand super quiet because they're
afraid of making mistakes or notsounding confident Like their
English is great, et cetera.
So there is so much time thatwe've been putting into getting
them comfortable in theclassroom, getting to know us
sharing a bit about us as likehuman beings outside of a
classroom, so that they knowwe're not just a scary teacher,
(09:10):
because some countries...
The teacher can be a reallyscary authority figure so it's
been successful though, becauseat one point a vice principal
was walking down the hall andhe's like, what's going on in
here?
Because we had so many studentsin my classroom and they were
all super loud and laughing andjoking.
And I was like, oh, it's just.
This is our ESL program, that'sall.
(09:33):
But um, you know, there'ssomething to be said about
getting them to a point wherethey're comfortable talking with
each other and laughing andjoking and, and sharing, like we
had them share their favoritesong in a slide.
So, you know, learning how touse Google Slides, how to insert
videos, which.
I don't know if you've triedthis year, but Google and
YouTube do not interact wellanymore.
Rachel (09:53):
Really?
I haven't had any issues.
Katie (09:56):
We keep getting errors.
Rachel (09:57):
Huh.
Katie (09:58):
play any YouTube videos on a slide this year.
Which was like, rude awakeningfor me, because I'm like, what
is happening?
Rachel (10:04):
it's really interesting because all of my instructional
videos are in YouTube, and theninserted into Google Slides, so,
Katie (10:13):
But are they ones that you created?
Rachel (10:15):
They are ones I've created,
Katie (10:16):
I wonder if that's the difference.
Rachel (10:18):
Hmm.
Interesting.
Katie (10:20):
Uh Huh, so we learned that the hard way.
So it was like, yes, this slidelooks great.
Video doesn't work, let's justgo ahead and copy paste the
link.
Rachel (10:28):
Huh.
Katie (10:29):
But um, it was good learning for me anyhow.
But no, it was awesome.
We've had so much fun, andthey're comfortable, and, you
know, we set those conversationsabout step levels versus levels
and I got them comfortable withthe idea that it's not going to
stay the same.
As their language moves up,we're moving them.
So, they're all shocked, they'relike, What?
(10:50):
What?
And I'm like, yeah, so you'regonna talk to me a lot because
we're gonna be doingconferencing.
And they're like, is it, are wegonna get in trouble?
I was like, no, it's nottrouble, it's just let's talk
about your language.
Rachel (11:00):
Heh.
Katie (11:02):
So, it's been a funny startup, but it's a lot of fun,
I really enjoy it.
Rachel (11:05):
Mm
Katie (11:06):
You know, I'm always anxious for school year to
start, and then I get in theclassroom, and I'm with the
students, and I'm like, Oh, thisis what, this is what we're back
to.
I can do this.
Rachel (11:15):
yeah, there, it, it is a special place.
Now, I don't only do thoselessons.
Like, I, don't want it to justbe, hey, come in, let's sit
down, you work on videos, andjust, like, that's all you do.
So, in the first sort of fewweeks of class, I intentionally
really make sure we're doing alot of, like, opening whole
(11:38):
class activities together.
And so, like, for example, thefirst couple of days of school,
I think the first day of school,I did a, well, what can we
remember from chemistry lastyear, and let's just do a big
brain dump on the board, and itwas so funny to watch them,
because they're like, yeah, Ithink there was something with,
like, moles, and, like, this,and, and they were really, they
(12:02):
were trying so hard, and it was,it was quite funny to watch, and
So had them all up at thewhiteboards doing that.
And then I took pictures ofeverything that they remembered
and posted that on our learningmanagement system for them, just
as like, uh, Hey, this is wherewe're starting from this year.
And you know, you can kind oftake a look at that as we.
(12:23):
Learn and and grow together.
I also did We started out withnomenclature and and doing a
review of that.
So I did a GimKit game which gotso loud It was amazing If you
haven't tried GimKit like I Ireally do love it.
They have a few free modes eachmonth now and you can play with
(12:47):
larger classes.
So I think it's great.
It's so quick to set up a gamebecause you can import questions
from all other people and so Ican, I can set one up within,
you know, maybe five minutes andthen we we start playing and uh,
it's a lot of fun because theycan sabotage each other and
stuff like that too.
It can, I don't know.
Get a little nasty, but it'sfun.
(13:10):
And then, uh, I, I always havethis like.
Who captured the chemist or whokidnapped the chemist kind of
logic puzzle.
I told, I, I did who capturedthe chemist with them last year
and then this year I did whokidnapped the chemist.
I'm like, you know, we're, we'reincreasing the level of crime
here.
They're like, well, what's next?
Who killed the chemist?
I'm like, well, that's for youruniversity profs to figure out.
Katie (13:33):
I like that they went immediately to that.
Who killed the chemist?
Rachel (13:37):
I'm like, maybe we'll have one for semester two.
Who knows?
Katie (13:40):
Yeah.
Oh, that is so funny.
Rachel (13:42):
Yeah.
But just playing lots of games,making things fun, getting to
know each other, especially likethat I have different mixes of
kids, I still like to do allthose kind of getting to know
you activities, even though Iknow the kids.
Mm
Katie (13:55):
hmm.
No, it's still important.
It kind of gives them thatbreathing room as they're
getting used to new courses andnew learning, et cetera.
And it really does get themcomfortable, even if they know
you, right?
It's, it's, you've had some timeaway from each other.
Everybody's had summer break.
Everybody's grown and learneddifferent things.
So it makes sense.
Rachel (14:14):
So why don't we chat now about opening routines on a day
to day basis?
Like, what do we do to start outa mastery based classroom?
Because you don't really want tojust, like, like I said earlier,
you don't want to just go, hey,welcome to class, let's just go
into our, you know, individualself pacing lessons.
Katie (14:34):
So for me, it's a lot of um, so I have to do very regular
conferencing, which is one of mygoals to get better at this year
because it's so easy to havethat fall away.
But, um, Conferencing so theyknow and then, big lessons but
like individualized work in thesense that they're working at
(14:55):
their step level.
So we actually do a lot of groupbased work in the sense that
they go into their step groupsfor an activity.
And then I usually deliver awhole class lesson which seems
crazy because they're all atdifferent step levels.
I've established the routine of,hey, if you're step two, this is
what I'm looking for, and Imodel it.
(15:15):
Step three, this is what I'mlooking for, etc.
But I'd like to model all of thestep expectations because I find
that my lower step levels cansee how the next step does as
well.
And so it actually motivatesthem to, you know, get really
good at what they're doing andthen try the next, if that makes
sense.
Rachel (15:33):
It's transparent.
And I think that's what's greatis that you're giving them that
opportunity to see like, what,what is the next step?
And actually it's, it's kind ofsetting higher expectations for
them, right?
Katie (15:48):
Yeah, and that's what I found, especially like my step
one twos, for them to see whatlike the step fours are doing,
they're like, Oh, and the stepthrees are like, Oh, I'm almost
there.
Okay, I can do this.
And then It made a really bigdifference for a lot of my lower
learners in terms of their,skill acquisition and, and
development.
(16:09):
And they don't really questionmarks when, when we get to that
sort of conversation becausethey know along the way.
they're supposed to be doing andwhere they're supposed to be
headed.
I don't know, it, it's, it'smade a difference and, and I
think that everybody kind ofgets it and they love it and
there's a lot of kids who arereally motivated.
They just want to be like, okay,I want to get to the next one.
(16:29):
What, how can I improve?
And I'm like, okay, let's talkabout that.
And so I like that it's animprovement conversation.
Rachel (16:34):
Yeah.
I love, I love how transparentthat is and how, I guess it is.
It's very motivating for thekiddos to see, you know, well,
this is where I could be.
Katie (16:44):
Mm hmm.
Yeah, and this is what they'redoing, but I'm so close.
I just need to get better atthis part of it.
Rachel (16:50):
Yeah.
Katie (16:51):
Yeah, so, I mean, I think it works, and, and, am I perfect
at it?
No, not at all.
I'm a human being, and um, thisis really our second year of
trying this format.
But I think it's making adifference.
I think the kids and thefamilies notice the difference.
And, yeah, no, we, we'veactually had some students
(17:11):
request our school for optionalattendance for ESL.
Rachel (17:15):
Oh, that's amazing.
Katie (17:16):
and that's a step in the right direction and not where it
was.
So, I think me and my colleagueshave been working very hard and
I think it, we can start to seesome of that.
Rachel (17:26):
Yeah, that's, that's so awesome.
Katie (17:28):
Can I share one more thing?
I got a phone call from anotherschool in a different school
board and they're like we heardthat you you made this book Is
it still for sale?
Can I get a copy for ourlibrary?
Yeah, so We're we're makingchanges and I think it's working
and I think people are reallypicking up on it and enjoying
it.
So forging ahead
Rachel (17:49):
I'm a big fan of using thinking classrooms as my warm
up activities.
And so, I don't do thinkingclassrooms in a traditional
sense.
I'm just gonna lay that outthere because in a traditional
sense, if you're not familiarwith thinking classrooms,
essentially, It's a teachingstrategy that you do whole group
where you have students workingat whiteboards and then you use
(18:13):
Something they call thin slicingso changing the problems that
you give the students like alittle bit at a time so that
they are basically discoveringthe skill or knowledge or
content or whatever on their ownworking in groups
Katie (18:28):
Mm
Rachel (18:28):
so I don't do it in that traditional sense because I
have, I have some very strongopinions about that, especially
when it comes to science, likeI, I can see how it would apply
really nicely in math if, youknow, say students knew how to
do things with an equation inone way and then you're just
like layering on little bit,little bit at a time.
(18:50):
I could see it working reallywell, but science I don't know.
Anyway, I'm digressing.
But, I like to still use some ofthe principles.
So, I like the principle ofgetting students into randomized
small groups of about threestudents.
I love using Flippity, therandom name generator is so cool
(19:13):
and makes, you know, makingthose groups super, super easy.
I usually just say to my kids,Hey, call out a number.
And then I randomize it thatmany times and whatever groups
show up, that's what we'reworking in.
And then I'll put a problem ortwo on the board related to
either the lesson that's on Pacethat day or the one that was on
(19:34):
Pace the day before so that Youknow, even if they're not quite
there.
they can, like, they're stillworking in groups, and so the
ones who are maybe a little bitbehind pace can learn from the
ones that are a little bitstronger with the problem, and
then the ones that are ahead ofpace can help the ones behind,
and so on, so it's, it's verysort of collaborative, and so
we'll do a problem or two likethat, and then Thank you.
(19:56):
Thank you.
Students call me over and get meto check their work and once
they have mastered it, so I likeusing mastery and that sort of
aspect too, then I will tellthem to go sit down and get
started on their flexible pacingwork.
Katie (20:10):
And I love that you're going back, even if it's the day
before on track, it still givesthose an opportunity to see,
hey, this is what it should havebeen, and et cetera.
So you're still letting themlook back or look forward,
depending on the kiddo and wherethey're at.
Rachel (20:23):
Yeah, so I, like, I don't do that every day, though.
I feel like if I did that everyday, it would get very
monotonous, and the kids wouldjust be like, blah, right?
Like, oh, we're doing thisagain.
So, I like to...
Mix things up quite a bit.
Some of the other things, likeI'll do other collaborative
activities.
Sometimes I might do demos ifthey're related to the lesson
(20:45):
for the day, like, hey, let's dothis demo together and let's go
through the what do I see, whatdo I, or what do I think, what
do I observe, what do I, and howcan I explain it?
And we'll often go to thewhiteboards and do that sort of
explanation piece together, too,in groups.
And then, just those sort of,whatever kind of whole group
(21:07):
activity I can do to set thetone.
Because I find setting the tonesettles the students down into
them being able to get into thework that they need to do.
Now, I know, and I, I've triedthis before, and I've done this
before, you could, you couldalso do some sort of do now, or
like a form of a check in, kindof goal setting, or SEL, like
(21:29):
social emotional learning, kindof based check ins, or it could
be a combination of both, andyeah, that's it.
I was doing that on a dailybasis, and I found it got very
repetitive, and the responsesthat I was getting from those
daily check ins was going kindof downhill.
Katie (21:47):
so how often do you do your check ins?
Is it weekly?
Rachel (21:50):
I went from daily, and then I went to weekly, and I did
weekly last year.
I called it my FridayReflection, and so that's what
we would start out with everyFriday, is like, okay, let's
start with our Friday check in,like, and, and it was just
simple questions.
in terms of what lesson are youworking on?
Are you behind pace, ahead ofpace, on pace?
(22:10):
What were your goals for theweek?
How did you achieve them?
You know, those sort of, thosesort of kind of questions.
And I even found They didn'teven love doing it on a weekly
basis.
I don't know if it's just thereflection or if it's, I don't
know.
So I haven't fully kind ofinstituted any sort of routine
(22:31):
with it now.
I think I'm just going to dothem a little bit more sporadic
this year.
Katie (22:36):
Yeah, I and I wonder if that's see part of me is like I
get why weekly for kids would belike Oh, we're talking about
this again.
Have I really changed that muchin a week like really?
But it is finding that thatbalance that it can't be too far
in the future But it also can'tbe too soon.
And it's a tough balance.
Like, I'm aiming for every twoweeks where I do conferencing.
(22:58):
But conferencing also takestime.
So I'm like, we'll see how thatgoes.
But I have to start withsomething a little more rigid so
that I stick to it.
Rachel (23:07):
Now I do have, the way I'm structuring my course, I am
structuring smaller modules.
I'm calling them modules insteadof units because they're, there
really are just kind of modules.
They're pieces of what I wouldcall a traditional unit in the
course.
I would take a traditional unitand break it down into two or
three different modules.
So I might do check ins.
(23:29):
At the end of each module justto see, like, how it went and
have that sort of reflectionpiece.
I think then that's, it's alittle bit, again, it's not that
routine of doing it every singleFriday.
It's just, okay, we've done amodule like let's reflect on how
it went.
And let's check in withourselves and reset ourselves
for the next one now and figureout where we're going to go.
Katie (23:51):
Yeah.
Rachel (23:52):
I think another thing I do, though, is I always, I have
a weekly agenda slide that I putup at the beginning of class.
And so it shows...
every day of that week, and hereare the lessons, and here's
where all the on pace lessonsare, here's what we're doing
each day, and where you shouldbe at, as well as some reminders
(24:12):
for students on importantdeadlines or dates or stuff like
that that's coming up.
And so that gets a littlerepetitive, but I do review that
every single day at thebeginning of class.
And then I also Right away afterthat put up our progress
trackers so that we can take alook and see where where our on
(24:33):
pace lesson is And everyone cando that quick sort of like
informal check in as to wherethey are compared to where they
should be
Katie (24:42):
No, and I love the agenda.
I've seen a couple of youragendas.
You've shared them before.
Rachel (24:46):
I got a new one this year
Katie (24:47):
Ooh, new template or like new formatting?
Rachel (24:51):
new colors
Katie (24:52):
Oh, nothing wrong with that.
I'm sure new font.
Rachel (24:56):
No, not new font.
I love Poppins still I'm stillin love with Poppins.
Katie (25:01):
Very nice.
I do like pop ins.
It's cute.
But no, agenda slides andagendas in general are really
great for kids to kind of seewhere they're going and what
they should be doing and that'sanother form of transparency
that I think is really fair forthe classroom.
Rachel (25:15):
I think it's a nice informal way of getting the kids
to set goals, even if you don'tsay hey.
Let's set a goal for ourselvesand you don't make it super
apparent that that's what you'redoing.
Just by putting that up, it is,I think they're internalizing it
and automatically kind ofsetting their own goals for
themselves because they'll seeit and they'll be like, oh my
(25:36):
gosh, I'm behind pace.
I need to catch up.
Today, I am going to finish thislesson and do this mastery
check.
You can see them, either thewheels turning, right, and
they're thinking about this, oryou can actually hear their
conversations with the peoplethat they're sitting around with
and saying, yeah, like, yeah, Ineed to do this today.
Katie (25:56):
Yeah, no, and it keeps them honest, right?
They can't say they didn't know.
Rachel (26:02):
And no, I know I get a little bit annoyed when they're
like, what are we doing in classtoday?
I'm like, dude,
Katie (26:10):
come on!
Rachel (26:11):
come on.
Katie (26:12):
It's right there.
Rachel (26:14):
I also post that in my Brightspace too, so I can just
be like, Hey, go check out theweekly agenda slides in
Brightspace and uh, you can tellme what we are doing today.
Katie (26:24):
Yes, why don't you tell me?
I forget.
Rachel (26:27):
Now we do have this one resource from Modern Classrooms
that we'll post in our shownotes, but there are some other
good little ideas for openingroutines.
One that I really like, and Ithink you almost kind of do that
by putting your students in steplevel groups, they, they talk
about accountability groups.
So having students meet in smallgroups to discuss and talk about
(26:51):
their goals.
and what they're setting forthat day, that week, whatever.
And then also how they cansupport each other.
I think that's such a neat idea.
Katie (27:01):
Yes, and it's something that you don't find in a
traditional classroom because Ifind more traditional settings
to be so competitive.
Whereas, you know, this type ofclassroom where we're like, no,
like, let's work together, let'sdevelop together, ask each
other, lean on one another.
And this more collaborativeenvironment, it, it's like they
take responsibility for oneanother in some ways and they
(27:21):
want to help lift each other up.
Rachel (27:23):
I think that one's worth a try.
I haven't tried it personally,but I think that's a really sort
of neat idea.
Another one they have here isjust a really quick, tell me
something good.
So, at the beginning of class,bringing them together and
having students share any sortof announcements or good news or
anything like that.
I do ha I did have that on mycheck in form.
(27:46):
It's just at the very bottom uh,tell me something you, you're
really excited to share with me.
And I got some really neatthings last year, but I think it
would also be kind of fun tobring that into the classroom
and hear everybody's, like,
Katie (28:00):
Yeah.
Rachel (28:00):
and what they want to share.
Katie (28:01):
And then you find, hey, a lot of my students have things
in common that they wouldn'thave heard about before.
And so it's another way to kindof build those relationships and
comfort level with one another.
And maybe you have a peer, likea student in your classroom who
doesn't have a lot of friends,and so that could be a good
connection.
Rachel (28:17):
Yeah, so there's some, there's some really good ideas
for opening routines in thisresource.
And like I said, we'll stickthat in the show notes.
There's actually great ideas forclosing routines too, but I
think that is another episode.
Katie (28:28):
Yes, and like, let's be honest, like, my closing routine
is typically, oh no, the bell'sabout to go!
Rachel (28:36):
For me as well, that, that ends up happening with me
all the time too.
I'm like, where did the classgo?
Katie (28:42):
Yeah, it flies.
Rachel (28:43):
guys.
See you tomorrow.
Katie (28:44):
Yeah, so I'm just like, oh my goodness.
So yeah, closing routines, thatwould require me to actually
recognize it's the end of class.
Rachel (28:51):
Yeah, pretty much.
But there's some great ideas onclosing
Katie (28:55):
Yes.
It is a great resource.
There's lots there for you tocheck out.
Rachel (28:59):
So I think that wraps up our conversation here today on
our mastery based classrooms andhow we start out a semester and
also start out our classes everyday.
And so what we'll do is it willinclude any of the links or
resources we talked about heretoday in our show notes.
You can access our show notesfor this episode at edugals.
(29:20):
com slash 135.
That's edugals.
com slash 135.
Katie (29:26):
And if you like what you heard today, feel free to share
it with a colleague or a friend.
And don't forget to subscribe onyour favourite podcast app, so
that you don't miss out on anyfuture content.
Rachel (29:35):
And as always, we'd love to hear from you.
So if you have different waysthat you open up your classroom,
whether it's mastery based ornot, we would love to hear it.
And so you can go on to our flipat edugals.
com slash flipgrid and leave usa video message there.
Or you can go on to our websiteat edugals.
com and leave us a writtenreply.
Katie (29:57):
Thanks for listening, and see you next week.
In this episode, we are talking all about how we start
out in our mastery basedclassrooms.
Katie (00:47):
We will share how we set up our courses and some daily
activities you can use with yourstudents.
Rachel (00:53):
Let's get started.
This week, Katie and I aretalking all about mastery based
classrooms and sort of how tostart class and what those
opening routines might be inyour mastery based classroom.
Katie (01:13):
And I think it's also worth mentioning not only how to
start class, but how to start acourse.
And so when you're diving intoit, how to get those students
prepared and into the mindsetof, Okay, we're doing something
a little different here.
And how they can kind of make itwork.
Rachel (01:28):
Yeah, it does take a little bit more sort of
strategizing and thinking aboutand being really, really kind of
intentional in your planning asyou're starting out in a mastery
based learning model.
Katie (01:40):
and find it takes a little bit longer to dive into
content, if that makes sense.
Because it's like getting thekids used to some of these
routines and this change ofdirection in some ways.
Rachel (01:51):
Yeah, so let's start out talking about how we start out a
course.
I think that's, that's a goodplace to start and then we can
get into the daily sort of grindof how we start class every
single day and some of thedifferent sort of ideas that you
can do.
So I think basically the way Ikind of lay out My course and
(02:12):
get started is I spend timedoing what I like to call my
unit zero and So it's not verylong.
I say unit but it's two or threelessons long.
So we're maybe spending a day ortwo three at most on this
particular unit, but it'slearning about all of the
logistics of my mastery basedclassroom before we get into
(02:37):
curriculum.
So doing mastery checks,grabbing and watching videos,
doing guided notes, like it kindof guides them through all of
those different pieces of mymastery based classroom in a
very sort of low stakes waybecause it's not curriculum
based.
Katie (02:52):
Yeah, and I usually take the first two weeks as kind of
like a diagnostics.
So, my mastery classroom looks alittle bit different because
they all have different coursecodes and different English
levels.
So, disclaimer, what it lookslike in my English as an
additional language class isgoing to be a little bit
different from...
Say, like a straight throughgrade 11 or 12 chemistry course
or whatever else.
(03:13):
But yeah, so my first two weeksare, you know, I have this
report that has been provided tome by the board or different
teachers that tells me thatsnapshot in time that they saw
in terms of English skills.
And it's my job to see where itfits in, if it does fit in and
each of the different skilllevels they have and can
demonstrate at the beginning ofa course.
Rachel (03:35):
Yeah, and I think you do have a pretty unique situation
in that you really do need tosort of assess your students
and, and see where they arestarting at, because those
assessments are not always spoton, are they?
Katie (03:49):
No, no, no, no.
And, and I find that um, I don'tknow what the difference is, but
for some reason, how elementaryteachers perceive step level in
the elementary context isdifferent than how we see it in
secondary, so there tends to besome pretty significant
differences.
Which I always find interesting,and I'd love to be on a fly on,
(04:10):
a fly on the wall when they'redoing them, or, or be there to
have a conversation about howthey see it.
but yeah, so it does take sometime, because I need to make
sure that I know theirindividual skill levels for
oral, reading, and writing.
Because that is how we arerunning our courses.
Mm hmm.
Rachel (04:26):
Yeah, I, it, definitely a lot different than what I do
with my classes, but my classestend to be, you know, that
academic track kind of studentwhere, yes, I might have a few
mixed in students who areEnglish language learners or
those with IEPs and, and stufflike that, but usually it's It's
(04:46):
pretty academic and we can getinto curriculum a lot quicker
than taking a couple of weeksand so I've kind of structured
out my unit zero with all mygetting to know you kind of
activities because I find that'sfun and then that's an easy way
to teach them how we're going tobe learning this year and about
the model without having toStand up in front of my room and
(05:09):
say, this is how learning'sgoing to work this year because
he wants to do that on the firstfew days of school.
That is so boring.
And, uh, so most of the time mylesson zero, what my first
lesson's called getting to knowyou and I have a video in there
where I talk a bit about myselfand who I am as a person and
educator, both inside andoutside of the classroom.
(05:32):
And, uh, I give them a littlechallenge of, okay, now you've
watched the video, come up andask me one question so that you
can get to know me better.
And then when they do that, Iusually ask them a question as
well to get to know them alittle bit better.
So it tries to, like, what I'mreally trying to do there is
alleviate any of that stress of,Oh my god, I gotta go talk to
the teacher, right?
(05:53):
I want them coming and asking mequestions.
So this is my first sort of pushinto, you know, it's okay.
Like, come ask me anything.
And they're super shy when theydo that.
Katie (06:03):
Yup.
Rachel (06:04):
And then my sort of mastery check for that lesson is
just getting them to fill out myAbout Me form.
So, you know, I, I do that andthen once they filled it out, I
can check it off on theirprogress tracker and they can
see themselves moving ahead, solike, they get super excited
about that.
Katie (06:19):
That is awesome.
Rachel (06:20):
and then my, my second sort of lesson goes into, okay,
now we need to get to know thecourse and we need to get to
understand what are, you know,the structures and all the
things in place.
So, got a couple of videos thatleads them through.
Brightspace, our learningmanagement system, some of the
other important details, andthen I usually do a little
digital mastery check just tomake sure that they're on the
(06:42):
right track.
Katie (06:43):
That's awesome.
Rachel (06:44):
Yeah, I think it works quite well, too.
And, and so they, they get toknow the lingo, right, and the
terminologies.
So I'll use must do, should do,aspire to do for my different
tasks.
So they start to get a feel forwhat all of those mean.
They understand what a masterycheck is.
And They understand what videosyou know how to go through and
(07:05):
watch a video how to take guidednotes.
So we, we kind of take care allof all of those basics right off
the bat.
Katie (07:12):
Yeah, I like it.
It's efficient.
Kids are done.
Rachel (07:15):
Yep.
Now, as, as I've kind of said inthe podcast, you know, in the
past few episodes, what wasgreat about this year's I taught
all the kids last year.
So I still had that introductorylesson, but I shortened it down
to just.
One lesson and sort of compiledeverything together that I
(07:35):
needed them to do so it was goodYou know I still collected data
About my students like I stillhad them fill out an about me
survey because who knows what'schanged over the past year and
it was Really neat because theythey shared different things
about themselves that they knewthey hadn't shared last year So
I feel like I just got an evendeeper understanding of who they
(07:56):
are
Katie (07:56):
There's something to be said about following them
through or teaching that samecohort next year.
Rachel (08:01):
Yeah, it's so cool.
Katie (08:03):
Yeah, and that classroom dynamic already exists.
So it's not like you're tryinghard to make sure, like, you can
build that kind of relationshipwith them and get them
comfortable.
Rachel (08:12):
It was two different classes, and I do have different
mixes of the kids from thedifferent classes, so there is
like a little bit, bit ofdifference in terms of dynamics,
but it's still, it's, it'sreally, really neat.
Katie (08:25):
So we spend tons of time on like the community building
and we do it like singleclassroom.
So me and the ones who are likeassigned to my physical
classroom.
But then we also do it likemixed group because we do so
many things as like a big wholeprogram.
And it's such an important time.
Because of the fact that a lotof my English language learners
(08:48):
tend to be nervous and anxiousand super quiet because they're
afraid of making mistakes or notsounding confident Like their
English is great, et cetera.
So there is so much time thatwe've been putting into getting
them comfortable in theclassroom, getting to know us
sharing a bit about us as likehuman beings outside of a
classroom, so that they knowwe're not just a scary teacher,
(09:10):
because some countries...
The teacher can be a reallyscary authority figure so it's
been successful though, becauseat one point a vice principal
was walking down the hall andhe's like, what's going on in
here?
Because we had so many studentsin my classroom and they were
all super loud and laughing andjoking.
And I was like, oh, it's just.
This is our ESL program, that'sall.
(09:33):
But um, you know, there'ssomething to be said about
getting them to a point wherethey're comfortable talking with
each other and laughing andjoking and, and sharing, like we
had them share their favoritesong in a slide.
So, you know, learning how touse Google Slides, how to insert
videos, which.
I don't know if you've triedthis year, but Google and
YouTube do not interact wellanymore.
Rachel (09:53):
Really?
I haven't had any issues.
Katie (09:56):
We keep getting errors.
Rachel (09:57):
Huh.
Katie (09:58):
play any YouTube videos on a slide this year.
Which was like, rude awakeningfor me, because I'm like, what
is happening?
Rachel (10:04):
it's really interesting because all of my instructional
videos are in YouTube, and theninserted into Google Slides, so,
Katie (10:13):
But are they ones that you created?
Rachel (10:15):
They are ones I've created,
Katie (10:16):
I wonder if that's the difference.
Rachel (10:18):
Hmm.
Interesting.
Katie (10:20):
Uh Huh, so we learned that the hard way.
So it was like, yes, this slidelooks great.
Video doesn't work, let's justgo ahead and copy paste the
link.
Rachel (10:28):
Huh.
Katie (10:29):
But um, it was good learning for me anyhow.
But no, it was awesome.
We've had so much fun, andthey're comfortable, and, you
know, we set those conversationsabout step levels versus levels
and I got them comfortable withthe idea that it's not going to
stay the same.
As their language moves up,we're moving them.
So, they're all shocked, they'relike, What?
(10:50):
What?
And I'm like, yeah, so you'regonna talk to me a lot because
we're gonna be doingconferencing.
And they're like, is it, are wegonna get in trouble?
I was like, no, it's nottrouble, it's just let's talk
about your language.
Rachel (11:00):
Heh.
Katie (11:02):
So, it's been a funny startup, but it's a lot of fun,
I really enjoy it.
Rachel (11:05):
Mm
Katie (11:06):
You know, I'm always anxious for school year to
start, and then I get in theclassroom, and I'm with the
students, and I'm like, Oh, thisis what, this is what we're back
to.
I can do this.
Rachel (11:15):
yeah, there, it, it is a special place.
Now, I don't only do thoselessons.
Like, I, don't want it to justbe, hey, come in, let's sit
down, you work on videos, andjust, like, that's all you do.
So, in the first sort of fewweeks of class, I intentionally
really make sure we're doing alot of, like, opening whole
(11:38):
class activities together.
And so, like, for example, thefirst couple of days of school,
I think the first day of school,I did a, well, what can we
remember from chemistry lastyear, and let's just do a big
brain dump on the board, and itwas so funny to watch them,
because they're like, yeah, Ithink there was something with,
like, moles, and, like, this,and, and they were really, they
(12:02):
were trying so hard, and it was,it was quite funny to watch, and
So had them all up at thewhiteboards doing that.
And then I took pictures ofeverything that they remembered
and posted that on our learningmanagement system for them, just
as like, uh, Hey, this is wherewe're starting from this year.
And you know, you can kind oftake a look at that as we.
(12:23):
Learn and and grow together.
I also did We started out withnomenclature and and doing a
review of that.
So I did a GimKit game which gotso loud It was amazing If you
haven't tried GimKit like I Ireally do love it.
They have a few free modes eachmonth now and you can play with
(12:47):
larger classes.
So I think it's great.
It's so quick to set up a gamebecause you can import questions
from all other people and so Ican, I can set one up within,
you know, maybe five minutes andthen we we start playing and uh,
it's a lot of fun because theycan sabotage each other and
stuff like that too.
It can, I don't know.
Get a little nasty, but it'sfun.
(13:10):
And then, uh, I, I always havethis like.
Who captured the chemist or whokidnapped the chemist kind of
logic puzzle.
I told, I, I did who capturedthe chemist with them last year
and then this year I did whokidnapped the chemist.
I'm like, you know, we're, we'reincreasing the level of crime
here.
They're like, well, what's next?
Who killed the chemist?
I'm like, well, that's for youruniversity profs to figure out.
Katie (13:33):
I like that they went immediately to that.
Who killed the chemist?
Rachel (13:37):
I'm like, maybe we'll have one for semester two.
Who knows?
Katie (13:40):
Yeah.
Oh, that is so funny.
Rachel (13:42):
Yeah.
But just playing lots of games,making things fun, getting to
know each other, especially likethat I have different mixes of
kids, I still like to do allthose kind of getting to know
you activities, even though Iknow the kids.
Mm
Katie (13:55):
hmm.
No, it's still important.
It kind of gives them thatbreathing room as they're
getting used to new courses andnew learning, et cetera.
And it really does get themcomfortable, even if they know
you, right?
It's, it's, you've had some timeaway from each other.
Everybody's had summer break.
Everybody's grown and learneddifferent things.
So it makes sense.
Rachel (14:14):
So why don't we chat now about opening routines on a day
to day basis?
Like, what do we do to start outa mastery based classroom?
Because you don't really want tojust, like, like I said earlier,
you don't want to just go, hey,welcome to class, let's just go
into our, you know, individualself pacing lessons.
Katie (14:34):
So for me, it's a lot of um, so I have to do very regular
conferencing, which is one of mygoals to get better at this year
because it's so easy to havethat fall away.
But, um, Conferencing so theyknow and then, big lessons but
like individualized work in thesense that they're working at
(14:55):
their step level.
So we actually do a lot of groupbased work in the sense that
they go into their step groupsfor an activity.
And then I usually deliver awhole class lesson which seems
crazy because they're all atdifferent step levels.
I've established the routine of,hey, if you're step two, this is
what I'm looking for, and Imodel it.
(15:15):
Step three, this is what I'mlooking for, etc.
But I'd like to model all of thestep expectations because I find
that my lower step levels cansee how the next step does as
well.
And so it actually motivatesthem to, you know, get really
good at what they're doing andthen try the next, if that makes
sense.
Rachel (15:33):
It's transparent.
And I think that's what's greatis that you're giving them that
opportunity to see like, what,what is the next step?
And actually it's, it's kind ofsetting higher expectations for
them, right?
Katie (15:48):
Yeah, and that's what I found, especially like my step
one twos, for them to see whatlike the step fours are doing,
they're like, Oh, and the stepthrees are like, Oh, I'm almost
there.
Okay, I can do this.
And then It made a really bigdifference for a lot of my lower
learners in terms of their,skill acquisition and, and
development.
(16:09):
And they don't really questionmarks when, when we get to that
sort of conversation becausethey know along the way.
they're supposed to be doing andwhere they're supposed to be
headed.
I don't know, it, it's, it'smade a difference and, and I
think that everybody kind ofgets it and they love it and
there's a lot of kids who arereally motivated.
They just want to be like, okay,I want to get to the next one.
(16:29):
What, how can I improve?
And I'm like, okay, let's talkabout that.
And so I like that it's animprovement conversation.
Rachel (16:34):
Yeah.
I love, I love how transparentthat is and how, I guess it is.
It's very motivating for thekiddos to see, you know, well,
this is where I could be.
Katie (16:44):
Mm hmm.
Yeah, and this is what they'redoing, but I'm so close.
I just need to get better atthis part of it.
Rachel (16:50):
Yeah.
Katie (16:51):
Yeah, so, I mean, I think it works, and, and, am I perfect
at it?
No, not at all.
I'm a human being, and um, thisis really our second year of
trying this format.
But I think it's making adifference.
I think the kids and thefamilies notice the difference.
And, yeah, no, we, we'veactually had some students
(17:11):
request our school for optionalattendance for ESL.
Rachel (17:15):
Oh, that's amazing.
Katie (17:16):
and that's a step in the right direction and not where it
was.
So, I think me and my colleagueshave been working very hard and
I think it, we can start to seesome of that.
Rachel (17:26):
Yeah, that's, that's so awesome.
Katie (17:28):
Can I share one more thing?
I got a phone call from anotherschool in a different school
board and they're like we heardthat you you made this book Is
it still for sale?
Can I get a copy for ourlibrary?
Yeah, so We're we're makingchanges and I think it's working
and I think people are reallypicking up on it and enjoying
it.
So forging ahead
Rachel (17:49):
I'm a big fan of using thinking classrooms as my warm
up activities.
And so, I don't do thinkingclassrooms in a traditional
sense.
I'm just gonna lay that outthere because in a traditional
sense, if you're not familiarwith thinking classrooms,
essentially, It's a teachingstrategy that you do whole group
where you have students workingat whiteboards and then you use
(18:13):
Something they call thin slicingso changing the problems that
you give the students like alittle bit at a time so that
they are basically discoveringthe skill or knowledge or
content or whatever on their ownworking in groups
Katie (18:28):
Mm
Rachel (18:28):
so I don't do it in that traditional sense because I
have, I have some very strongopinions about that, especially
when it comes to science, likeI, I can see how it would apply
really nicely in math if, youknow, say students knew how to
do things with an equation inone way and then you're just
like layering on little bit,little bit at a time.
(18:50):
I could see it working reallywell, but science I don't know.
Anyway, I'm digressing.
But, I like to still use some ofthe principles.
So, I like the principle ofgetting students into randomized
small groups of about threestudents.
I love using Flippity, therandom name generator is so cool
(19:13):
and makes, you know, makingthose groups super, super easy.
I usually just say to my kids,Hey, call out a number.
And then I randomize it thatmany times and whatever groups
show up, that's what we'reworking in.
And then I'll put a problem ortwo on the board related to
either the lesson that's on Pacethat day or the one that was on
(19:34):
Pace the day before so that Youknow, even if they're not quite
there.
they can, like, they're stillworking in groups, and so the
ones who are maybe a little bitbehind pace can learn from the
ones that are a little bitstronger with the problem, and
then the ones that are ahead ofpace can help the ones behind,
and so on, so it's, it's verysort of collaborative, and so
we'll do a problem or two likethat, and then Thank you.
(19:56):
Thank you.
Students call me over and get meto check their work and once
they have mastered it, so I likeusing mastery and that sort of
aspect too, then I will tellthem to go sit down and get
started on their flexible pacingwork.
Katie (20:10):
And I love that you're going back, even if it's the day
before on track, it still givesthose an opportunity to see,
hey, this is what it should havebeen, and et cetera.
So you're still letting themlook back or look forward,
depending on the kiddo and wherethey're at.
Rachel (20:23):
Yeah, so I, like, I don't do that every day, though.
I feel like if I did that everyday, it would get very
monotonous, and the kids wouldjust be like, blah, right?
Like, oh, we're doing thisagain.
So, I like to...
Mix things up quite a bit.
Some of the other things, likeI'll do other collaborative
activities.
Sometimes I might do demos ifthey're related to the lesson
(20:45):
for the day, like, hey, let's dothis demo together and let's go
through the what do I see, whatdo I, or what do I think, what
do I observe, what do I, and howcan I explain it?
And we'll often go to thewhiteboards and do that sort of
explanation piece together, too,in groups.
And then, just those sort of,whatever kind of whole group
(21:07):
activity I can do to set thetone.
Because I find setting the tonesettles the students down into
them being able to get into thework that they need to do.
Now, I know, and I, I've triedthis before, and I've done this
before, you could, you couldalso do some sort of do now, or
like a form of a check in, kindof goal setting, or SEL, like
(21:29):
social emotional learning, kindof based check ins, or it could
be a combination of both, andyeah, that's it.
I was doing that on a dailybasis, and I found it got very
repetitive, and the responsesthat I was getting from those
daily check ins was going kindof downhill.
Katie (21:47):
so how often do you do your check ins?
Is it weekly?
Rachel (21:50):
I went from daily, and then I went to weekly, and I did
weekly last year.
I called it my FridayReflection, and so that's what
we would start out with everyFriday, is like, okay, let's
start with our Friday check in,like, and, and it was just
simple questions.
in terms of what lesson are youworking on?
Are you behind pace, ahead ofpace, on pace?
(22:10):
What were your goals for theweek?
How did you achieve them?
You know, those sort of, thosesort of kind of questions.
And I even found They didn'teven love doing it on a weekly
basis.
I don't know if it's just thereflection or if it's, I don't
know.
So I haven't fully kind ofinstituted any sort of routine
(22:31):
with it now.
I think I'm just going to dothem a little bit more sporadic
this year.
Katie (22:36):
Yeah, I and I wonder if that's see part of me is like I
get why weekly for kids would belike Oh, we're talking about
this again.
Have I really changed that muchin a week like really?
But it is finding that thatbalance that it can't be too far
in the future But it also can'tbe too soon.
And it's a tough balance.
Like, I'm aiming for every twoweeks where I do conferencing.
(22:58):
But conferencing also takestime.
So I'm like, we'll see how thatgoes.
But I have to start withsomething a little more rigid so
that I stick to it.
Rachel (23:07):
Now I do have, the way I'm structuring my course, I am
structuring smaller modules.
I'm calling them modules insteadof units because they're, there
really are just kind of modules.
They're pieces of what I wouldcall a traditional unit in the
course.
I would take a traditional unitand break it down into two or
three different modules.
So I might do check ins.
(23:29):
At the end of each module justto see, like, how it went and
have that sort of reflectionpiece.
I think then that's, it's alittle bit, again, it's not that
routine of doing it every singleFriday.
It's just, okay, we've done amodule like let's reflect on how
it went.
And let's check in withourselves and reset ourselves
for the next one now and figureout where we're going to go.
Katie (23:51):
Yeah.
Rachel (23:52):
I think another thing I do, though, is I always, I have
a weekly agenda slide that I putup at the beginning of class.
And so it shows...
every day of that week, and hereare the lessons, and here's
where all the on pace lessonsare, here's what we're doing
each day, and where you shouldbe at, as well as some reminders
(24:12):
for students on importantdeadlines or dates or stuff like
that that's coming up.
And so that gets a littlerepetitive, but I do review that
every single day at thebeginning of class.
And then I also Right away afterthat put up our progress
trackers so that we can take alook and see where where our on
(24:33):
pace lesson is And everyone cando that quick sort of like
informal check in as to wherethey are compared to where they
should be
Katie (24:42):
No, and I love the agenda.
I've seen a couple of youragendas.
You've shared them before.
Rachel (24:46):
I got a new one this year
Katie (24:47):
Ooh, new template or like new formatting?
Rachel (24:51):
new colors
Katie (24:52):
Oh, nothing wrong with that.
I'm sure new font.
Rachel (24:56):
No, not new font.
I love Poppins still I'm stillin love with Poppins.
Katie (25:01):
Very nice.
I do like pop ins.
It's cute.
But no, agenda slides andagendas in general are really
great for kids to kind of seewhere they're going and what
they should be doing and that'sanother form of transparency
that I think is really fair forthe classroom.
Rachel (25:15):
I think it's a nice informal way of getting the kids
to set goals, even if you don'tsay hey.
Let's set a goal for ourselvesand you don't make it super
apparent that that's what you'redoing.
Just by putting that up, it is,I think they're internalizing it
and automatically kind ofsetting their own goals for
themselves because they'll seeit and they'll be like, oh my
(25:36):
gosh, I'm behind pace.
I need to catch up.
Today, I am going to finish thislesson and do this mastery
check.
You can see them, either thewheels turning, right, and
they're thinking about this, oryou can actually hear their
conversations with the peoplethat they're sitting around with
and saying, yeah, like, yeah, Ineed to do this today.
Katie (25:56):
Yeah, no, and it keeps them honest, right?
They can't say they didn't know.
Rachel (26:02):
And no, I know I get a little bit annoyed when they're
like, what are we doing in classtoday?
I'm like, dude,
Katie (26:10):
come on!
Rachel (26:11):
come on.
Katie (26:12):
It's right there.
Rachel (26:14):
I also post that in my Brightspace too, so I can just
be like, Hey, go check out theweekly agenda slides in
Brightspace and uh, you can tellme what we are doing today.
Katie (26:24):
Yes, why don't you tell me?
I forget.
Rachel (26:27):
Now we do have this one resource from Modern Classrooms
that we'll post in our shownotes, but there are some other
good little ideas for openingroutines.
One that I really like, and Ithink you almost kind of do that
by putting your students in steplevel groups, they, they talk
about accountability groups.
So having students meet in smallgroups to discuss and talk about
(26:51):
their goals.
and what they're setting forthat day, that week, whatever.
And then also how they cansupport each other.
I think that's such a neat idea.
Katie (27:01):
Yes, and it's something that you don't find in a
traditional classroom because Ifind more traditional settings
to be so competitive.
Whereas, you know, this type ofclassroom where we're like, no,
like, let's work together, let'sdevelop together, ask each
other, lean on one another.
And this more collaborativeenvironment, it, it's like they
take responsibility for oneanother in some ways and they
(27:21):
want to help lift each other up.
Rachel (27:23):
I think that one's worth a try.
I haven't tried it personally,but I think that's a really sort
of neat idea.
Another one they have here isjust a really quick, tell me
something good.
So, at the beginning of class,bringing them together and
having students share any sortof announcements or good news or
anything like that.
I do ha I did have that on mycheck in form.
(27:46):
It's just at the very bottom uh,tell me something you, you're
really excited to share with me.
And I got some really neatthings last year, but I think it
would also be kind of fun tobring that into the classroom
and hear everybody's, like,
Katie (28:00):
Yeah.
Rachel (28:00):
and what they want to share.
Katie (28:01):
And then you find, hey, a lot of my students have things
in common that they wouldn'thave heard about before.
And so it's another way to kindof build those relationships and
comfort level with one another.
And maybe you have a peer, likea student in your classroom who
doesn't have a lot of friends,and so that could be a good
connection.
Rachel (28:17):
Yeah, so there's some, there's some really good ideas
for opening routines in thisresource.
And like I said, we'll stickthat in the show notes.
There's actually great ideas forclosing routines too, but I
think that is another episode.
Katie (28:28):
Yes, and like, let's be honest, like, my closing routine
is typically, oh no, the bell'sabout to go!
Rachel (28:36):
For me as well, that, that ends up happening with me
all the time too.
I'm like, where did the classgo?
Katie (28:42):
Yeah, it flies.
Rachel (28:43):
guys.
See you tomorrow.
Katie (28:44):
Yeah, so I'm just like, oh my goodness.
So yeah, closing routines, thatwould require me to actually
recognize it's the end of class.
Rachel (28:51):
Yeah, pretty much.
But there's some great ideas onclosing
Katie (28:55):
Yes.
It is a great resource.
There's lots there for you tocheck out.
Rachel (28:59):
So I think that wraps up our conversation here today on
our mastery based classrooms andhow we start out a semester and
also start out our classes everyday.
And so what we'll do is it willinclude any of the links or
resources we talked about heretoday in our show notes.
You can access our show notesfor this episode at edugals.
(29:20):
com slash 135.
That's edugals.
com slash 135.
Katie (29:26):
And if you like what you heard today, feel free to share
it with a colleague or a friend.
And don't forget to subscribe onyour favourite podcast app, so
that you don't miss out on anyfuture content.
Rachel (29:35):
And as always, we'd love to hear from you.
So if you have different waysthat you open up your classroom,
whether it's mastery based ornot, we would love to hear it.
And so you can go on to our flipat edugals.
com slash flipgrid and leave usa video message there.
Or you can go on to our websiteat edugals.
com and leave us a writtenreply.
Katie (29:57):
Thanks for listening, and see you next week.
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