April Poetry Contest

Higher Order Thinking Question Stems

Aesthetically oriented and higher order thinking question stems. By Kylene Beers and Robert E. Probst

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What is Arts Integration?

Arts Integration is using the arts (music, visual art, dance, drama, and creative writing) to teach non-arts standards (language arts, math, science, and social studies.) We know that students learn in different methods, especially students with disabilities and second language learners. Using the arts allows all students to participate in the curriculum in ways that traditional methods do not. 

“I’m not an artist! I can barely draw a straight line! I definitely can’t sing!” 

This was the number one concern when our staff found out we were selected to implement this program. That’s how we looked at it in the beginning, “Another program- give it a few months, maybe a year, and it would be gone, like all the others before it.” How wrong we were! After the first year, the staff was on fire and growing stronger in our teaching abilities. (We received several professional development classes and lots of hands-on experiences with the arts.) Standardized scores went up! This was a real feat since we are a Title I school with over 75% free and reduced lunch, a large percentage of special education students, and an even larger percentage of ELL students. Everyone expects schools with our demographics to make the state’s target list every year since schools with similar demographics without Arts Integration do not make the same gains. Since we have become an arts school, we have not made “the list” for our gains or achievement. 

How does Arts Integration work?

Arts Integration is a method, not a program. The core academic subjects that everyone is accustomed to teaching have to be looked at as equally important as the arts standards, which is why our school refers to the standards as arts and non-arts. Students need to be submersed in both standards to be well rounded people. 

While teaching a traditional skill such as verbs, teachers look for a natural connection to an arts discipline to work with. I found that Keith Haring created art with bold colors and few details that depicted some type of movement which was perfect for teaching verbs. I looked at his art work and found some key skills that are tied to state standards and combined those standards with my language arts standards. Key vocabulary is taught from both subject areas. In this case, students learned action verbs, primary colors, secondary colors, complementary colors, positive space, and negative space. The lesson concluded with the students creating a piece of art in the style of Keith Haring. They had to choose one color for the positive space (a paper man with brads so the joints will move was traced in a position of the student’s choice) and a complimentary color for the negative space (background). They had to give their painting a title; an action verb that reflected the main idea and movement of their person. 


Yes, it is a lot of work to teach in this manner, but I only taught two lessons on action verbs and my students mastered it. That’s saying quite a bit, when you find out I teach a self-contained special education class where all of the students have IQ’s in the 50’s and 60’s. 

Is it worth the extra work? 

Yes! The students learn skills I didn’t previously believe to be possible. I spend less time re-teaching the same skills. I am able to move to more advanced skills that require students to think and generalize. In the last 3 years, I have been able to fully integrate three of my students back into the general classroom with resource support. Before AI (seven years), I didn’t have a single child that was able to be moved back with their general education peers. Arts Integration is a method of teaching that opens doors to students that nothing else has been able to do!


This article was written by Guest Blogger Karla-Banks. You can visit her TPT store for user friendly classroom products: Teacher Created Arts Integrated Smartboard Lessons

Picture Book Review of Rapunzel by Paul O. Zelinsky

Rapunzel by Paul O. Zelinsky

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There is a reason this beautiful version of the classic fairy tale Rapunzel by Paul O. Zelinsky won the Caldecott Medal in 1998. The lush Italian illustrations in this picture book are breathtaking. The artwork is worthy of a close study alone.

This version blends story threads from Italian, French, and German tales. My 4th graders quickly connected the latest Disney version story -Tangled, to this timeless story. The language in the text is well put together, although it takes fifteen to twenty minutes to read the book aloud. Of course, we had to stop and gawk at the illustrations.

After we visited Rapunzel's tower we decided to take a short tour of Europe on the map in order to identify the lay of the land. We discovered through end note in the book that at one time fairy tales were all the rage. In fact, one aristocratic lady was sent to a nunnery after writing a version deemed inappropriate. After all, a prince shouldn't climb a tower and spent time alone with a lady, not to mention get her in the family way. Zelinsky kept this picture book within the bounds of propriety, and married the two lovebirds secretly in the tower before their twins were born.

Rumpelstiltskin by Paul O. Zelinksy

The Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Egyptian Cinderella by Shirley Climo is not just another Cinderella story; it is one of the oldest versions known to exist, and there is a grain of factual truth to it.

Today my 4th graders traveled to Egypt and learned that slavery occurred long before America existed. It was not uncommon for pirates to snatch women and children from one country and carry them off to another country and sell them as slaves. In fact, the slave trade was rather prevalent throughout Europe and Asia. In this story we learn about a girl who was taken from her homeland of Greece when she was a young child and sold into slavery in Egypt.

In Climo's version of a Cinderella tale, there isn't a stepsister or stepmother, but there are servant girls who treat our young heroine Rhodolpis, poorly. After all, they are servants and she is just a slave. The story is missing a fairy godmother and a ball, but there is a slipper and a Pharaoh (instead of a prince). Overall, The Egyptian Cinderella is a fascinating look into an ancient culture. Your students will find it both foreign and familiar.

Picture Book Review of The Emperor and the Kite by Jane Yolen

The Emperor and the Kite by Jane Yolen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Today my fourth graders briefly visited China through Jane Yolen's picture book, The Emperor and the Kite. In classic Yolen style, she tells the tale of a tiny princess who goes unnoticed until she saves the kingdom from disaster.

My students connected on an emotional level with this little princess. They sighed and said, "Ahhh..." and "that's so sad." You see, the tiny princess ate alone, talked to herself, and played by herself. She was beneath her family's notice. The only thing she really wanted was love. Of course the little princess triumphs in the end, and is no longer ignored. This is a sweet folk tale set long ago in China.

Find China on the map before you read the story. Ask students to discuss a leading question, "How does it feel when no one will talk to you or play with you?" Read the story and model making text to self connections. You can revisit the text to teach sequence of events, inference, foreshadowing, and predictions.

Picture Book Review of The Red Comb by Fernando Pico

The Red Comb by Fernando Pico
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Today I read The Red Comb by Fernando Pico aloud to my fourth graders. The story is set in 19th Century Puerto Rico, so I pulled out the map to show my students where Puerto Rico is located (the smallest, most eastern island in the Greater Antilles. I confess I know little about this self-governing commonwealth territory under the United States. The story was an eye-opening cultural experience for all of us.

The Red Comb is about a young girl and an older woman who work together to help a runaway slave. The text is slightly cumbersome in some places, but there is a wealth of opportunity to teach vocabulary, history, and culture through this book.

Overall it's good book to use to introduce another time and place in our history.

Picture Book Review of Tsunami by Kimiko Kajikawa

Tsunami! by Kimiko Kajikawa

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In the interest of embracing cultural literacy in my classroom, I searched my file cabinet filled with picture books for something to read out loud. I came across a galley I obtained a few years ago of Tsunami! by Kimiko Kajiikawa.

Tsunami! is folk Japanese story about the sacrifice (theme) of a wealthy rice farmer. Ojissan realized a tsunami was coming while the villagers were on the beach celebrating the harvest. He set fire to his rice fields in order to bring the villagers running to higher ground. His action saved the people from being swept out to the sea.

I read this book aloud in less than ten minutes to my fourth graders. They were engaged in the story, and since the topic is timely due to the earthquake and tsunami that occurred in Japan (March, 2011), my students had numerous questions and text-to-world connections.

After completing the story I used the text to teach summarization. We worked together to determine the main idea of the beginning, middle, and end in order to write a 2-3 sentence summary (above). I recommend finding Japan on a map or globe, and explaining what happens in a tsunami before reading the story (see the video below).

Five Mistakes Teachers Make

What is the difference between an effective teacher and an ineffective teacher? This topic is up for national debate, but unfortunately, the hammer comes down on the wrong side of the teacher more often than not. Teachers are not perfect. In our climb from newbie to effective teacher we might make some mistakes along the way. Most teachers figure out what works and what doesn't work through trial and error, but some teachers continue to make the same mistakes over and over again.

I Taught it. They Should Have Got It.

My first year of teaching still haunts me. I remember feeling perplexed when my students made horrible grades on worksheets assigned to go with the social studies or science book. We read the material out loud and discussed it. The answers were written directly in the chapter, and they are in order! How could they possibly fail? I taught the material. They should have got it.

Effective teachers recognize when things go wrong, and they take responsibility. Sometimes we need to rewind and consider other ways to present material. We also need to realize that some methods are simply ineffective. They don't work. Effective teachers are reflective. They think about what worked and what didn't work, and they take steps to change and improve their teaching in order to engage learners.

Reflective questions: Why did my students fail the worksheet that goes with the chapter? What can I do to make sure they know how to access and comprehend the information? Kids need to learn how to read the textbooks. They need to understand the structure of the text (how it's organized) before they tackle it. We must first teach students how to find the information they need before we can expect them to do it own their own.

My Assignments Cover the Curriculum.

The curriculum is cram packed, and in our effort to "get it all in", it's easy to forget that we are teaching children. Passing out another worksheet or giving an assignment doesn't equal teaching. Teaching is not assigning. Assignments should reflect practice for objectives taught and / or assessment.

Sometimes we need a grade. We give an assignment that reflects an objective in the curriculum, and in the process we get a grade. But in all honesty, we didn't teach the objective. We gave an assignment. Realizing this is a hard pill to swallow, especially when our students do poorly on the assignment.

Reflection questions: What is the key information and understandings my students need to know? How can I effectively teach the objective?  Compacting and differentiation is the key to covering the curriculum effectively. We must recognize the most important things in the curriculum students need to know, and use assessment to drive instruction. Is it necessary to teach something if all of the students have already mastered it? What if some have mastered the objective, but others have not? How can we teach to reach students where they are at, in order to move them forward? Effective teachers consider these questions and make individualized instructional decisions on a daily basis.

They Should Know This Already.

My students are in fourth grade. I know they taught this skill last year. They should know this already. Students are not coming to middle school with the knowledge and skills they need to be successful. What are those teachers doing in elementary school? It must be nice to be able to spend your day cutting and pasting and playing!

Does this sound familiar? It's called the blame game. The above picture (especially the idea that elementary cuts and pastes and plays all day) is far from accurate. There are many, many reasons why a student might not know how to do something: they move around a lot, they were absent the day this was taught, they were not developmentally ready to learn the material, they have gaps in their learning, the skills require years of repeat in order to acquire them, and the list goes on. The moral to this tale: do not assume that students know how to do something.

I remember my senior year of high school. I had to write a research paper. My teacher assumed I knew how to write a research paper, after all, I was a senior. She assigned it. I failed miserably at it. Why? I didn't know how to research, how to restate information in my own words, or how to site my sources.  No one ever taught me. No one modeled, or demonstrated, or showed me examples. They just expected me to magically know how to do it.

Reflective questions: Did I teach my students how to do this, or did I assume they already know? Did I model, demonstrate, and show examples? No matter what subject or grade level you teach, you must model, demonstrate, and show examples. You must give students the opportunity to practice with guidance before releasing them to independence.

We Do Lots of Great Projects.

I love projects! They are fun and engaging, and require students to show a certain amount of independence. I can integrate my project across the curriculum, give students a myriad of choices, and display their results in the hallway for open house.

Imagine a fabulous social studies project that integrates reading and writing. Students work in cooperative groups, make choices, research, and create an exciting final product. The best part is that they read information for their project (reading : check) and write about their topic (writing : check). We've integrated, connected, and covered the curriculum in one swoop. Isn't it grand?

What's wrong with this picture? There is certainly nothing wrong with a project that requires students to apply knowledge and skills they've been taught. Effective teachers realize that projects can easily turn into another form of the assignment without teaching. Another difficult pill to swallow is to realize that we must spend time teaching the skills and strategies in reading, writing, and math before asking students to apply them in a social studies or science project. The foundation must be built first.

Reflective questions: Have my students mastered the skills needed in order to complete the project? Did I teach my students how to write before asking them to write? Did I teach my students how to read and access information while researching a topic for a project? Projects have their place, just make sure the project's foundation is on solid ground.

I Don't Expect Much.

I'm embarrassed to say that my first class of students didn't perform so hot on the state test. The worse part is that I didn't even realize that their poor performance was bad. I began my teaching career in a school of low expectations. We had plenty of excuses and reasons for our student's failure, but of course, it couldn't be our fault, after all, we cared about the children and worked hard.

Fortunately I was quick to learn that our expectations play a huge roll in our student's success. I remember a colleague, the teacher with a white bun, who taught me two powerful lessons: (1) teach to the top, and (2) never teach the same way.

This wonderful lady used to say teach to the top and the rest will follow. In other words, set high expectations and believe in your student's ability to succeed. Now let me say one thing: high expectations alone doesn't make success, but low expectations get you nowhere. I have a sneaky suspicion that failing schools lack expectations.

Why did she say to never teach the same way? Every school, every class, every student comes with baggage -both good and bad. Our students have schema. But their schema is never, ever the same. We have to change our teaching methods to meet the needs of our students. Students rarely need the same thing. A successful lesson this year might not work next year. We must base our instruction on continuos assessment and evaluation.

Reflective questions: Do I have low expectations of some or all of my students? Do I teach to the top? Do I drive my instruction based on assessment? Do I differentiate to meet individual needs? Teach to the top and never teach the same way.

Effective teachers recognize when they make mistakes, and work to correct their errors in judgement. They do not make excuses, but instead, search for a better way to reach their students. Effective teachers continue to grow and learn professionally based on analysis and reflection of their own teaching. They know their students well and differentiate to meet their individual needs. Effective teachers model, demonstrate, and show examples. They set high expectations and believe in their student's ability to achieve appropriate goals.

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Lesson Plan File Folder: Lesson Planning Desk Reference

Why We Need to Save the National Writing Project

    National Writing Project changed me as a teacher and writer. One summer several years ago I participated in one of the finest professional development experiences of my life. NWP sites are on university campuses around the country. Teachers participate in graduate level professional development that is beyond listening to a professor and regurgitating information for exams. Writing project participants are immersed in a community building experience that lasts a lifetime.

  I spent four intense weeks reading professional texts on the teaching of writing and discussing the books with other teachers. The teachers came from a variety of backgrounds, schools, grade levels (K-college), and subject areas. We focused on teaching writing with a spectrum of perspectives and ideas, generating sound pedagogy based on research, theory, and classroom practice.

  I believe that in order to teach writing you must first write. National Writing Project gives teachers the opportunity write for publication. We spent time writing, critiquing, revising, and editing pieces for a multi-genre collaborative project. The time we spent as writers helped us to understand the writing process, which in turn gave us a powerful way of thinking and communicating with our students. We studied different writing techniques, teaching methods, and discussed the various processes writers use to get from nothing on a blank page to words with meaning. 

  In addition to reading, writing, and discussing, we spent time developing presentations in order to take our professional development into our own schools and school districts. We didn't just go to learn. We went to learn and teach. Once a teacher finishes a summer with NWP they become a teacher-consultant. NWP teacher-consultants go out into the world and share their new found knowledge and expertise. As they put best practice methods in place their own classrooms, they help to lift the level of student achievement in writing. 

  NWP's professional development model is empowering. Teachers continue to grow by participating with a network of colleagues who actively pursue improving the quality of student's writing. I cannot imagine a world without such a dynamic, worthy organization.

  And yet, the National Writing Project is at risk. At the same time our society demands better teachers and stronger schools, our government is cutting spending. There isn't any doubt that we need to act fiscally responsible in a weak economy, but should we do this at the expense of our children? If we want our students to become strong writers and communicators, we must provide opportunities that go beyond the one day workshop for our teachers. NWP is a teacher to teacher model that is a proven game changer.
 Please support NWP by writing, emailing, and calling your state senators and representatives. Keep abreast of the ongoing fight to keep NWP alive and kicking through federal funding at NWP Works!

Follow NWP on twitter @writingproject and through the hashtags #NWP and #blog4NWP 

Win a $10 Amazon Gift Card - March 17, 2011 Only

  Retweet any of my tweets today (March 17, 2011) @teachingfriends for a chance to win a $10 Amazon gift card. Drawing at 8 p.m. Central time. I will send a tweet to the winner as well as post the winner's name on my blog. 

Warm Fuzzies for Teachers

We are living in a climate dripping with negativity about education and teachers. Enough teacher bashing already. It's time to stop telling one sided failure stories of public schools. Every single day teachers face unprecedented challenges in a world filled with animosity towards one of the most important professions, and every single day teachers everywhere experience success stories. That's right. We have lots of great stories to tell. It's time to hear the teacher's stories -the stories that change a life and make a difference. 


Are you a teacher with a success story to tell? Are you a parent or a student who wants to share a special story about a teacher? Give a teacher a warm fuzzy. Tell your story. 


Please submit your story here. Thank you for sharing. I will contact you if I decide to post your warm fuzzy. 

Preparing for Teacher Layoffs

It's official: School districts across the country are struggling to keep their financial houses in order. Teachers are facing the possibility of receiving the dreaded pink slip. What can you do to prepare yourself in the event of a layoff?

One - Get Your Own Financial House in Order

Financial stress can take on a whole new meaning when you are deep in debt and have little to no savings. A pending layoff doesn't help matters. I highly recommend that you get yourself a copy of The Financial Peace Planner: A Step-by-Step Guide to Restoring Your Family's Financial Health. Learn how to budget your money, cut unnecessary expenses, pay off your debt, save for the future, and basically get your finances under control. It's not easy, but it is possible.

Dave's Financial Peace University courses are taught at local churches across the country. You might want to look into it. If you are married, I highly recommend that you talk your spouse into going with you. The best thing you can do for yourself, your family, and your peace of mind is get your finances in order.

Two - Certify and Apply

In my state, I can add to my growing list of certifications by taking a test. Expand your opportunities by certifying in more than one area. Are you willing to jump grade levels, but need to certify in elementary or secondary to do so? Can you add subject areas to your teaching license? What about special areas like ESL, GT, or special education? Are you a math teacher who has always thought about teaching science? Did you once think you would like to teach art or music or drama? Or perhaps you would like to move into administration? Now is the time to add to your credentials and to market yourself in other areas.

Three - Search for Alternative Sources of Income

What can you do to earn income after a layoff? Don't wait until the pink slip is in your hands to have a plan. Prepare your professional vita and get ready to apply to substitute teach in every school within a reasonable driving distance, adjunct at a local community college, or work for an education service company or bookstore. What about setting up your own small business? Advertise yourself as a tutor. Charge $25-50 an hour for your professional services (depending on the going rate in your area). You can also self-publish teacher materials on Teachers Pay Teachers. One kindergarten teacher earned $60,000 last year selling teacher created resources. The Internet provides numerous opportunities for a little entrepreneurship. You never know what might happen when you put your creativity to work!

You never know when life might throw a monkey wrench at you. Prepare now rather than sit on your hands and worry about what may or may not happen. Be proactive! A plan can make all the difference.

Adjust Your Teaching to Meet Kids Learning Styles

If you have worked or learned about anything educated-related ever, you have already heard about Mr. Gardner and his Multiple Intelligence Theory. I am not one to debate theory, but I do agree that children all have many talents and do learn in different ways. By changing up your approaches each day, the option of boredom for students, and more importantly for you, remains at a minimum. The important piece is to find out from students how they best learn. If the majority of the children are bodily-kinesthetic, journal writing probably shouldn't be done every day as a main source of assessment.

One quick way to inventory learning styles is by completing multiple intelligence inventories. There are many different formats available, some more in-depth than others. In my experience, I prefer to use one that is not too long or involved. Keep it friendly or the children will answer without thought to be finished more quickly. For the early childhood classes, please use pictures, rather than trying to read aloud everything on the page. The goal is to get accurate information, without overloading the students.

I have found various forms online, in professional development books dealing with differentiation or multiple intelligences, and from assessment companies. My advice is to find one that is free, or virtually free. This assessment will not be the end-all be-all document for your class for the entire academic year. It is just another tool to adapt teaching and assessment styles to best meet the needs of students. Do not read into it more than that.

After assessing your students and tallying up their scores, review the results with the class. This is especially helpful when explaining to the class about how all people learn differently. That way later, when curriculum is differentiated, the class will not challenge with, "Why does Timmy get to do fun stuff while I have to...?" Also make sure to remind students about weaker learning styles, that way encouragement to try different approaches he or she might not normally in order to strengthen those styles will be more readily accepted.

When discussion is complete and students have been enlightened (as they always are when you teach), re-collect the assessments to compile the data from them. Make a master list of each child's strengths and weaknesses, as well as a master list of the total number of students in each category. This serves two purposes: the first being to change up your teaching style with your whole group lessons and the second being to allow for grouping of students into small groups or centers when needed based on their preferred MI.

Multiple intelligences are another option to reflect on your teaching and learn even more about your students in order to help all achieve to their greatest potential.

This article is written by guest blogger and K-12 teacher, Charity Preston, M.A. Areas of expertise include curriculum development, technology integration into content areas,and data-driven instruction. Find Charity at The Organized Classroom Blog and on Facebook. 

Click Here for Classroom Friendly Resources by Charity Preston