Silent & Solo: Helping Kids to Learn Independently | ep. 123

In this episode of the Falling for Learning podcast, TD Flenaugh and Lauren Moseley discuss the upcoming Thanksgiving break and the various school events leading up to it. They explore classroom dynamics, student engagement, and the importance of communication skills in education. The conversation also touches on instructional strategies, the balance between independence and support in learning, and the implications of technology in education. Throughout the discussion, they reflect on the growth of their students and the significance of fostering critical thinking and conversation skills.

Transcript

TD Flenaugh: 0:03

It's me. TD, Flenaugh and Lauren Mosley,

Lauren Moseley: 0:06

hey, hello, everyone out there in podcast land, Happy Wednesday. It's Wednesday. Hump Day. It's

TD Flenaugh: 0:16

Wednesday around here. Okay, so how are things going for you?

Lauren Moseley: 0:21

Well, it is the week before Thanksgiving break. Let's just say everybody is ready for Friday. The kids are ready. The principal's ready. The teachers are ready. No, it's going great. We're actually gonna have We ready festival. On Friday.

TD Flenaugh: 0:44

Hi. Thank you so much for joining the falling for learning podcast. We have this podcast to help parents and caregivers with having the resources, strategies and tools needed to make sure that their children are on track for learning and to stay on track for success and

Lauren Moseley: 1:01

a lot of family and the kids get some time to do some fun carnival fall fun things. So everybody's bringing their money for their tickets, and yeah, talking about Friday. Today was picture day, so everybody's all dressed to the nines. Yeah, you know, first graders, they their parents. I'm really proud of our first these parents. They they show up and show out for picture day. Do you say the first TD? First TDs? That's what I call them. My first graders, in like, full on ball gowns. I mean, they were, it was like they were going to King Yetta, like they looked Gord hair done. Moms must have got up at four o'clock this morning to do that hair. Hair was do with the trindles and the little spirals around their face and, ah, the patent leather shoes. Yeah, it was very cute. So today was a good day, but I am, I am ready for a break. I am ready for that week,

TD Flenaugh: 2:09

yes, so I it's interesting. Your Fall Festival is like the end of November. Ours is in October. So we had ours about a month ago. I think it's close, more closely, like Halloween, but not Halloween, but Right, right, you know? Well, we

Lauren Moseley: 2:28

had what was called spooktacular and hollow for Halloween. So we actually had a whole academic day, but everything was kind of like Halloween theme. Our district doesn't mind Halloween. Some districts are really, you know, they, they kind of draw the line, you know, Halloween is not nearly as embrace. But our district, right? Yeah, they're like, yeah, have Halloween. You know, have costumes. Have the whole Halloween.

TD Flenaugh: 2:56

We did that too, but we also had a fall festival, yeah? So now, do

Lauren Moseley: 3:01

you remember going being in school? Did you guys do Halloween, though? Because I was a Catholic school and we did not do Halloween.

TD Flenaugh: 3:09

Yes, we did Halloween. We had like, something in the evening. I forgot what it was called, yeah, but we did, you know, we dressed up and we went. We had like, we had like, what would be called a Fall Festival out here, but it was in the evening. Well, I don't know if it was in the evening. I grew up in Alaska, remember it was, it was, it was dark, and we didn't go 24 hour. We didn't go 24 hour darkness where I was, but definitely It got late, you know, for 435 so, right? It didn't have to be that late, but it was dark, right? Yeah, so it was nice though it was after school. I remember going home getting dressed, so I felt like it was later in the evening, because we went home. It wasn't something that we did right after school. It was something we went home, got dressed, yeah, and I don't know why it's escaping me, because I know they didn't call it the Fall Festival. They called it something, but I can't remember the name of what. They called it a carnival or something. I don't know, but yeah. So what are some things now that we're in so we're almost to the halfway of our school year, I think not. You know, we're in the holidays. What are some things that are really coming up for you, or you're thinking about, as far as what's happening with instruction, or what's happening with, you know, just some things that parents and educators can think about to help their students?

Lauren Moseley: 4:39

Yeah, well, I am thinking about the how hard the kids have been working. I think we're in the sweet spot where kids have really, you know, compared to where they were in August and where they are now, I am definitely seeing growth. My goal has been to get. The kids talking more to them. One of our we have four goals every day. One is is listening ears, safe bodies, and the other one is share my thoughts and being responsible. So carry my thoughts has been like a really big thing. I've really been asking the kids, Hey, how can you meet your goal today of sharing your thoughts? So I'm giving them a lot of sentence stems and a lot of opportunities to answer questions and complete sentences. And I'm just noticing it really is creating very rich conversation. You know, are intentionally using the vocabulary you know, we're learning about early American civilizations right now. So there is opportunity for them to really dive into some you know, kind of, I told them there are people in college studying these, these topics, studying them in first grade. So, yeah, giving them those opportunities to talk about the Mayan, the Aztecs and the Inca and, you know, their leaders and their religion and the cities and, you know, you know, the way that they farmed. So I'm really I have parent conferences coming up the week we get back from Thanksgiving, and one of the things I'm going to talk to the parents about is ways they can boost their child's vocabulary and just helping them have a voice, helping them to, you know, asking them questions to help them expand. You know, sometimes we ask them questions, like, how was your day? Great, you know, what do you like to eat? You know, asking them questions. Well, why? And, you know, why do you like that? And, you know, yeah, expand.

TD Flenaugh: 6:53

Why is this better than the other, right? Like, if you know, they want pizza rather than chicken, like, why was the pizza better, right? What's Yeah, so that's great. And then so, well, do you want to talk about the instructional feedback that

Lauren Moseley: 7:09

you got? Yes, that is, I do. So we have what's called the do now first thing in the morning, because we are a whole child school, and I love, I love the whole child model. Part of it is, of course, the the warm greeting as they cross the threshold of your classroom. So every teacher is standing in the doorway, and the child gets to pick the way that they want to be greeted. It's either a hug or a high five. I mean, I'm sure lots of people have seen this. It kind of seems like it kind of kicked kicked off during the pandemic, you really saw this a lot. And so those greetings take, not they don't take a long time, but it's a lot longer than if you just say, Okay, everybody walk in the classroom, right? So you got to give the kids who are in the classroom something to do. So my first TDs have routines, and one of the routines is a do now, which is a, you know, I guess it could also be referred to as a warm up, the morning warm up. And so my kids, because I'm teaching them to use their voice, you know, if they don't understand what the do now is, or they're reading the directions. But some of my kids aren't readers, yet, they might ask their friend, you know, am I, you know, is this how I do it, you know? Is this? Is this what I'm supposed to do? Do I copy the word? Do I copy the sentence? Do I have to copy the sentence? Like sometimes there's a little confusion, right? And so I asked them to ask their partner, ask three before me, you know, the door, doing some thresholding, right? Some some warm Yes. So we had an evaluator come in, and, you know, she gave me a little evaluation, and it had all the things we're supposed to be doing. And it said, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. So I was feeling really great, and then I got down to the bottom, and it said, silent and solo. Do now. No, I'm a very How can you say this? I don't like to see those kind of things on my evaluations. I want to see All yeses. If it's supposed to be All yeses. I want to yeah and have that one. No. I was like, oh so taken aback. But what I realized, you know, I do have a conversation with her part of the TD lac, which is like a champion. Part of our way that we're supposed to do the do now is it has to be silent and solo. So the kids can't talk. They're not supposed to engage in any kind of way with each other. They have to do this warm up by themselves, with no input. I think there's some value in that. You know, you want kids to be able to write work and be independent learners. And, you know, try to use some critical thinking skills to try to figure things out. But if the goal is to keep them from, you know, to be busy while I'm doing this, I. If I make it so easy that they can finish it without any help at all, then they're going to be finished in two seconds. And then there's management issues, right? If I make it too hard, or at grade level or a little below grade level, I still have kids who are going to need help. You know what I do? I make it. It's a lot of the kindergarten review skills. So a lot of my kids are like, you know, they're done rather quickly, but it's work. They have to write a sentence, they have to write capital letters, they have to write a period at the end. They have to fill in the blank. So some of my kids need help. They cannot read everything independently. So for my kids to be able to have some ownership of their learning, I tell them, if you get stuck, ask your friend, can you tell me what that word is? Can you help me spell that out? Can you check my work to see if I if I did it right? Like, that's just things that I've taught them to do. So the evaluator was in and says they're talking, and I'm like, yeah, good for them. I'm glad. I want them to help each other. I want them to, you know, yes, have productive struggle, but it's only a, you know, five minute little review. I want them to be able to not have to start the day off and not be successful. The first thing you're going to do in the morning, in the morning, I want you to be successful. And if you need help, advocate for yourself and ask. So anyway, we had that conversation, and she says, Well, I was just writing down what I observed, and it's supposed to be silent and solo, so that's why you got to know so anyway,

TD Flenaugh: 11:42

well, I hear what you're saying. Like you don't want that to have a note on it, but I feel like your justification of it makes sense, and you could feel secure in that. I mean, I feel like I wanted to really hear all about it, because, you know, I I don't, I don't I don't really know what it is right, because you're teaching in a different context. And as we're thinking about this and implications for people who might be homeschooling their children, or implications for other educators or parents like getting feedback about what their child is like at school, or what they're doing, or what they're supposed to be able to do on their own. Also, I'm thinking about that in that aspect and so, but I think you know, you're very justified in having that be something that they're talking and advocating for. The rewrite method and the rewrite method workbook are your go to resource for helping kids to learn to fall in love with writing. It has the tips, tools, resources, strategies and skill building activities to help kids fall out of writing Hoot and into Loving to write. Get your book set today. I think maybe this person observing classes might notice that there is, there is there are times where teachers have scaffolding in place and they're not ever taking it away. And so this is a scaffold where they're doing something with support, right? So, you know, I think you're justified in what you're doing and why you're doing it, and that's for educators. We always have to be reflective about why we're doing things and and what makes sense. I think, you know, all of those things, we need to make sure that they're greeted, take time to do it, right? Because even if you're doing it, you could do it really in a fast way that's not personable, like, clap, clap, clap, you know. Just come in, you know. But you're taking time to do it, but also making sure that the students have something it is their first thing of the day for it to just be, like, silent and solo, the very first thing as a first grader, okay, maybe fifth graders, eighth graders, maybe, but I don't know about first grade, and I think this is just like a yes or no checklist, and I don't think they're thinking more about it and and maybe their overall was positive, But you know, you obviously were like, on them about that, right? Awesome. I think it's great, though. I think it's great to have that conversation, like people to visit and you could get feedback, and of course, they see a snapshot of your class. Yes, I have seen, you know, educators, where they're. All day, they're getting support with their work, and then the kids are not getting a chance to work independently on their work at all, which, of course, becomes problematic because we have assessments in place where you're not able to give help. You're not able to as they get over, you can read directions to them, and we have in some of us, and I feel like my experience as I've been, I've worked at the district level, and I've worked it as an instructional coach at the school level, I have seen where a lot of teachers just keep scaffolds in place all year, never remove them. And then, you know, while the while, the atmosphere is great, the teachers working hard, the students working you know that results aren't going to show up, because when I am put in a place where I have to do something by myself, the teacher's not giving me a sentence frame, the teacher's not giving me a graphic organizer, the teacher's not even reading the direction, right? And then I'm supposed to do this, and I'm like, right? Right? Well, where's the sentence frame? Right? Where's the graphic organizer? Yeah, so that's what my first thought when I heard because I didn't know anything about it. But I feel like this first five minutes is very much justified. Five minutes even, I wouldn't even say this could be in place all year, like, I don't think there's a reason for you to have to change it, you know. But of course, there's other parts of the day where they can become silent and solo and work on something by themselves, because you do want to know what they know how to do. Because before that, I'm just speculating. No, Lauren doesn't know how to do this. I'm gonna just give her help. She I'm gonna give her the graphic organizer, because she doesn't know how to choose her own graphic organizer. Graphic Organizer. But if I give them that experience and say, find your own graphic organizer that you're going to use for this compare and contrast essay, and maybe I'll see five kids were able to do it. One didn't even know what a graphic organizer was. You know, you know, you know, whatever, I would have information, because a lot of people just assume, Oh no, no. First graders won't be able to do this or that or whatever. So, yeah, it's, it's a kick in the butt. I've definitely felt kicked in the butt. When people come to visit me, they don't really know all this all the time, what's going on before this, what's going on after this. They don't know the nature of your class, where my class needs this and whatever that is, but, but, you know, I don't think it was, it wasn't an administrator or anything, right? It was like a coach,

Lauren Moseley: 17:33

no, no. And, you know, and I will say, there's so many times when they are silent and solo, like we have to do 30 minutes of Amira, which is an app where they're they have their headphones on their heads are bad in their computers. It's silent and solo. They have to Yeah. Another 60 minutes of Lexia, Lexia core five, which is another

TD Flenaugh: 17:58

60 minutes a day or a week for the

Lauren Moseley: 18:00

week, okay, yeah, 60 minutes for the week. And then they have st math, which is the math app. All of these things are silent and solo. So if you do the math all day long, they have plenty of time where they literally are engaged in, you know. Let's see what you know. And when you get the answers right, we, we keep going, and if you get it wrong, we, yeah, you know, we scaffold it down, give you a little tutoring, and help you and put you back on track. So, you know, I have, that's a whole nother podcast for another day. The problem with having so many apps, and there's good things about it, right? I was watching a kid today, as a matter of fact, he was absent, so he had to do a little double duty today. And so while the kids were working, I was just working with him, trying to see if I could, you know, if there's anything he needed. And the patience of Amira is pretty astounding, because it's, it's an app, right? And she's a tutor, yes, I'm familiar. And so it's funny how, because he was just making the same mistake over and she would say, hey, let's try that again. And I said, Wow, I can see why this is beneficial. Because I'm like, Okay, wait a minute. The story's got three parts, you know, the same three parts. He keeps putting them in the in the opposite, you know, order I'm like, Are you even listening to the story? You are listening to your headphones working what's going on here? Just the patience of a mirror is pretty is pretty impressive, you know, I try to channel a mirror sometimes. Okay, let's try that again.

TD Flenaugh: 19:36

Then AI tutor is with AI, yeah. So interesting. So, yeah, so, yeah, I think that person, and that happens too. There's a lot of people that out of touch with what it means in the classroom. And who knows that person could have been a fifth grade teacher or a middle school teacher, and so, like, this is silent. And solo like, yes, for eighth graders, seventh graders, whatever, but these are first graders, yeah. So I think it's developmentally appropriate for them to come in and be able to talk quietly as they're completing a task, because their work, right? It can be really quick, right? If they're, you know, and that's that's tricky, finding something that is challenging enough, not too easy, right? But not too hard that they're doing it by themselves. That is tricky. It is. And then what yet, with the variety of kids that are that you're charged with in a first grade class like that's a very challenging right? So I think some key takeaways right for parents and educators out there is to have some balance between, you know, silent, solo activities, interactive activities, if they're talking to you, and then I would also say add on to that, like paper and pencil, because I have talked to some parents who felt like their kids were doing fine as they were homeschooling, because, but, but what happened is they were like, all computer based, and then they realized that certain things weren't developed the hand. They didn't write, they didn't know how to write their name. They didn't know how to you know, just different things. That does? You know that a computer is not going to ask you to do, or that you're not going to have to do on the computer, right? And so your child has some deficits, some big gaps, because they just been on the computer. And the computer, the way it it functions, it may just ask you certain types of questions and move you on. And a lot of times kids know how to, like, beat the system, or whatever it is, and but sitting down and writing something, developing those motor skills, you know, communicating, talking, having conversations like those are things that you know are big deficits as they're trying to interact with others, as they are trying to navigate through the world, and don't know how to hold a pencil or whatever. Maybe that'll go away. I don't know. With technology, will we not have to use pencils in the no pens or pencils, but just having a balance is really important, right? Of course, if you know Ms, Mosley was only doing, you know, talking and getting you know, what do you call it like? Just more social support with other students and doing things as partners, and that's the only thing she's doing all year. Of course, students will grow, but when it's time to do things on their own, we don't know if they're able to do it. Some kids might be able to do it, and some kids won't, because just that experience of being able to navigate something on their own isn't there. Where at this you know, at the same time, everything can't be silent and solo, because you don't know what you know. You need to know you need to know what they know. What they don't know. They need to be able to talk. I mean, a holistic education is reading, writing, listening, speaking, and that's just the literacy part. But whatever content area they should be reading, writing, listening and speaking with that content area, right? Yeah, if it's science, all those things, it's math, it's all those things, so it shouldn't just be like one particular aspect of language and literacy. Um, so

Lauren Moseley: 23:28

yeah, that was very well said. That was excellent. Yes, you check all the boxes. All your boxes are yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.

TD Flenaugh: 23:39

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. No,

Lauren Moseley: 23:42

yeah, I and I even tell my kids, it's really important to learn how to read, and they're all on board, like they want to know how to read. I say, Okay, you guys, are we readers today? They're like, yes, but equally important is how to listen to someone speaking, how to respond, how to speak and how to you know, ask it. You know, ask additional questions, ask follow up questions. Like those are all a part of understanding that the text that you're reading has lots of parts. There are people having conversation, there's predicting what's going to happen next. There's foreshadowing. There's all these things that are going on. And I think inner human communication is a part of those higher level developmental reading skills that they're going to get, you know, right, third, fourth, fifth grade. So I really want to, like, I started, off at the, you know, the beginning of the podcast, talking about, that's one of the things I really wanted to work on this year, was getting the kids to have conversations, you know, even when they start arguing, no, I didn't, yes you did. No, I didn't, yes you did. No, I. Yes, okay, let's, let's see if we can break this down and have a, have a complete thought and a complete sentence and justify why you're saying XYZ, and to see that they do like they will sit and have a conversation, you know? And, yeah, it's it. They're growing. They're literally growing in the way that they respond. So now it's, I did not take your place in line, because we're all going to the same place. So really, anywhere you stand in line is fine. Oh, there you go. There's no prize for getting to the gym first. So really, anywhere you can, it's fine. I mean, this is my first graders, you know? Yes, absolutely, having conversations

TD Flenaugh: 25:51

using complete sentences. I love that, right? And just being able to get along in the world like, I know, a lot of times we talk about college career and all this, but it's like there's something to be said, and just about being able to get along with people, make it through the world, navigate to conflict, communicate clearly, just day to day, right picking up your mail or going into a customer service agent and getting something returned or whatever. These are just skills that the students need, and we use them every day. So we know they need them, right? Several times a day.

Lauren Moseley: 26:29

Like my students are, they even answer the phone. You know, you getting calls from the office. I taught my kids to answer the phone. They say students speaking, and you know, if they don't understand, we had one this one kid didn't understand what the the the Secretary said, and just hung up the phone. I said, Well, what did she say? I don't know. So I had to call back the, you know. So we had to have a whole conversation about, okay, how do you ask someone to read? You know, you didn't hear what they said. So what should you say? You know you should say, Can you please repeat that? So I've had kids, they're looking at me, they're looking at the phone, and they go, can you repeat that? And it's just, it's one of those just Yes moments where I'm so proud of them that they're actually yeah, using those, those those listening and speaking skills and advocating for themselves. I didn't hear you. Can you say it again? Oh, you know. So yeah, home. They need to take their backpack and get their lunch kit and go home, you know, go to the office. So I'm very proud of my littles, my little firsties. And, you know, I think in a world where we are so people are talking and nobody's listening, nobody's hearing what the other person is hearing. Or sometimes we're listening already with judgment, or we're listening with already

TD Flenaugh: 27:52

yes notions, my response, yes.

Lauren Moseley: 27:55

We're gonna say with, instead of, you know, leaning into, let me, let me really hear what this person's saying. I hope that this is in some way building a good foundation for them to be able to think critically to you know, even sometimes I ask them to go home and ask their parents about certain topics that we're learning. Ask your parents if they know anything about you know, like today we studied the Maya like, ask her if they know anything about it, and then share what you learned. You know, have a conversation with your audience outside of you. Take me to McDonald's, you know, so and even to have to come back and ask them, like, oh, so, what did your parents say? Did you talk to them about your learning? And some of them are like, Oh yeah, I did. I told my mom what we're learning. And, you know, this is what they had to say. And so I just love, I love these little these little kiddos. And even though I'm very tired, very tired, and at the end of the day, I'm like, you know, my my throat feels I hope I'm not coming down with something, because it is that season, also that time of year. Oh yeah, parents, kids don't feel well, and they're complaining about the runny nose and the headaches. You should you should keep them home, please. So I hope I'm not coming down with something, but i Are

TD Flenaugh: 29:16

you qualified to say that you're a nurse? No display.

Lauren Moseley: 29:20

I because I've caught I, let's see. I had flu a last year, and I had a I have had several kids with lots of Hand, hand, foot and mouth. Have you heard of that? I never even heard. I've heard of it. I've heard I'm scared, and we've had quite a few kids with that more and, you know, I was like, if you're, if your kid is is showing you their hands, and got this, you could keep them. It's fine, keep them home, right? But okay, so ready for a break. I love my kids. We had a, you know, it's been a great. Semester, I feel really strong that they're going to go into the next semester, really showing a lot of growth. So we'll see. Love it. This is great. Okay.

TD Flenaugh: 30:17

Well, I really appreciate everyone who has you know, tuned into, logged into the falling for learning podcast. Please like and subscribe if you're not already a subscriber, and we appreciate you. Hopefully you have a great holiday season and we will see you soon. Have a great week. All right, thanks again for supporting the falling for learning podcast. New Episodes go live every Saturday at 5pm you can watch us on youtube.com, at falling for learning, or listen on all major podcast platforms such as Apple, Google, Audible, Spotify and much more for more resources, visit falling in Love with learning.com. We really appreciate you. Have a wonderful week.