Sarah Plum

K-5 Resources for Diverse Classrooms

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Leave the Eggs at Home on MLK Day (February, Too)

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In a few short days we’ll honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s work and memory by observing a holiday; in a few short weeks, we’ll begin a month-long celebration of Black History and the incredible men and women that have impacted our nation and continue to do so.

I’m writing to urge you to leave the eggs at home.

You know the ones: one white egg to represent white America, and a brown egg to represent MLK/Black America/non-white America. Students make predictions, you crack the eggs, and a few minutes later racism is eradicated in a generation because they see that yes, on the inside, they’re both the same.

The thing is… while this may provide an opportunity to tie-up a lesson on racial equity with a nice neat bow in under twenty minutes, provide a great “Aha!” moment for students – it’s helping to perpetuate the status quo: whiteness as the default, and blackness as “the same on the inside despite the outside.”

Please don’t stop reading just yet. You might be angry or disagree, or think I’m making a mountain out of two sets of eggshells, but hear me out. If you still disagree at the end, you have my permission to leave me an angry comment – I just ask that you make it to the end!

To conduct the experiment, you’re relying on students seeing the white egg – whether you explicitly ask them to associate it with white Americans or not – as the default. The normal egg. The good egg. The egg you’d eat. You’re also relying on students seeing the brown egg – whether you explicitly ask them to associate it with MLK, Black Americans, or non-white Americans or not – as the other. The different egg. The egg you’re not so sure you want in your omelette.

The only way to get to the shock factor, the “Aha!” is through the route of one being more desirable than the other.

When you crack them and students find that the brown egg is the same on the inside as the white egg, there’s your “Aha!” Because in spite of it being brown – in spite of its differences, its “otherness” – that brown egg is just like the white one. Because the white one… the white one is normal.

The subtle message this sends is that Black Americans are the same and just as good as white Americans – in spite of the fact their skin is different. That we measure and value things against one single norm, one default. That message is one that I don’t feel we can risk sending to any of our children – especially not out of the convenience of teaching a message of racial equityin a neat, tied-up, twenty minute lesson.

So you leave the eggs home on MLK Day (and the whole month of February). Now what?

Try these ideas instead:

  • Start with the students – as individuals. Complete a “Find Someone Who” activity that highlights the many perspectives, cultures, and backgrounds within your own student population and classroom. Students may find out they have more in common with their classmates than they knew, or have an opportunity to get to know their classmates in an engaging, low-stress way. Afterwards, have a discussion centered around the idea that because of (NOT in spite of) their varied backgrounds and experiences you have a wonderful classroom community!
  • Focus on the future to honor the past. While I’d urge you to consider teaching beyond the “I Have a Dream” speech, I recognize this is where most educators start their journey in teaching the Civil Rights Movement and Dr. King (hear more about this topic on Episode 5 of Equi-TEA). Before listening to or discussing Dr. King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech, have students record (anonymously) their hopes for their own lives and for our country for the remainder of the school year. Place them all in a jar and then read each aloud. Have students respond silently with a thumbs up to indicate agreement or with their fingers inter-locked to make a connection. After you’ve read all the responses, identify a common hope that you can create a goal around work toward. Next, listen to Dr. King’s speech. Help students to draw parallels between Dr. King’s efforts to form partnerships to see his dreams through. Conclude by talking about ways your classroom community can work together to reach their shared goals.
  • Be a leader, make a change. After reading a text about Dr. King or another leader in Black History – because he was NOT the only one! – or watching one of the numerous videos available, brainstorm words related to his personal character or his life’s work – such as leadership, justice, equality, bravery, courage, and fairness. Write each word on a cloud. Invite students to pick 1-2 traits that they relate to and see in themselves and have them write their names on multi-colored strips of paper. Attach the strips to the bottom of the clouds and hang them around the room. Revisit the words often as a part of your classroom culture, encouraging students to use these traits to propel them forward as a positive force. [Use this in conjunction with listening to the “I Have a Dream” speech or another primary source from that era and writing a classroom goal to tie character to action!]

Examining the impact of our actions despite the best intentions isn’t easy – I often find myself feeling conflicted about my own work as an educator as a result. But it is, after all, the impact that matters most.

It can be the only thing that matters when we think about our students and their future.

Why Teachers are Silent on Race Relations

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When I started writing this post, I found myself focusing on explaining the concept of privilege — and particularly white privilege. I feel led, however, to just write from the heart rather than by the book. If you want to read about white privilege prior to reading the rest of this post, there are some great resources here, here, and here.

When you’re finished reading, please go and read what Tamara, from Mrs. Russell’s Room, has to say about discussing race. I’m thrilled to be partnering with her to start a dialogue on this important issue.

I’m white. I say this first because while it’s an obvious fact if you’re staring at my smiling face on the sidebar of my blog, it’s important to emphasize that I am writing this post as a white woman.

I’m writing this post as a white woman charged with educating primarily children of color.

I make that distinction because it’s a distinction I have to be aware of each day. While I do share some common experiences with the children I teach — living with extended family members like grandparents, for example — I cannot directly relate to their experiences of being a racial minority. I cannot understand what it is like to lack the societal, economic, and cultural privileges attached to being white.

As educators, I firmly believe we have a responsibility to talk about all manner of privilege in our communities — socioeconomic, ability, gender, language, and yes, racial privilege. We have to know how to advance our community, and to do that, we have to acknowledge the barriers that may exist. In order to fight for equity, we have to know what it is that we’re up against.

Because it is we not them. As we love our students, their families, our colleagues, and neighbors — and want the best for them — we have to see their success and place in this world as our own.

So how do we talk about privilege? How do we talk about race?

I know firsthand how uncomfortable it can be to enter into these conversations with our colleagues and peers. I know that it can often feel, as a white educator, that we have no business engaging in conversations about this. I hear that, all too often, whether for reasons of not wanting to offend or genuinely thinking it’s not our problem.

It is our problem. It’s our responsibility to be uncomfortable so that we can learn and grow. So that we can be an ally. Love thy neighbor enough to experience that discomfort and thrive in it.

So what CAN you do?

1. Check your judgments and reflect. When you find yourself making a judgment about a student, their family, or colleague, stop. Ask yourself — “What is this judgment rooted in? How did I get from point A to point Z?” The answer may be your own prior experiences, it may be what you’ve seen or heard from the experiences or others, or it may be prejudice. Whatever it is, ask yourself — “Is this really true about this person? Do I know this to be fact? What is the benefit to me believing this?”

Where our own thoughts are coming from color our worldview. We can’t begin to make a difference and be a positive force in our community for equity if we are not first looking for the answers at home in our own hearts and minds.

2. Before anything else, LISTEN. When you’re engaged in a conversation about privilege with someone, listen far more than you speak. Actively listen and consider their perspective, even if it varies widely from your own. Listen as if your life depends on it because theirs may.

Everything isn’t about you. We can’t begin to understand how privilege works in our world and how it impacts our students if we do not truly listen when others reach out to help us understand. Listen, especially when it comes from a place of anger because behind that anger is a world of hurt that we have a responsibility to honor.

3. Affirm. Be an ally. When you’re engaged in that likely uncomfortable conversation, use the words “I hear you. I’m listening and thinking.” more than any others. Mean them. Before you ask questions or share your perspective, consider what has been said. Think about what you want to convey.

It’s okay to take your time. You don’t have to say anything just to say something. If you aren’t sure what to say because you need more time to consider your position or reflect, say so. Validate the feelings and perspective that’s been expressed to you. Ask for feedback — “What can I do?” — and use it.

The discomfort I feel talking about race, socioeconomic, ability, male, and language privilege is necessary. The world does not seek to make me comfortable, and to feel uncomfortable is to grow. I ask my students, day-in, day-out to do hard work. I, too, must do the hard work to brick by brick take down the wall that impedes them — that impedes their family, that impedes some of my colleagues. Love thy neighbor enough to seek out that discomfort.

All of YOUR Questions Answered

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The response to my character education clipchart, Clippin’ for Character, has been absolutely overwhelming. I am so humbled by and appreciative of the feedback, Q&A’s, e-mails, Facebook posts and comments about this system I use in my classroom. I’ve tried my best to respond personally to each inquiry, but wanted to also answer questions in a central location so that you’re able to share this easily with your colleagues, administration, and parents. {You can read the original blog post here.}
As with anything, YOU know YOUR students best. The way I implement this clip chart in my classroom isn’t necessarily the best way for you to implement it in yours — please make it your own, and let it be a reflection of YOU and YOUR classroom community… that’s the best possible feedback you could give me!
Why bother with character education at all?

I’m a big believer in spending time up-front to develop a strong classroom community so that I don’t have to spend that same time (or more!) later writing discipline referrals, making negative phone calls, or redirecting a child in the midst of an important learning opportunity. While it can be tempting to skimp on developing rules, procedures, and norms at the beginning of the year — because we “shouldn’t have to do this” — I think it’s critical to a successful classroom. Students that have high expectations for themselves in their words and deeds are a lot less likely to be distractors and disrupters later in the year when time is at a premium.
I choose to use character education as a huge piece of this because let’s face it — rules & procedures may differ from room to room… but the importance of developing strong character does not. Being caring, fair, respectful, responsible, trustworthy, and a good citizen is valued in each and every classroom or space in our school. I also believe personally that I should play a role in shaping a child’s personal character — after all, they spend 7.5 hours with me over the course of 180 days. It’d be awful hard NOT to do so.
Can I use this WITH a traditional clip chart?
ABSOLUTELY. While I do not use one myself, I have heard from many readers that have used it successfully in conjunction with their traditional clip chart. Most readers have used a different color clip {sometimes patterned}. For clip charts that already have additional positive levels (above green), I’ve heard from readers that have had students clip to the character trait they exhibited at the same time they move their clip above green.
For example: Suzy displayed empathy toward a classmate that was having a hard time — Suzy moves to blue on the traditional clip chart and also places her special clip on “caring” on the character education chart. This allows you to give parents extra information at the end of the day — why was Suzy on blue? Well, Suzy was on blue because she displayed the “caring” character trait. It’s a great way to make your praise specific.
How do you teach children the traits? Can 2nd graders (or 1st graders or Kindergarteners) really understand them?
I teach my students each trait in multiple ways, as I know that a best practice in teaching is approaching any topic from multiple entry points. Each trait is taught through read-alouds, role-playing, writing prompts, anchor charts, group discussions, and day-to-day interactions. While I do front-load these learning opportunities at the beginning of the year, there is not a day that goes by that I do not reinforce them, even if it’s a 30-second connection during guided reading or in the hallway to/from specials.
A child’s age or grade level does not preclude them from internalizing the meaning of these traits, though the time it takes to do so may differ. Integrating the traits and clip chart into your classroom on a daily basis allows the students to learn by example in addition to learning from the lessons. Modeling the traits and highlighting peer models is a great way to teach them.
In the resource you’ll find links to books that I’ve personally used to teach the traits. I will be adding teaching resource units for each trait to my store this fall, as well as a classroom rule/community building pack to jumpstart your positive classroom management!
Do you make sure students go on the chart every day?  Can a child be recognized more than once? Do you monitor how often they’re on the chart? Do students monitor themselves?
I do not put every child on the clip chart every day. At the beginning, I do make an effort to recognize an instance of one of the traits in each child every few days so that they internalize the system. This isn’t forced — the students are still earning it, I’m just putting in more effort to actively looking for the behavior.
If a student is already on the chart but earns their way on to another character trait, I put them there. I don’t keep multiple clips for each student, so they simply move their clip. They’re generally SO PROUD (and I am too, and make a big deal of it with hugs & high-fives) that they do not forget to include the second (or third) trait at the end of the day when they mark their chart and I mark mine.
I track the students that are on the chart at the end of each day using an easy checklist that I keep on a clipboard at my desk. At the beginning of the year I’ll just tally, since I’m actively looking for the behaviors more often. After we’ve established and integrated the chart fully in our day-to-day activities, I will write dates instead of tallies so that I can tell if it’s been a while since a particular child has been recognized.

My students are responsible for bringing me their take-home folder at the end of the day to mark their charts. I set out my stickers {simple colored smileys, sometimes smelly if I’ve got them!} and they pick the corresponding sticker. If they clipped on two or more traits, I have some smaller stickers that they use or they use my smelly pens to draw smileys. In the beginning, I tend to do a lot of this myself as students learn the procedure — but then I let them take ownership and I get to just give lots of high-fives and hugs!
What do you do if a child isn’t earning their way on the chart?
I consider this chart to be a Tier I intervention, meaning that it should reach 80% of my students. For the remaining 20%, this chart should be a part of other interventions (such as an individualized behavior plan, check-in/check-out system) that we have in place in our tiered PBIS (Positive Behavior Interventions & Supports) system. I’ve found that this chart reaches more than 80% of my students, and even for my students that receive Tier 2 and Tier 3 interventions, is an important part of the PBIS process.
I follow a few steps when a child hasn’t been on the chart in a week or more. First, I look at myself. Am I missing subtle instances of positive character? I give myself a day or two of more purposeful monitoring of that student before deciding if next steps are needed.
Next, I look at the student. Are they displaying negative behaviors, or are they meeting expectations? If a student is displaying negative behaviors, I follow our school’s PBIS program to intervene with short-term Tier 2 interventions. I also take this time to coach the student through checking-in with them 1:1 more often, pairing them with a student that consistently exceeds our classroom expectations, and just generally giving them positive attention whenever possible.
Finally, I involve their family support system. I call home or catch them at dismissal to just check-in — are they noticing anything different at home, has anything changed in their situation, etc. Families are a GREAT first line of defense when something is “amiss” and I really value their partnership.
How do you communicate with parents using this system? Do they expect their child to be on the clip chart each day? 
Each of my students has a take-home folder that goes home each day and comes back each morning. This folder is used for basic home-school communication — we send home flyers, graded papers, etc. It has prongs in the middle, which is where the character calendar is placed.
The purpose of the character calendar is to allow a child to celebrate their successes and character development with their family. At the beginning of each year I send home a sample calendar as well as discuss it at Open House and the first parent-teacher conference. We talk about the goal of the character clip chart (to develop positive character among students and strengthen our classroom community) and the expectations.
I am very clear with parents and my students: being on the chart is earned, not given. Their child will not be on the chart every day. That does not mean that they were bad or had inappropriate behavior — it just means that today they were not specifically recognized for an instance of positive character.
How do you use the brag tags, certificates, and bracelets? Do they get one each time?
The first time a student has earned their way on to a particular trait they earn the corresponding brag tag. By the end of the year, I’ve always had every child earn all six of the corresponding brag tags. Some take a month to earn them all, some take until the last week of school. It’s all about the child’s journey and progress, not the speed with which they do it.

Students take such pride in putting them onto their tags! Rather than award the tags in the middle of a lesson, I award all the tags for the week at once. My students wear their brag tags each Friday (to minimize distraction), and are given their new tags during our morning meeting that day. {They also wear them to assemblies or on other special occasion.} Their necklaces are HUGE sources of excitement and pride, and they love taking them home at the end of the year!

I award the certificates to students monthly. Each month, my school focuses on one of the particular traits (or a combination of two or more) as a part of our PBIS initiative. Any student that has earned that particular trait that month is awarded a certificate. I like to make two copies — one color that they take home, and one in black & white that they color and we string on our walls {since some students don’t have a fridge at home to hang it on!}. I award the certificates during the last Friday morning meeting of the month.


I keep a large stash of the paper bracelets in the clip chart basket. This basket also holds all of the student’s clips on its edge, as well as our class mascot, Toto. If I have it, I do copy the bracelets on the coordinating colored paper, but the kids love white copies just the same — mostly because they will color them during indoor recess or after morning work in the morning. At the end of the day when they’re filling out their character calendars students grab one and tape it on so that they can make a big deal out of it the minute they get home!

If you still have a question about Clippin’ for Character after reading this FAQ, please let me know by leaving your question in the comments! I will be happy to respond and add an answer to the post.
If you’re interested in sharing Clippin’ for Character with your team or staff, I do have a 25-license pack available at a deeply discounted price! I’m also available to do staff development via Skype, Google Hangouts, and in-person on the East Coast. Please e-mail me for more information at noplacelikesecond@gmail.com!

#VATeacherBloggersMeet

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Last Friday a group of 30 fabulous Virginia teacher bloggers {including myself!} descended upon the Jefferson Lakeside Country Club for an afternoon of networking, laughs, food, drinks, and some incredible swag and prizes! It was an incredible time, and well worth all of the planning and logistics that went into it. I want to share some of the experience with you!

First of all, I have to tell you how absolutely AMAZING all of our sponsors were to work with. If you are making any back-to-school purchases this year, I really urge you to consider purchasing from these businesses and individuals — they truly value teachers and aren’t afraid to show it!
A HUGE thank you goes especially to Educents (one of THE best companies around!) for helping with the costs of the meetup and providing some FANTASTIC swag! Make sure you check out their new Educents Wallet feature to get all of those resources for your classroom at a steep discount! If you sign-up for a new teacher wallet account you’ll receive $10 to spend on your classroom — who couldn’t use $10?!
GoNoodle provided us with a great tote to carry all of our swag in, as well as lanyards. I’m *super* thankful for the lanyard because mine broke during summer school and I did not want to rock a lame lanyard the first day of school!
We had over $4,000 in prizes thanks to these fantastic folks! I have to say I was torn between two prizes: one of the Ellison die-cutting packages and the SitSpots giftcard. I am SUPER excited to report that my raffle ticket was pulled from the SitSpots bag, so I’ve got yellow brick road SitSpots coming my way — WOOHOO!
Check our our FANTASTIC sponsors:
And some AMAZING TpT sellers that contributed raffle prizes or digital swag:
1. Seeing everyone milling around, getting to know each other while they played their “Find Someone Who…” for an extra raffle ticket was so special. Many of us had never met each other in person, but you didn’t see a lonely person in the bunch! I love our group because we are so diverse but also so welcoming and collaborative. {Have I mentioned we’re starting a Virginia collaborative blog?!}

2. Seeing everyone’s face when they saw the prize table and picked up their swag bags! No one except myself and my fantastic co-hosts knew about the swag or prizes. We wanted our fellow teacher bloggers to be pleasantly surprised and they certainly were! So many of my colleagues walked away with incredible prizes that will help get their years off to a GREAT start.

3. We had a HUGE Oprah moment at the end of our meetup. You see, our incredible sponsor Learning Resources worked so hard to get our swag there on time but we weren’t sure it’d make it. Nikki’s husband and son were on the lookout for the FedEx man and they brought it to the meetup site as soon as it arrived. We got to play Oprah — “YOU get a set of magnetic border! YOU get a set of magnetic border!” — it was SO MUCH FUN.

You can see more fun meetup photos by looking at the hashtag #VATeacherBloggersMeet on Instagram, or by looking at the photo album below!

On Friday, July 31st, a group of 30 fabulous Virginia teacher bloggers {including myself!} descended upon the Jefferson…



Some of the fantastic Virginia teacher bloggers from the meetup are linking up with me to share their favorite moments and photo memories from the meetup, as well as share their swag and prizes! Be sure and check-out their posts!



“Fish are Friends, NOT Food!” {Shark Week Blog Hop!}

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I’m so excited to be a part of a team of bloggers coming together to help your students take a BITE out of learning with a theme your students are sure to love! I promise that our shark-themed freebies are MUCH friendlier than the sharks patrolling the East Coast these days!

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I love teaching math, and I pride myself on pulling out all of the stops to dig deep with my students and make sure that they understand the process, not just the outcome! This past year I worked hard to put together a monthly series of differentiated word problems geared toward first and second grade students (as well as third graders that need remediation). I’m extremely proud of them, and the growth that they helped my students make throughout the year!
What I’m bringing to you today is a fun, shark-themed sample of a mini-lesson (illustration with modeled examples) and two additional practice problems. These are just like the monthly packs, except they’ve got a fintastic theme to them!

fintastic freebie
Don’t miss out! Be sure to go for a swim and visit the fantastic Megan Wheeler at Mrs. Wheeler’s First Grade! Each and every blog in the Shark Week Blog Hop features a jawesome freebie for you and your students- but hurry! Shark Week only lasts until Sunday, July 12!



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