As teachers we have a choice: accept the curriculum and ignore any creativity we may have OR embrace the creativity that our jobs allow us and be producers to create the best lessons possible. We can then model for our students the importance, and joy, of being producers instead of consumers.
I am on my third, and final week, of Winter Break. Yes, I get 3 weeks off. I LOVE it! The time off has given me time to regroup, recharge, and realign my focus.
So… Next week when I am back with my students I am ready to go! No, really I am. I have some exciting lessons, well, I think they’re exciting. And there are some big changes. One of the biggest changes coming up is that I will go back to teaching all the subjects. For the last year and a half, my partner teacher and I have done a partnership with our classes. However, due to forces outside our control this year, it just wasn’t working. Another change is my attitude towards classroom decorating. In the past, I have been lazy. I have had no desire to create that ‘cutesy’ type classroom. I filed it under, ‘just not my style’. What I really should have been saying is, ‘Ugh, that takes so much energy’. Apparently, I have found said energy. I plan to ‘cutesify’ my room. It will begin with a stool painting project. I then plan to paint other furniture in the room AND attempt to do something with the 1980’s metal blinds. Yup, my next few months of Genius Hour are packed!
Then there is the curriculum. There are some exciting learning opportunities happening there too. One such project will be A Tale Unfolds. Students will read, write, produce, video, and star in their own movie. This will start in a few weeks. I’ll keep you posted on this activity. Before that, we need to edit our NaNoWriMo Stories. My hope is to publish an anthology of their stories. I mean, how cool is it that they will be published authors at the age of 11?
So in short, I’m super excited to see what the rest of our year has in store for us! THIS has been an amazing break.
Earlier this month I wrote about setting my students up for success. We were studying Cortes and Montezuma. The idea was to give students the information so that they could synthesize, analyze, and collaboratively create a writing to be performed in a poetry slam style. Many of the students turned the assignment into a rap – which is fine with me. The idea, after all, was to understand the information. The outcome…Success! Here’s one example – viewpoint: Montezuma
The integration of Google Calendar with Google Classroom has been helpful. Many schools require students to have a Planner [book]. This allows students to write assignments due dates, project deadlines, and tests. Google now assigns a Calendar with each Classroom you create. Then when you create an Assignment or Question, it automatically creates an event in the Calendar. However by default, there are no notifications reminding students of the Assignment or Question deadline. That can easily be changed. And by doing so, helping to create a digital Student Planner!
Navigate to your Google Calendar or Google Classroom – About Page.
The left side lists all the Calendars. Each Classroom has it’s own. By hovering over the Classroom Calendar, a small down arrow appears. Choose it to set the properties. Choose Edit notifications.
This will send you to a new page. There are a few options on this page. Event notifications is the first choice. This allows you to send emails or pop-up notifications to all attendees (students). You can send several if you choose. Say an Assignment is due on Friday, you may want to send a notification to students 3 days before it’s due AND the day before.
You can add as many Notifications as necessary. When you are done, remember to Save.
In Google Classroom, I like to ‘Create a Question’ for quick checks or exit tickets. They are easy to create and manage. Students can read each other’s posts, comment, and have quality discussions with ‘Questions’. This is an underused tool by many who use Google Classroom. It truly is a hidden gem in this tool.
In order to create a Question, choose the + located in the bottom right corner of the ‘Stream’ section of your classroom.
Now I can create my question. I can insert a file, something from my Google Drive, a YouTube video, and/or a link to a website. I can insert as many items as needed. Since I teach 2 classes of Social Studies, I can assign the question to both classes, with files and links, at the same time. I can even set a due date. When I have my preferences set, I choose the blue ‘ASK’ button.
Next a pop-out window appears where I can allow students to view each other’s responses, or not. I can also allow students to edit their own responses. I like to allow students to comment on each other’s. This allows for discussion and opportunity for students to defend their positions. When I’m ready, I click the blue ‘ASK’ button.
My question now appears at the top of the stream.
Here’s an example we did early this year. Once the students respond, I can then grade their answers if I choose to. On this particular example, I gave the students some material to review before answering. In order to encourage open dialog, I also asked them to comment on each other’s responses.
When I’m ready to view, I can click on ‘Done’ in the Question. This takes me to the Student Response page. All of their responses are listed along with the option to grade, comment, and return work.
When I click on an individual student, I can see his/her answer and the classmates’ responses.
Learn to:
Here are some tutorials to help you
We’ve all heard this, but what does it really mean? Yes, we all greet our students at the door and welcome them with a smile on our faces. Many of us have ‘fun’ activities planned in order acclimate our new students to our ways, rules, expectations, and personality. How many of us bust out the technology on the first day? How many of us have students creating something meaningful the first day?
Finally, each student created a Voki to tell me a little bit about themselves. This was a fun way for students to introduce themselves to me. They got to use technology, create something meaningful, and were able to view it online (and show their families). Here is my class and the other class (Mrs. Pursley).This was a great way to begin the school year! We just finished our second week, and things are going GREAT. I am blessed with an amazing group of students. This may be the best year yet (and that’s saying something as this is my 20th year teaching).
The new school year has just begun, and I have been asked by a few, “How do I delete all of my assignments from last year, and add this year’s class to Google Classroom?”
My answer: Archive the old and create a new classroom! It’s easy to do.
Navigate to your Google Classroom. Find the class you wish to archive. Click on the three (3) dots in the upper right corner. This will bring up a pop out menu. Here you have the choice to ‘Rename’ the class, or ‘Archive’ it.
No worries, you can always refer back to last year’s assignments in your archived classes:
You now have the ability to upload an assignment in Google Classroom and ‘Save Draft’; and assign when necessary.
Create an assignment as usual, but instead of ‘Assign’ choose ‘Save Draft’. It will then appear on YOUR wall as ‘Draft’. When you are ready to ‘Assign’ either click on ‘Draft’ or the arrow on the right. Then click the name of the assignment, a pop-out window appears where you can see the settings of the assignment and have the option to ‘Assign’ or ‘Save Draft’. This time ‘Assign’.
Nowa Techie 