Students don't intuitively know how to "read" videos used for instructional purposes. Show them how to apply visual literacy, and incrase learning.
The adventures of a third year teacher...
It's time once again for Show & Tell Tuesday! Thank goodness spring is almost here! We had four surprise snow days in the last couple weeks, and I thoroughly enjoyed them. It's so nice getting some extra time at home to get things done. This was the view from my office... But now I'm ready for spring, and I don't want any more snow days. To be honest, we have used up all of our weather days that we can have and not have to make them up in June. I love it when Mother Nature cooperates and gives us just the right amount of snow days, don't you? How many snow days can you have in your state before you have to add them on at the end of the year? Those snow days did give me the opportunity to start a new exercise routine. I walk at least three days a week, but I decided I needed to add some strength training. I do not like going to a gym though, and I didn't want to have to buy a bunch of equipment. I found a great free app that I downloaded on my ipad called Sworkit. You choose what kind of work out you want to do and for how long. I have been doing fifteen minutes of strength training before my 45 minute walks. What I like about it is I can do the exercises in the living room in front of the tv. Though I wouldn't recommend watching Cupcake Wars like I did the other day...that was torture! Sometimes I have to get the dogs to scoot over and give me more room too! Do you need a way to keep track of your students' late assignments at school? I thought I would share with you how I manage to stay on top of this daily chore. The first thing my students do when they come in the classroom in the morning, is come up and turn in their work. They also bring up their planner to show me whether or not they had a parent sign the previous day's page. If they are missing an assignment, I turn to the next page in their planner (which we will be using for today's work) and write down the late assignment. That way, when the parent looks at the page tonight, he/she will see that an assignment was not turned in on time. Then I write the late assignment on a little sticky note with the student's name and put it on the late work board. This board is on my desk and is a good reminder for both the students and myself. If a student is done with other work, I encourage them to check the late work board to see if there is anything else they need to get caught up on. I also check it each day right before recess. Students do not go out to recess if they have any late work. Once a student turns their work in to me, I remove the sticky note. After putting the sticky note on the late work board, I make a check mark on a class list if they had their planner signed. If the student has their planner signed and they have all their work ready to turn in on time, I stamp their planner page so parents can see that they are on top of their game! It may sound like a lot of steps, but once you get the hang of it, it goes pretty fast. After I have checked everyone in, I take a minute to highlight on my clipboard all the students who had late work. I also write a number for how many late assignments that makes for them. I do this because in my school, students get a discipline slip if they have five late assignments in a marking period. Numbering them like this makes it easy for me to give kids a heads up if they are getting close to that five mark. Best of luck keeping track of your students' work!
The year 2016 is drawing to a close, and I’d like to take this time to thank all of my loyal followers. Every morning this week (December 12th – 16th), you will receive a gift in your inbox, a short exercise you can use with your secondary students to keep them focused AND have a […]
One of the first lessons I teach every single year, regardless of the grade-level I am teaching, is how to closely read and annotate a text. Because I feel
Hello again! I wanted to take a few to discuss something I learned about while studying to take my Google Certified Educator exams (more on that later!). Now, I’m not claiming to be an expert, by any means, but I did want to put this idea out there! As I was combing over the basics on how to utilize Google Docs in the classroom, I came across a very brief snippet on something called a “HyperDoc”. It looked interesting and I jotted the idea down to check out later. When I finally finished the studying and passed the exams, I did a little research and, eventually, made my own! So, what is a HyperDoc? Well, “HyperDoc is a term used to describe a Google Doc that contains an innovative lesson for students- a 21st Century worksheet, but much better”( Changing Digital Pedagogy). Because my school went 1:1 with Chromebooks this year, I have been doing many of my lessons with the integration of apps and other digital resources. With that said, I have often run into the problem of figuring out what to do when it came time to do a worksheet. I really take pride in the worksheets I have designed and I really didn’t want to give them up, so to speak. Through the use of a HyperDoc, I didn’t have to give up my awesome worksheets! I simply turned them digital and added interactive components to make them even better! This particular worksheet was simply an article (with a metacognitive marker key for marking the text) with questions to follow. The assignment itself was nothing impressive, but I was semi-proud of how polished I had made it look as a paper assignment. It was time to revamp it! I’ll tell you all about the first HyperDoc I ever made and how it fared in my own classroom! I'll post pictures beneath the steps. The examples are real student work, so you're not only able to see the HyperDoc design, but you get to see how it was used in my classroom! Step 1: I turned my .pdf file into a Google Doc by opening and saving the file in the Google Docs app. Step 2: I decided I wanted to turn this very independent and straightforward assignment into a semi-collaborative and interactive one. With that new thought in mind, I found four more articles that tied into the same subject as the original and decided to go in the direction of a jigsaw. Step 3: I came up with a pre-reading question and created a table at the top of the doc with enough rows for each student in a group of five (I chose five, but you can do any number of students in a group for a HyperDoc activity. The possibilities are endless!). Step 4: Next, I took the five articles that I had found on the same topic and created a simple chart that consisted of the following: article title, a short description of each article, and a link to each article. The directions above this chart asked students to each choose a different article and read it (no one from the same group should read the same article). Step 5: Under the article link chart I made another table with questions for the students to answer about their articles. After filling out their own column, students were instructed to jigsaw (share) a short summary of their article and their findings that they had recored in the above mention chart. Step 6: After jigsawing, students were asked to answer another question using information from their discussion. I created a chart identical (with the new question instead of the old) to the first question chart for this. Step 7: I took this versatile digital worksheet as an opportunity to reinforce a strategy we had been learning. The last portion of the worksheet was an easy way for my students to get some practice with that strategy while also utilizing information they had gained after reading their articles and jigsawing with their peers. Step 8: I put specific and bright directions on what to do when finished (how to turn the assignment in for grading). Now, like I said at the beginning of this post, I don't claim to be an expert in all things HyperDocs, but I do think they are a phenomenal way to boost student engagement/collaboration and an even better opportunity to cover more than one subject,strategy, standard, etc. If you would like more information on how I use HyperDocs, or if you would like an editable copy of this very HyperDoc, comment below or drop me an email and I would more than happy to share everything and anything I have with you! -Taliena (Koch's Odds 'N Ends) "HyperDocs - Changing Digital Pedagogy - 2014 Mountian ..." 2014. 4 Nov. 2015
The sun gold perfect slouch for any age or walk of life beanie hat handmade in crochet Worked in a pretty relief weave and a stretchy rim it makes a great all-year-around beanie. Stretchy and ideal to wrangle your hair! Soft, sturdy and colorfast acrylic yarn, easy laundry care. Measurements: 10 inches LONG (depth) Head opening is about 19 inches unstretched and stretches to 26 inches Widest point 11" This hat still has some stretch in width and length if needed. Ideal for tucking a bun or ponytail in your beanie crown, starter dreads or long hair or just any kind of hair. You can let your strands hang down or tuck into the crown.
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