Uncategorized

Set Students Up for Success

Posted by

0

The students in our classrooms are technically digital natives; however, this does not mean they have the necessary skills to be successful in digital learning.  It became clear to me last year as we moved over night to online learning that my students did not have the “academic” technical skills needed to be successful.  I had both 6th and 7th grade classes, and I was amazed at what students didn’t know how to do. Not only did they not know how to navigate our LMS, they didn’t have the basic skills of downloading documents, using a split screen, or uploading documents. 

Knowing this, I made the decision to spend several class periods at the start of this school year on basic “academic” technical skills.  I created practice lessons for students to explore our district’s new LMS.  These lessons included videos and documents that students could refer to when they needed help.  It’s still frustrating to get blank documents submitted after 8 weeks of school; however, I can’t imagine how much worse this would be if we hadn’t spent time on the basics.

A Note:  It was a struggle to teach these skills to students when each student had a different kind or brand of device.  Some were on laptops, desktops, phones, or iPads.  Some were on Apple products, Dell products, or Chromebooks.  Not having each of these types and brands of devices made it a challenge to trouble shoot.  A positive of this was that students took on the tech support role and volunteered to help each other.  They were a great support for each other and helped their peers in ways that I couldn’t do.

Sources: 

http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teaching_ahead/2018/10/even_digital_natives_need_to_learn_common-sense_tech_skills.html

Definition of Engagement

Posted by

0

Before looking at how to engage students digitally, I first need to define engagement.  Too often, I hear people use engagement and fun interchangeably; however, they are not synonyms.  Yes, fun can be engaging, but engaging does not have to be fun.

In “Why Engagement in Online Learning Matters,” engagement is defined as, “our emotional involvement or commitment to something.”  Some students find emotional connections to certain content areas like stories in social stories or in novels read in class.  However, I think most teachers see engagement tied more directly to commitment.  Commitment is a result of engagement.  Those who are engaged are more committed to tasks and learning.

In “(Re)Defining Student Engagement,” Mark Renwick’s definition extends engagement beyond “students doing more talking than the teacher.”  Renwick connects engagement to passion about something.  Because of the passion, students are willing to put in time and effort to develop skills and understanding. 

The authors of “Six Ways to Boost Student Engagement in Online/Virtual Classrooms” point out that there are outward visuals of engagement including raised hands and asking questions. Like the other authors of the other articles, they refer to other student behaviors that demonstrate engagement.  This article looks at “self-directed learning behaviors and proactive preparation for a class” as other signs of engagement.

So, knowing that engagement is more complex that student participation in class, how do I design lessons that lead to increase in student engagement?  Here are ideas centered around things that I can control as a teacher.   I will weave these through future blog posts.

  1. Set students up for success  
  2. Organize lectures and learning materials
  3. Create a sense of belonging in a learning community
  4. Provide regular feedback
  5. Create game-based learning opportunities
Why Engagement in Online Learning Matters
(Re)Defining Student Engagement
https://www.edtechupdate.com/digital-learning/student-engagement/?open-article-id=13506183&article-title=6-ways-to-boost-student-engagement-in-online-virtual-classrooms-&blog-domain=linways.com&blog-title=linways-technologies

Pandemic Digital Scrapbook Project

Posted by

0

I saw a version of this on Edutopia and thought it was a great idea.  I worked to tweak it and am now watching kids creating their digital scrapbooks.  I was a little worried because I didn’t want to cause students to focus on the negative of the time, so I intentionally focused on students’ personal experiences, interviews of friends and family, and things like memes.  It is important that students are aware the news, so there is a news component.  However, the news component is not the major focus for the grade levels I teach.  I did have one parent reach out because they are minimizing the exposure his child has to the news about the virus.   I happily gave his child the option of exploring a different topic as long as the work his child did covered the standards that the project covers-all genres of writing, research, technology, speaking (interviews), and reading. The topic of the digital scrapbook is not the most important part of the assignment.

My plan is to allow students to get comfortable with the technology they select and with adding content for two weeks.  If schools remain closed, we will divide weeks up and will have days to work on the digital scrapbook and days to review skills.  If we return to school, we can continue or end the project.  When we end the project, we will schedule a gallery walk that will allow students to view everyone’s project. It is very flexible!

Digital Scrapbook Assignment during the Covid-19 Pandemic in 2020 (1)

directions for creating digital scrapbook in OneDrive

Crazy Times Call for Sharing

Posted by

0

I haven’t been posting, but I figured now is the time to start again.  I’ll keep adding ideas for digital learning activities for middle school language arts.

**My students have access to Microsoft 365, so you may have to tweak parts of the directions.

**At this time, I believe all of the resources linked below are free.

“A Noiseless Patient Spider” by Walt Whitman

  1. Watch this 3:29 TED Ed video.

https://ed.ted.com/lessons/a-poetic-experiment-walt-whitman-interpreted-by-three-animators-justin-moore

  1. Answer the following questions about Walt Whitman’s use of alliteration and word choice in his poem. (Forms)

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45473/a-noiseless-patient-spider

A noiseless patient spider,

I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated,

Mark’d how to explore the vacant vast surrounding,

It launch’d forth filament, filament, filament, out of itself,

Ever unreeling them, ever tirelessly speeding them.

And you O my soul where you stand,

Surrounded, detached, in measureless oceans of space,

Ceaselessly musing, venturing, throwing, seeking the spheres to connect them,

Till the bridge you will need be form’d, till the ductile anchor hold,

Till the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul.

  • Questions
  • Whitman uses alliteration (the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of closely connected or adjacent words) in this poem. Read the poem and list the phrases that contain alliteration below.List the words that describe both the spider and the soul in similar ways.
  • What specific words or phrases does Walt Whitman use to personify the spider and thus create a metaphor between the spider and the soul? List them.

“Robot Dog vs Real Dog”

  1. Read this article. https://math.scholastic.com/issues/2019-20/090219/robot-dog.html#970L
  2. Write a constructed response paragraph comparing and contrasting the two.

If you need help organizing your thinking, use this graphic organizer.  You may print it or sketch it out on a piece of paper.  http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/lesson_images/lesson275/compcon_chart.pdf

“If I Were a Super Hero”

  1. Read https://scope.scholastic.com/issues/2019-20/120119/if-i-were-a-superhero.html
  2. In Forms, answer the following questions in complete sentences. Make sure to use vocabulary of the question in your response.

An internal conflict is a conflict that takes place within a character’s mind.  An external conflict is a struggle between a character and someone or something else.

  1. What is the narrator’s internal conflict? How about her external conflict?
  2. Find two lines that reveal the internal conflict.
  3. Find two lines that reveal the external conflict.
  4. If you were a superhero, what would your story be? If you need some inspiration, use the superhero generator linked below.  Once you have your superhero character in mind, write down the internal conflict and an external conflict your invented character would face.  Then, write a short story about your character stopping a bank robbery that introduces both conflicts.

https://www.kzone.com.au/article/super-hero-name-generator-521181

“For Every One”

“Your dream is the mole
behind your ear,
that chip in your
front tooth,
your freckles.
It’s the thing that makes
you special,
but not the thing that makes
you great.
The courage in trying,
the passion in living,
and the acknowledgement
and appreciation of
the beauty happening around
you does that.”
― Jason Reynolds 

  1. Read the poem.
  2. Write your own version of the poem and post to forms.
  3. If needed, use this template. You will need to delete the lines as you go.

Your dream is the ___________

___________,

that ___________,

your __________.

It’s the thing that makes you special but not the thing that makes you great.

The ___________ in ­___________,

the ___________ in ___________,

and the ___________

and ___________ of

the beauty happening around

you does that.

Link to text online https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/9042217-your-dream-is-the-mole-behind-your-ear-that-chip

“Pandora’s Box”

  1. Watch this TED Ed video https://ed.ted.com/lessons/the-myth-of-pandora-s-box-iseult-gillespie#watch
  2. Answer questions in Forms
    1. Can you think of any historical or contemporary examples that pose their own “Pandora’s Box dilemma? What are they?
    2. Why is it important that HOPE was also in the box? How does this change the meaning of the myth?
    3. Rewrite the story with Pandora as the narrator. It should be from her point of view, so it should be in first person.

Meme Explanation

  1. You may either pick a meme of your choice, school appropriate of course, or pick one from below.
  2. Write a constructed response paragraph explaining what it means.
  3. You will need to refer to the meme for evidence; however, you will not use MLA in your citations.

World War II Museum Virtual Field Trips

One of the hardest skills for students to develop is the ability to take notes while reading or listening.  To practice this, select one of the free virtual field trips on this page, and practice taking notes while watching at least 15 minutes.  You may take note either on paper or by typing.  Enter which field trip you viewed in Forms.

https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/distance-learning/k-12-distance-learning/electronic-field-trips

More Ideas

TED Ed

How to use rhetoric to get what you want  https://ed.ted.com/lessons/how-to-use-rhetoric-to-get-what-you-want-camille-a-langston#watch

Lucky Beyond Belief

Posted by

0

It’s September, and our PTSA and Foundation presented 23 teachers with grants of close to $25,000!  I was lucky to get one to help pay for materials and supplies for the Pay It Forward Club.  The kids will be so excited.

IMG_1564.jpg

Today, our Hat Day raised just a few dollars short of $500 for Relay for Life.

IMG_1568.jpgIMG_1565.jpg

Thoughts on Last Week’s Tragedy

Posted by

0

I have had lots of time to think and reflect on the horrible news from last week of the shooting in Florida. Since we are on break, I have spent time alone in my car as I drove to see family several hours away. I can’t come close to knowing how it felt to be a teacher in that school. When I let myself go “there” in my thoughts, I shudder and when I look around that school in my mind, I see the faces of MY kids, the students who I have the immense pleasure of working with each day. I often can’t stay “there” long in my thoughts because it hurts too much to see MY kids’ eyes, which should be filled with life and laughter, full of fear. Or their mouths, which should be turned up at the ends in a smile, be downturned in sorrow. Or their brows, which should be furrowed with effort, be furrowed with anguish.

After one school shooting, sadly, I’m afraid I don’t know which one, I called my mother as I drove home. She asked me what I would do if I were ever in that situation and whether I would protect myself. I can’t remember exactly how I replied, but it was something like, “How can I promise you that? How could I protect myself when MY kids might need me?” Honestly, I don’t know how I would react, but I hope I would be someone that my kids could look to for guidance, reassurance, direction, and calmness. I couldn’t be this person if I was expected to also have a gun. If I was expected to make quick judgments on who was the bad guy and who wasn’t. If I was expected to be both a shooter and a teacher.

To those who think teachers should be armed. The type of people who go into teaching, for the most part, do not have the personalities that would make them comfortable carrying a weapon with the possibility of having to shoot someone; no amount of training can instill this in someone whose calling is to teach. Instead of spending money on arming teachers, why don’t we increase funding for mental health treatment, increase funding for securing buildings more effectively, and perhaps most importantly, make it difficult to get high powered weapons whose only purpose is mass destruction? Why don’t we raise the age for buying guns? You can’t legally drink a beer, but you can buy high-powered semi-automatic rifle that isn’t used for practical purposes like hunting. What is the logic there?

To MY kids, yes, you are more than just my students, my heart breaks that you have to see news reports like you saw last week. This isn’t what you should be seeing and hearing when you turn on the news or read social media. You should be worried about how you can get your homework done when you have a game or practice after school or how you can get the girl or guy you think is cute to notice you. What crazy times we live in. If we are ever in a situation where we are in danger, know that I will do everything in my power to protect you. Look in my eyes and know that you are loved and treasured because YOU are the future. You have whole world in front of you, and even though you might drive me a little nutty at times, I have great confidence in society’s future because YOU will be the ones leading it. YOU can make the world better Live your life by some fairly simple guidelines that I hope you have learned in our time together. Be confident. Be bold. Be kind. Be thoughtful. Be fearless. Be trustworthy. Be tolerant. Be creative.