Notebooking, Teaching, and Technology

I like to use the Facebook Messenger effects to make video messages for students. I used to teach teachers how to do when they were out and wanted to leave a "video note" for students when they had a sub. Using the effects makes the message more engaging and more likely to be watched.  With distance learning in full swing in our district I thought it would be a great way to kick off the school week with students (giving them something new for the week to watch that lets students know what is due).  It is super simple to make. I created the video instructions above or you can link to it HERE . I use my iPhone or iPad and I have my Google Classroom and Seesaw accounts linked to both devices. Linking them makes it easier to upload the finished videos into the student classrooms that I have set up.  Seesaw Upload Instructions: Google Classroom Instructions: If you find any other uses for the Facebook Messenger effects please let me...

This summer I learned that Amazon sells these awesome scratch off stickers . I posted it in our district's EdTech Group and a teacher showed me how she is planning to use them at the beginning of the year to sort students into houses (see last picture).   With back-to-school mandatory technology training happening next week I thought I would try it out with some some random "give-a-ways" to keep participants engaged. I kept it simple and had three things listed - candy, prize bag (dollar store items), and a hug (that was more for my amusement and to add an element of danger..think of it as scratch off Russian Roulette...I am allowing a fist bump substitute for my non-hugging teachers)  I made the cards in Publisher using a business card template that I modified. I liked the template because it had guide lines for cutting. You could use any program to make them though. I printed them on card stock and used my paper trimmer to cut them down. ...

I was in a classroom the other day helping with something TOTALLY unrelated to the teachers lesson. As I was working I was listening to the teacher teach math to her 1st graders. She did such an awesome job (I mean I stopped what I was doing to see what she was doing...teaching 1st graders is a rough subgroup for me...control wise). Anyway, we had to test out what I was helping her with (signing 1st graders into our science tech book) and I asked her to repeat this "call back" she used with her students as she modeled how to use the shortcut we set up. I video taped it because it was too cute not to. I tried it today in a 3rd grade  classroom and they picked it up pretty quickly. I would like to say I was as successful as the teacher in the video but alas I failed to model what "watching" looked like first (my mistake). So, if you are going to use this call back make sure students know and practice what "watching" looks like before introducing...

I was in a training class today where we were talking about how to teach students to give feedback. The instructor showed this video which features the evolution of a butterfly drawing a student completed after receiving peer feedback at various stages. The difference from start to finish was impressive! I loved the video and thought it would be something I would share with students (when teaching them the importance of feedback). The instructor then had us go around the room and provide feedback on group projects. She had us use sticky notes BUT we had to write on the sticky side so that when we left the note it was face down as opposed to face up...so that way people walking around couldn't copy each other's responses and the feedback was private. That was pretty awesome (yet another idea I would copy). The feedback we left was "Praise, Question, Polish" - something you liked, a question you had, and a suggestion for improvement or something to thi...

This idea came across my news feed on Facebook and I loved the literacy connection to notebooking. Gluing is always an issue in the notebooks and this is a great way to introduce the problem of "too much glue". See the entire blog post about it HERE . I am passing it along in the hopes someone finds it as helpful as I did.

I saw these two signs while in a school and I liked them both. They came from the school's guidance counselor. The first required that a student be able to mentally check off a list before they report bullying. I liked this because children often throw the word "bullying" out without really knowing how it is defined. The list she has posted helps (I didn't see the form that students were to fill in but it is on my list to find the next time I visit the school).  I thought this could be used in a classroom - particularly at the beginning of the year when talking about bullying. The second made me laugh. I saw it in a kindergarten room and asked the teacher about it. She said the school's guidance counselor came and taught her little ones about the importance of people's "personal space". They had to demonstrate that they understood the concept of "personal space" to get the certificate. I loved the idea as a guidance lesson...so I th...

I follow a blog -  http://gingersnapstreatsforteachers.blogspot.com/ -   and she posted her long range plans this morning and I LOVED the format...which she provides for free (you do have to download some fonts to view it correctly but I believe those are free as well).  My favorite was the "Year at a Glance" that she provides to parents at the beginning of the year (which is what I really liked and think it's a fabulous idea).  I'm pass it along in case folks are working on their LRP's this summer :) 

Classroom management is the hardest lesson that teachers learn...and sadly it can't be learned in college...it is certainly "talked about" but the only way to learn this one is on the job (sorry new teachers...on the plus side it gets better :). It has been my experience that new teachers can learn any content with some degree of confidence...find a lesson and support material without too much difficult...and deliver it with authority. It is when you throw in the kids where everything gets tripped up :) My first year as a science teacher with no science background I felt pretty good about if I could stay one day ahead of my pacing guide... for example, I had no idea what a dichotomous key was until the week before I had to teach it...um...let alone pronounce it :) but I powered through the content like a champ however, I struggled with the students. I invited seasoned teachers (that I like and respected) to come in and give advice and I went and observed them duri...

I was in a fifth grade classroom just before the holidays and saw a boy put a hand sanitize bottle on his desk with a timer taped to it. I asked him to explain and he said that if they want to go to the bathroom they pick one of the two bottles on the shelf (see second picture), set the timer for three minutes, and go to the bathroom. They have to make it back before the three minutes is up, use the hand sanitizer, turn off the alarm and put it back on the shelf.   The teacher said that the three minute alarm is her indication that someone might be playing or taking too long in the bathroom.  Clearly all the kids knew the bathroom procedure. There are two bottles for the boys and two for the girls. Apparently the boys lost one of the bottles before the break and they can only go out one at a time. I thought this was a clever way to manage bathroom procedures so I thought I would share. 

I saw this in June/July 2012 issue of Family Fun Magazine and I thought was kind of fun. I definitely would have used it when my son was younger because somehow he could never get his dirty clothes into the hamper (all around it but never in it). I solved my problem by only washing the clothes that made it into the hamper and after a few washings he got the general drift. This poster would have been a lot more fun. The parent in question would tear off the bottom strips each time clothes were left on the floor. Each strip was worth extra TV time for her children. I thought this could be used in a classroom with the tear off strips on the bottom worth extra recess time (5 minutes for each tab left on Friday). It could be made to gauge classroom behavior for the day or (in my case) were all papers turned in with names on it (my pet peeve). It is possible to reverse it so instead of tearing off strips for the infraction you could add strips if the class was good (positive versus ne...