Instruction

April is School Library Month

Did you know that April is School Library Month? Here are 7 ideas on how you can incorporate school library month into your classroom. D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything and Read) day. Pick your own date and hold a Drop Everything and Read day! Have a block of time that everyone (including staff) just reads. Stage a read-in where students wear pajamas and get cozy while reading! Host a “Book tasting”. Librarians are always happy to give suggestions on less-well-known books that your students may enjoy! Learn more about a book tasting here! There is also a digital genre book tasting seesaw...

Digital Interactive Notebooks

Digital interactive notebooks are a fun, new way to help keep students engaged and organized digitally.   What are Digital Interactive Notebooks? Originally, interactive notebooks were spiral or composition notebooks that students used to enhance class notes.  Notes were taken on the right side of the notebook, and on the left, students would color, glue, add their own take on the notes.  Eventually, other papers, foldables, vocabulary lists, etc., would be glued into the notebook. Especially now, it is extremely helpful to re-create this tool into a digital format.  Digital notebooks can be created in Google Slides.   What are the Benefits?...

Visual Note Taking: Sketchnotes 101

What are sketchnotes? Sketchnoting is the strategy of mashing together the use of visuals along with words to help aid in student comprehension. They serve not only as an alternative to writing traditional notes, but also as a creative learning assignments with outcomes that are more personal and can act as a really great tool to reflect on the learning that is taking place.  What’s nice about sketchnoting is that it is not a strict format. Instead, it presents students with a variety of tools for them to choose from and create their own customized note-taking process, one that works...

Making the Internet Accessible to All

We know that our students all have different needs, and we are daily making modifications to ensure that we are meeting the needs of all of our learners. But at times, we all fall short. I have found this is especially true when students are utilizing the internet for text. Not only can you not easily adapt the lexile, but you cannot be everywhere for everyone, defining words and reading words out loud. By maybe the 3rd grade, students know this and many just stop asking for help. They skip over the “big words”, pass by words they cannot pronounce. ...

Using Video as a Chunking Tool on Seesaw

The Seesaw video tool is a great way to model and break down or “chunk” your instruction for virtual assignments. Chunking instruction is when you are intentionally pacing instruction to deliver one idea, or step, at a time. This helps simplify instruction for the students, allowing for a more direct route of step by step instructions for one assignment.  Teachers are able to model the assignment as well as demonstrate the expectations. Teachers could chunk their instruction to: Model and complete a sample directly on the assignment for students to watch Break down specific steps in the assignment to demonstrate possible...

Talking About Race in America

Black History Month “We may be uncomfortable talking about race, but we can no longer afford to be silent. We have chosen a profession that—like parenting—requires us to put our comforts second to those of children.” Jamilah Pitts As February approaches, so does Black History Month. As we spend this month learning more about Black history, keep in mind that Black history did not begin with American slavery and end with the Civil Rights Movement. Black history has deep ancestral roots leading back far beyond the beginning of our country. Do your students know that thousands of years before American...

Focus on Feedback in Canvas

Canvas makes it easy to allow students to submit multiple times to the same assignment. This helps you move away from completion and compliance for student work toward a feedback and revision cycle, focusing on improvement and tracking growth. There are several ways to do this in Canvas and we’ll highlight some of the easier methods here along with why you might want to do this in your class. Quizzes & Tests An obvious first stop, do you allow quiz or test retakes? If the answer is “no,” let’s consider why for a few minutes. Deadlines and accountability are important....

Being a Champion for Equality, Justice, and Peace

Looking to celebrate MLK Jr day in your classroom, but not sure where to start? Find resources here.

Using Video in Online Classes

We’re online for the long haul. Even with hybrid teaching, our students are working in a virtual classroom, through Seesaw or Canvas, three days a week. As teachers, a pandemic isn’t a great time to try to learn new things, but we must be reflecting on and considering what we’re asking our students to do in this new environment. Our old habits and methods aren’t adequate in helping students be successful. All things considered, our online classes need to offer more flexibility for students than when we’re in person. Removing time barriers to information is one easy way to take...

Three Ways to Use Jamboard with Students

Jamboard is a collaborative whiteboard tool within your Google account. All students in the district have access at this point and in this post, we’re going to share three ways to work with Jamboards with your students. It’s important to note before we dive in that the toolset in Jamboard on the iPad is different than what’s available on your laptop. Take some time to use Jamboard on your iPad so you can take advantage of some of the options students have access to. Before you Start, Plan! Jamboards are great on-the-fly whiteboards, but it takes some planning to really...

Station Rotation in a Virtual Class

Station rotations can be a great way to help students engage with topics or ideas. This post curates some ideas and resources to help you get started.

Connect and Engage Your Students with a Digital Trivia Competition

I was looking for a fun and interactive way to connect and engage my students during online distance learning. I started hosting a digital trivia competition using Google Meet and Quizlet Live. This gives students a fun, laid-back way to connect with you and their classmates who they haven’t seen since leaving school in March. Plus, it allows you to sneak in some content review in a collaborative game at the same time. Win-win! If you’re not familiar with Quizlet, it’s an online learning platform that allows students to study information using digital flash cards, online games, and practice tests. One of...

Using Choice Board to Engage and Empower

Does it feel like you are pulling teeth trying to get students to complete work? Do you feel like you spend all day working on planning the next assignment instead of spending your precious time giving students feedback and building relationships? I did, too. I started investing a little bit of time into building distance learning choice boards that have really helped me to increase my productivity through the week while also giving my students more ownership over their learning. What are choice boards, anyways? A choice board is a broad term for a method of allowing students to choose...