Dear Staff, As always, take a look at what you can and come back for seconds later. Get it? Seconds...as in getting a second helping of food for Thanksgiving. I'll be here all week folks. Seriously I will be here all week. Here is my schedule: • Monday - Oak Hill • Tuesday - Three Creeks • Wednesday - Lake Prairie • Thursday - Lake Prairie • Friday - Oak Hill Skype in the Classroom: Many of the teachers involved in the Global Read Aloud project saw a lot of value in using Skype in the classroom. Kassie Hanger and I were discussing her experience, and she stated that her read aloud became more interactive and focused. Rather than just reading for enjoyment, she had an instructional focus. Because the class had to be prepared for their Skype call, the students had a reason to pay attention to the reading, and "Skyping" with another classroom made the experience authentic and relevant. Thank you to all that participated in the Global Read Aloud. It was probably a little scary at first but it was educationally valuable. Jillian Rizo started charting all of the states and areas within Canada she has "Skyped" so far. The Global Read Aloud is just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many projects out there to integrate within classroom instruction. Check out Skype in the Classroom to get an idea of what classroom projects are out there regarding Skype. On this site, you join certain projects or start your own Skype project. One project I like is called Mystery Skype. With Mystery Skype, the idea is to Skype a class in another part of the country and attempt to figure out where they are located based on simple yes/no questions. A "yes" answer allows for a follow up questions, while a "no" answer gives the opposing group the chance to ask a question. Students are broken into groups and given jobs for their Mystery Skype session. Check out the first two sources below for Mystery Skype jobs and the third source for a video overview of Mystery Skype. 1.Langwitches Skype jobs 2.Google Doc Job Resource 3.Video Overview 4.My Blog Post on Mystery Skype Flipped Classroom Concept: Have you every had a parent tell you, "I'm embarrassed to tell you that I couldn't help [insert student name] with her homework last night. We both didn't understand it." Well, this is
where the Flipped concept can help with this problem. I can provide a long explanation and a short explanation on this concept. I will opt for the short version and the long version is attached via hyperlinks. In the Flipped Classroom, teachers provide most of the instructional content and direct instruction Online. Then, students are assigned the content Online prior to attending class. From this, teachers can have the students complete the task in class, which attempts to demonstrate that learning has occurred. Why call it flipped? It's flipped because students view the instruction at home and complete their homework within the classroom. This way the expert, or teacher, can provide the assistance for students that need help completing a task. At the elementary level, I see this being valuable within math instruction. But, as teachers can be like MacGyver (i.e. Teachers can be creative and able to make something out of nothing), I don't want to limit your thinking on how the Flipped Classroom can be applied. For a more detailed overview of the Flipped Classroom concept, take a look at Jackie Gerstein's video on her blog. like Jackie Gerstein's explanation and professional development page on the concept of "flipping" your classroom. You can also checkout one of my old blog posts on the subject. Money for Projects: I know ho much of a financial burden of teaching. But, I also know the value of asking for assistance. It never hurts to ask for financial assistance and the companies below will help 1. Adopt our Classroom - Becky Blackman used this to raise money for Spelling City accounts. She had a goal posted and she exceeded that goal. 2. Donor's Choose - A colleague of and I received several cool items for science labs from Donor's Choose. We received a Composter, Snap Circuits, a couple Science Balances. 3. Digital Wish List - Want an eBook library? How about a video production studio? Have you ever thought about podcasting book reviews? This website could help you add more instructional technology to engage students in the creation of digital products. Share Ideas and Work: I have been taking pictures of many classroom ideas in terms of charts and bulletin boards. I want to create an area to share these images. I have posted a few charts to my Flickr account. There are some really good ideas out there. With your permission, I would like to post them somewhere for us to spread the intellectual wealth. Amanda Cataldo had her students in a center using the iPads with a specific focus. She had them spelling words with a magnetic letter app. Then, students would cross off the word they spelled. If you notice, she created a direction sheet to go along with the activity. When you create these great ideas, please share them.
I know a lot of people are feeling overwhelmed and it is easy to become more isolated. However, it is much more important to collaborate and share. I would like to create a repository of lesson plans, mini-lessons, ideas, and instructional documents. If you would like to participate and share, please send me your products. I will cite the author and post the activity in the designated online repository. This location does not exist yet, but I have talked to Jay about develop a collaborative space online. I'm going to be sharing a lot of my old instructional tools and documents I used in the classroom through Teachers Pay Teachers. I haven't put much up there but check out my Alternative Assessment document I used for the past 3-4 years. It encourages poor test takers to create a project that demonstrates what they have learned in class. -- Dan Gibson
Mrs. Smith using Facetime with her kids before coming back into the classroom.