Great Stuff for Teachers: 2018

Monday, October 15, 2018

Gamify Your Classroom

I love making things. I took a lot of classes this summer. One of them was about how to gamify your classroom. This sparked the idea for a new product:

Gamified Behavior Trackers

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Gamify-Your-Classroom-behavior-tracker-4123116

I've already started using these in my own class. There's a place for a name and a word or two just to remind the student about what they are working for.

You can use a highlighter, pen, marker, etc. to color them in. It's way easier to incrementally reinforce behavior because you can be organic in the amount you fill this in.

I think these are really great, and I hope you do too.

Thursday, August 2, 2018

Assignment 5 - Peer Review Video Lesson using YouTube

Shoe Tying

I filmed myself teaching basic shoe-tying. Overall it was a great learning experience. I was very quiet in the video, and I re-film myself, but I just have a naturally quiet voice, which works out in the small group instruction. That’s what I do most of the time. I think if I recorded myself teaching I would be able to improve. The basics of voice projection and body language are something I’ve been fascinated with and working on. I’d love to work on that and record myself to see what improvements it would have on my teaching.

In receiving feedback, I think we are all trying to be very nice to each other. I expected more criticism. I know I was too quiet to be heard on my device at certain points. I think it would be good to film ourselves enough that we no longer pay attention to the camera. I think I’d be more natural either without a camera, or if I used it enough that I forgot it was there. In giving feedback, I wanted to point out the good things more than I wanted to critique or criticize what I was seeing. I think feedback can be great, and I also think we can be harder on ourselves than others are--so videoing ourselves can be great for self-critiquing as well. I think I learn something new whenever I am given the opportunity to watch myself teach.

https://www.pinterest.com/cynstevie/education/

Assignment 3 - Create a Classroom Facebook Page

Assignment 2 - Participate in a Twitter Educational Chat

I participated in the #satchatwc -- a Saturday Morning chat for the west coast. There were a couple of students from Boise State University also there for a chat. There wasn't really a topic to start out with. A professor teaching a grad class called systems leadership at NLU was the first to say he wanted to share about the power of Twitter. He invited everyone to ask questions, so I was the first to start asking questions about Special Education and how inclusion works in each of their schools. That kicked off a really great discussion with teachers sharing what happens at each of their schools. I had the most questions, and the teachers taking the class at BSU talked about what happens at each of their schools. They teach 6th grade at middle school and I teach special education for students K-3.

Our district has been urging us to include a continuum of placements for special education, and I've struggled with how to work a schedule for my students who are self-contained, those who need pull-out for a short period of time, and then trying to then schedule inclusion periods for me to come into their classroom. My principal has been really supportive of constructing a schedule to fit into a master schedule and line up with Title 1 services, but he doesn't urge me to include an inclusion class or set of classes within that schedule. I was trying to get ideas from the group. The chat is scheduled for an hour, I think, but we chatted past the hour. I may participate in another set of chats this week to give myself more experience with using this as part of my PLN. I plan on visiting #tlap because a couple of years ago our district had the Author of How to Teach Like a Pirate as our speaker for our opening of the school year district meeting. I've since bought the book and have been trying to do more to incorporate what he taught.

I also wanted to check out #edchat and #utedchat, but wanted to do one early just in case they didn't have it this week. I saw an announcement that they weren't having it the last 2 weeks due to the holiday. I was worried that I wouldn't get this assignment done if I waited and found out they weren't having it again next week. I have another class that goes at the same time (Wed. evening). I was afraid I'd miss it. I still want to attempt to participate in those other chats.

My PLN

Ted Ed - for content
Frontline.org -- for at home connection with parents, for content, and differentiation

Facebook.com - for communication with colleagues, parents, etc.

YouTube.com - For content, uploading videos for communication with parents and students or colleagues

Blogger.com - for lesson content, communication and collaboration with students and parents

Pinterest - for idea sharing with all of the above mentioned

Google Classroom - for collaborating with parents and students, and for connection via professional development opportunities