Before You Kiss Summer Goodbye...

Before You Kiss Summer Goodbye

As summer 2016 comes to a close, this is the ideal time to reflect on last year and set goals. In the next few weeks superintendents, instructional directors, and principals will inform you of their vision for 2016-2017. What about the visions you have for yourself? Here are just a few ideas as you prepare to return to your classroom:

Toot Your Own Horn

Encourage yourself! Look at your credentials. Give yourself credit for everything you’ve done up to this point. You are the content expert and you have knowledge to offer to your students. You are creative and bubbling over with great ideas. Too often we don’t give ourselves credit for our accomplishments.

Just A Few Things

Try  just ONE new thing. Yes just one. Choose one thing that you want to try. If you are in a Google district, try just one new tool. Perhaps you haven’t tried using a Google Form, try it, perfect it, and then move on to something else. There will be several ideas presented during professional development sessions at the beginning of the year, choose one to implement.

Positive Infusions ONLY

Everyone encounters “Energy Vampires”. Every workplace has them lurking around, they are easily recognized by their complaints. Spend less time with these people, they suck the life out of everyone they encounter.

Avoid starting the year with what you’ve heard about a student or cringing when you realize the older sibling was a challenge. Don’t begin imagining situations with parents that have been difficult in the past...before you even encounter them. Start off with a new ice breaker and make those connections that set the tone for the year. Resist the temptation to change the date on those lesson plans, consider new ways to teach those standards students typically struggle with.

Lastly, enjoy your last few days off, rest and spend time with those you love. Do something for yourself. Give yourself permission to have a good time. The first day of school is closer than it appears.

Google Forms for the Classroom

Have You Tried the NEW Google Forms?

It’s the middle of summer and the thoughts of your fall classes are just beginning to creep into your mind. Adding Google Forms to your back to school routine is definitely the way to start the year off organized.

Here are some practical ways to easily collect some information:

Open House & Orientation

During Open House and/or orientation, set up a form to collect parent information. The report can be used as documentation of parent visits and creates a current database for teachers. By adding a line for email addresses, teachers can easily set up a group to send out information throughout the school year.

Interest Inventories

There’s no better way to start the school year than to build relationships with students. Google Forms easily collect student information. Some great information to collect includes: birthdays, information about preferences for notes and learning, reactions to anger or being sad, and general stressors. For example, after sending home a student inventory one year I learned that one of my students liked being able to explain their side of the story. In other words, regardless of right or wrong, this student liked closure. That year resulted in significantly less discipline problems.

Provide Immediate Feedback

Google Forms now has a built in quiz feature, no add-ons needed.  Simply click on the gear for settings and it will be automatically changed to a quiz. There is an option for grades automatically to be sent to respondents via email. With each quiz, reports are automatically generated that allow teachers to analyze students answers. Quick and easy formative assessment with a grade. It doesn’t get any easier than this.

Technology isn’t a substitute for the magic teachers bring to the classroom, but it definitely saves time when compared to traditional practices.