When You SeeThem, Reflections for Educators

Have you seen “When They See Us”? After several sessions that were interrupted by tears and anxiety, I have finally watched Ava DuVernay’s “When They See Us” in its entirety. If you have not watched the Netflix drama, it’s a must see. Ava tells the story of the Central Park 5, five men that were convicted  as teenagers of a crime they didn’t commit. In our current political climate, I’m not sure that educators understand the potential impact on the classroom or the anxiety levels of our students. This leads me to ask the question, how do your perceptions influence your classroom? What happens when you see them? 

We’re currently on the cusp of a new school year, with new students, and the task of forming new relationships is imperative. This is a great time to review your own biases. We all are most familiar with our own cultures and often times that becomes the standard for our lives. However, your standard isn’t everyone else’s. If every teacher would pick up their own mirror, we can all recall a time that our perceptions steered us wrong. Sometimes that perception resulted in discipline or some other unfair consequences. 

This school year I challenge you to offer a clean slate to every child. As of this moment, every child is exonerated, no reference to past infractions and referrals. The only effective way to eliminate bias is to confront fears and seek truth for things unknown. If you’re not familiar with where your students “come from”, take a drive to eradicate the fake news you’ve allowed to cloud your judgement. Seek out those teachers that have had past success with challenging students, make those partnerships. 

Change starts with desire. The same way you’ve desired to exercise, eat better, or read more it’s intentional desire that’s needed to shift mindsets. As we all begin to prepare for another school year, take a moment to reflect on what thoughts we can abandon along with renewed thoughts that can be adopted. 

Flip for Them

As I learn more about the flipped classroom model, the more I love it. Consider the following scenarios:

Danielle is a conscientious student that plays basketball and runs track. She works very hard, but often misses a portion of your 4th block class to leave for sporting events.

Bryce is well behaved, but often asks you repeat important points. He steadily copies notes during class, but often forgets the details.

I could go on, but can you see these students in your class?

Then you should flip your classroom.

Flipped learning is more than just lesson summaries, but a means to personalize learning. Google Classroom has made it easier than ever to share resources with different students, by simply selecting and deselecting names of students that are enrolled in your class.

Currently every state is feeling the effects of the teacher shortage. The Washington Post published an article on August 28, 2017 that highlighted the effects of the shortage. As class sizes rise, flipped learning may be your answer to accommodating all levels and meeting the needs of your students.

Getting started with Flipped Learning

Start small. Begin by utilizing videos from sources such as Youtube. Look for videos that give explanations and examples. Once you are comfortable with using videos, start creating your own. This can be done on your cellphone, tablet, or laptop.

Tools for Flipped Learning
*Screencastify
*Edpuzzle
*Google Classroom
*VideoNot.es
*TurboNotes

These are just a few tools to get started. If you won't try flipping for you, then try it for them.

Flip it with a Journey

As more districts acquire chormebooks, ipads and other devices for classroom use, effective implementation of
blended learning strategies is more critical than ever. I took the summer off and now I'm back with a tool for the 
novice or the expert technology integrator. 

Visit:Let's Recap

Recap has added a feature called a Journey. This feature answers your essential question and lays the foundation for
 the "why" students have to learn the topic/standard. 

Start with the essential question. The next field record a video or begin to add resources such as websites, blogs, etc.

Here are a few ideas about integrating Journeys into your blended lesson planning:

1. Flip a lesson - Before teaching a new concept, build in a review and add introductory content for students. 
For example, if this is a math lesson, start by reviewing the skill and then add a new concept. A few resources to 
include: review video,teacher explanation video, website with practice problems, and close with a student response. 

2. Blend a lesson - Use a question as a bell ringer or transition. Review student responses as a class to prompt a 
discussion.

3. Time for Reflection - After a class lesson, assign a recap that allows students to reflect and ask questions
 in regards to the lesson that was taught. 

It's a new year, what new strategies are you bringing to your classroom? 

Teach How to Meme

isual marketing is the way of the future. Approximately 65% of the population is comprised of visual learners. Even in sales if an effective visual isn’t matched with the product, the consumer probably won’t remember it. The same applies to teaching. Consider this, How can I attach a meaningful visual to the most important concepts I teach?

Memes

Memes are funny and let’s face it, everyone has sent one. Search entertaining photos and add catchy phrases to make concepts more memorable. Memes can be created with apps or by opening a document or Google Slide.

Bitmoji

Bitmoji is now an app that can be used on phones and mobile devices. These can be used to make visuals that have a lasting effect. Students are already familiar with them and their use to communicate. Check out bitmoji.com to design your avatar.

Infographics

Infographics can be used to summarize a lesson. Choosing memorable images along with powerful phrases creates a memorable lesson summary. There are several websites that provide templates for infographics. They can also be created by using a document or Google slides.

Here are some resources for creating interesting graphics:

• Canva
• Meme Maker in the Chrome Web Store
• Picktochart
• Venngage

Get Linked Up

Are you tapping into the power of the hyperlink? Over the past few months I’ve been trying to understand this notion of a hyperdoc. At first, I was like what’s the big deal? Well it’s a big deal.

A hyper doc is a Google Doc with hyperlinks embedded to resources. This is a simple way to begin integrating technology into instruction. Start by identifying resources that are beneficial to the lesson standard being taught. Secondly consider the order that you want to put the resources together, using tables will be very helpful for organization. To add the hyperlinks that are needed simply highlight the text that needs to go to the link and click on the chain icon in the insert menu.

Resources that are helpful include videos, web pages, even your own resources such as slides.

Here’s an idea for Google Slides…

Create a slideshow and embed link that send students to different slides. It gives you a little added boost for differentiation. To do this, add your image or text, click on insert then link, and select slides in this presentation.

As you consider ideas for the beginning of the school year, try getting linked up.

And Another One!

It's June! Another the school year has come and gone. This time of the year yields sunshine, watermelons, and beach trips. School is out, the classroom is packed up, and it's time for you to enjoy yourself.

School districts, principals, and your children will find task after task for you to complete, but remember to make time for you. So many teachers fill up the summer with professional development and forget that it's supposed to be a break. So exactly how do you wind down?


Clear the Clutter

Every year it's tempting to revisit old lessons and recycle old worksheets, clean out those lesson plan notebooks and be prepared to start fresh. Often times teachers continue ineffective lessons simply because they're familiar, it's time to throw them out.

Try Something New

One of the ways to overcome job burnout is to intentionally take breaks. It's summer and there's no good reason to fill it with work. There will be a conference or two you need to attend, but do not over commit yourself to the point that you miss the vacation. There will always be something else to do. Laundry, cleaning, cooking, and all the things we come up with to do, will always be there. Plan to experience this summer, rather than count how many days are left.

Do It!

What is the "it" that has been put off? A massage? Trying a new hairstyle? Working out? Get out there and do it! Take a walk with your family after dinner, join a gym, or make that appointment starting today.

It's summer and another year is in the books, give yourself the gift of rest and relaxation.

Hmmm Is this the End?

May is just a few days away and that means that most school districts have less than 30 days left. This is a very challenging for teachers because the students know the end is near. One of the most important strategies for managing this time of the year is to continue meaningful and engaging activities. Google couldn’t have released an update at a better time…

Google Lit Trips found at http://www.googlelittrips.org/ works with Google Earth to create plots on maps that align with texts. This is great for History and English Language Arts. Many of the recommended texts are already loaded and ready to use. Google Earth has to be downloaded, but now Google has made Lit Trips available on chromebooks.

Check out this tutorial from YouTube to see the steps that explain how to get a Lit Trip prepared for your students. https://youtu.be/f3fZWZezFTU