Saturday, November 29, 2014

Graduation & Cyber Monday Sale


Well, I must admit that this year has proven to be both empowering and overwhelming. I am nearly at the end of the line with my Master's degree. I expect to graduate in just under two weeks. I have wrapped up all those big projects and only have the details left. It's an amazing feeling to be complete!



As one of my final projects this semester I needed to create a video about utilizing Web 2.0 technologies in my classroom. You can check it out below. I'd love to hear your feedback.




In celebration of my pending graduation milestone (and completing both my Master's thesis and the Web 2.0 video), I am putting my entire store on sale for Cyber Monday! Combine that with the TpT cyber sale and you can save up to 28%! All you need to do is enter the promo code TPTCYBER.

Easy Lit Units & More Store



Now that school is nearly over I expect to start adding new products again and posting more regularly. So be on the look out for blog updates and more information about new additions. Followers are always the first to know!

Happy shopping!

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Student Engagement


Hi All,

It's been a busy year and we are full into the swing of things. By now, about a quarter into the year is when teachers really notice who's regularly engaged in the lessons, and who comes to class everyday just to take a nap. C'mon, you know who those kids are, be honest.

At the first part of the year I was voluntold that I would be attending a professional development in October about student engagement. Admittedly, I wasn't that excited to go. Historically my district hasn't always offered the most inspiring professional development "opportunities". In fact, most of the time I'm the kid in the back of the room passing notes or taking a nap because I find the information irrelevant or impractical to apply to my own teaching style or student population. So, even thought I didn't really want to go, I did try to keep an open mind for at least the first half hour - and boy am I glad I did.

The PD was offered by Kagan Publishing and Professional Development (http://www.kaganonline.com/index.php). If you are not already familiar with them, it's certainly worth digging around on-line to inquire. I got so much out of it and would recommend that everyone check it out.




To give a very brief overview, Kagan had developed instructional strategies proven to boost engagement and achievement. Some of the strategies are really simple, but totally insightful at the same time. The program focuses on classbuilding and teambuilding activities that are specifically designed to create and emotionally save classroom environment that demands 100% student engagement. The boast that their stratagies create classroom with no more checked out kiddos. I did the one-day training and left with Dr. Kagan's best selling book, Kagan Cooperative Learning, which is chucked full of ideas and tools that any teacher can use.

Honestly, it's one of the most rewarding programs I have attended. Not only did I gain immediately usable and practical engagement strategies, I left feeling confident in my ability to use them, but also the utilization of the strategies requires NO prep or changing to the teaching/learning content. Here's a brief video about Kagan, and honestly this video does very little to share the impact this can have in any classroom or for any age group. We had Pre-K teachers and High School teachers all in the same room and all benefiting from the learning.





I'm really excited to get back to my classroom and implement some of the strategies and structures I learned about this week. I can see them really demanding cognitive presence of all my students, not just a few.


If you do end up going, be sure to bring some cash with you or ask for an open PO from your school. You'll want to walk out with some "extras". There's a multitude of resources available for sale across all age and grade levels. They also want to up-sell you on future trainings. But when you are there you are quite happy to drink the Kagan Kool-aid. I'm straggling how I can hit one of their summer week long institutes. The one about win-win class discipline sounds amazing! Check it out for yourself and let me know what you think of it.

On a personal note, I expect to finish my master's program in about 6ish weeks and will be walking in the graduation ceremony towards Christmas time. Once my program is complete, I will be rededicating my energy and time back to my store. Be sure to keep an eye out for new products after the first of the year. I generally offer my new goodies heavily discounted to my followers for the first few days they are available.


Sunday, September 14, 2014

Bringing Social Networks into the Classroom via Edmodo.com



In working with my interactive notebooks this year I encouraged kids to set up study buddies and asked that they exchange phone numbers & emails so that they could support on another in completing missing assignments & making up work when absent. Sounds like a great idea on the surface but I made a couple of errors in judgment that caught me off guard.


First, I assumed that most kids had email and were regular users, Not so much. Few of my students knew how to use email or even had an email address.  My hubby, who is everything tech, mentioned not long ago that email is dying media and will likely go the way of the fax in the next decade or so. He argues that the only people who actively use email are the Gen Xers. It’s certainly something to consider going forward in education.


Secondly, I had a couple of parents express concerns that they were uncomfortable with email use for their children because no one was controlling the content of what was being exchanged. While I have a teenage son of my own, it was a concern that I hadn’t personally considered. It certainly gave me a moment to pause. How do I encourage my students to responsibly collaborate and work on assignments but still maintain control of the content? Is it my responsibility to support the students outside of school as well as in it?
 
 Hmmmm… Okay then. So I by wanting to support my kids to success, I inadvertently opened up a can of worms that I hadn’t expected. How to address this as an educator and support kids in work completion outside of school by embracing technology and encouraging collaboration? What tools are out there?

As it happened, one of my parents who expressed concerns about email pointed me to edmodo.com. Like many other ed-tech tools, I had heard of this but never really investigated it beyond the superficial overview. I dug a bit deeper this week and decided that I would give it a try. After all, it’s free! And as a teacher, it’s really hard to argue against that.
 


So, I just signed up for EdModo this week. And if you haven’t heard of it, it’s a social network style site for educators to set up groups for their students. It’s a little bit blog, a little bit  Facebook. The site complies with child safety regulations for safe use of the internet. And otherwise give teachers free web-tools to use in facilitating social collaboration with their students.

I have yet to explore all the features and admittedly I am still working my way through all the site has to offer. What I can say is that it seems to offer the solution I was seeking for how to support my students outside of class. It has a mobile app that allows users to connect in a manner similar to Facebook. Students can post questions and respond to each other as well as to the teacher. As far as I can tell the teachers can act as moderators or facilitators for their groups, which means if a kiddo is in anyway inappropriate he/she can be blocked by you instantly. I like that feature a lot as it addressed my parent concerns about appropriate content. For me that is a big plus.



On the downside, essentially because it is an education based social-network that complies with child safety regulations, you (the teacher) need to go through a verification process in order to invite students to be part of your groups. It makes sense to me why this is done, but it does delay establishing your pages. There are several ways to verify your status. 1) You can connect to someone at your site who knows you. When they acknowledge your status then that counts as verification. 2) There is a system where you can submit a photo ID (literally) from your school, such as a badge, and send it to edmodo. I haven’t done this as it makes me a bit uncomfortable. But this is an option. 3) Complete an on-line form that asks questions about your background and credentialing. I am guessing that this has to be manually verified by someone and it’s unclear to me how long this might take.

I chose option 3 because I don’t know anyone on my site who uses Edmodo. At the moment I am caught in the verification process and unable to move forward until this is done. I am willing to do this because I can see value in how the site will help with my own classes.

Once verified, students will need to register with edmodo. I plan to take my students into our computer lab and have everyone register at the same time. Students will not be required to use the site, but we will add this information into our “Important Information & Contacts” page in our interactive notebooks as a resource for students in addition to our study buddies. Hopefully that will help everyone more than the individual study buddies previously set up.

I think it’s also important to share that there is a parent portal to this site. However, at this time I don’t have any experience for that works. As I figure it out and learn more, I will post on that topic.

As I said, this is all rather new to me and I’m working my way through it. But it is my hope that the site will offer some solutions to my needs of supporting my kiddos both inside and outside my classroom. I don’t plan to spend more than about 10 minutes a day on the site outside of work. And the time I do spend will probably be done using the mobile app. So, if it cuts down on floods of questions inside of class and helps with getting more students engaged and completing both class and homework assignments, then in my opinion it’s time well spent.

Here's to hoping it works!



Sunday, September 7, 2014

Making the Most Out of NewsELA Articles in an ISN Format

This is a follow up post from my last article. In my last post about 4 Amazing Common Core ELA Resources I posted about a new website I discovered called NewsELA.com. It’s truly pure Common Core gold.

Students are presented with current events on a variety of informational subjects that are not only interesting but relevant to current media. Students can search topics and find material to read that connects to their personal interests. For example, for our first week, we read an article about a new research study that suggests middle school "cool kids" don't thrive in adulthood. Last week we read about the controversy over Sea World San Diego's new whale tank.

The absolute genius of the website is that all articles are leveled to correspond to lexile reading levels. So conceivably students in your classroom could all access the same story/content, but at their own independent reading levels.


As a teacher-subscriber you are e-mailed daily content to preview for lessons. Plus you get a weekly article to share with students. It’s not clear to me just yet if the coordinator at my site is picking our weekly topic based upon the weekly emails or if NewsELA picks our weekly topic, but either way, teachers receive a daily feeds and can select a weekly story to use with their class which arrives in a Word format. Each article includes 2 questions that encourage students to read closely and cite from the text using a constructed response format.

Teachers can choose a single lexile level to use with the whole class or select from multiple lexiles if greater differentiation is needed. All you need to do is run the copies! Seriously, it’s pure gold.

That said, I shared in my previous post that I have constructed a technique to use these little weekly gems in my Language Arts ISN. For me, I really want to put material in the Interactive Notebooks to ensure that student not only do the work, but also have a resource for reference in the future. So here’s what I did.

This is what I get in my weekly lesson – a four page document that includes a 2 page news article and 2 pages of questions which includes an IVF/summary & two text specific questions for student short answer constructed response:





 I copy the article front to back but the back MUST print upside down. This is essential for affixing the article into the ISN but not sacrificing content or forcing the student to turn their books upside down when reading and annotating. 

 When I hand out my articles, I show students how to glue them into their ISNs so that they are useable. Then we bifold the article so that it fits into the ISN without hanging out. The article is glued into the RIGHT (Teacher Input) side of the ISN.



When glued in this way, the document easily flips back and leaves the lined paper free for adding notes or content. Personally, I am having my students do margin notes when annotating their document and using this page to do a Step Up to Writing IVF and Summary. Since there is limited room to write a summary, I show them how to add paper to the bottom of the page.

 The LEFT side of the page is then freed up to use as the student output page. Remember those nifty questions? This is where I use those. I have students copy the questions into their ISNs and respond on this page. 

Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to rotate this image in Blogger.



When it’s all said and done, this is what you get a nifty two page activity that addresses both close reading & informational text!

Now, this seems like a lot at first, but honestly it isn’t. Here’s how I make it work for me and my students. The first time I introduce a NewsELA article I am strategic about using an easy lexile whole class that will ensure comprehension for the vast majority of my students. I want it to be an easy read so I can train my students in the expectations for the activity. 

WEEK 1 - First Exposure to NewsELA - Direct Instruction "I DO/YOU DO"

On day one, I spend a whole class period explicitly teaching how to set up the ISN pages. We go slow and I explain why we are doing it this way and tell students that they will eventually be expected to do this on their own each week.

On the second day, we do a cold read and our first warm read where we annotate the text. Students learn my expectations about annotating text.

On the third day I teach IVFs and finding the main ideas. We complete the IVF box, write an IVF topic sentence, and pick 3-4 main ideas that we felt were relevant to the text. Their homework that evening is to write a summary.

On the fourth day I have pre-prepared 3 sample summaries based upon our story. The examples are my mock-up of a low, mid, and high level summary. We decide as a class which seems to do a good job and deconstruct the summary model.

On the fifth day of the first week I show them how to give a constructed response using citations from the text. I tell them that I want one direct quote and one indirect quote. Each of the 2 questions must have one or the other and they have to show both each week. So, if they use a direct quote in question one, they must use an indirect quote in question two.

WEEK 2 - Slow Release to Independence - Direct Instruction - I DO/WE DO

Now they have a working model of what I expect each week. The next week on the Monday I spend about 15 minutes helping the class set up their ISN page. We cold read the article and students are expected re-read the article to do their IVF for homework. 

On the second day we check student IVFs and then do a whole class warm read and annotation. For homework that night students are expected to find 4 main ideas on their own and write a summary.

On day 3 of the second week, I teach the close reading questions. I only spend about 20 minutes doing a constructed response lesson with the class. Here we do the first question together in class use a direct quote. For homework that evening students answer the second question using an indirect quote.

Day four I simply check that students are doing the assignments. Day 5 (Friday) is when this is due and I check that the work is complete.

WEEK 3 - Release to Independence - WE DO/YOU DO

By week three students are really getting into the groove. On Monday they set up their ISNs (10 minutes). We cold read the article as a class (10 minutes). Homework is to annotate, write their IVF, pick 4 main ideas, and write a summary. Tuesday we debrief the article (10 minutes). I model a constructed response (10 minutes). Homework is to complete the questions. I check on Wednesday but don’t collect until Friday.

WEEK 4+ - Independent Assignment - YOU DO

Now we are at week four. On Monday I allow 10 minutes for set up. We do a cold read together (10 minutes). Students can ask questions about words or concepts they don't understand. They are now independent with their News ELA Articles and I don’t see it again until Friday when it’s due. 

Differentiated Lexiles = Student Success & Achievement

When we reach the point of student independence, this is where the differentiated Lexiles hit home. I begin to filter out high from low readers and give each their own leveled story. I print 3 versions of each story. Above grade level (green paper), On-grade level (white paper) and below grade level (pink paper). Students quickly learn what their color is. As I pass out papers on Monday, students tell me which color they need. 

Ta-da! Differentiated instruction that can be easily adjusted with minimal hassle!!! This whole thing becomes a weekly homework assignment for them that is assigned on Monday and due on Friday. Then most investment of weekly instructional minutes is the setup and cold read which I model using the on-level “white” version.

Anyway, that’s how I use it. It does take a bit of upfront structuring to ensure that students both buy into the expectations and feel successful in the management of the lesson. But it seems instructional minutes well spent to ensure that they are reading informational text on a regular basis.  It’s truly worth my time and theirs.

Thanks for taking the time to read this long blog post. Hope it was helpful!

BTW - if you are wondering what an "IVF" is, it's a Step Up to Writing buzz word for "Topic Sentence". It stands for identify text & author, use a strong verb, and finish your thought. That's all. So even if you don't do Step Up to Writing, it's still a totally doable lesson for what ever writing program you use.

Enjoy!


Tuesday, August 26, 2014

4 AMAZING Common Core ELA Resources

Well, we have been back to school for nearly three weeks now! I can hardly believe it myself. The kids are working hard and stepping up in ways I never would have anticipated. I sense positive energy from each of my 5 classes and am looking forward to a great year. Does that sound like the Honeymoon or what? HA!

Anyway, I wanted to share some amazing resources with you that are transforming my classroom.

1. Interactive Grammar Notebook by Erin Cobb from I'm Lovin Lit. $13.00
 If you shop at TpT you probably already know about this one, but I get give a shout out anyway. Let me just say - OMG! This little grammar gem is transforming my classroom!!! It has got to be one of the best all time purchases I ever made for my students. Not only do I love it, my team now wants copies of it! I've offered to purchase them additional licenses so that we can all use it together. That's how powerful this little book is! If you don't have this one for your kids yet and you use Interactive Notebooks, it's worth its weight in gold.



2. NewsELA.com FREE
If you are in need of non-fiction text for your students this is an amazing find. It's all current events that is written for students to read. Each news article is written at multiple lexile levels so kids with various reading abilities can all access the same content! Some of the article even come with short videos for the kids to watch. The catch is that you will need to sign up (of course for free) and to stay within perimeters of the copyright, each student in your class will also need to sign up. Personally, I am not embedding an article a week for my students to read which will be part of their ISNs. Next week I will show you how I am using it in my ISN.



3.TeacherTube.com   FREE
I stumbled across this wonderful tool a couple of years ago and find that I turn to it more and more. This site is flagged in its metatags as educational and is often accessible even if your district blocks YouTube and similar video streaming sites. There's a LOT of great resources here for you to explore. One of my favorite is the Preposition Song, which is sung to the tune of Yankee Doodle. Is it common core? ABSOLUTELY! Kids are expected to view multimedia content and critique it as well as make presentation! The possibilities are truly endless here.



4. AchieveTheCore.org  FREE
If you are wondering how to make it all happen and connect content areas, then Achiever the Core may be a solution. Since I teach ELA & History, I'm forever looking for ways to bridge between both curriculum. There's some wonderful lessons here and ideas for how to teach thematically. It does take a bit of poking around, but it's worth the time when you find a really great lesson. Many of the resources are American History, which is wonderful! I found an excellent lesson on annotating the constitution that I will be using for Constitution Day next month.

Okay, so this one isn't exactly Common Core, but I wanted to share it anyway.

5. ClassDojo.com - FREE to Teachers
So, this is a treasure I had heard other teachers share about but bypassed until just this week. It's a behavior management and data tracking tool that allows teachers to capture and generate data on behavior that teachers can easily be shared with parents and administrators. Absolutely no data entry or calculations required on your part. Just touch or click and move on. All you need is a computer or tablet and an internet connection. It's super easy and engaging for the students. My kids love it and I'm noticing that it's helping with student motivation. I plan to pull the easy to find reports for IEP meetings and to set parents up to check on their students. COOL and FREE!

Okay, so there you have some great tools to investigate. I hope you check them out and make use of them this year. Look out for my post next week for more information on NewsELA.

Cori



Monday, August 4, 2014

Back to School Count Down

As I prepare to return to school on Monday after being off for what feels like ages, yet still not quite long enough, I find myself conflicted. I've been planning lots of new lessons and I can't wait to teach them, yet I still want to be home in my cozy bed. I suppose the same is true for most of us.Alas, much like the students, the calendar says we go back, so we go back - ready or not.

This year I must say, I am feeling more prepared than years past and there are several reasons.The first is that I stumbled across one of my oldie-but-goodie books by Harry and Rosemary Wong that I have used each year since I started teaching, How to Be an Effective Teacher, The First Days of School.

BOOK RECOMMENDATION
If you haven't read it, it really is a must read, regardless of your experience level. I've been teaching for well over a decade and use it every year. The book is tabbed and dogeared and well loved. It's full of helpful ideas for how to start you year off right with your students at any grade level.I pulled mine out and started to refresh my mind about what I need to do to prepare to have students again - everything from how to ready the classroom to how to greet students.



Another reason I am feeling a bit more up to the task is that this is the first year in at least the last 5 that I will have three day of paid teacher prep, not just one (yes, ONE!) day to set up my room. Budget cuts hit our district hard and we are FINALLY having furloughs and pay restored. So, I don't have to spend as much time during my summer going in to prepare my room. To be fair, one of those three days will be spend in district wide meetings, but I am actually excited about doing that!!!


 

Finally, I made a commitment this year to not overspend on school supplies. I was fortunate to find composition books on sale at both Target and Staples this year. I've decided that this year rather than giving away my hard earned cash to the students in the form of supplies, I will have them for sale in my classroom store. Students who don't have supplies, such as the glorious comp book that I have my students use for their Interactive Student Notebooks can get them directly from me if they don't have them by the first Monday. I hear other teachers in my district do this and I think it's high time I tried it too. I will let you know how it goes.

While I may like to lie in bed and drink my diet coke until noon every day (ha-ha) while on summer break, I am finding that these few simple discoveries are helping me shift from the summertime mindset to preparation for "school days are here again". So, not matter when you start your year (some of you may already be back in school), when its time to shift into gear, consider checking out the book, The First Days of School, and thinking about what changes you need to make this year to make your year the best it can be.

Happy New School Year!

By the way, I just joined BlogLovin.com. 


Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Setting Summer Goals



At the beginning of the year I always do a goal setting activity with my students and we talk about the importance of having both short and long term goals. We write our goals on the first page of our interactive journals. And to show how important goals are, I set goals for myself right along with them. Periodically throughout the year (usually around progress report time) we review our progress and discuss our goals. We ask challenging questions of each other about why are goals are and are not working. By the end of the year most students have started to internalize that commitment is the key to having goals happen and ultimately having their dreams take shape in their lives. If you have not read the article What It Takes To Be Great by Geoff Colvin, it’s worth the read with your students. It reinforces that success comes at the high price of hard work.

Next year I am thinking about extending this activity by adding dream boards to help visualize what we desire to accomplish. Dream boards are simple to make and can be done the old fashioned way by finding pictures in magazines and pasting them on a board. Or they may be done digitally on programs like Power Point or Kidspiration and printed out for show.

DREAMBOARD


At the end of the year it’s always a good idea to remind student’s that summer is time for having fun, but that doesn’t mean that goals take a break until school starts in the Fall. I like to take a day and end our interactive journals where we began with a final goal setting activity and have students set short term goals for the summer. If they have BIG goals like being a famous soccer star, they can write what they are committed to for the summer months to keep them on track. If nothing too serious swims in their school weary brains, have them set smaller goals. I encourage them to set 5 goals and to try to capture at least three different domains Physical Activity/Health, Community Service, Home and Family Relationships, Self Improvement, Spirituality (whatever that is for your students), Career, Financial/Economic, Leisure. Of course you can feel free to adjust the domains as works best for your students.

And once again, I set goals right alongside them. Here are the goals I’m setting for the Summer 2014. I feeling ambitious this summer and set 10 goals – mostly stuff I’ve been putting off all year and can hardly wait to get started on them. The other thing about goal setting that I did not mention earlier is that successful people share their goals with others who will support them towards success. It's one thing to know your own goals, and if you give up know one knows but you. It's quite another to declare the goals or post them where everyone can see them. It lets other people know what you are up to. For those kids who are not particularly intrinsically motivated but are competitive or need approval and acceptance from their peer group, this can be the difference between success and failure. It's peer pressure used in a positive way.

To that end, I am posting mine here for you all to see. I will keep you posted on progress this Summer. I will also be showing this to my students in the Fall as part of my lesson with my new class. It will serve as a conversation starter about what we did over the summer. This adds just a little extra value to the project and let's me double dip on a lesson. Ummm... double dip....

Leisure & FamilyTake a vacation with my family and build memories. Enjoy time playing with my children and my husband. We spend little time just relaxing and we need time to bond as a family and appreciate each other.

Home & CommunityPurge my file drawers and closets of all old and unnecessary files or unused clothes. Donate those clothes to charity. It feels great to purge and make room. Plus it’s rewarding donating items to others who need them.

Self Improvement & CareerComplete 2 Master’s courses towards my degree – two down, two more to go in Fall. It's exciting to think that I will finally have that Master's degree done in December! I'm really looking forward to reaching the finish line!

Self Improvement & CareerFinish Master’s paper and submit it to my advisor for review. Finishing it in Summer will make life easier in the Fall! I really would rather not be working on that and trying to teach classrooms full of 7th graders! Yikes. That's just a frightening thought. I think that's how horror movies start.

Career - Plan 2 history units for back to school and Fall. The frazzle days of Fall sneak up quickly. It never hurts to get a jump start on the new school year and have some lessons in my back pocket read to go. History is my favorite subject to teach, so it shouldn’t feel too much like work! I will also put them up on TpT to make your lives easier, too. Ooo.. and now that I'm thinking about next year, I will make note to do my own dream board as part of my prep for next year. I suppose I'm double dipping again.

Self Improvement & Leisure & SpiritualREAD! READ! READ! Read at least 2 books on my wish list. Nothing refreshes my soul more than giving myself time to read for pleasure. It’s such a healing and rewarding activity for the mind, the body, and the soul. Just thinking about it gives me goose bumps.

Family Relationships – Help my youngest earn some of his Cub Scout badges. We picked out a half dozen badges we will work on this summer from his Webelo's book. He will love doing them and it get's us off the couch and outside. I think this also qualifies as leisure because I will enjoy it as much as he does.

Family Relationships – Go on a date with my husband twice a month. Yes, I know it sounds crazy. But when you are a teacher and working on a Master’s degree, and have a family, hubby gets put on the back burner. Time together as a couple is as rare as rocking horse poop. So setting a goal to spend time together is an essential, plus he’s so much fun, how could I not want to spend time with him! Honestly, this is more of an excuse than a goal. If you have any tips on where to secure a baby-sitter, let me know.

Business – I have several partially completed units in development that I will polish off and publish on TpT. I will work on completing them and making them ready for sale before the end of the Summer. On top of that, I have literally dozens of other ideas brewing that could use some attention. But first things first, as I tell my children, finish what’s on your plate before you add something new.

Physical HealthWalk with the kids and/or Yoga daily! This is always the hardest one for me because I’m rather a couch potato. This is not necessarily the standard I want to set for my children. It’s high time I modeled the importance of taking care of our bodies by moving for at least 30 minutes a day. Perhaps by Fall, I will feel up to increasing that to 60 minutes!!

And as a final thought, as I was setting these goals I remembered another goal that has been on my plate for ages, but never acted upon. While I don’t really feel up to doing it this Summer, I will certainly put it on the top of my list in the Fall when I set goals with the class. What’s that goal, you ask? Well, it’s really about time that I write a 10 day set of Emergency Sub Plans and have them ready to go! And that will be my starting point with my kids next year!!

I look forward to hearing your goals for the summer and how you use goal setting with your students.