I blog to share
Sharing & Reflecting = Learning & Growing
Class Participation
Mar 28th
This year is almost over and I am thinking about next year. I am working out a different system for issuing class participation points. I will start off the school-year using index cards, Popsicle sticks or ?? something that randomly allows me to ‘select’ a student.
Kagan dvd for sale
Online Super Teacher Tools Site
I know that many feel that this nonvoluntary participation is a horrible thing to do. To terrorize students who may or may not know the answer by pulling their name out of a hat is considered by some to be ineffective. I agree to a point. I also know that I am using this technique as a way to let them know that they are ‘required’ to participate in class discussions. Each week I will try to hit each child at least once to make sure that they all have a chance to receive participation points.
I am still slicing through my 31 posts for this month. I am almost halfway there.
My 15/31 slice
Daily slides to ‘show’ daily agenda
Mar 28th
When the students walk in and see this slide, they know that for today’s class they will need to get out their workbooks, paper and the textbook.
I am trying to be sure that I use my projector and board to SHOW the students what I need from them. This picture shows their homework assignment: there is a picture of the reading passage/poem, the question starters that they were to use to create questions based on the text and the index cards they need to turn in to me.
This picture will be on the board at the beginning of class as a reminder of what I need to collect from them. Most times as they file into the room it serves as a reminder for both of us as to the homework that must be turned in. I teach 4 classes and 3 subjects each day and there are quite a few times during the course of the day that I can’t remember what I class I am in and what we are supposed to be doing. Creating PowerPoints with pictures of the daily work helps to keep me on track.
What do you use as classroom management tools to help you focus and stay on track?
My 14/31 slice
Smore posters
Mar 28th
More about Weebly.com
Mar 28th
Lately I have been delivering presentations about creating ePortfolios using Weebly.com. My latest presentation was given for Live.Classroom20.com
Click here to see the Live Classroom 2.0 blog post that features my presentation.
Here is a link to the livebinder that houses tons of resource links about using Weebly.com for websites and ePortfolios.
Here is a Smore Poster that I created for Weebly.com ePortfolios
I created this Weebly site to house resources to show why you should use Weebly.
Here are the Presentation slides for this webinar
http://msbisonline.weebly.com/weebly-for-eportfolios.html (Exemplars to examine)
My 12/31 slice
Anatomy of a Tweet
Mar 28th
Just finished Talking Twitter with a friend and decided to share with you all.
Click here for more Twitter Tips
1. Profile picture: be sure to add a picture to will allow your followers to connect with you. It does not have to be a picture of you, this is a wordle that I use for an avatar.
2. Micro-blog message: Twitter allows you to post a message using 140 characters or less.
3. Reply button: click button to reply to the sender.
4. Delete button: click the trashcan if you have an uh-oh/whoops moment.
5. Favorite button: thick this button to ‘favorite’ a tweet. It also displays the number of times the tweet has been favorited.
6. Time stamp: time and date the tweet was posted.
7. Reply box: if replying to the tweet, put your message in this box.
8, Real name: your “real name.” I use Valerie Burton for my PLN and Ms. Burton for my students.
9. Twitter psuedonym: Twitter name, think carefully about how you want to represent yourself. You can change it, but try not to do this often because you don’t want to confuse followers.
10. Twitter mentions: your username preceded by the @ symbol in a Tweet is called it a “mention” and it means that someone is talking about/or to you.
11. Link: resource link included in the Tweet.
12. Hashtag: The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet
13. Picture: pictures can be uploaded into tweets.
14. More button: the more button allows you to send tweet as an email or get the embed code so that you can embed it onto your blog or webpage.
My 11/31 slice
Replying is Crucial #Slice2013
Mar 23rd
I know that it is important to reply when spoken to.
A student says “Good Morning” to me in the crowded hallway and I will generally say “Good Morning,baby” in return. I do this on my auto-pilot setting and may not even know what child it is that spoke. Sometimes they will point this out, “you don’t even know who this is” and my response is generally to stop walking and look to see them and smiles and say “it doesn’t matter sweetie, you are one of mine and you spoke, so I spoke back.” It is important to have these exchanges online as well. That is one of the things that make these challenges work. As a blogger, teacher, mother, father, sister, brother, uncle, student, administrator, etc. we can post and share our thoughts, opinions, resources and have others make acknowledge our efforts.
I am trying to do a better job of that online.
I do a decent job on Twitter but I must do better on my blog and the blogs of others.
I Tweeted about my Classroom 2.0 presentation and someone replied to my tweet. I immediately replied to their reply thanking them and offering help if needed. Will they contact me again? I don’t know and that is not what is important. What is important is that I took the time to acknowledge their thank you. I am grateful for the comment so I let @irieharry know it.
I am trying to block off a part of the day when I merely read and respond to others.
Thanks to all of you who do reply and comment regularly. I am stepping up my game from know on.
Yes, I am still ‘slicing.’ I knew that posting everyday would be a real challenge but I do want to make sure that when this month ends, I have published 31 posts. That is my main goal. To talk when I have the time and the material. There are days like today and tomorrow that I can easily crank out 1/2 a dozen posts because my mind is “ready to talk.” As I plan, reflect and recalculate me past week or upcoming one. Thanks to the Two Writing Teachers for making me commit to writing and sharing more. This is post 10/31. I only have 21 more posts to go…….
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Online Learning via PLN, #Slice2013
Mar 10th
There are so many ways to stay connected and in the loop. I bounce all over the web looking for educational bytes of information.
- Twitter - to send and receive frequent micro-blog messages.
- Facebook - to share messages, pages, links, pictures, videos, etc.
- Online Communities - There are dozens of sites where you can interact or lurk with other educators.
- Blogs
- etc.
Daily Lit is my latest attempt at learning at home. Once a day an installment of your chosen book is sent to your email. I am reading
What interests you?
Browse around Daily Lit and sign up for a book or two.
My 9/31 slice
Seek with passion
Mar 9th
Being open to learning is the key to growing.
When you seek something with passion and persistence, it seeks you.
I wish that I could spend the majority of each day getting the students to “open the doors to their brains” and filling it with whatever they desired. Instead I must beat on the doors and hope that they open it just wide enough for me to dump in bags of knowledge before they slam the doors shut again.
Maybe one day …..
My slice 8/31
Test Stress #Slice2013
Mar 9th
Why do we do this to our kids?
I am doing test prep exercises to help my students gain confidence and lessen their levels of test anxiety. I want them to be comfortable with timed tests and negotiating their time, thoughts and strategies.
I am trying to de-stress the process.
- We time passages – so that they know what it feels like to read and respond in 10, 9, 8, and then 7 minutes.
- We work through sections together in groups – they know how to bubble in circles but can you use your learning community to correctly answer questions.
- We provide text evidence as support for some answers – I want them to show me how they arrived at their answers.
Am I helping or harming? I don’t know but I know that I am not comfortable with the look of accepted failure in the first face and the horrible panic happening on the second face.
My slice 7/31
Success takes effort #Slice2013
Mar 9th
Many believe that success seems like a it takes place after traveling a clear cut path from beginning efforts to the end goal. Some success does happen that way but success happens for most after traveling along a road that seems to meander along.
The most important thing about success is the perseverance that makes one continue after floundering.
Success = Effort
For me, success (whatever success I think that I may have accomplished) occurs when I am willing to WORK toward a goal. Working can mean; talking, posting, commenting, replying, creating, sharing, etc.
My path to success looks similar to the trek above:
- I start out on a clear path
- I see something else that interests me and check it out
- I remember where I was headed in the beginning of this trip to success so… I go back to my original path
- I hear about a cool new tool that can do what I want me or my kids to learn
- I then must gather my thoughts because I have been down two other paths since I started out on my original one
- Now I need to tweak my original path because I have found some resources that are better suited to my needs
- I am now back on my path, my newly constructed path
- Whoops, emergency … change in plans. Not path but plans.
- Ok, emergency diverted – back on path
- Etc, Etc, Etc….
Success = Effort + Perseverance, not Ease
Thanks for comments