Twitter in the Classroom....

I use twitter in my classroom as a tool to make learning fun and enhance thinking and comprehension! Let’s face it, technology is a huge part of our society and is the focal point of communication among school age children.  With that being said it is imperative that we incorporate their lifestyle in the classroom as much as possible.  I have my students as my followers and trending consist of topics related to content of lesson.  I start the tweets then my students tweet a response. I will share with you pictures from an ELA lesson that I did on “Writing Wednesday” to re-teach and reinforce main ideas and qualities of a good paragraph.  I also use this as a strategy in the area of reading comprehension.  Ex.  I will ask my students to tweet what they think the character would tweet based off the character's actions, emotions, and motives.  Also students can tweet a prediction. Comprehension of conflict & resolution and cause/effect can be enhanced with this tool as well.  I will tweet the conflict and students tweet possible resolutions.  Later we return to the activity to confirm or adjust our possible resolutions (predictions). 

Redirecting Students Choosing Poor Behavior Without Interrupting Instructional Time & Praising Students That Are On Task!

An effective way to redirect your students when they choose to make poor decisions during instruction time:

                

A colleague shared a strategy that she learned in a professional development workshop that allowed teachers to redirect students without having to say a word.  The strategy involved using a stop sign card that instructed the student to do just that, STOP, and advise them to make a better choice. Being that I am big on not placing focus solely on students who make bad choices and display poor behavior I created a card that praises those students who initially choose positive behavior.  I have included a picture of the cards I use in my classroom.  This has proven to be a great asset.  Students value receiving a green card from me, and seem disappointed when they get a red one.  When I give them a red card students do seem to redirect themselves more. They are also advised they have to keep the card on their desk; students immediately redirect themselves to have the card removed by me and to hopefully receive a green card.  This also eliminates having to interrupt instructional time to redirect or discipline a student.  I simply place the card on their desk and continue the flow of my lesson. Hope this can help someone out there in the universe! 

Why I love Teaching ! PART II

Oh the joy of seeing your students use your teacher taught strategies! VICTORY!

When teaching I implement BLOOMS!  I teach my students the importance of not only remembering and understanding at the moment, but to apply their knowledge and evaluate and analyze material and their responses!

A Fun Creative Way for Students to Assess Themselves and Their Peers!

I found this great tool to assist my students in assessing themselves on pinterest.  I have this assessment chart displayed on a bulletin board in my classroom. I also created a miniature version and provided one to each of my students.  During or after a lesson my students discuss what they assessed themselves as and why; they also receive feedback from peers (do they agree disagree and why, and they offer suggestions and encouragement to their classmate).  This tool has been really fundamental in getting my students involved in the improvement of their learning and providing a format for them to monitor their learning progress as well.  

Bulletin Board Display of Self Assessment!

 Miniature Self Assessment copy for Students! 

Organization is Key

It really is. This right here -------------------> ORGANIZATION, is fundamental to being successful in the classroom.  I remember when I first started my journey to becoming a teacher I would sit in class and also in professional development and morph into a scene from “Peanuts.”  I literally would be like Charlie Brown hearing the “WAH wa Wah,” when instructors would get on their organization in the classroom soapbox.  I completely comprehend why they continued to get on this soapbox now that I am a teacher; organization really is key.  As teachers there is so much we do daily that if you are not organized it is easy to fall behind and interrupt classroom structure.  Recently I was wondering if I would ever have a weekend to myself. Grant it, I am off on Saturdays & Sundays therefore I am not getting paid.  However, I find myself working six to eight hours each day.  I made a promise to find a way to free my weekend of planning, so right before Christmas break I went to bed many nights after 12am creating my lesson plans for the first two weeks in January.  I also printed out material, purchased material, etc, that my students an I would need for each day.  I am the teacher who leaves with the janitors so I deserve my weekends to myself! 

                              

                       I keep material for the current week in the file organizer pocket chart below.

    

I keep material for the following week in the folders below.

Great Idea While Students Wait for the Morning Bell!

Standardized test….let’s face it, they suck.  However, there is no denying that standardized test is a major part of education.   So we have to learn to love it and embrace it.  When students finish their breakfast they wait outside their classroom for the morning bell.  I decided to utilize this as an opportunity to provide extra support for students in the area of their iLEAP as well as decrease noise in the hallways.  To provide extra support for my students and prepare them for their iLEAP test I place material related to specific GLEs that my students will be tested on outside in a bin.  This has been a great strategy; my students are engaged prior to class, they are confident about their iLEAP, and they are quiet in the hallways.   After the morning bell my students come into class and complete their material, then assess each other’s work; once completed we go over content as a whole class.

Why Not Get Smart!

Why Not Get Smart? I think every teacher has had an experience in which they ask a student why they did something that now has the student in an unfortunate situation, and that student responds, "Such and such told me to do it," or "So and so did it."  I advise my students that versus choosing to mimic poor behavior they should choose to mimic positive behavior.  After we say our class pledge in the morning we do jumping jacks to warm up in the morning and say "Why Not Get Smart?!" I mean Why not? :) We are all lifelong learners.  It is with great hope that other educators can get smart from my blog and even share ideas with me so I can get smart! Happy Teaching!


Ms. Ebony, M.A.T.