Oh wow! So many ideas floating through my head. All exciting ideas, but I have to remind myself to take it slow and make sure to try each new piece of technology slowly in order to ensure I use it to benefit my students in the best way possible. I feel like there is a ton of pre-teaching involved, but all worth it in the end. The teach 6th grade at EMS. I co-teach in a core of students who are either on an IEP (not quite half the students) or are at academic risk because they struggle with organization, etc. Our core is built on modeling organization skills, structure, and and other positive elements to be a successful student. We have advanced students who need that extra support to organize their knowledge as well as the structure and flexibility to stay on task while being provided with diverse tools to meet that end goal. Structure and flexibility all the time?! How do we make that work? There are days (most) where it takes us a long time to get through a lesson. We are constantly modeling what "being a student" looks like. What it looks like to have an organized notebook. I think I take it for granted that I know what it looks like to be organized. One day I asked a student to organize his notebook. He stared at me and started shuffling papers around. It hit me that he didn't know what and organized notebook looked like. So, we sat down and organized it together. We made a checklist and now he can do it himself.
Anyway, I am going off topic, but that's the population I teach... and I love it!
Our first writing project of the year is a narrative. We do a "movie of your life" project. We start off by brainstorming meaningful life events. Students can use past, present, or future events. Since starting IW, we had a class discussion, but also posted ideas on Padlet. Dana showed me the graphic organizer resources so my students could start brainstorming ideas and continue with a rough draft in one document. So great! I made the mistake of having students make a copy of my template... because I forgot to change the settings to "view only". Oops! But, we learn from our mistakes and next time we try this I am prepared!!
I am so excited to hear how the year goes and what successes and struggles your student have.
ReplyDeleteYou are so on the right track with everything you have said here. It is the little things that seem to take longest when you first begin, but they do pay off in the end. I have been using a lot of these tools for years and still make mistakes daily. The best thing though is when they see you struggle and know we are all human in the classroom together. I am sure they are benefiting greatly from your flexibility, desire to grow, and ability to take a risk and jump in head first. They are lucky to have you!
ReplyDelete