CATE Conference

Over the weekend, I attended the CATE (California Association of Teachers of English) Conference.  I was amazed at how large a conference it was with so many diverse speakers and learning opportunities. Here's the flyer. Some of my highlights:

• Catlin Tucker's session on creatively connecting curriculum to the Common Core was inspirational. Her approach to learning and teaching is so refreshing. She is always scooping out terrific resources that allow for better teaching practices. For example, myShakespeare.com which allows students to hear his plays voiced by actors along with "interviews" of the characters for deeper understanding. 
• Also, vocabulary.comvocabulary.com which allows teachers to set up word lists based on books or articles and helps students go at their own pace to master new words. Hearing a session from this company and having some time to have her guide me though, helped me see that there is more to this tool. For example, word lists are already created for many novels we read in the sixth grade that could help students build deeper understanding of key terms before they read the books. This may help them understand the material better when they go to read independently. Students love this tool already and its inherently competitive feel.
• EdPuzzle. I'd heard of EdPuzzle before. However, I didn't really have a good grasp of what this online video teaching tool could do. Attending a session on it helped me see how teachers are using it help differentiate (students can play the videos as many times as needed and teachers can insert information to pop up as to vocabulary or background knowledge students may need). Additionally it can sync seamlessly with Google Classroom (which I've been meaning to look into more too. Is it better than Schoology for some tasks? Is it redundant if already using Schoology as a campus?) EdPuzzle though has such potential.

I hope I have the chance to attend again next year!

Student Digital Portfolios (Using New Google Sites)

Why digital portfolios?

As the end of our first trimester draws to an end, it's a great time to reflect. We build in times for reflection throughout the whole year of course, but with the end of a grading period comes time for more formal thinking about our learning process. As teachers we are thinking about report cards and making conference schedules. Conferences are student-led in our sixth grade which does not happen without a lot of teacher guidance and support. The main tool for our students through this reflection process is creating student digital portfolios. We set them up now in the Fall of sixth grade and add to them throughout this year. In seventh and eighth grade, the process continues with students sometimes adding on to the original sixth grade site or redesigning a portfolio for each each. It's their choice. By the end of our middle school program in the eighth grade, they will have a body of work to look back on along with reflections and goals through the years.

Google Sites' new update makes it easier than ever!

I am so excited by the new Google sites update. It is sleek and so user friendly. This year's group of sixth graders have taken to it like ducks to water. The themes are simple yet easy on the eyes. This frees up the students to focus less on playing with the font styles and colors with more emphasis on their work choices and reflections. I love it! If you haven't seen it yet or had time to play with its features, check out this introduction on Youtube. Also, here's a handy "cheat sheet" by the wonderful Jennifer Judkins.

Digital portfolio process:

My Digital Portfolio Model's Home Page

Preparation:

* I started by first setting up my own example portfolio. It helped me guide my students by going through the process myself as well as served as a model for them throughout the process.
* Set up an assignment sheet. We use Schoology, but here's a Google doc version of my assignment sheet with rubric and help links that students had access too.

In Class with Students:

1. Introduce the idea to classes and brainstorm a list on the board of what we did in each class over
the trimester. This takes time but it helps them realize what they've learned and how much they have accomplished in just one trimester. It also helps to have them write a trimester reflection in their notebooks as a "bell-wringer"/warm up. The prompt can be a simple: How has this trimester gone so far for you?
2. Show my example digital portfolio and explain the requirements. I gave students an overview of how the website builder works (modeling with my own portfolios) but didn't go into detail. I've found that many can't take it all in visually in these early stages and tune out to long explanations of tech features until they actually need them. So I opted not to show the whole how-to video of features but to link a video for students who needed it to use as they needed it. About a quarter of students opted to view this first while many wanted to jump in first for some hands on experience.
3. Students had three and 1/2 class periods to build their pages. I gave a few quick tips at the

beginning of each class and referred them back to the requirements.
4. On the last page building day, students choose partners and we peer edited with this sheet to see what still needed to be completed.
4. After they were "done" building, I went through and evaluated each digital portfolio providing my feedback of what could be improved for each student.
5. Students had time to address concerns and redo parts to make them better (and earn back points). Those that were still having trouble after the recheck were asked to come in for an extra help session at lunch.
6. We'll write speeches in our Language Arts time next week, practice in small groups, and then present them to parts at student-led conferences.

It's not an easy process, but by the end students have a digital portfolio that they can be really proud to show their families. It also helps shape the culture of learning at our school in which work is not just to be seen by teachers once and then forgotten. Instead, work is displayed digitally, revisited, and hopefully remembered.

Classroom Icebreaker 2.0

Icebreakers are often "once and done" by nature. However, what if we could use icebreakers to create an experience that sets the tone for our classroom interactions and creates more lasting connections to others?

Icebreakers are a necessary beginning of the year activity for students throughout the grade levels. The challenge as teachers is to make them engaging without being embarrassing those who aren't quite ready to step out of their comfort zone (as Jennifer Gonzalez of Cult of Pedagogy blog has wonderfully pointed out on her list of terrific icebreakers). After all, it is only the first days of middle school for our sixth graders and that can be really scary for many of us. We all want to make a good impression while warming up to the group. When discussing ideas for this year with my teaching partners, I remembered an icebreaker from years ago used by Naturebridge while at a teacher camp in Marin Headlands. Outdoor instructors really are THE best at this sort of interactive game. We classroom teachers can learn so much from them, but I digress. . .

With all these things in mind, my teaching partners and I collaborated and came up with a very cool icebreaker that is engaging having students up and talking to each other while setting up peer pairs (a new spin on the handy "Classroom Appointments" many teachers use). Classroom appointments is a strategy in which students pair up with several different students so that no two are working together all of the time throughout the year. It normally utilizes a clock motif that teachers call out to indicate which partner to join up with (For example, "Ok, class, now it's time to meet with your 10 o'clock appointment partner to read your drafts.") It enables teachers to quickly mix up the class and students to have a chance to work with many more people than they otherwise would while streamlining the whole find a partner process for the year. Check out the link in this paragraph for more information on this terrific strategy from another teacher blogger.

So, enter our Icebreaker 2.0 that mixes in the classroom appoints concept with a mingle style icebreaker. For our middle school students, we are referring to it as "Mingle Buddies." We'll instruct students to get up and find a new person in the room in each of the four rounds below (image at right is the slip they will each take with them to record). We're planning on breaking our mingling into three days to spread out the fun.

DAY ONE

[Student Sheet to record and store for use throughout the year.]

Round 1: Go find one other person of your choice and give him/her a High Five. That is your High Five buddy. Introduce yourself if you don't know him/her or catch up with what they've been doing lately if you do know him/her. Ask the question "What's your high five buddy's favorite school subject?" and write the response. Give each other one more high five.

Round 2: Find one person who was born in the same birth month. It must be a new person--not the same as round 1 person. Make up a secret handshake that includes a fist bump with him/her. Introduce yourselves if you don't know each other already. Talk out/write down the question "What's your fist bump buddy's favorite sport?" responses.

DAY TWO

*Warm-up: Give your high five buddy and quick high five and say hello using his/her name. Then greet your fist bump buddy using the secret handshake you made up together yesterday. Make sure to say hello and greet each other by name. Now back to finish the game. 

Round 3: Find someone you didn't choose from yesterday that is of the opposite gender. Introduce yourselves if don't already know each other. This is your dab buddy. Ask the question on the sheet: What is one thing that not many people know about you? Talk out/write down the question responses.

Round 4: Find someone you have never met before this week. This is your elbow nudge buddy. Give them a nice nudge. Introduce yourselves. The question is: What makes your nudge buddy's family special? Talk out/write down the question responses.

DAY THREE

On the final day, use the information the buddies collected to introduce each student to the group. To do this, have one student at a time raise his or her hand. When it is that student's turn, each of his or her buddies each should say something about the student learned in previous days. For example, Karisa raises her hand. Her high five buddy tells the group she loves science and technology. Her fist bump buddy adds that she likes watching water polo and her dab buddy tells the class she's a vegetarian. Finally, her nudge buddy tells everyone that her family loves learning new things on trips and reading. By the end, we're starting to get a sense of our class as individuals and laying the foundation of a classroom community.

Now here's another really great part--an added bonus if you will. Students are to keep these "Mingle Buddies" slips in their notebooks to use throughout the year. We teachers will occasionally announce, "Go find your high five (or dab, nudge buddy, fist bump buddy, etc.) and those students will meet up again to discuss topics as a pair. We envision using this at least a couple of times a week especially early in the year to get students up and moving as well as working with others that they wouldn't normally for a fresh perspective. 

Icebreaker 2.0 fine-tuning tips: 

*We're going to make sure that students end up with four different partners for each round.

*We've tried to scaffold the questions in the rounds from most easily approachable to a little more personal to build as comfort levels hopefully do. 

*If there is an odd number of students in the class, then we as teachers will add in to balance it out (I kind of hope there is because I want my own high five, dab, fist bump, and nudge buddies myself!)

* For during the mingling part of the icebreaker, I've created a "Mingle Buddy" Youtube playlist to quietly play as background music in the class.
*We'd like to encourage students to use their special greeting when they see each other in the hallway and other classes. It would be so awesome to see secret handshakes and friendly nudges happening naturally throughout campus.