Throughout the year, East Granby Public School faculty, staff, and administrators have focused professional development revolving about district and building goals, departmental and grade-level needs, and technological advancements. Best practice, as recognized by the state of Connecticut, provides for small group and individual learning. Our teachers might delve into project-based learning with their grade-level team -- or take a class with a nationally-recognized educational organization. At the same time, others might get hands-on instruction in the computer lab with a new platforms, while colleagues down the hall are doing a deep study on how Reading/Writing Workshop brings words alive for children.  As educators, we must model the principles of what it means to be lifelong learners. Below is a sampling of what we've been working on recently.

The Elementary and Secondary Social Studies Frameworks for CT was published in 2015. 

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Avoid PBL Pitfalls (Start with this article on five pitfalls to avoid when planning a project-based learning unit.)

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Big History Project: Free lesson plans, free PD, free essay grading assistance and more, created by social studies teachers, funded by Bill Gates

PBL and History Here are the results of a search on PBL and history:  Lessons from teachers, which include Am History & Global perspectives, for a total of four pages (about 50 units)

PBL Rubrics In addition to a trove of rubrics, the Buck Institute of Education also has PBL videos and other pertinent materials

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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Library This comprehensive site has many general SS lesson resources, and on the left-hand side, there are links to get more specific areas of focus for social studies

PBS Lesson Plans around The History Detectives American history lessons based around primary documents, along with guides on how to incorporate these sources and ways to lead students to understanding

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Lessons by Grade Levels and Subject Areas A massive listing of social studies lessons compiled by a teacher, already sorted.

Big Eras of History (By clicking on Big Eras in gray in the top center, you will see history has been chunked into nine eras. Each one has specific lesson plans, with handouts, PowerPoints, etc.)

What Kids Can Do - Students create documentaries on a topic from past, present, and future point of view. The Battles of Resources (past: farming land, present: oil/gas, and future: water)

PBL Projects - Best Practices from Edutopia - Start to finish, downloadable history projects

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From High Tech High - One of the best schools in the United States, shares all of their projects, not discipline specific

Intel Showcases  - Includes a variety of grades and subjects for inquiry and PBL

How the Toilet Changed History

 Ten Essential Principles and Practices - From the Chronicle of Higher Education - some wonderful points to consider as you continue moving forward in an online learning platform.

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From the University of Central Florida - This is a GOLD MINE of resource for online teachers. Start Here MANY different ways to engage and teach online learners

Also, this from UCF related to PBL online

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Beyond the Worksheets: Project-Based Learning Adapted for Online  (While you can't see the full lesson plan without a subscription, the article is helpful for sparking creative ideas.)

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Understanding PBL in the Online Classroom: https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/understanding-project-based-learning-in-the-online-classroom/

Online Project- Based Learning - Another useful article for seeing how others approach PBL online and helping you to think outside the box

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The CT Commission for Educational Technology offers a large variety of resources for remote teaching and learning

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Incorporating Social-Emotional Learning into Lessons, which is one of the important focus points in EGPS

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GENERAL GUIDELINES for Successful Online Teaching:

PLANNING: 

• • • What is the end goal of the lesson? 

    • What is the concept or skill being addressed? How will you check for understanding?  

    • What are options - Choices - for students to prove learning (product)?

    • Have you considered equity (students without resources, lacking support, identified children)?

    • Is there more than one way for students to get this information? (For example in using synchronous teaching (live) students may not be available during school hours due to childcare or because their parents are working.)

    • How much time does it take to do this work?

    • Can it be done offline or without tech reliance?

ASSESSMENT: 

• • • Use Project-Based Learning, where the project becomes the learning, spreading over a longer period of time.

    • Have students create a product

    • Quick check-ins with Google Forms, GC discussions, via an approved app

PRODUCTS:

• • Slideshow with voiceover

  • Movie

  • News Article (share expectations prior)

  • News Report (script and video)

  • Visual Representations

  • Students create a lesson for other students

  • Poem

  • Magazine Article

  • Personal Response

OVERVIEW:  

• • Respond to assignments within 48 hours. 

  • If you don’t have time to comment on papers, try spreading them out further apart. 

  • Preparing for online teaching and learning is difficult, so you will not be able to accomplish what you normally would. The “Do No Harm” motto applies to yourself, as well as your students. When in a crisis situation, normal is not expected.

  • Remember: QUALITY over quantity

All teachers and paraprofessionals in East Granby Public Schools have received training in Google Classroom.  If you are new to the district, welcome! We will be reaching out to you to set up 1:1 Tech Coaching Sessions (along with any other PD needs you might have).

Videos:

Tutorial for Parents & Students: A Nice Overview on Google Classroom. This was shared out with parents, but some may have not looked at it during those overwhelming first days of closure.

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A short video of a teacher showing you her Google Classroom for a Special Education Class

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A thorough article, with video, for teachers regarding Google Classroom

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How to use Read and Write for Google to make voice comments on a Google Doc (NOTE: You will need to download the Read and Write extension...see video above)

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A blog is about teaching through distance learning, with some excellent points