Teacher Talk

Part of what makes us so AWESOME here at RMS is that we are constantly collaborating with one another. Anytime a teacher shares a great resource with me or I find something you just HAVE to see, I'll post it here. Check back often to see what's teachers are talkin' about!!

Teaching Strategies to Get Students WritingApril 10 is Encourage a Young Writer Day. Writing can be a challenge. Some may have a hard time knowing where to start. Others may struggle with spelling and punctuation. And then there’s the dreaded “writer’s block”. Here are 5 strategies to help get students to start writing.

WRITING GRAHIC ORGANIZERS FOR STUDENTS

Thank you, Mrs. Covert, for finding this wonderful writing resource.

Teachers, check out the site to the left for some graphic organizers you can use to get your students engaged in writing.

Need to find videos in your students' native language to reinforce academic content?

Watch the video to the right for a great tip from Ms. Dani Dickerson. Her method is quick, easy, and beneficial to your students. What's not to love?

I know it doesn't look like a video from Ms. Dickerson, but I promise, it is!

Loom | Send a video. Not a thousand words.Get your message across with instantly shareable videos for work. Capture your screen, record your front-facing camera, and narrate it all at once, then instantly share with a simple link.

Want to craft a lesson around a terrific Ted Talk?

Mrs. Greiner contacted the company to find out how to do just that! Click here to learn how. Click on the video to the left to find out more about TED and TEDx.

Scaffolding Strategies are mentioned almost daily in reference to education. But what actually is it and how do I use it in my classroom?

Click on the article to the right to find out!

Burned In Teacher Website & Podcast

Have you recently said any of the following: "This is impossible," "There's no time," or "I'm exhausted"? If so, please know this does NOT have to be the norm! That's the goal of the Burned In Teacher website & podcasts, to share uplifting ideas and stories so teachers know there is a way back to the old "you" who was super excited to become a teacher. Check them out and see how your attitude and heart can be invigorated.

Click the title of this post to go to their homepage.

Shake Up Learning

Now that we're settling into our new school year, are your lessons in need of a little "shaking up"? If so, that's the goal of the podcasts and episodes of Shake Up Learning. She has LOADS of resources for Google Products and more! Check them out and see if it leaves you "shaken."

Click on the title of this post to go to their homepage.

In the podcast to the right, Myron Dueck mentions the Latin root of the term "assessment," assidere . Check out this article about that same topic and the original way the term was used.

This Is Not a Test: The Real Root of “Assessment” Will Surprise YouIt’s time for assessment practices to be intentionally designed to foster student agency rather than hinder it. Here are the questions we should be asking.

How to Grade Smarter, Not Harder with Mr. Myron DueckIn this episode, Mr. Myron Dueck discusses how to grade smarter, not harder.

Over the past 22 years, Myron has gained teaching and administrative experience in both Canada and New Zealand in subjects ranging from grades 4 to 12. Beginning in 2006, Myronsheldoneakins.com/myrondueck/ developed a number of grading, assessment and reporting systems with his classes in which students have greater opportunity to show what they understand, adapt to the feedback they receive and play a significant role in the reporting of that learning.

In this podcast Myron shares his stories, tools and first-hand experiences he put in his best-selling books, Grading Smarter, Not Harder– Assessment Strategies that Motivate Kids and Help Them Learn and ‘Smarter Assessment in the Secondary Classroom’. His research is used in series alongside John Hattie, Lorin Anderson, Celeste Kidd and more.

45 minute Podcast Highlights

Problems with penalties
The impact of penalties on student learning
Alternatives to penalties

The Greater Greer Education Foundation has grant opportunities for teachers. Check out the site to the left or the document below. Let me know if you need help applying. Deadline is Dec 18 at 5pm, delivered IN PERSON.

Greater Greer Education Foundation 2019.pdf

8 Proactive Classroom Management TipsNew teachers—and experienced ones too—can find ideas here on how to stop disruptive behavior before it begins.

Sloan Joseph at Greer Middle School shared this wonderful resource with us!

Theresa Teeple travels and learns in the summer. She finds the opportunities using sites like the one to the right!!

Summer Programs

Meet the #SinglePointRubricThe practice of using single point rubrics is slowly but surely catching on. Try one for yourself and let us see it!

Renee Covert loves these rubrics!!

Students driving you nuts? It doesn't have to be that way!

Surveys show that one reason teachers leave the profession is because of poor student behavior. As teachers, we can't control all things, but we can influence student behavior. Our sanity and their learning depend on our ability manage an effective classroom environment. Here's a little information to hopefully help keep you on track with your classroom management. Just remember students can't learn and teachers can't teach if your classroom isn't well-managed (and well-managed does not have to translate to total silence and students seated in rows).

Awesome Podcast with thought-provoking commentary about the ways you may be sabotaging your classroom management: https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/classroom-management-problems/
Original post on which the podcast is based: https://www.middleweb.com/19037/10-ways-sabotage-classroom-management/