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🕵️September C.I.A. Newsletter
🕵️September C.I.A. Newsletter
August Reflection
August Reflection
Thank you all for being so welcoming to me and being very gracious as I adjust to a new role, school, and district. I want to create a monthly location you can explore for ideas, templates, and other resources related to instructional practices. Feel free to bookmark this page! I am in the process of building out a more comprehensive Google Site, but right now it's in the infant stages.
Last month many of you took the time to share some feedback with me through this Google Form to help be best determine some next steps for my role as C.I.A. at BVMS. Thank YOU! Below are some data visualizations of what you shared with me as a staff. Don't forget that the snack stash access and offer of 15 minutes of coverage still stand!
I was also excited to get into a few classrooms (or for this month OUT of them)! I enjoyed two outdoor adventures: one with 8th grade social studies where students headed to the soccer field for an exploration simulation complete with Easter Eggs and blindfolded students and one for 6th grade science taking to the nature trail to learn about observation and inference! 8th grade ELA had some amazing workshops set up using their flexible collaborative spaces in the halls. I got to participate as a student in a fun 6th grade math activity where students had to represent a mystery number of items in a variety of ways as a group! Several other teachers/departments invited me in to plan and design think some ideas they want to try--THANK YOU! I absolutely LOVE that work and learning from you all! Of particular note (scroll down for more) is a discovery that we made in 8th grade math to get REAL TIME vision into students' math brains using Schoology! Don't feel the need to plan anything special, but I would always love an invite to your room!
What you will see here:
What you will see here:
Monthly Reflection
1 OMG item I learned that I think you would love.
Quick Plug & Play Ideas/Templates/Tips & Tricks
Notable on Twitter...a place I will embed particularly helpful things I come across on Twitter.
This way you don't have to be on Twitter to see these things. If you are (even just as a voyeur) you can follow @JenMPage and scroll my Tweets/Retweets. Do you want ME to keep an eye out for something? Let me know and I will be sure to search, engage w/ other teachers there, and share back to you.
OMG: 15 Minute Feedback
OMG: 15 Minute Feedback
"It's like Mad Libs Meets Google Forms! Save TONS of time by hacking narrative feedback."
"It's like Mad Libs Meets Google Forms! Save TONS of time by hacking narrative feedback."
This comes from EDrenaline Rush, a Blog and book by John Meehan. This is under the Teach Like a Pirate Umbrella. Here is John's blog post. I screencasted my explanation of what he is doing to the left. This can allow you to "write" beautiful and descriptive narrative feedback for students and get through AN ENTIRE CLASS OF STUDENTS in 15 minutes. Watch OR Read the Blog AND LEAVE WITH AN EDITABLE GOOGLE FORM YOU CAN USE IN MINUTES!
Resources you could use with little/no prep & in any classroom
Resources you could use with little/no prep & in any classroom
Must Do, May Do
Must Do, May Do
Gold EDU is run by Stephanie Howell and several Pickerington Middle School teachers. IT IS AMAZING. Here is their WEBSITE and here is their YouTube Channel. They do "Make and Take" sessions on Youtube where any teacher can join and create with them, and then when you are done you have a ton of resources YOU CAN USE IMMEDIATELY. Here is a session on their Must Do, May Do (and here is the Google Slides file--they always put these in the Youtube descriptions). I love this idea because it helps make your classroom run like the real world where you have some immediate projects you have to do for your boss and then when you are efficient with getting those done you get more freedom. This is an idea from one of my favorite behavioral educational gurus, Scott Ervin--The Kid Whisperer. He is amazing--worked in the toughest schools in Dayton. His "Real World Workshop" and "Love and Logic" tools REALLY helped with management of tough classes.
DICE DEBRIEF
DICE DEBRIEF
Want a quick exit ticket? Check this out! Want to see how teachers around the world are thinking about using this idea? Read the comments! Want to make one? Let me know! Want some cool bouncy light-up dice? I have some!
CyBER SANDWICH EduPROTOCOL
CyBER SANDWICH EduPROTOCOL
Above is ONE Eduprotocol, The Cyber Sandwich, that is explained. Eduprotocols sound fancy and hard to understand. But what they are are SUPER EASY plug and play "Lesson Frames" that work for any content. In short, THEY SAVED me last year when learning how to teach a new subject. Online. To students I had never met in person. And I learned them on the fly with Twitter and Youtube. I finally got the book and it is a legit "jump to what you need" book and not some "big idea thing I never will have time for" or one that makes you feel inadequate or exhausted. This sells it best for me when thinking about BVMS and other small schools. "Teaching with Eduprotocols makes your career easier and portable. Moved to 6th grade this year? Use the Iron Chef Eduprotocol to teach Greek civilization. Another move to 5th grade next year? Use Iron Chef to teach 13 colonies...If you are a high school teacher...with five different classes this year, reduce your prep and use the same Eduprotocols in all your classes, with different content for each." (Hebern & Corippo, 7) These are REAL teachers, not consultant authors--and they will literally chat with you at any time FOR FREE.
Choice Board Pantry
Choice Board Pantry
Many people asked for info on choice boards. They are wonderful ways to at student agency and choice to your classroom without the wheels falling off. Below are a collection of some of my favorite items I have collected and created recently. Lots are templates that you can use with little or no editing. The tool I have embedded them with is a Padlet. You can add to the padlet and comment if you like. BTW this is a paid subscription that is coming your way for anyone who wants to use this with students at some point this year! It's a great place to have students post projects when you don't want to have have every student present live in class, but now they can show their work to their peers and the world.
NOtable on Twitter this month... take a look 👀
NOtable on Twitter this month... take a look 👀
Twitter as on-Demand PD
Twitter as on-Demand PD
My Twitter story started with, "This is not for me. Only 'look at me' teachers post there." My previous district was one that was extremely pro-social media presence. I was told, "Twitter is your gametape. It shows people who you are." They wanted teachers Tweeting with district specialized hashtags (and I really didn't understand how those worked at first). But that still didn't do much to change my point of view--and to be honest, seeing only certain people or subject areas celebrated online kinda bothered me too. I wrestled with the dilemma of were the things I and my peers were sharing were really the best educational practice or were they just SHOWY? Ok, then Covid-19 happened. Schools went remote and I couldn't just walk down the hall to get ideas from peers. And after a spring of remote learning, I took on the challenge of collaborating with a team of teachers to build and run a fully virtual school-within-a-school for the 2020-21 school year. Add to that living 2 hours away from the rest of the staff and Twitter became a lifeline to other teachers in the same boat. Even if you just dabble with "stalking" some of the teachers listed in the spreadsheet to the right, see what you find! You might be surprised! I put certain people on notification and use Twitter like a search engine searching a teacher's handle and a topic to find what they have tried, shared, or asked.
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