Jennifer Ledford prepared her new student station for the next school year - complete with "positive pants" quotes! Jennifer updated me with a photo of students enjoying this space!
Rhea Wynn shared her version of the "poet tree" on Twitter. Take a look at what the students will be decorating once the fall arrives!
Monica Spillman found this video from We Are Teachers - looks like a fun, frilly, and functional way to keep students learning!
Tania Jackson
had some scrap wood, milk cartons, whiteboard and glue... It made for a perfect flexible seating work table with dual function! Catherine Williams has taken the plunge! She's inviting parents into her second grade classroom. Check out these beautiful invitations - who could say no?! Update 7/22/17:
This lovely parent offered to read to her class the first Friday it was available! Since Cath had a class Twitter account, they were able to share this great news with the world... Amy Banas, a contributor to an online book study regarding Shift This, shared this story...
I love the idea of choice boards that Joy mentioned. This past year, I had to give PD on Google Drive and knew there were all different levels of users with Google Drive so I created a choice board (bingo style) that the teachers had to complete. They could move at their own pace, and choose their own 5 squares based on their levels of understanding of Google Drive. When they got a "Bingo" they clicked on the bingo link and had to fill out a google form explaining one thing they learned - and a question they still had - about Google Drive. This gave me the ability afterwards to reach out to teachers to answer their specific questions and sit down with them to go more into depth about Google Drive. This was by far my favorite PD session I did this past year and hope to include more of them this year! In her middle school Spanish classes, Katie McMahon has tried two things that she says she needs to use more often to help ALL group members speak: 1. I gave students a half sheet of paper and some bingo chips. The paper had 2 columns and in Spanish said "I need to speak more" and "I'm talking a lot" - all the bingo chips started on the left and as they contributed to the conversation they moved the chips to the right. They were encouraged to continue talking even after they used all their chips, but it was a great system for students to visually see who they should "invite" directly to the conversation so that they could get all group members to move all their chips over. 2. These nomination cards "assign" who is next to speak during a small group conversation so no one student will dominate the conversation. Continue reading about Nomination Cards here!
Thank you for sharing, Katie! This year I have done a lot of reading and reflecting on my practice. I have read over and over again the importance of letting go and giving kids control. Now, that being said, anyone who knows me knows I have a little issue with wanting control of situations. I like things in order. One friend refers to me as being very linear. My desk is neat and everything has its place. Giving up control is difficult for me, but one thing my husband always reminds me is it’s not about us, it’s about our students. So the past 2 years I began slowly giving up control. It started with our class seating and station choices........ Want to read more? Visit Meagan Parrish's original blog post from July 1, 2017 here: Sharyn Kish, Kindergarten teacher, recently shared these thoughts about her most recent shifts, and the shifts she's going to begin...
This book validates so much for me as I started my "shifting" last year with flexible seating in my classroom. I also tried many new things with technology, which was a big deal for me because it's something I wasn't totally comfortable with... and yet because I went out of my comfort zone (and modeled a growth mindset) and as I struggled and persevered, I saw amazing things happen with my students! They learned right along with me and quickly began teaching ME how use additional Google apps! This year was my favorite by far out of 17 years of teaching! Can't wait to finish the rest of your book tonight. I'm already sketching out what my class website will be like... I didn't know Gen Reinheimer before Shift This came out. She was one of my earliest readers and she is suddenly my biggest cheerleader! She'll be moving from elementary to middle school soon (the students are just bigger, right?!), so wish her well by reading her blog post and keeping the conversation going about creating a mission statement, using edcafes, and changing grading habits. Her post is here:
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