Students that need differentiation ~ Week 13

I have a student in my class who struggles with various tasks. One of his struggles involves the use of his fine motor skills. He especially has great difficulty with writing. This affects all of his assignments. To help him he is often partnered with other students. This is not always the best situation for either child. He also uses a laptop computer to type his assignments. Some assignments just can't be typed into his laptop. I found 2 apps that I think can help him. One app will allow him to practice his math fact drills without needing to use paper and pencil. The other is a notebook app to help him keep all of his assignments organized.

Math Fact Practice

Any teenager would love this app. You can create folders for each of your subjects. You can then decorate them with stickers or by drawing on them. It also has a handy calculator! Fun way to take notes and keep up with assignments.

Ocean Unit ~ Week 8

Take me Out to the Ocean from Josie Cutler on Vimeo.

My fifth graders just finished a unit on oceans. In this unit students were taught (among other things) about the ocean zones and the animals that live in those zones.

Word Clouds!! ~ Week 9

Tagxedo-Creater link

Tagxedo is a really neat web 2.0 site. You type in a list of words and it randomly places them on a page. The part that I like best though is that you can change the color, font, orientation, shape of design, and the theme. It is very user friendly!
My students recently did a character building assignment in class. Each student had to write down one positive thing about each of their classmates.  I took those words and complied them so that they could be typed into Tagxedo. Above is an example of how one turned out. I'm going to put these in an end of year booklet that I am giving each child in my my class.

The Flipped Classroom ~ Week 7

The flipped classroom is a really neat approach to teaching! Most of use have probably already used aspects of this innovative way of teaching and not even realized it! So, what is the flipped classroom you ask? Just think about reversing the traditional way of teaching. Students will do the majority of front end learning on their own...most likely at home. The teacher may have websites, blogs, or other avenues  that students visit to learn about the basics facts or the essentials of the subject. For example, I may have students go to my porta-portal site to read about ocean life. The next day in class everyone (who did their assignment) will be ready to discuss and do hands on activities based on the information that they read about oceans. Students can also use these sites to study and review for tests. Imagine being able to view the steps for a math problem over and over again. It's like giving your teacher a repeat button!! It is impossible for teachers to do that in the traditional classroom because of limited time. By using the flipped classroom approach the teacher is able to spark students enthusiasm and have added time to really dig deep into the subject . I also envision teachers (once they get in the groove) having more time to work individually with students and being able to have multiple centers/stations set up. With traditional teaching those are the things that often get left out because of lack of classroom time.
Watch this youtube video about the why a teacher flipped his classroom!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H4RkudFzlc
Social networking in the classroom can also be beneficial to students and parents. As long as the teacher has been properly trained on the safe ways to incorporate it into lessons, it can be an added way for students to express ideas. It can also be a great tool for the teacher to use to keep everyone updated on classroom activities and due dates.
All of these things are neat and can work wonders for education. The key to its success is properly preparing the teachers, students, and parents for what is expected! Just a little side note for all you traditional teachers out there... traditional is still good. Good teaching is still good teaching. These are just tools that you can use to enhance the great job that you are already doing! Kids still need to memorize things..they still need to write and create...they still need to sing, chant, and rhyme...they are still children that need to learn from you! So Giddy Up..Let's get Teaching!!