The day before a break

Good morning colleagues! I hope you are all feeling rested, especially since many of you (myself included) have this whole next week off from school!

Yesterday I was thinking about how it was the Friday before a break. My broadcast students always watch the broadcast on Fridays so that a) they actually view their work and compare/contrast it to other students' work and b) they look critically at all segments and provide feedback. The broadcasts range between 10-25 minutes and this week timed at around 15 minutes. I knew that between watching the show and filling out the feedback form that the students would have about 15 more minutes of class. What could I have the students do during that time?

Isn't that a common problem... what to do the day before a break?

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Spending our last minutes before Thanksgiving break brainstorming ideas for future broadcasting segments. • • #broadcast #broadcasting #film filming #filmmaking #Mac #school #middleschool #education #students

A post shared by SMS Broadcasting (@smsbcast) on Nov 16, 2018 at 7:23am PST

I was lucky... Thursday afternoon I was digging through folders on Google Drive and stumbled across something I did with students last year: brainstorming ideas for future broadcasting segments. I knew that my current students are equally as creative, so I gave my students time to brainstorm in small groups and come up with ideas for the broadcast. They came up with some great ideas including new and exciting segments for the "Christmas broadcast."

Here are some other ideas for what to do the day before a break:

• Peer feedback. When I taught Social Studies, I was obsessed with DBQs. I would make the due date the day before a break so that I could grade their essays over break. The day before time off was perfect for the students to use a peer review day before turning in their compositions. 
• Educational game. I didn't particularly enjoy assigning a test the day before a break, but I never minded reviewing. Playing Scattegories or Taboo where the topic deals with what students recently learned (whether that week, unit, or semester) get them thinking about and discussing content information. At the same time, students are being competitive and (hopefully) having fun. 
• Blogging. Have students blog about what they will do over their time off. You could have students make a short video using Adobe Spark Video or post on Flipgrid. Get kids talking about their lives then have students talk to each other. Use the last day, when kids are often in an excellent mood, to build up your classroom community.
• Video writing prompts. Ask students a very open-ended prompt and have them answer using a video application. Adobe Spark Video works well with Chromebooks and Explain Everything works well with iPads. Students can be as creative as they want. Post student work on your blog, website, or YouTube. Offer extra credit over the break to students that watch and comment on others' videos.
• Sketchnote. Use the day before a break to teach students how to sketchnote. If you've already shown your students the basics, give them an open-ended prompt (or a topic like "Christmas") and have students design a sketchnote about the idea. 
• Podcasts. If you have a couple of days, have students write a creative story. You can make it about your content or about the holiday that students might celebrate. Students can then use Garageband (an example) to record their podcasts. If you want to take it up a notch, have students design their story like an "old-timey" radio show. 
• Goosechase/scavenger hunt. Get students up out of their seats and out of the classroom. Send them on a scavenger hunt where the clues are content (or holiday) based. 
• Reflection. Use the day before a break to have the students update their digital (or non-digital) portfolios. Give students time to study and think about their work, then post a reflection about what they've learned/how they feel about their work. 

These are just some ideas that I've done, seen, or heard about. Please don't just show a movie before a break... think outside the box and get your kids to be creative! 

Have a happy Thanksgiving! I'll be back on December 1st!

- Rachel

@historicalipad
My Teacherspayteachers website

Canva comes through again!

Hello, colleagues! I was thinking this week about the secondary part of my job, being the technology specialist for the building. I love being able to provide answers and training, but I hate that people aren't coming to me for answers or training. It's usually just answering emergency questions, which is fine but doesn't utilize my time very well.

So I decided that, on top of creating the tech tips newsletter once a month, that I would also start sending "digital extensions" of the newsletter through e-mail. I decided to do this after a conversation with another teacher. She stopped me in the hallway and asked how many e-mails I currently had in my inbox. I told her that I have five e-mails in my inbox. She let it slip that she had 14,000 and she needed some solutions to clean up the inbox. She wanted to know what I did to get to such a low number.

• I snooze e-mails that I need, but not in that exact moment, to return to the inbox at a later time. I use snoozing as a reminder technique as I remember to reply to an e-mail or remember a field trip when I need to remember.
• I use filters to automatically delete e-mails that I don't need. I don't need to read e-mails to the whole staff with weekly newsletters (because it doesn't affect my classroom) nor do I need to know who's going to Saturday School (because my students don't have missing assignments to make up). Those e-mails go immediately to my trash and don't clutter my inbox.
• I use labels to automatically mark e-mails I need to read. All admin have a bright red tag next to their name, so I know I need to read those e-mails immediately. Labels also help with archiving e-mails because I know not to delete them, but "save" them in an "external" folder until I do need them. 

What I did for this teacher was use Screencastify to make a screencast explaining how to do all of these things in Gmail. As I was creating the screencast, I knew how handy it would be for the entire staff, but I also know my team enough to know they wouldn't watch a 10-minute video with helpful explanations.

So I used my old go-to, Canva, to create a handout that would work for teachers in a time crunch.

New Gmail by Rachel Jeffrey

I didn't think that the infographic did quite enough in telling teachers HOW to follow through on these ideas, so I made quick 5-45 second no-audio screencasts that shows the viewer what to do.

I hope it helps! I believe in decluttering your life and cleaning/organizing your email inbox is one way to do that (primarily as a teacher)! 

Thanks for reading. I'll see you next week :) 

- Rachel

@historicalipad
My Teacherspayteachers website

Finding a love of reading

Hello, colleagues! I recently digitally subscribed to the New York Times (they were running a promotion for $1 a week). I've been reading the news quite a bit in the last four or so years, so it only made sense to pay for a digital subscription for not only news, but opinion articles, recipes, and even a mini daily crossword.

I was reading last week when I came across an opinion article called "Why Are We Still Teaching Reading the Wrong Way?" As a teacher, I knew I had to read it. The article talks about how teaching phonics is the best way to teach students how to read, and because it's so intensive, most teachers ignore the best approach. Of course, there was a response article today in which readers wrote about how they learned to read with some responses supporting the original opinion article, and other responses refuting it.

Reading the original and response articles made me think about my own love of reading. I enjoy reading as much as almost anything. I don't remember learning to read, but my mother says that I picked up reading before I went to school. I know that she was a stay-at-home mom that read with me. I know we didn't have cable until first or second grade, so I the tv I watched was mostly PBS educational kid shows (Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, Reading Rainbow). Other than watching tv and playing outside, I remember reading... a lot! I grew up in a small town of 600 people with not a lot to do. My godmother (really my grandmother) was the librarian of our small town library that was two blocks from my house. I spent all of my free time there reading. I was reading well above my age since I eventually ran out of books to read that were "appropriate" for my age (e.g. reading John Grisham at age 12).  I fell in love with books at an early age, so I still love reading.

That is not, however, the case for most of our students. Why is that the case? I believe that part of it is due to students not knowing how to read, some of it is students not being able to read what they want, partly due to students being busy all of the time, and of course due to students being distracted by other things in their lives (e.g. social media, their cell phone, etc.).

So how can we get kids to enjoy reading again?

• Create a bedtime routine where you read every night. This is one of the biggest changes I made in my life within the last few years. I made the conscious decision to go to bed an hour before I wanted to fall asleep so that I could devote 30-45 minutes of time to reading. By reading this much each night, I read approximately one book a week. That is why, on my Goodreads reading challenge, I've challenged myself to read 52 books in a year. I've already read 48 books this year. 
• Let kids read what they want to read. I read what I want. I enjoy reading trashy beach novels and suspenseful thrillers. I don't always enjoy reading about history... I need a break from what I teach! My husband doesn't enjoy reading very much, but when his monthly Wired magazine arrives, he reads it cover to cover... sometimes more than once. I feel that should be the same for students. They should be able to read magazines, or story books, or a John Grisham novel that is well beyond their age. 
• Be a good example and read yourself in front of them. Part of the reason why I read so much as a child is because my parents read quite a bit when I was young. My dad would often sit in "his chair" and read at night. My mom would lay on the couch and read during the day. When my parents read, the TV was off. There was nothing else for me to do but read alongside them. 
• Limit technology. It was different when I was a child than what it is like for my students today, but as I said in the previous paragraph, the TV was off when my parents were reading. Now, if I read, I will turn off the TV and will silence my cell phone. Before bedtime, I will read and then post on Instagram right before falling asleep. It's become a habit over the past year. 
• Swap music for an audiobook. Install Audible on your child's phone so they can "read" while on the bus, or, if you drive them to school, turn on an audiobook instead of the radio. I'm not the biggest fan of audiobooks because I get distracted, but my husband loves podcasts and audiobooks much more than reading.
• Help bring books to life. I've always tried to read the book before watching the movie because a) I love spoilers and knowing what happens and b) I want to see how it comes alive. My sister and I recently saw Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway. I hadn't read the screenplay yet, so I read it on the plane. I was so disappointed when I read it and was worried that seeing the play live wouldn't live up to my expectations. Boy was I WRONG. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. Now I want to reread the screenplay AND go see the show again! 
• Stash books all over. Growing up, we had a huge bookshelf in the hallway that had a lot of books on it. Now, on my Kindle, I try to find free books to download (currently have 21 classics and 33 random books). It's all about having options and variety. That keeps me interested in my current novel because I want to finish it and start a new one!
• Conquer the log. This probably looks a little different for students, but I love logging my books on Goodreads. Because Goodreads is "Facebook for readers," I can see what my friends are reading. This has helped me find so many interesting books that I never would have found otherwise. Goodreads also recommends books based on what I've read, so the more I read, the better the recommendations!

I hope, through this list, that your students (or you, or your kids) will start to enjoy reading more. I want everyone to have the same love for reading that I do! 

Thanks for READING. I'll see you next week :) 

- Rachel

@historicalipad
My Teacherspayteachers website