Twitter Professional Development

This is a lonely profession, even without a pandemic. Teachers who have a professional learning community to plan lessons, bounce ideas off, and review strategies are lucky but most of us labor alone at our desks. But there’s a vibrant community of teachers online that you can access around the clock for help on quite literally everything and anything.

If you don’t have a Twitter account, get one! It’s simple at twitter.com.

Who to follow?

  • There are tons of teachers out there who are tweeting fascinating and exciting things – and a few tons of teachers who need help. Try searching for hashtags. Here’s a list to get you started:
    • #edchat
    • #elearning
    • #pbl
    • #pblchat
    • #ntchat (for new teachers)
    • #gbl (game based learning)
    • #edtech
    • #21stedchat
    • #middleschool
    • #inquiryed
    • #scichat
    • #scienceteacher
    • #scied
    • #iteachscience
    • #scienceliteracy

Twitter Chats

Twitter chats are regularly scheduled meetups around specific topics. There are some that are very active and attract dozens of participants and hundreds (thousands) of lurkers every week. There are some that are just started or growing slowly. During the scheduled chat time, participants use a prescheduled hashtag to keep track of the conversation which sometimes moves very quickly.

Here are some popular Twitter chats for teachers:

  • #edchat – meets Tuesdays at 12PM and 7PM est
  • #edtechchat – meets Mondays at 8pm est
  • #mschat – meets Thursdays at 8PM est
  • #ntchat – for new teachers, meets first and third Wednesdays at 8PM est
  • #scichat – hosted by The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education on Tuesdays at 9PM est
  • #scitlap – science based weekly chat based on Teach Like a Pirate on Mondays at 9PM est.
  • #NGSSchat – first and third Thursdays at 9PM est

Join in and make some connections!

Advanced Boom Cards

If you’ve been playing with Boom cards a little while, you probably have seen some decks that use a drag and drop feature. It’s a little more interesting for students than the simple multiple choice questions so today let’s take a look at how to create a drag and drop question.

Drag and drop features have many options. An easy one to start with is “Drag the correct answer here,” which essentially function like multiple choice cards. Another one is “Label the picture with the correct words.”

Here’s how to use the drag and drop feature for a multiple choice question:

  1. Create your template card.
  2. Write a question including the directions to drag the answer somewhere. In this example, I’ve used a rock as my “Drop Zone.”
  1. The answer choices must each be in their own Button, Text box or Image. In this example, I’ve used buttons.

4. Click on the image or location you want to be your Drop Zone and then click on the “Droop Zone” option on the right menu. A little purple flag will appear in your Drop Zone to show you that you’ve finished this step.

5. Click on all of your buttons (Shift and hold as you click each one to select them all at once). Then, click the “Draggable” option on the right side menu. A small round Drag icon will appear on each button to show you that you’ve completed this step.

6. To choose the correct answer, click on the Drag icon on the correct answer and drag it to the Drop Zone flag. A purple line will appear to show you that you’ve connected the correct Draggable to the Drop Zone.

7. When you Preview this slide, you’ll see that the other 3 buttons are wrong when you drag them to the Drop Zone but the button you’ve chosen as correct gets you the Ding for correct.

 

Here’s how to use the drag and drop feature to label a diagram:

  1. Write your question. If you insert an entire diagram as your drop zone, then any place in the diagram will be correct. If you want each piece of the diagram to be labeled differently, you have to insert the diagram in pieces. Tag each piece of the diagram with a Draggable flag.

2. Add the labels as Text, buttons, or images and tag each of them as Draggable items.

3. For each Draggable, click on the Drag icon. Then, drag and drop it onto the correct Drop Zone flag. Lines will appear connecting the answers to the diagram.

4. Check in the Preview tab that you’ve marked everything correctly.

 

Comment with a link to the preview of your advanced Boom Cards so we can all admire what you’ve created!

 

 

Boom cards available in my TpT Store:

Life Science

Physical Science

Earth Science

 

 

 

Healthy School Lunches

It’s that time of year again.

Here are the recipes making their way into my lunch rotation:

Salad. Gets boring fast. I try to add something special – feta cheese or pecans (or both) so that every day isn’t the same.

Burrito Bowl – Technically a salad, I suppose. Stack scoops of guacamole, beans, corn, greens, and salsa verde. Pack a zipper baggie of chips if you’re feeling indulgent (and I probably am).

Hummus and pita – I make my own pita (1 cup self rising flour plus 1 cup fat free plain Greek yogurt – shape into pitas and brown on both sides in a Pam-sprayed pan). A little pita and some veggies and I’m good.

hummus chickpeas appetizer free photo

Goat cheese Sandwiches – My new favorite thing in the world. I make some pita (see above) and assemble this open faced sandwich at my desk. Smear some goat cheese on top then cover with greens (arugula and spinach are my fav) and some sauteed onions (if I happen to have some) and some chopped tomatoes. Ooh – add a few olives. Best lunch ever.

Chili. I make a big pot on Sunday and divide it up into containers for the week. I don’t really have a recipe – it’s more of a “add whatever you have” kind of dish for me. Here’s the way I make it.

chili, bowl, food, pot, dutch, oven, beans, beef, carne, cooking
  1. Saute your meat in a little olive oil in your biggest and heaviest pot. You could use ground turkey, beef or chicken, or you could use some beef chuck or sausage. Or skip the meat. Up to you. When it’s browned, take it out of the pot and set it aside for a bit. Skip this step if you want vegetarian chili.
  2. Chop an onion, a bell pepper (whatever color you’ve got, or add 2 if you want), a few ribs of celery and a few carrots. Saute in olive oil in your biggest and heaviest pot. Add a few chopped cloves of garlic.
  3. At this point, you can add a bulb of celeriac, butternut squash, acorn squash, or a turnip if you want. If you add any of these, add a cup or two of broth (veggie or chicken or beef – whichever you like or have on hand, or use water if you want) and let simmer, covered, for 20-30 minutes.
  4. Add a big can of tomatoes (crushed, chopped, or whole – up to you), the beans (2-3 cans of whatever you have) and the spices. I use about 2 tablespoons of chili powder, a teaspoon each of cumin, oregano, and paprika and about 1/2 teaspoon of red pepper flakes. But shake it up – add what you like! Add the meat and, if you want, a can of corn, peas or green beans at this point.
  5. Depending on how wet you like it, this can simmer covered (if you like it wet) or uncovered (if you like a chunkier chili) for half hour or so. So simple and incredibly versatile.
  6. Serving options: over rice, over quinoa, with tortilla chips, or with corn bread. Dollop of sour cream or fat free yogurt on top. Sprinkle some shredded cheddar, chopped scallions.

Back To School Night

What are parents looking for when they come to your (in person or virtual) back to school night?

Our administrators think parents are looking for concrete information on how you will be assessing and grading their children and what specific content you will be covering.

Sure, they want that.

But what parents really want is this.

Woman Teacher clipart

They want to know that you like their child. That their child will be safe with you. That you want to help their child. That you are engaging and compassionate and passionate about education.

How can one person convey all of that? It’s easy. If you really do like their child and their child really will be safe with you and you really want to help their child, it will come through without you even trying. If you are engaging and compassionate and passionate about education, you will convey that easily. Those are not things you can fake.

Here are some ideas to fill the time on back to school night:

  • Slide Show – Slide shows are great ways to remember what you need to say when you might be wrestling some nerves. I always include:
    • My name and info like education, experience, etc
    • Contact info – How do you prefer to be contacted? What are your email address and phone number?
    • Curriculum – What will we be studying this year?
    • Grades – How will your students be assessed? How can parents see their student’s grades? When should they expect to get grades back?
  • Handout – Back to school night is overwhelming for parents also. Especially in the middle school ages, parents have to meet 4 or 5 or even more new teachers and they’re going to be on sensory overload. They’ll forget things like how to contact you or what school supplies their child needs. Help them out by providing a handout with all that info on it. 
  • QR codes – Instead of handouts, give parents an index card with a QR code leading to your About Me internet page where you give them the lowdown on how to contact you, what school supplies they need, and what the curriculum is.
  • Sign in – Parent sign in is critical. You’ll forget which parent you met and which asked you to contact them. Have a sign in sheet and then write notes on it as soon as parents leave. 

Stations for Back to School Night

Show the parents what being in your class is going to be like. Have them rotate around your classroom, completing various activities at each stations. Here are stations I use:

  • School supply list – What materials will Suzie need to be successful in your class? Have copies of a printed list or have a QR code to bring them to your supply list website. I like to have sample binders, pencil cases, etc available for parents to see what I’m looking for.
  • Write a note to your child. This is really an elementary activity, but middle school parents (and kids) find it fun too! Have parents write a quick note to their child (“I’m proud of you” is a standard) and leave it in an envelope on the child’s desk for them to see the next day.
  • Curriculum. At this station, parents can pick up a handout on the curriculum and participate in a quick lab such as:
  • Meet the teacher. After parents have completed all of the other stations, I greet them with a handshake and a smile and ask if they have any questions. If they have more than a simple question, I point them to a “Sign up for a conference or phone call” QR code where they can input their name and what kind of information they need from you. This helps move the evening along and keeps you from getting bogged down with Johnny’s parents who want to tell you all about their son’s hobbies.

Good luck. They’re going to love you.

Simple Machines

A simple machines unit is a great one to teach using a constructivist approach. With some hands on experimentation, students can see the impact that using a lever or inclined plane has on work. Direct instruction to incorporate vocabulary supplements the observations students have made and allows them to draw conclusions about how simple machines work.

A few pieces to include in your simple machines unit:

  1. Direct instruction. Here, I use a slide show and cloze notes and focus on vocabulary.
  1. Experimentation. Using a few blocks of wood, some meter sticks, a spring scale, a pulley, and a binder clip, students can experiment with levers, pulleys, and inclined planes. Depending on the level of student, you can provide as much or as little guidance as they need. Here is a simple inclined planes lab I use. It allows students to compare the mechanical advantage of a short inclined plane and a long inclined plane and determine how effort distance and effort force are related in work input. This lab is a more complicated lab exploring levers using a constructivist approach. Students build 1st, 2nd and 3rd class levers and then arrange the fulcrum, effort force, and load into various configurations to see how the positions affect mechanical advantage, leading to an understanding of the different ways machines make work easier.
  2. Practice with vocabulary. I use a word map activity and a Boom Card activity to reinforce the vocabulary.
  1. Problem based learning projects:
    1. Machines in history. Have students research the top 5 most important machines (or top 10, or 5 most influential, or 8 most important from this century…) and design a museum exhibit explaining them.
    2. Kinetic sculpture project. Use what you learned about simple machines to create a kinetic sculpture. Incorporate environmental learning by using recycled materials.
    3. Machine advertisement. Create a 45 second video ad convincing people that they need to buy your simple machine.
  2. Final project – Catapult creation. Use what you learned to build a catapult that will propel a mini-marshmallow the farthest.

Each of these activities can be found separately on my TpT store or grouped together as a bundle.

Strategies to Teach and Reinforce Vocabulary

Teaching science is a lot like teaching a new language. Good pedagogy and engaging, relevant hands on activities can help students understand concepts, but the vocabulary often remains elusive. Here are five strategies to teach and reinforce science vocabulary:

  1. Preteach. Give students an opportunity before you teach the content to explore the vocabulary with flash cards, vocabulary games, and just rote memorization.
  2. Word walls. Typically thought of as an elementary school trick, word walls can work in middle school also. Post the new words – either as you introduce them or all at once. Refer to the word wall often – seeing the word in writing is reinforcement.
  3. Word maps. For each vocabulary word, have students write the textbook definition of the word and the definition in his or her own words. Then, have the students write a sentence that demonstrates their understanding of the word and draw a picture representing the word. I’ve created a few word map interactive Google Slides activities if you want to see some examples.
  1. I have, who has. This fantastic game is great for a 5 minute whole class review. It takes a little bit of time to set up, but you can laminate the cards and use them forever. Each card says “I have” and then a vocabulary word. Underneath that, each card says “Who has” and a definition. Or, vice versa. I usually keep one card to myself and hand out the others – great if you have a few extras to give 2 or 3 to fidgeters to keep them engaged. I start by reading my “Who has,” and then the student with the “I have” that matches it shouts out “I have” and then the word. Then, that student reads his or her “Who has” and so on. Download my free template here.
  1. Gamify it. Charades, Taboo, and Hangman are obvious choices, but Connect 4 (place a piece in the game board when you get a question right), Chutes and Ladders (move ahead 1 place if you get the question right) and Checkers (get a question right before you can take a turn) are all great options.
  2. Magic Picture Reveal Vocabulary Digital Worksheets. When students get the answers correct, pixels of a magic picture are revealed. When all of the questions are correct, the whole image is visible. Read more about magic pictures here.

Today’s Buzzword: SEL

As a parent, and as a teacher, my priorities have always been: 1. Be safe. 2. Be happy. 3. Learn something.

I have to trust my district and my superintendent that we’re safe at school. I ensure my students wear masks, wash hands like Lady MacBeth, and socially distance. I’m well trained and know how to ensure that they learn some science. But the focus this year is being happy, something we now call social-emotional learning.

And well it should be. Last spring, we built an ark while the flood was already upon us. I don’t know about you, but I barely kept my head above water. I cried every day with worry for my students. I phoned, emailed, chatted on Zoom, and followed through. I don’t think I’ll ever know if it was enough.

With hybrid, asynchronous, synchronous, distance, or face to face learning – whatever permutation your district dreamt up – we have to focus on SEL. I have a few plans for my own students – things I thought of back in the spring but didn’t have time or resources to implement as well as programs and activities I’ve heard about since then.

  • For starters, I’m holding off on teaching science for at least a few days. I’m going to put all of my energy into forming relationships with my students. Of course, we do that every year as professional educators. But this year, the drive is more focused. The science will wait. If they don’t learn mitosis this year, that’s OK.
  • Getting to Know you activities are filling my first week’s lesson plans. Find a partner and get to know them, then introduce them to the class kinds of activities. Things we can do remotely or socially distanced. Decorate this beaker with the stuff that matters to you. Do this hashtag activity to let me know where you see yourself in20 years. Partner up and solve the puzzles in this digital escape room. Use a Pear Deck to drag an icon in a game of This or That. Help them get to know each other with a Kahoot about their favorite things. Anything I can think of to get them talking to each other and to me.

Priorities. Just keep telling myself that.

What are you doing to help your students this year?

Photo by Hannah Rodrigo on Unsplash

Shaking the Sunday Night Blues

You know the feeling. Sunday night. School tomorrow. And you really enjoyed sleeping in and doing weekend things and you’re sad because it’s over. The last Sunday night before school starts is the Sunday-Night-Bluest of all of the Sundays. Here are some tips to shake the SNBs, and some things to avoid.

What not to do

  • Don’t overdrink. Sure, you’ll forget the SNBs, but you’ll also regret it in the morning.
  • Don’t sit in front of the TV playing games on your phone. That’s never a good idea, but it will leave you wishing you had spent your time on something more fun.
  • Don’t overwork. Do some work to make your week easier, but don’t cram an extra 9 hours of work into your weekend. Your mind, body, and soul need time to relax and recharge.

What to do

  • Pack lunch and pick out tomorrow’s outfit. Make preparations so the morning will be as easy as possible.
  • Pick something fantastic to wear tomorrow. My favorite advice from my mother – “When you don’t want to go to work, buy something new to wear.” It takes the edge off. I promise.
  • Do something nice for yourself. Mani-pedi is my go-to. Spend the day with friends. See a movie. Read a book. Hit the mall for some retail therapy. Go for a run, hike, or bike ride. Give yourself warm fuzzy memories for tomorrow.
  • Go to bed early. Mondays are hard enough. Don’t add tired to your list of complaints.

We got this, Teachers! Tomorrow is going to be a great day, and the beginning of a great new year!

 

Photo by Zach Kadolph on Unsplash

Type A Personalities and Planning a New School Year

Perhaps I’m generalizing, but I think most teachers are planners.

By mid August, I usually have my bulletin boards done. Last week, I went to 8 stores (wearing a mask) to find just the right lesson plan book and then dated all the pages and put tabs for each week. That gave me a sense of control that I’ve missed during COVID.

Any other summer, I would have had my seating charts done, first few weeks of lesson plans written and copies made. I would have bought new school clothes and gotten my hair cut.

At school, I’m a planner. I am at my most comfortable when I know what I’m going to be doing, and when I have planned what to do for every eventuality. I like being able to relax once everything is in place.

But nothing is in place this year. There’s so much ambiguity about the new school year – when’s the first day? Is it hybrid, remote, or in person? How many students are opting to be fully remote? Will there be an outbreak in my state in the next week, causing schools to go fully remote again? Will classes by 60 minutes long for a full day of school or 40 minutes long because students can’t eat in school and have to have half days? How long before we have our first case of COVID?

NEA Today, before the pandemic, said that a “majority of teachers are feeling a high level of stress” as well as low ability to cope. I don’t know about you, but I find teaching under the best circumstances stressful. I love love love my job, but it is stressful. And teaching remotely was ten times worse, Now, they’re asking me to do them both at the same time. (What is it they said about Ginger Rogers – she did the same thing as Fred Astaire, only backwards and in heels.)

Social media and the news are overloaded with the debate to open schools. Yesterday, I saw a group of parents protesting a town not far from me whose school board had decided to open remotely. Parents were screaming to make the teachers get to work and demanding their taxes be refunded.

I wish I were one of those people who can roll with it. I know teachers who haven’t checked their emails all summer. I’m trying, I really am. I know I should let it go. But I’m going to start school with mid-year stress levels.

woman in black leather jacket wearing white framed eyeglasses covering her face

Woman in mask Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

Women on bed Photo by Kinga Cichewicz on Unsplash