Connecting Students Across the Atlantic

I was so excited to use technology in my classroom to expose my students to another culture.  With November 13-17 being International Education Week, I wanted to give my students an International experience.  Two years ago I hosted Valeria, an exchange student from Italy.  What a perfect connection to make with my students.  Valeria and I set up a time to Skype with my class to teach them about Italy.   

Valeria talking about the differences between Italy and the United States

She presented information to the students about what it is like in Italy.  She described schools, common foods, climate, and different cities. The students thought it was pretty awesome to be talking to someone all the way across the Atlantic Ocean and that here it was 10:30 am, and it was 5:30 in Italy!  

A few examples from Valeria's presentation

We talked afterwards how the information we learned connected to our Geography Unit.  The students had to explain which of the 5 themes we gained information about.  

Digital Conferring Notes & Feedback

Over the past month I have been in the process of switching from the Confer App to using Google Forms for my conferring notes.  I loved everything about Confer except that there was not an easy way for me to send my students feedback from our conference.  I was leaving students with post-it notes as to what they were to be working on, but many times they were left behind in the classroom.  Not very helpful for the student to refer back to the next day.

Using Autocrat with my Google form sends my students an email right after our conference with what we discussed.  It is the same way we get feedback from walkthroughs.  I created a template of the items I wanted the students to see.  They see their Star & Stair, which is a narrative comment.  They also see targets from the continuum and which grade level the task or skill represents.  I have a section where I select areas that would be useful for a small group that the students do not see.

So the students get an email, but how do I know they are reading the comments?  This would only be beneficial to the students if they are reading and reflecting on my feedback.  On the PDF the students get is a link to a Student Reflection Form where they answer two questions from our conference.  What helps you to reach your STAR in your writing?  How will you accomplish your STAIR in writing?  Be specific in what you will do.

The students fill out the reflection the next day during Writer's Workshop.  This helps them to remember what we talked about and set them up for success because they are explaining what they will do to improve their writing.

The students keep their conferring notes in Notability and I remind them to look over them before they start writing and to focus on reaching their Stair.

Differentiation & Bb9

This week at our Vertical PLC the focus was sentence stems and frames for students that need a little extra support responding to Language Workshop prompts.

Screenshot of the Groups feature in Blackboard

I immediately thought of the group function on Blackboard since our students already have Digital Thoughtful Logs. Setting up the groups in Blackboard was quick and easy!

After the item has been created, the adaptive release feature in Blackboard allows the assignment to only be visible to the selected group.  After a few trial and errors, we figured out how to assign the sentence frames to only the selected group.  The final step in the setup in Blackboard groups was moving the group from the left box to the right box, and that took us a few tries to figure out.
Thanks to my teaching partner, Ryan, for figuring out this final step.

 I love that this feature allows students to get extra support without the entire class knowing that they are getting something different.  In 5th grade, the last thing they want is to stand out for needing support!

Gaming in the Classroom and Pushing Further with Bb9

A big success that I had with technology integration in the classroom was with a game called Win the Whitehouse from iCivic.  After students had learned about the election process they had to apply their knowledge to try and win a presidential election.  They had to learn different components of how to campaign such as raising funds, giving speeches, and selecting TV and radio spots.  Students had to decide which states would be the most beneficial to make appearances in, and learned quickly how the Electoral College works.  My students were highly engaged in the game and the election process.  They not only played the game at school, but would go home and play it, for fun!  After attending a session at the One Conference, I heard another teacher also talk about the game and how she created BINGO cards for the game, with each square representing a different outcome they had to accomplish.  I'm very excited to try this idea next year.  

I am about to launch a new unit on Blackboard.  My students are well versed in Bb9 as a location to grab materials and content from as this is their second year using it.  I had my students last year as 4th graders, and again as 5th graders.  Last year I used Bb9 mostly at the Substitution level, with students going to Bb9 to grab a document to open in Notability.  This year I wanted to use more of the features available.  In science I have used Bb9 to link virtual investigations for students to get extra practice, or use when I have a substitute teacher.  I like the virtual investigations to reinforce concepts after the students have already completed the investigation hands-on, not replace them.  This week I will be using the adaptive release feature as students begin to learn about the Civil War.  To ensure that students are taking away the important concepts, to move on, students will have to answer a few questions about the content before moving onto to the next item.  I used the test feature to create the questions.  I like that students won't be able to move on with their  learning with misconceptions.  After all the students learn the general information about the Civil War, I will be using the group feature on Bb9 to assign multiple perspectives to different students.  I am hoping that the adaptive release feature goes smoothly on the student end.