Social and Emotional Learning, Conscious Discipline

Social and Emotional Learning, Conscious Discipline

Social-emotional learning is the when we learn to understand our emotions and process them in a healthy way. It also involves handling the emotions of others and being able to respond appropriately.  These are important skills for students to aquire. Today's world presents certain challenges that may make it more difficult to strengthen and apply these skills accordingly. In a classroom, we can be mindful of the physical and emotional environment. A section of the room for students to destress can allow students to reflect and refocus. Teachers must be supportive of their students and address behavior properly. Remember to use student-centered discipline practices that your pupils will understand and draw meaning from.  Students also need to be guided to make responsible decisions. We must be aware of the multi-faceted development in our students.  When we are respectful of their growing minds and bodies, we can help them polish the skills that can be carried into their future.  

Conscious discipline is a strategy to discipline without rewards or punishments. It is a way to make students more aware of their behaviour and take responsibility. Dr. Becky Bailey is the author and creator of this method.  By implementing the research based strategies and structured procedures into our everyday schedules, we can ensure our students have valuable learning opportunities.  Not only is it useful with students and teachers, but teaching parents these same practices can help beyond the classroom. Studies have proven a postive change in the home-school connection. Just think of the possiblities in your community and beyond if we all started practicing conscious discpline techniques.  

  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LfrBXaIP6mQ&feature=youtu.be

English Language Learners, Strategies for Success

English Language Learners, Strategies for Success

Today's classrooms are filled with students of diverse cultures and ethnic backgrounds. With that comes multpile languages. Think of how a student must feel when walking into a school that primarily speaks an unknown language. How terrifying that must feel to the young learner! Try to put yourself in that postition; think of how the inability to communicate effectively can make you feel out of place and scared.  As a teacher, we need to make sure we are doing everything possible to give every student and their family a voice in the classroom.  When teaching the English Language to students in our care, we need to make the most of every moment and also be respectful of their individual needs.  Make sure you are making your students feel appreciated and valued. Take note of their backgrounds and assets they bring to the classroom community. Create an environment that supports them rather them singles them out. This goes beyond having texts available in a student's native language. Yes, that is important, but we can do so much more!  Be proactive with your lessons and integrate a student's culture into a lesson. Be aware of their lives and communicate with their family. Also, collaborate with the ELL specialist assigned to your school. They can be a great resource!
We always think of differentiating instruction, and this needs to be no different when adapting our instruction to help students who are more familiar with another language. Not only do we need to think about translating appropriately, but we need to think of how the content translates across different cultures. Think of test questions that deliver a reading comprehension question. Have you composed the question with vocabulary only familar to your native region? Be mindful that even with translation, some things can still be quite difficult to understand.
Give your students a proper amount of wait time to answer a question; do not rush them to quickly respond. Speak clearly and not too quickly. This does not mean you need to shout at your students!
Please be respectful at all times! Give your students multiple ways to deliver their answer and/or products of learning in the classroom. A little creativity can go a long way!

  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HU80AxmP-U&feature=youtu.be

Differentiation

Differentiation

As a teacher, we must ALWAYS be attentive to each student's individual needs. Each lesson needs to give the appropriate accomodations. It's not that difficult of a task to achieve, we just need to be creative and believe! Think of each student and where they currently stand. Do not place limits on your young leaders. Rather, think of each individual and focus on helping them reach their highest potential.  

We all have different learning styles. Let's think about visual learners. Use graphs, charts, and other pictures for planned supports in your lessons. Digital media, checklists, and highlighting important information within a text is also helpful. Check out Bitsboard Flashcards and Games app for help in this area. Auditory learners will benefit from meaningful conversations and discussions when new material is presented. Have information on an audio recording and link to a QR code so students can tune in when looking through lesson packets/materials.  MeBooks is a great app for these learners! Music is also a great addition to any learning environment!  For kinesthetic learners, make sure you have sensory engaging activities to pair with your lesson units. Get up and move in your classroom! Anything from simple hand motions to choreographed dances could help students better understand and retain information. Look up Scratch Jr. for an app to support your kinesthetic learners.
If you have a student who is in the lower performing level, make sure you have plenty of planned supports suited to their individual needs. Make sure you are showing them they have potential and value in the classroom. Do not set limits on what they can accomplish. For middle performing students, be sure to not overlook them. Sometimes this is easy to do if they are average performing students. They still need support and clear expectations. Students who are on the high performance level need to be challenged and engaged as well. Really tap into their passions and see what they can do with an independent study!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M1lKf-94q4&feature=youtu.be

Autism and the Ipad

Autism and the Ipad

One of the main struggles individuals with Autism face is communication. We all need to feel like we are able to communicate and understand others. Technology has opened the doors to new ways to communicate for people of all abilities.  With the iPad device, images and words on a screed can be selected and manipulated by an individual to express what they are thinking. Sentences can be formed and voice features can share the message with others. Since the iPad is a small, mobile device, one can take it wherever they need to go. There are multiple apps available to fit the needs of a vast audience.  Proloquo2Go is an excellent application that gives users access to a plethora of words. It has the ability to be adjusted to each user's unique needs. Complexity levels can also be adjusted as the user develops and changes. The price is rather steep, $250, but it is worth the cost.  Upcard is an app with a much more afforable price point, coming in at $3.99.  With digital picture cards, schedule and calendar options, and tracking from areas ranging from moods to eating activity, this is sure to fit many people's needs.  It is a way to help individuals take ownership of their communication, schedules, and basic needs.  TippyTalk is an application that is free, but has offers for other fees according to what you may need. The user can use images to form a text, and then send it to others. However, the receiver of the text sees the message in text form. This enables the individual who sent the text to send with images, but then communicate to the user the way they are generally accustomed to.  This can be monumental to individuals who are trying to "fit in" with others.  Social Story Creators app comes with a price of $30. By creating visual stories, individuals of different abilities are able to communicate and understand more with others. Social stories are extremely beneficial to make one aware of what to expect in certain situations.  

  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K62M1-SO9Ns&feature=youtu.be

Student Led Conferences and Digital Portfolios

Student Led Conferences and Digital Portfolios

Student led conferences are a great way for students to take ownership of their learning and present it to their family members or other members in the school setting. Students are able to showcase their work and become a leader of their own learning. With their teacher facilitating, students take the reigns and learn valuable skills that will be used throughout thier lives. This can be achieved easily in your classroom! Plan a time for parents or guardians to come visit the classroom. Prior to this meeting, work with your students to pull together pieces of their work. Go over data reports, visual charts, that show student's growth. Help your students learn how to read these charts and understand the information. Goal setting is important for all of us. Students need to be able to set their target, devise a plan to reach said goal, and what to do after that goal is met or if the goal needs to be adjusted. Each students showcased work does not have to be the same; give your students flexibility when needed to choose which pieces of work they show during their conference.  Practice is important! Have students pair with a peer, with you, or someone else from the school, and have a "mock" conference to prepare for the big day. Students can also have a list of talking points to help them stay on track as to not lose focus on important topics during their conference. Have a list of questions or sentence/question starters for parents as well.
Digital portfolios will benefit your students by allowing them to keep up with their work. With online tools, work samples can be easily accessed at any time and archived. Student growth is visible as more work is added to the portfolio. Reflection is difficult for some to do, but is important. Any grade can include a reflection prompt to include with the work. Students need to look back over what they have done and see where learning took place, areas of struggle, and pondering questions that lead to further learning. With the portfolio being stored online, you can instantly share students' work with family members across the globe. Artsonia Kids Art Museum is a great source for students to showcase and explain their work.  WeLearnedIt is a project-based learning platform where teachers can create lessons and students can archive their work.

  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_WBSInDc2E&feature=youtu.be

Active Learning Strategies

Active Learning Strategies

I think we can all agree that the days of teachers lecturing while silent students sit in rows of desks are far behind us. Well, they should be. Our days should be filled with active learning! This term simply means students are active participants in their learning process. The teacher should be delivering instruction in a way that will increase student motivation and performance. By making your students a part of the lesson, with hands-on activities and higher order questioning, the end result will astound you! This may look a little messy to some, but believe me when I say there is beauty in the chaos. Do we want a stagnant classroom? Most certainly not! The learning environment should be full of life! We want pour students chatting with their peers; make sure you have given them appropriate talking points. Young scholars should be comfortable in their space; flexible seating arrangments with guidelines established can make this possible. Sure, there are times where the whole group will be focused on their teacher speaking. When we are proactive with our strategies, having a goal set, and design lessons with students' needs in mind, we are setting up a recipe for success!

Let's talk about some ways this can be implemented into YOUR classroom. A GRAFFITTI wall is an excellent and cost efficient strategy! I'm not talking about giving your students cans of spray paint and unleash them in your school...although to me that sounds sort of fun. Think more of a bulletin board space or large chart paper. Divide students into small groups and give each group their own individual color marker. (This helps keep track of each group's work.) Present to your students a topic of discussion. Each group takes a few minutes to discuss what they know about that topic and record their thoughts on the chart paper. This is a great pre-assessment tool and can be used in ANY content area!

Signals are a quick way for students to tell their teacher where they stand during a lesson. A stop light template with red, yellow, green, and a clothespin could be used for students to "clip" their current color. Red-I don't understand, Yellow-I'm a little confused, Green-I've got this! Other signal cards could be designed according to your lesson. Students could use the cards to answer questions and reduce the common "shouting out" of answers. 

Walking Tours are something I am so excited to use with my students. This concept is new to me! While I have used stations with students before, I know that I need to really improve my set up and delivery. When presenting a new topic/unit to your class, have a variety of materials prepared. Organize the materials, (photos, texts, anchor charts, hands-on materials, devices to view pre-selected web pages) and divide them into individual stations. Each station should have clear instructions. Students will rotate and walk through the tour of stations while participating in reading, talking with their group and teacher, writing as they take notes or complete activities, and use critical thinking to discuss what they have learned.

The possibilities are endless, so let's get out there and be active with our students!

NEARpod

NEARpod

NEARpod is a great way to continually assess your students in and out of the classroom. The online platform allows teachers to combine formative assessments and media to engage young pupils. Learning is interactive and evidence of work is immediately visible for teachers and parents. Data collection is gathered quickly and efficiently.  As an educator, one can design their own unique lessons or choose from a multitude of lessons shared from other sources. You can select based on a certain standard, subject area, or grade level. When you search for lessons to use, some come with a fee but some are no charge. NEARpod is very user friendly for both the teacher and the student. Texts are available to use with your lessons, and lexile levels are clearly listed. The layout of assignments clearly shows each lesson's objectives, so students are aware of their learning targets throughout the academic learning experience. Teachers can differentiate lessons according to individual student's needs.  NEARpod is an excellent form of technology that is sure to take your classroom to the next level.  Students are able to work at a pace that best suits them, leading to more impactful learning.  This platform is able to be accessed from a multitude of devices and at any time. The ability to collaborate with other classrooms benefits a school community by helping to create a cohesive unit.  The price point for this application ranges from free to $350 a year.
In my classroom, I plan to use NEARpod as a way to increase communication between myself and my students' families.  With the ability to access the application at any time, parents and guardians can log on to their student's account at their convenience. Students can work with their parents on current lessons if needed. Another great feature is that data will be visible for family members to see their child's growth and any areas that need attention. I also love how NEARpod has options available for several different pricepoints and areas. The possiblity to help students all all ages and abilities is quite appealing. Also, NEARpod integrates with multiple popular platforms, including Google classroom. Another bonus-this app collaborates with Flocabulary. If you haven't checked out Flocabulary before, well, go do it now. If you have an appreciation for hip hop, you won't be dissappointed.