There are four weeks left before I officially start back to school! That sounds like a lot of time ... but oh my, the to-do list has way too much on it! I wrote about my goals here. Now the five things on my mind today ...
1. NUMERACY At the end of the school year, I was all into numeracy and how to ensure that students grow in number sense this next year. I have a warm-up routine planned but one of my summer goals was to work on short targeted skill activities that spiral through the year. That way when we get to conics in the last six weeks, students haven't forgotten how to factor from the third marking period! I haven't worked on the spiraling skills review. There is still time!
2. UNIT PLANNING Our PLC divided up the units of the first semester with the idea that we would bring a unit to the table ready for discussion, revision if necessary, and implementation. I haven't worked on my assigned unit at all. My assignment is the second unit - the one on systems of equations. I have good plans from last year that I hope to polish.
3. TECHNOLOGY One of my goals this summer was to explore some technology to consider using in my classroom. Thinglink is the only technology I've played with. I love it! I can't wait to use it with students! The other apps on my list are MoveNote, Haiku Deck, Nearpod, WeVideo, and Blendspace! Reviewing these apps will take some time ... I better get started! That's more than one app a week.
4. STUDENT BLOGGING I'm very interested in student blogging this year. I don't plan to grade them all - or not at all. This summer I want to create an outline of expectations, a student reflection rubric, and a plan for acknowledging their writing. I also need to play around with a couple of platforms - Edublog and KidBlog.
5. REDECORATING I've been writing about redecorating here and here. Our school is getting a new addition and there is a lot of moving about. In that move I've been reassigned - which is fine - I'll be on the same hall with my PLC this year. I like that. But I'm particular about my classroom - like most teachers - since it is our home - mine and students - for so many hours. Right now we don't know when we can get into the rooms to work. I'll be checking in often over the next couple of weeks! I've started the bargain hunting!
Loving http://spikedmath.com/!
Hi Beth-
ReplyDeleteGreat plans for the rest of summer before the school year begins again! After reading that you're interested in checking out Haiku Deck, I'd love to share with you the ultimate resource guide that we've created just for educators that may come in handy if you do decide to use our app in the classroom: http://blog.haikudeck.com/new-powerpoint-for-education/
Our support team is always on standby as well so if you ever have any questions or run into any issues along the way while you're experimenting, we're happy to help!
Cheers,
Lisa Ma
Haiku Deck Customer Evangelist