Saturday, October 18, 2014

Thinking Maps and The Global Read Aloud


For several years, my teaching partner Ginny Limer has encouraged me to use Thinking Maps. She uses them daily in all subjects. I have used the circle map, but haven't ventured much farther until this past week. We are participating in The Global Read Aloud - a world-wide event where classes read the same book and then share via social media, blogging, skype, etc. We are in the second week of our reading of The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane and so far we have made predictions and asked questions with other classrooms via skype and blogging. Yesterday, I wanted my students to write about how Edward looked and felt before and after being thrown off the ship. Ginny has shared examples of the thinking maps with me, so I looked through to see which one would work best for this assignment. I chose the cause and effect map because the boxes were set up just the way I wanted. During a class discussion about our reading, each student completed their own thinking map. Using the map, they were able to easily organize their thoughts. This example is from a student who tends to get hung up and frustrated. The thinking map allowed him to be articulate and confident in his writing.


   
After writing, my students use an Editor's Checklist to assess their own work before turning in. I have found that this pushes them to scrutinize their own work more thoroughly.
The link to this check list can be found HERE
For more information on The Global Read Aloud click HERE 

Thursday, October 16, 2014

Follow Me With Bloglovin!

Follow my blog with Bloglovin


I just signed up with Bloglovin because I have so many great blogs I follow, but it's hard to keep up with them. Bloglovin allows me to follow my favorite blogs and get updates on new posts! Now I won't miss out on anything new and wonderful from my fellow teacher bloggers!

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Using Remind to Prepare Students for a Substitute


One morning last week I woke up feeling terrible. I went to bed the night before with chills and a headache, but thought I would be better after a good night's sleep. Wrong! There was no way I was making it to school that day.

After calling our secretary and informing her of my absence, my next thought was my kids. I have never been absent this year, so I wanted to prepare them before they got to school. I sent this Remind message to their parents and within minutes 3 had used the Stamp feature to let me know they had seen it!

The next day when I returned to school, I asked the students how many knew that there was going to be a sub before they came to school. Almost all of the students raised their hands! One of my students proudly told the class that his mom let him read the message.

The substitute left me a note saying how well the students behaved. I think that being able to alert them ahead of time really helped the day go smoother.


Thanks Remind! 


For more information on getting started, please visit Remind.