Google Summit Conference

This past weekend I attended the Google Summit Conference in Montreal with 20 other teachers and adminstrators from Heuvelton Central School. What a fantastic experience! I learned how to build my own website, how to use QR codes in the classroom, how to hyperlink a Google doc and so much more! I highly recommend attending these conferences if you have the opportunity. I know that I will take what I've learned and use it with my students.

Core Grouping

This year I decided to use core groups in my classroom to help differentiate instruction for students and to assist students in learning 21st Century work skills.  There have been some bumps along the way.  I stepped back and assessed what the problems were and once I had defined them came up with possible solutions.  At this point in the year I feel that the groups are working quite well with little guidance from me.  This past week I decided to use core grouping to help students write better essays.  The first essays these students wrote were lacking thesis statements.  Students also found it difficult to analyze the documents.  Through core grouping students were able to write the introduction together.  I noticed as I circulated that groups discussed how to start the essay (question or a quote), then worked together well to figure out what the thesis should be.  I could tell immediately that the end product was much better.  I definitely would use this strategy to write essays again.

The Case for the Use of Choice Boards

When I last posted I discussed the use of choice boards in class to allow students to show what they've learned in a variety of ways.  This is an example of a gifted student who chose to write a poem about the Civil Rights Movement.

Mallory's Poem