[sfedro]

in reply to: 5.6 Choice Board Peer Review #18246

Just reading the topic, I was curious about how a choice board would even look for this. What a challenge! I think this works well.

[sfedro]

in reply to: 5.6 Choice Board Peer Review #18245

This is a choice board I’ve used used for 8th grade ELA Honors students with The Diary of Anne Frank. It challenges students to go beyond the text, bring the text to life, and synthesize from what they’ve read.

[sfedro]

in reply to: 5.4 Supporting ELL, IEP, and 504 Learners #18244

Chat box or email if the chat is not private enough.

[sfedro]

in reply to: 5.4 Supporting ELL, IEP, and 504 Learners #18243

Parent involvement is almost always make-or-break!

[sfedro]

in reply to: 5.4 Supporting ELL, IEP, and 504 Learners #18242

I think self-advocacy will be the biggest challenge, just as it seems to be with my in-person students. Considering that I have team-taught classes where there are two people to allow for one-on-one support, I would worry about what happens with these remote learners.

[sfedro]

in reply to: 5.2 Supporting Diverse Students #18241

I do wonder if part of the severity right now is still due to the effect of Covid. I think IXL is a great resource to help catch them up.

[sfedro]

in reply to: 5.2 Supporting Diverse Students #18240

I think part of the issue is that students won’t always “click” with any given staff member no matter how hard you try. I think it underscores the need for as diverse (with regards to culture, race, personality, etc.) a staff as possible. At the middle school I worked at previously, each student chose a safe person that they could go to when they were in crisis. Very few students had to use it, but it did help.

[sfedro]

in reply to: 5.2 Supporting Diverse Students #18239

What trends are you seeing with your students?
One concerning trend I’m encountering is less socialization amongst students. Every year it seems I have less chatty classes. It shocks me every time we play a group game like Blooket and a student will say something like “Who is Samantha? That’s not someone in our class” and Samantha will be sitting two seats away. These kids are in their own little bubbles, and I’m worried about the effect it’s having on their communication skills and ability to acclimate to social situations later in life.

What recurring successes or struggles do you see?
One nationwide struggle is literacy. I’m seeing a lot of success in increasing students’ reading momentum by making it a priority to get into the library at least once a week to purely focus on reading (something that tends to fall off at the high school level), conference one-on-one with students to talk about their books, and modeling reading as a personal priority.

[sfedro]

in reply to: 4.7 Creating Engaging Virtual Activities #18238

You could draw a card for each student on camera during a video meet. You can also use this website to generate a card for each student online.

[sfedro]

in reply to: 4.7 Creating Engaging Virtual Activities #18237

You could also utilize a hyperdoc to serve as a homebase.

[sfedro]

in reply to: 4.7 Creating Engaging Virtual Activities #18236

Help Make this In-Person Activity Virtual

In The Things They Carried, the main character at one point faces the decision whether to go fight in Vietnam or flee to Canada. I talk about how the draft works and its relevance considering how my students are reaching the age to register. I ask students what they would do and put up various options around the room. They choose by placing a sticky note on their choice. We then discuss how students made their choices and how their choices compare to others.

[sfedro]

in reply to: 4.6 Classroom Meeting Activities #18235

I try to come up with creative projects for my 11th grade homeroom at least once or twice a month where I take on a facilitator role, providing supplies, and my students handle creative decisions (ex: I put wrapping paper on the front of my desk and had students decorate it with stickers, some I supplied and some they did). It breaks up the otherwise slow mornings, builds classroom ownership, and gives students a chance to have low-stakes conversations with each other.

[sfedro]

in reply to: 4.4 Fostering Student Relationships #18234

This is a great idea!

[sfedro]

in reply to: 4.4 Fostering Student Relationships #18233

I agree. Students can immediately see through you and distrust you if you’re not authentic.

[sfedro]

in reply to: 4.4 Fostering Student Relationships #18232

Over the last few years, I have come to value more and more the effect of fostering those personal connections with students. Of course, at the beginning of the year I do a few getting-to-know-you activities, but I’ve found those to be more useful in the middle of the year once I’m not trying to learn 150+ people at once and am actually familiar with many of my students through repeated one-on-one interactions. The most meaningful opportunities for connections are the one-on-one book talk conferences I do with students every week, which is partially devoted to increasing literacy and partially allowing an opportunity to have an actual conversation at a personal level. I’ve also found that my personal narrative unit at the beginning of the year often gives me vital insight into students’ lives and what they care about.

This past year in particular I remember a student whose narrative described how her father had been deported recently and how it had thrown her family’s life into chaos as well as constant dread. I don’t know how many of us can honestly put ourselves in that position, but it allowed me a much higher tolerance for her absences from then on. This was a very capable student who would have otherwise been extremely successful if not for the circumstances that were out of her control (as is the case with so many of our students).

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