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3 Strategies That Position Students to Take Responsibility for Their Progress and Behavior

 

As we incorporate more Student Reflection and Progress Monitoring next year, Catlin Tucker's 3 Strategies that position students to take responsibility for their progress and behavior could be a helpful resource.

Replacing Exams with Performance Tasks

In Frisco ISD we don't have final exams but it's still a good idea to focus on more performance tasks over tests or exams. Check out Catlin Tucker's recent post about the topic. Read more. 

Matos’s Favorite Finds from TCEA

Here are my favorite finds from the TCEA (Texas Computer Educators Association) Convention…

Brain break/calming sites

• Weave Silk (you can drag a color circle onto another and they blend, the faster your mouse moves the more it shows the 2nd color)

• Color Mandala – very good for my symmetrical, organized brain!

Radial Timers

• Much less stressful than the traditional bomb countdown!

• 2-minutes, 5-minutes, 10-minutes

Amazon’s Leadership Principles

• Along the lines of what our students need to be Future Ready… These are the principles that Amazon leaders focus on every time they meet and in every decision they make. A trainer from Amazon shared these and stressed how they guide everything they do. 

• https://www.aboutamazon.com/about-us/leadership-principles 

Canva Presentations

• Magic Shortcuts - So fun! Create a quick Canva presentation then when in presentation mode, play with these:

• Present and Record - You can record yourself giving the presentation!

• If you don’t have a FREE educational Canva account, click here.

• Canva for Education also includes a Classroom so you can manage your students and see their work! Adding students also gives them access to all of the additional FREE Educational resources.

Yellkey.com 

• Creates a shortened URL for a short period of time. Great for sharing a URL with students when it’s just needed for that time during class. 

Crowd Buzzer

• Turns devices (phones, chromebooks) into a buzzer. Great for class review games!

• Teacher: https://ccg.buzz/host/ 

• Students: https://ccg.buzz/ 

Gimkit update 

• KitCollab - students can create content; you can pull from it to use

• Now the free account allows as many people as you want & includes basic game types

Wakelet

• Wakelet is like Pinterest for education. 

• When creating a new board, select from several layout options.

• Many types of items can be added to a Wakelet board. 

• Boards can be used as a template for students to add their own resources to 

• Boards can be collaborative for group work. 

• Ideas of use:

1. Backchannel during class

2. Keeping track of resources/research

3. Newsletters

4. Calming Rooms (examples: MS, HS)

5. Station work

6. Sub plans (example; great for subs who can’t log into Canvas)

• Examples: Representation of Disability Through The Media and Fairytales, The 3 Branches of Government, Art in the Time of COVID-19, Digital Citizenship

Building Culture in your School/Classroom

• Culture is built 30 seconds at a time.

• Stand in halls during passing periods and talk with kids!

• Congratulate students on accomplishments

• Idea to build relationships: 

1. Pull out your phone, open photos. 

2. Find one to share and tell the story. 

3. 1 minute per person in pairs.

• 3 key findings that work with EdTech

1. Interactive learning

2. Use of tech to explore and create rather than to drill and kill

3. The right blend of teachers and tech

Enjoy Your Chromebook More

 

If you're looking for ways to customize your Chromebook, check out this post from TECA. Keep in mind that students and staff cannot add stickers directly to their FISD Chromebooks. You can, however, purchase a thin case to cover with stickers if you'd like. Read more.

Playlists vs. Choice Boards

Catlin Tucker recently posted about the difference between playlists and choice boards. Both are great options for student voice and choice and control over pace in their learning and showing their learning! Read more. 

Choice Boards for Active Learning in Math

TCEA recently shared Choice Boards for Active Learning in Math. Many of the examples are elementary and middle school but there is a Pre-calculus example that helps see how the idea can be modified for high school level courses. 

5 Ways to Encourage Critical Thinking with Wakelet

 

Think of Wakelet as Pinterest on steroids with great educational applications! There is so much you can do with it. TECA recently posted 5 Ways to Encourage Critical Thinking with Wakelet. After looking over this article, take a few minutes to make an account and play around.

Google's Note-taking tool Cursive

 

Users with touchscreen devices running Chrome have access to Google's Cursive for note-taking! I think it's so super cool! Check out TCEA's post about it!

STUDENT ACCOMMODATIONS IN THE CANVAS LMS

 

It's a good time to revisit this TCEA post about Student Accomodations in the Canvas LMS. Please ask if you have questions!