For today's post, I thought I'd write about the different technologies that the ELA department uses on a regular basis. This is probably going to be a long one :)
GOOGLE
As a district we have "gone Google" - which simply means that we are using many of the Google Apps for Education products with our students. Kids all received a school issued email address which has proven helpful for me to make announcements, and for the kids to email questions to me. I am usually working from home for an hour or two after 8:30PM, and I try to get a response back to any kids and parents who have emailed me at that time. Google also provides kids with a suite of productivity software (word processor, spreadsheets, presentation) that can be accessed from any device that has an internet connection. Students also have a large amount of storage - Google Drive - which again is accessible from any device that has an internet connection. While we still use Microsoft products, Google Apps eliminates the excuse of not having a particular piece of software at home, so kids can work on anything, anywhere!
BYOD
Bring your own device allows our district owned devices (laptops and chromebooks) to go further - which increases overall access across the school. While not every situation requires the use of a device, I will notify kids when the opportunity arrives. Some ways we have historically used student devices include the following: Looking up definitions of unknown words (either as part of a vocabulary activity or as part of close reading a difficult text), conducting research, or even typing a paper. The activity that the kids are working on determines the types of devices we ask the kids to bring in. For example, it wouldn't make sense to have kids typing a paper on their cell phone, but it makes perfect sense to look up unknown words on a phone.
APPS
Today we had the kids download a few apps to their devices - if they brought one. These apps work for all iPods, iPad, tablets, and smartphones. Here is a list of what we downloaded:
1. Infinite Campus Mobile Portal - this is the portal app for kids to check their grades. As 8th graders it is important to develop that academic behavior of monitoring grades for missing work as well as the overall class grade. The portal app is much more user friendly than the web version and it even provides notifications of when assignments are entered or marked as missing.
2. Overdrive e-reader - Students are able to check out electronic versions of many of our library books. In many cases, the high-demand books that students have to go on a wait-list to check out are available as e-books for check-out immediately.
3. Quizlet - This is a handy app that we use to help kids study for assessments. We set up flashcards of terms and other content and kids can use them to study. In addition, quizlet has a variety of games using the content we supply.
REMIND
Remind is a texting service that allows me to send broadcast text messages reminding students about upcoming assignments, when to bring devices, and other school events. The texts are generated from a computer phone number, and they cannot be replied to. The students do not have my personal phone number, and I am unable to see their phone numbers as well. Parents are also encouraged to sign up for this service! Click here to sign up.
Because this post is already long, I will finish up the topic of technology in the ELA classroom in the next installment!
Happy Thanksgiving to all and have a great long weekend!
Monday, November 24, 2014
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
Wrapping up First Quarter
Well, the first quarter is in the books! I overheard one of my students say, "Wow, I can't believe we're already done with one quarter of 8th grade!" I'm going to take that as a good sign - time flies when you're having fun!
A note about quarter grades...
When you receive your child's report card, you will notice that each class gives four separate grades. The letter grade is the indicator of your child's academic progress in each course. In addition to the letter grade, your child receives a score in three life-skills areas: Respect, Responsibility, and Engagement. These three areas are the academic behaviors that we believe contribute to a successful student - and a successful person in everyday life. Click here to read the descriptions for each of the life skills grade and the scale that is used to evaluate your child.
In many ways this first quarter is an adjustment period for many students - teacher expectations are different, homework load tends to be different, etc. I have always felt that the most growth happens during the second and third quarters of the school year, so I'm looking forward to this time of year!
A look ahead in ELA...
We have started our second major unit of the school year recently - Influence and Choice. The literary part of the unit focuses on characterization and character analysis. We began by looking at ourselves - how we interpret and group one another as well as how we assign personality traits to one another. We eventually moved on to how authors create characters and what we as readers have to look for when closely analyzing a character. Starting small, with short pieces of text - then moving on to short stories and eventually a novel, students will become adept at identifying character traits, and then providing evidence from the text and an explanation of that evidence to clearly demonstrate their thinking.
In writing, we noticed that sentence problems (fragments, comma splices, and fused sentences) seemed to be an area of need based on the results of the first quarter writing piece. Therefore, that is what we are going to be to focusing on during grammar instruction. We begin by looking at writing, identifying the problem sentences, and then applying three fixes that students actually already have in their "writing toolbox" from the beginning of the year grammar unit on sentence structure. Our formal writing piece of the second quarter is argumentative in nature with an increased emphasis in constructing refuting statements to counterclaims. In addition to the writing piece, shortly after the Christmas holiday, we will be having in-class debates on the topics that each student wrote about.
Don't forget the Independent Reading Requirement that continues during each quarter of the school year. To read more about those requirements, click here.
As always, if you have a concern or a question about anything - please send me an email or give me a call at school.
A note about quarter grades...
When you receive your child's report card, you will notice that each class gives four separate grades. The letter grade is the indicator of your child's academic progress in each course. In addition to the letter grade, your child receives a score in three life-skills areas: Respect, Responsibility, and Engagement. These three areas are the academic behaviors that we believe contribute to a successful student - and a successful person in everyday life. Click here to read the descriptions for each of the life skills grade and the scale that is used to evaluate your child.
In many ways this first quarter is an adjustment period for many students - teacher expectations are different, homework load tends to be different, etc. I have always felt that the most growth happens during the second and third quarters of the school year, so I'm looking forward to this time of year!
A look ahead in ELA...
We have started our second major unit of the school year recently - Influence and Choice. The literary part of the unit focuses on characterization and character analysis. We began by looking at ourselves - how we interpret and group one another as well as how we assign personality traits to one another. We eventually moved on to how authors create characters and what we as readers have to look for when closely analyzing a character. Starting small, with short pieces of text - then moving on to short stories and eventually a novel, students will become adept at identifying character traits, and then providing evidence from the text and an explanation of that evidence to clearly demonstrate their thinking.
In writing, we noticed that sentence problems (fragments, comma splices, and fused sentences) seemed to be an area of need based on the results of the first quarter writing piece. Therefore, that is what we are going to be to focusing on during grammar instruction. We begin by looking at writing, identifying the problem sentences, and then applying three fixes that students actually already have in their "writing toolbox" from the beginning of the year grammar unit on sentence structure. Our formal writing piece of the second quarter is argumentative in nature with an increased emphasis in constructing refuting statements to counterclaims. In addition to the writing piece, shortly after the Christmas holiday, we will be having in-class debates on the topics that each student wrote about.
Don't forget the Independent Reading Requirement that continues during each quarter of the school year. To read more about those requirements, click here.
As always, if you have a concern or a question about anything - please send me an email or give me a call at school.
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