Well, today I got to implement some of the things that I learned last week in training. It was hard to hold back and not try to teach them everything at once. We tried 3 “new” things today. They weren’t totally new but following more to the way Kagan has it outlined. It went pretty well. I hope that this continues for the rest of the week and we can add more structures to our class.
Author: dsanfie
Kagan Cooperative Learning
It’s been a while, I know.
This Monday and Tuesday I was fortunate enough to participate in a Kagan training. It was great. I have heard so much about it in the seven years I have been teaching, but never had the opportunity to participate. There are many things that I will be able to use right away on Monday. It is good to know many of the things that I do already have in place just need to be tweaked. Unfortunately Monday is coming much to fast when I realize that I haven’t done nearly 1/3 of what I planned to do this week. It’s nice to take a break though.
Where does the day go?
I was driving home and thinking that it has been a while since I have posted on here. Then I was reading Chris Lehmann’s post, Sustainability, where he talks about how overwhelmed teachers are and a lot of them are not blogging. I’ve had good intentions, but time has not been on my side. I decided to take the fall break off and not work except for the 2 hours I went into school on Friday. Now I sit here with regret at how much work I have to do now. So off I go.
Here we are…
Well, the school year is only a month into it, and my classroom has already undergone many changes. My class started out at 18 students. Perfection if there ever was one. Then 10 day leveling happened and my class blossomed to 32, and at one point 34 students. Not perfection, but we managed. Then thanks to the suggestion of Ms. Houser, I was able to settle down to 24 students. WHEW!
So we are making our way to progress report time and I am just getting into a rhythm.
So I have chosen now to start keeping up here because I think everything has settled down to a state I can call normal. More to come…
Finally!!
I have finally gotten this site to a presentable state. It is not yet exactly the way I want it to be. So thanks for your patience. I will take any comments or suggestions you may have as I polish this up.
Hello world!
Welcome to my site. Still trying to manage and set up the way that I want. Thanks for your patience and I look forward to hearing form you.
Bears Smartcast Episode 1
Well, we did it. This is the first episode to what will hopefully be a weekly or bi-monthly podcast next school year. This podcast was created and written by my third grade class. Please feel free to give feedback and suggestions. We always strive to make our work better. Enjoy!
Imagine that
David Warlick’s March 23 post stated:
I’m going to close here by mentioning that the technology mentors are doing something that I haven’t seen before for professional development. They come into a school with three substitute teachers (they call them supply teachers). They go to the classrooms of teachers who have expressed an interest in learning some specific technology skill or piece of software. They drop off the substitute and then take the teacher(s) to the PD lab for an hour or so of training. What strikes me about this procedure is not just that it is incredibly efficient, but it also sends the message that professional development is part of the job. It isn’t something that happens after work, on weekends, and during the summer. But it is important enough that it is part of your work day.
Imagine that.
Our way on the Quest
About a week ago, my third grade class started another new journey. We are exploring third grade science concepts through a webquest, Dig It Up. This webquest explores earth science concepts through a combination of research conducted on the internet and student created physical models and presentations. At first I was worried that the quest may be too hard. What I am discovering is that they take what parts of it they understand and and are working with that. We’ll see how the culminating activity goes. Hopefully, we will be able to post videos of the presentations here.
Happy New Year
Happy New Year to all!
It has been a while since I’ve made an entry here, and so much has happened since then. My class size was reduced because we were bursting at the seams ( and some of us still are). Our school has grown, and has well surpassed the original estimates of enrollment. My class has taken 2 fieldtrips, including a trip to the office of Hill & Usher for a Holiday celebration. They were thrilled to get to see a real business office, and the goodies were a treat too. The wonderful people at Hill & Usher donated a very nice digital camera to our classroom. Be sure to check our class blog to see the how the students are using it to enrich their learning.
As we are about to return from our winter break, I have to take some time to reflect on how great the year has been so far, and to plan how to keep the momentum and excitement going. I have truly fallen in love…with the SmartBoard. I can’t imagine going back to teaching without it. My students have started blogging, are learning keyboarding skills, and have learned how to beam information using handhelds, in addition to all of the traditional curriculum. One thing that I plan to do is to keep this blog updated to help myself, and possibly others. The other thing that I hope to do for the second half of the year is to turn over more control of the learning to the students. I have developed a science webquest, Dig It Up, for one of my classes for my Masters that I will try with the students. But most importantly, I plan on slowing down and reflecting more, and enjoying the moments.
Here we go!
Learning Required 