On Demand Writing

This week we focused on on-demand writing. This was quite a challenge for many students! The on demand writing prompts are prevalent in the CAASP and Smarter Balanced tests and I want to make sure students have some practice. During an on-demand prompt, students are given a prompt and text(s) in which to write a 3-5 paragraph essay during a limited time period. Our ELA class had 1 day to read texts and look at the prompt, 1 day to plan, and 50 minutes in which to write the essay. Time management is crucial for college and career readiness as well. Overall, I was very pleased with the quality of the essays. Most students had a hook and thesis statement, cited evidence with explanations, and good organization. Tuesday I will return the essays and students will work to improve anything they missed and will resubmit for a retake.

We started our short Rome study and incorporated some poetry writing within the unit. Students were so imaginative with their Haikus and Cinquains! I was quite impressed!

As many of you may have heard, Mrs. O'Neill moved down to Los Angeles. She was our neighbor ELA teacher. But...our own student teacher, now credentialed, Ms. Dowd will be taking her place! So exciting! We are thrilled for her and we get to see her every day now!

I have gone through every students' standards report and created a plan for each person to work on skills. We will be doing this during e-block time. 

Have a great week!

0

Teacher and Student Sketchnote Handbook!

I have been a long time fan of sketchnotes! If you're not sure what a sketchnote is, be sure to Google it! A SKETCHNOTE is a form of note taking that includes a mix of handwriting, drawings, shapes, and other visual elements such as boxes and lines.

BIG PICTURE:  Sketchnotes are meant to capture the BIG IDEAS of what is read/heard rather than writing down every little detail. Focus on LISTENING or THINKING about the content ~ then translate that onto the page with fonts, pictures, and elements. The CCSS focus on having students not only recall information, but to formulate opinions, ideas, and increase critical thinking skills. Students can do this through a Sketchnote.  

I just released my Teacher and Student Sketchnote Handbook! You can find it HERE for $4.50 (a bargain!) or win a FREE copy by following this blog and commenting below. I'll choose a winner April 10. (PS look at the pictures carefully below and you will find a link for a FREE font download!)

Please share this page with friends! 

0

A Favorite App

I will be starting a new position at our school - technology consultant. I'm very excited to be able to share with our awesome staff...and hopefully glean from them as well!  My friends know that I love technology and I love teaching. So to put them both together is awesome! So many teachers are fearful to step out of the box and try something new. But, once they see the benefits, they enjoy the fact that they did!

One thing I will be supporting the teachers with is instructional technology in the classroom. A few teachers will be using iPads to help support learning so I hope to give them ideas on how to best use them. There are a gazillion awesome apps. One of my favorite is Penultimate:

Penultimate is a handwriting app. You can create notebooks and organize the material. I like it because I can use my stylus and write with my own handwriting to take notes. (During boring meetings, yes, I like to doodle and use colors!) Because you can easily change pen colors, teachers can make quick annotations on student work. Students can keep their work in "notebooks" and teachers can add their thoughts quite easily. It has a feature where the page or notebook can be sent via email which I like. Last year I used the tool often as principal. I was able to jot down notes to teachers and quickly send the note in an email through just a tap.

Penultimate is a part of Evernote, so it can be saved and viewed on any computer - Awesome! I also like the fact that you can add photos, then write thoughts down by the pictures. Students could use this for a journal entry! :) love!

1