It's official...everyone is back in the routine, and such a great precedent has been set for the rest of the year! We've been seeing some new and novel things to start off the school year. Kim mentioned last week that a lot of you started off the year with a bang by administering SLOs digitally. I've talked to parents who have said that their children have already been using Google Classroom regularly to view and submit assignments. (Speaking of Google Classroom...check out Alice Keeler's blog for some new and upcoming features - 6 Updates to Google Classroom for Fall 2015). And even more of you have approached us with some new things you want to try in your classes this year and we can tell that you are shooting for the moon! Way to start the year off right, Lee County!
Now that we are all settled in and new routines have been established, don't forget to step outside your comfort zone and try innovative things with your lessons. Using Google Classroom to have students submit assignments and NewsELA to read current events? Why not connect the two and promote collaboration by having students work simultaneously on their own digital newspaper! (Hint: Google has some phenomenal templates available!) Are your students needing a little motivation for reading? Perhaps you could have students write their own book reviews online through platforms like Scholastic's
Share What You're Reading, where they have a real student audience (grades K-12) to read their book reviews. Students appreciate feeling that their opinion really matters to someone beyond the walls of their classroom and they get writing practice to boot! The possibilities are endless!
Now that we are all settled in and new routines have been established, don't forget to step outside your comfort zone and try innovative things with your lessons. Using Google Classroom to have students submit assignments and NewsELA to read current events? Why not connect the two and promote collaboration by having students work simultaneously on their own digital newspaper! (Hint: Google has some phenomenal templates available!) Are your students needing a little motivation for reading? Perhaps you could have students write their own book reviews online through platforms like Scholastic's
Share What You're Reading, where they have a real student audience (grades K-12) to read their book reviews. Students appreciate feeling that their opinion really matters to someone beyond the walls of their classroom and they get writing practice to boot! The possibilities are endless!