Historical Thinking Matters

Sam Wineberg has been researching critical thinking skill development in students through primary sources for several decades.  He has a website http://historicalthinkingmatters.org/students/ with sample ideas of how to use primary sources for critical skills.  I use primary sources as a bell ringer often to start the students thinking about a subject both to activate prior knowledge and critical thoughts.

Write Around

Do you have a class that won't talk to you?  Or only a few in the class dominate the discussion?  I found a way to get everyone involved and writing at the same time.  Write around is a strategy that gets students to write and be involved in the class discussion.  Students are in groups of 4 of 5.  Students write their names on the paper and then write their initial thoughts on the given topic.  When time is up, students pass their papers in the same direction and are given time to read and respond to what is on the paper.  Continue the process until all students have written on all papers.  Students may respond to the comments, add additional questions, disagree, explain their opinions, etc.  This strategy can be done with any subject area.  I found a great resource for this which includes detailed instructions.  Here is the link.
Write Around and more  - http://www.sthelens.k12.or.us/Page/678
 

Book Track Classroom

I’ve just found a cool app for teachers and students! It is called Book Track Classroom. It allows students to read stories but also upload/type/paste stories, poems, etc. Work can be published privately and/or publicly on the web. This Google app is a great way to encourage students to write and read! Just what we’re supposed to be doing in all of our classes. The site offers tons of books to read – books have music background so students are encouraged to read and listen with headphones. Students can adjust the reading speed. The great part about the site is uploading your own material. After you load your written work, you can choose various music to add to the background – scary music for a horror story, ocean music for a soothing poem – you get the idea. Lastly, students create a book cover – or upload one of many provided on the app – and then publish. As a teacher, student work goes into folders similar to classroom google (which I LOVE). Easy to manage! Stories can easily be shared on Google Drive, too. Take a minute and check it out – the app is very user friendly – you’ll be publishing your written work in no time at all!  This app is also available for droid and apple users, so you can read anytime, anywhere. 

Reciprocal Teaching

Reciprocal teaching is a strategy in which the students become the teacher in small group reading sessions.  Students guide the discussion while summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and making predictions about the material.  My class did this type of activity with primary documents that influenced American government.  Each group read a certain document and determined the effect it had on our government.  The students discussed each one and did a great job first describing it and then analyzing its influence.  Students talked about the information and asked each other questions.  I heard great explanations coming from students to other students.  The groups seemed to embrace this activity.

Technology Tip - Office Remote

One technology tip that has helped me teach my students more effectively in my PE classes is an app on my phone called “Office Remote”.  This app allows me to run my PowerPoint presentations by using my phone. Since I do not have access to a Smartboard, this has been a great asset in teaching my students in our “Fitness Knowledge” unit.  This app can be added to apple or android phones, it is free, runs to your computer through Bluetooth technology, and it is relatively simple to use.  The app looks like this:

I hope you find this technology tip as useful as I have found it to be.