My Year of Teaching Virtually

I hated virtual teaching.

I said it.

I hated it.

You think it would have been easy because I am considered “tech-savvy.” Integrating tech when I teach is second nature for me. So, this should have been easy. Right?

Except, I hated it.

We started our mornings with our 5 minute Waiting Room, then moved on to our Virtual Morning Meeting. We played games on Gimkit, Quizizz, 99Math, and all the new and improved sites that were meant to engage the students in the square boxes. READ MORE

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“Outside the Topic” Student Connections in a Virtual World.

It’s funny how students take things you say every day and turn it into “a thing.”

Every morning I share the Morning Meeting slide with my class. (I tweaked someone else’s template).I always try to connect the topic to the National Day or things that are going on in the world.  In order to give my class a chance to talk about what they want to talk about, I would say,”Who has something to share outside of the topic? READ MORE…

Should We Let Go of EXPECTATIONS?

There was a post on Twitter about a mother who sent her kid to school knowing they had tested positive for COVID.

As I am wont to do, I dived into the comments.

 A constant stream ran through the thread, noone should be upset with the adult. Instead we should blame society, the school, etc…., anyone but this adult who made the choice to send a kid to school with COVID.

Have we gone too far with expecting very little, or nothing at all, from our students and parents?

READ MORE…

“If It Was Raining Meatballs…”

I know DESMOS was made  for Math , but I have been using it for my Morning Meeting activities. I try to switch up the things that I post for them to do.

I found this list of “50 Icebreaker Questions for Kids” during my frantic search for ways to break the ice in September. 

The question that  most recently caught my eye was, “If it was raining meatballs, would you eat them?” 

Their responses made me laugh!

READ MORE…

Digital “Getting to Know You” Icebreakers

It’s time to go back to school.

And whether you are face-to face or virtual, making connections with your students is vital.
Here are a few digital  ideas for getting to know your students and/or letting your students get to know you. 

1. BINGO.The great thing about BINGOBaker is that there are thousands of ready-made cards or you can create your own BINGO. You can post images, text, and numbers on the BINGO card. 

There is a $14.99 LIFETIME fee if you want all the extras. I chose to go with the extras, which are very cool! There are also very simple directions on how to set it up and play on the site. (Looking at my old posts I realized I had written about Bingobaker in 2013)
READ MORE…

Originally posted on “Diary of a Public School Teacher”…(Blogger)