Week of April 16-20

Good week, a bit more progress made with current cycle.  I met with the world language teachers who don't have a designated PLC time each day, and we went through a Flipgrid presentation I put together.  I assisted in setting up their teacher accounts, and walked them through the options for creating a grid.  The intent is to allow students to respond orally in their grids, as a form of assessment.  

Math, the other content I'm working with this cycle had a fun and entertaining week.  They "Barbie Bungee Jumped" in 8th grade.  Yes, it is exactly what you're envisioning.  Students calculated how many rubber bands they'd need to create a bungee cord, to have their barbie jump out of a second story window, but not hit the ground.  It was a riot, and such a great learning activity!

Gearing up for round two of STAAR testing; math, science, and social studies are on deck.  Rocking Reviews start mid-week next week. 

Week of April 9-13

Testing... TeStInG... TESTING.  That's all.

Week of 4/2-6

Preparing for STAAR testing and some PLC groups looking at lessons beyond testing.  Working with ELA to incorporate VR using Google card boards, on the topic of Anne Frank/Holocaust/WWII.  Should be a neat experience for the students. 

Week of March 26-30

Seeing some great reviews taking place in classrooms.  Teachers and students are enjoying the strategies, and it's great to see students up and moving around, engaging.  I want to see teachers finish the year strong, and continue this momentum after STAAR testing!  #goals 
Teachers are requesting more PD for their required hours, and I'm so happy they are wanting TECHNOLOGY PD!!  Working on a couple of sessions to roll out the next couple of weeks, and still encouraging using EdVenture Island.  They've requested BrainPop, since there are more learning activities associated with it now.  I think I'll do another FlipGrid session, too.  

Week of March 19-23

Week one, post spring break and we hit the ground running.  Teachers are preparing for standardized testing, and the district has a new initiative to assist with the reviews.  They are innovative reviews, incorporating technology, various activity stimuli, etc.  I'm so excited to see the days of pushing packets behind us!  I worked with teachers to ensure they understood the activities for each of the ten days of review leading up to testing.  We worked on gathering resources and putting together components for lessons. 
Also, I started cycle 4, working with Math and World languages this round.  I began 1:1 meetings, and am impressed and anxious to start working with some of these teachers.  World Languages teachers have new language labs, and they are seeking assistance on how to incorporate and utilize audio/video with the lab.  I feel as though new initiatives in math may be put on hold until after testing.  They are hyper focused on review right now, and there is little time to stray.  In the meantime, I'm working on a Math and Technology Tips presentation to roll out in PLC. 

Week of Mar. 5-7

I attended a district meeting last week, where we learned about a new initiative for STAAR Review.  No longer will teachers be able to push packets... hallelujah!!!  There will be an intensive 10 day push, broken into sections.  Day one will be an overview, with a dump of units learned and favorite activities and memories of the units covered.  Days three thru ten will be broken into three chunks, where they'll focus on the highest need for TEKS review.  So, essentially, they'll cover three TEKS, three days each,  that are lowest on the school's data for their content area.  I'm super excited about this, because the idea is for teachers to have interactive reviews, using resources from an Instructional Strategies Playlist... i.e. Fact or Fib, Link It Up, Quizalize, Tabletop Tweets.  I'm ready to assist the teachers with activity planning and execution, to help our students be successful this spring.  :)

Week of Feb. 26 - Mar. 2

Testing, testing, and yep... more testing.  Tis the season!  In spite of all the testing going on at LHJH, there is a lot of learning happening, too!!  It has been such a joy to work with ELA this cycle, and I truly enjoy going into their classrooms.  This week, 8th grade students were reading a passage, and they were annotating/finding main idea, etc. and submitting responses through Classroom.  Being able to use Nearpod for quick checks was helpful for this teacher, and gave students real time feedback and ideas for discussion.  
I'm super excited that our ELA department is embracing Quizalize, and has plans to use it with STAAR test review.  When I showed them how they can break down the data, they had their "aha" moment.  Good week. :)