Keep Calm and Teach On....

WHAT AM I DOING TO HELP KIDS ACHIEVE?

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THEY ARE THERE?

WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE?

     Unless you are living under a rock, you may have noticed that most of the country is being rocked by horrible winter weather.  One snow day...I can see that...so far we have had a week off.  It creates havoc on everything.  Kids are off their schedule, testing is off, schedules are thrown out the window.  It makes for a tough time.  So what is the plan...

     First, stay calm.  Stick with the basics.  When we do get back into session, be flexible.  First, welcome the kids back. Second, develop clearly established goals aligned with curriculum standards.  Also, I know I will have to pick and choose.  Here is what I am going to try and choose...I cannot teach everything.  I am going to shoot for those big ideas that are conceptually rich.  Also, I am looking for activities that have assessments built in that may be performance and not necessarily pen and paper (they are getting enough of that).  Finally, keep going.

     In the past, "Blizzard Bags" have not been too successful.  They were put together and it was hard for parents to get kids to do it.  Here is one possible solution.  What would happen if we had built in "blended" learning from day 1 of the class, even when weather is nice?  Then, after six months of school, going to the blended learning part would be habit and not such a big deal.

     Finally...what about assessment?  Here is where I am at with that.  I was able to get permission to take well established tests (MOSART and LAWSON Scientific Reasoning) and put them in a secure google form.  Students can take the tests combined in one form on any number of devices.  I can get the information instantly and grade it with Flubaroo.  I then paste it into a similar looking google sheet.  The only difference it that each question is "coded".  As an example, question number one might be "Periodic Table".  You can click on the link and it goes to a site of that has inquiry activities on the periodic table.  I am getting closer...will keep you posted.