Proud.

The year is winding down. It felt like the beginning of the year was flying by and then man the last 3 months felt like an eternity. 

This year was weird. It was an adventure. It was full of unknowns, new things, changing the way we look at education, the way we teach, the way the students learn. Some kids thrived. Some didn't. 

Personally, this school year was full of challenges. From learning how to teach 100% online, something that even I struggled with no matter how comfortable I am using technology. To trying to engage students and build relationships, again something that I put first in my teaching, but struggled with this year. To my personal health issues that began in January.

However, as I look back and there is one word that sticks out. Proud. 

I am proud of my students who overcame the challenges of learning from home, those who adapted to hybrid learning, those who were taking care of siblings or other children in the house while also trying to keep up their own education.

I am proud of my school and coworkers who came together to get through a challenging year. We shared resources and ideas to help us master virtual learning and then we making our school a fun and safe place to be once hybrid learning began.

But mostly I am proud of myself. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in January. Had surgery in February. Started chemotherapy in March. I started off with a positive mindset that I wanted to finish the year, but I also made sure to put my health first. I took off the days that I needed to take off, or days that I just didn't feel good. I fought to get my accommodations approved so that I could work from home. As much as I wanted to be in the school building, I knew that the safest place for me to be is at home.

I am proud of myself for putting ME first. I learned to say no. I learned to stand up for myself when I knew I couldn't handle something. I took a break from the "extra" stuff, like creating resources and blogging. I knew that I needed to focus on me and my students. 

I am proud of me for getting through this year. And I am proud of ALL the teachers out there that persevered through ALL of the challenges that this year threw at us. While I am excited to get back to normal next year, I think it is also important that we don't go back to the previous "normal". There are a lot of things that this year taught us about the education world and we as educators much make sure that we are ready to face even more challenges as we push forward.

I hope that you all are doing well!

Patience, Flexibility, Forgiveness, and Empathy

I wrote this blog post during the spring of 2020 as we first began our adventure with distance learning. I wanted to share it again because these four words are still so true during my virtual learning experience.

It is easy to want to jump back into the normal routine of school. Curriculum, assignments, attendance, grades, tests... the list can go on and on, but one thing we have to remember is that this is not normal. What we are dealing with while trying to virtually from home or the school building, or teaching in a hybrid format with some kids at home and others in the building is something that we have never been through before.

Yes, it is important that we continue to teach the curriculum and assess the students throughout the year to see what they are learning, we also have to do it with patience, flexibility, forgiveness, and empathy. We don't know what all these kids are having to deal with at home while they are also trying to complete school on the computer. I have had students tell me, I will be back I need to help my sister get logged into class or I will be back I need to get a bottle for my baby sister, or hold on I need to help my mom with something. These kids (especially my 5th graders) are now not able to just focus on school like they would in the building, oftentimes they are still taking care of things in their household WHILE going to school.

On the flipside of this, I am home trying to teach my classes, while my daughter attends kindergarten virtually on the computer. Honestly, she has done amazing, but then I also hear other parents sitting next to their kindergarteners helping them navigate this unknown world of virtual school and i feel guilty that I can't be there next to her. Luckily her teacher has these four words down, because there will be weeks where we will do all of her assignments on the weekend because at the end of the day when I can finally help her, she is exhausted and doesn't want to do anything school related. And you know what, what is ok with me.

While I have been preaching to have patience, flexibility, forgiveness, and empathy with our students, it is also SO important to have these four things for YOURSELF as well. 

Have patience with yourself, whether you are working and trying to help your kids with school or you are teacher trying to teach in a virtual or hybrid setting, please know that you have not done this before. It won't be perfect, but if you have patience it just may work out.

Have flexibility with yourself. Those dishes sitting in the sink after a long day will still be there the next day. The laundry that is piling up, it will get done eventually. Again, we are not living in normal times right now. The day-to-day things we were used to doing are going to look different right now.

Forgive yourself. Especially look at your moms. Mom guilt can feel so strongly right now. I already mentioned that I feel guilty I can't help my daughter more with her school, but you know what, her teacher knows our situation and completely understands. Some nights my kids don't have the best dinners or get a bath, but it's ok. They are happy and healthy and that is all that matters.

Lastly, have empathy for yourself. We are living in times that we would never have predicted a year ago. Celebrate the little things. Made it through the day? Cheers! Cooked dinner for the family? Success! Took a shower and got dressed in regular clothes? Pour another glass of wine! :-)

Patience. Flexibility. Forgiveness. Empathy.

We will make it!

Into the Unknown

As we enter 2021, we have made it almost halfway through the craziness of virtual kindergarten. In June I wrote a blog post about how I wasn't sure what kindergarten would look like for my then 5 year old.

We found out in August that she would be starting off 100% virtual. The school started kindergarten off with a gradual entry. The parents met with the teacher one day. Our daughter met with the teacher one day. Then they had a couple of days where they just had morning meetings. During the third week of school, they followed a full schedule.

The school created a schedule that they felt would work the best for these kinder babies. They have a morning meeting, phonics in one of three small groups (the other time is supposed to be independent time), math, a 2 hour break for lunch/recess, then small groups in the afternoon for science/social studies/health/reading. Lastly they have specials at the end of the day.

At first I loved this schedule. I thought it would be good for the kids to have extended breaks from the computer. However, as we have progressed through this year, I have discovered that these long breaks are HARD. Unfortunately, she has a break from 10:55am to 1:50pm because she is in the last group in the afternoon. I have two, hour-long classes that I teach during this break so it is hard for me to help her with independent work and she won't do it on their own.

Even with the struggle around the working independently, it has been AMAZING to watch this kid navigate this virtual learning like a pro. She absolutely loves being on the computer with her teacher. She loves to tell her "friends" on the Google Meet that they are her best friends, even though they haven't met. She has learned sight words, letter sounds, how to add/subtract, understand greater than and less than. She is starting to read. All of this has been accomplished while learning on a computer.

The things that these kids are accomplishing right now is nothing short of amazing. They are learning to navigate technology, programs, online assignments, etc. during a pandemic. All while dealing with who knows what at home. 

We continue to venture into the unknown as we begin 2021. Many counties are continuing virtual learning with no idea when or if we will return to the school building. Keeping positive thoughts. This may not always be easy, but these kids are resilient. 

Nearpod, Camp Engage Fall Notes

Over the summer I signed up for the Camp Engage event put on by Nearpod. At the time I wasn't sure which platform I was going to use for my interactive presentations and even throughout the school year I have gone back and forth some, but after attending the Camp Engage Fall event I am now sticking with Nearpod.

Nearpod has some great new updates:

• interactive videos (choose from videos already in the Nearpod library, find a video on YouTube or upload one from your computer); add in some questions and now your video has built in check points
• Microsoft Immersive Reader (ability to read and interact with raw text on the slides)
• partnerships (it seems there are new partners every day bringing even more engaging content to Nearpod); my new favorite is Calm, where you can build in some much needed mindfulness activities as we continue this journey of virtual learning

I knew about Immersive Reader as it is popping up in many technology tools now, but the session by Angie Bakke showed me all of the amazing things it can do!

• it reads raw text (this means it needs to be words typed on the slide)
• it highlights the words as it reads them
• you can change the pace of how it is read
• select only one line of text highlighted at a time
• select parts of speech (for example, you can choose for all adjectives to be labeled in blue)
• translate words into over 60 languages!

In Julie Cobb's session and Tiffanye McCoy-Thomas's session, I learned about some ways to take Nearpod to the next level in my instruction.

• start your lesson with some type of drawing slide (for example, draw a face of how you are feeling). This gives students something to do as you are waiting for others to join your lesson
• make the objective slide interactive (asks students to highlights important words that they are unfamiliar with). This can lead to a great discussion about academic vocabulary that may show up during the lesson
• if you have an website or some resource you want students to use while answering some of the interactive question types, add it with the directions at the top of the slide

One of the struggles that I have been having with Nearpod in my whole group sessions, is that some of my students are able to work on their own to complete the activity after the mini-lesson, while some students need to continue working together as a whole group. I wish there was an ability to seamlessly switch from instructor-paced to student-paced in the middle of the lesson. However, Phil Wagener shared a great work around for this in his session.

I created a new Nearpod lesson with the independent activity. I set it up as student-paced and then copied the link. I then created a Google Presentation slide with 2 options. Stay and work on the activity together with the teacher (this option requires the students to just stay where they are) or they can choose to work on the activity by themselves. If students want to choose this option then they click on the image, which takes them to the student-paced version. In my original Nearpod lesson that I used for my mini-lesson, I created a Web Content slide. The link I used goes directly to the Google Presentation slide that I just mentioned. This allows students to easily click on the Nearpod link without having to go back to Google Classroom or enter a new code, etc.

I love learning new things about the technology I already know and am using. I hope that Nearpod continues to grow and adapt to our ever-changing needs, as well as, continue to host these amazing, relevant, and FREE professional development opportunities for teachers.

If you want to check out one of my interactive Nearpod lessons click this link:

https://share.nearpod.com/Wq8O9460xbb 

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Instagram: @mrspotterstyle

Twitter: @apotter730

Virtual Announcement Studio

I have seen so many different ways that schools are sharing their daily announcements. I have seen live announcements (we are a school of 850+ students, so I don't think this would ever work for us), I have seen a pre-recorded video that is sent out weekly or daily. However, the art teacher at my school, Sara Levi and I sat down and brainstormed how to use the bitmoji classroom craze to create a announcement studio. She took the lead on this project, but I wanted to share it with everyone!

Here is a tour of the radio station:

• Microphone has a welcome note
• One speaker has the Pledge of Allegiance
• One speaker has the Weekly Announcements
• Calverton banner has the Calverton Pledge
• Calendar has the Daily Announcements
• The board on the right is going to be for spotlighting students or teachers doing great things
• The banner at the top will change for different events happening at our school, currently it has our Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations

We want to get our students involved, so we are going to ask some to record different parts of our announcements. We also talked about adding a birthday celebration section as well.

Teachers visit the radio announcement station each morning before class begins, just like if we were in the school building. This is a super easy way to spread the news each day.

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Instagram: @mrspotterstyle

Twitter: @apotter730

Primary Math Activities

As you all know by now, my daughter has an extremely long break during the day. She absolutely loves math and it is something that she can do on her own. So I decided to put my primary hat on and create some digital math activities that she can do on her own.

I have 5 activities created so far...

Counting Objects:

In this activity, there are two parts. Part 1, students count the amount of objects in the jar, then drag and drop the numbers on the side to the box. Part 2, there is a number in the box, and the students drag the objects into the jar to model that number.

More or Less:

In this activity, students drag the alligator so that his mouth is facing the jar that has more objects.

Adding with Ten Frames:

In this activity, there are two parts. Part 1, students drag and drop the numbers on the side to create the addition equation modeled with the red and yellow counters. Part 2, students are given an equation and they have to drag and drop the red and yellow counters to model the equation.

Counting by 2's:

This activity can be used two ways. Students can be view the activity in Present mode. They then click on the number that would come next when counting by 2's. This is self-correcting, so if they choose the wrong answer, it will take them to a page that says oops, try again. You will not be able to see what they click on, so this would be given as an independent math center task. There is also an option for students to drag the red circle to cover the correct number. In this format, they can turn it into the teacher to be scored.

Counting Using a Hundred Chart:

This activity allows students to practice counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's. They drag the circle to cover the number that would come next. They can then see a visual and practice counting aloud.

I had fun making these since I teach 5th grade. I definitely see more in my future! Stay tuned.

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Instagram: @mrspotterstyle

Twitter: @apotter730

Reflections after a Quarter of Distance Learning

Image Credit - Diply

This week we wrap up our first quarter of 100% virtual learning. My thoughts, this is HARD.

I understand that 100% virtual is probably the best thing given the circumstances, especially in the county where I teach. But I have never been more ready to go back to the building. 

Here are my thoughts... distance learning is working for those students who can connect to our live sessions every day and are able to complete their work on their own or with help from home. But what about those students who constantly are having issues connecting to my live session or can't access the technology that I am using for my lesson? What about those students who don't have anyone to help them at home if they need help on an assignment? What about those students who don't know how or are scared/nervous to ask for help? What about our ESOL students who are trying to navigate this weird schooling when they are still trying to learn the English language? What about our students with an IEP who need so many supports put in place to help them that are not always available in a virtual setting?

These questions are the things that go through my head every single day as I plan my lessons. These are the questions that keep me up at night some days. These are the questions that are making distance learning so hard.

I want to make sure that ALL of my students are learning in the best possible environment, but many of these questions are things that I do not have control over. I can't control a student's internet or device they are using. So when they are not able to join my live class and miss the lesson, I do the best I can by providing them the lesson with an audio recording, but these are 5th graders. We all know that for them to truly learn they need to be in class where they can see the modeling, questioning, and assignments being explained.

I noticed that some students were not completing assignments independently, so I started doing some assignments together as a class and offering small group office hours on Wednesdays for them to receive help on the assignments. But some of them still won't complete the assignments. I try to monitor what is on their screen so that I can help them if they are confused or need help, but I have 30 students per class. I can't see all of their screens at one time. I also know that I have students who need help, but won't ask me. I have offered 1:1 time, small group time, I'm available via email or private messages on Google Classroom, but there are some students who would just be doing better in the classroom setting where I can actually SEE what they are doing and if they need help.

Then we have our students who are learning a second language or have an IEP. Again, I am doing my best to make sure my lessons and activities are accommodating and fit their learning needs, but it is so hard to fit all of their needs in a virtual setting. Some of these students need to be able to physically hold the manipulatives in their hands to help them understand. They need to be able to physically hold the book they are reading. They need a break from looking at a screen all day to learn.

I know I am not alone in worrying about all of these things day in and day out. I know that these are the things that are making teachers lose sleep, have higher stress or anxiety, and making some even want to leave the profession. 

On top of all of these things we have the constant things being added to our teacher plates. We have to do grades and when someone doesn't show up or do their work we have to give them a zero. I don't like giving zeros when I know that the students are not learning in their best environment. We have to make lessons that try to answer all of these questions listed above and make sure to have a backup plan when the technology doesn't want to work. One day I was literally on Plan D. It was a mess. We have to give county-wide assessments to see student's progress. The idea of assessments right now just doesn't seem fair. Again, the assessment platform will work for some and not for others. This then causes some students to stress and worry when it doesn't work. Students who weren't able to attend all of the live sessions may struggle on the assessment because they missed instruction that more than likely wasn't their fault. 

I'm going to repeat. This is HARD. For all of those people who think, teachers are so lucky, they are working from home, they shouldn't be complaining. It isn't about us. It is about the students. We are tired, upset, frustrated because we know that this isn't working for ALL students and we care about ALL of our students.

I have learned a lot about myself as a teacher throughout this 1st quarter and I have things I want to try as we start quarter 2 this week. I have also learned that I can only control so much and while I will not give up, I have to let some things go. I have learned that mental health is important. I have started to have to put myself first sometimes, because if I am not taking care of myself, then my students will not receive the best me.

Please continue to have patience and show grace throughout this time. Most of us are truly trying our best.

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Instagram: @mrspotterstyle

Twitter: @apotter730

Technology Spotlight: Google Meet

I started off the year using Zoom, but when SO many of my students were having issues logging in, it would take up my entire class time just trying to trouble shoot.

We are a Google Edu county and made the switch to using my Google Meet link that is located within my Google Classroom. I knew that Google was going to be rolling out different updates throughout the fall to make our Google Meet experience better.

I wanted to share some tips and tricks that I have discovered to make using Google Meet easier for teachers.

Using Meet Through Google Classroom:

Turning the Google Meet link is simple. In the top right corner you will click on the Gear icon (settings menu). When that opens up, scroll down until you see the section titled Google Meet. If you have never used this feature you will need to generate a link the first time. Then you can toggle between  allowing the students to view the link or not viewing the link. I suggest that you only have the link viewable during your live class times because students are able to click on the link without a teacher being present.

Host Settings:

There are now host settings where you can control the meeting room. You can make it so that no one is allowed to share their screens. You can also turn off the chat feature for students.

The Quick Access option will make it so that anyone who is not invited to your Google Meet link will have to ask to join the meeting.

These settings can be found in the bottom left corner where the little blue shield with a lock icon is located.

Sharing Your Screen:

To share your screen you will click on Present Now and then you will have some options. I prefer to use share a Chrome tab. This makes it so that the tab is always presented and the students don't see if you switch to a different tab. It is super easy to switch to a new tab when using this option. When you click on a new tab you will see the option at the top of the screen to share this tab instead. You can also choose to share a window or share your entire screen. I will use the entire screen option if I am showing them how to access something on their Chromebook or if I know I will have to click on a link and a new tab will open.

Other Options:

In the bottom right corner are 3 dots, which we know with any Google product means there are more options. When you click on the 3 dots, the menu to the left opens up. This is where Google has been updating some of their features.

At the top you can see a Whiteboard option. This opens a Jamboard. You can choose from a blank Jam or you can open one from Google Drive that you have already created.

Change layout is another option that is important. As a teacher you will want to be able to see all of your students at one time, so you can choose the Tiled layout and then choose how many tiles you want to see at one time on the bottom. If you are attending a Google Meet meeting where someone is presenting you can change your view to the Sidebar. This puts the shared screen in a large format and then you can see some of the participant videos on the right side. (this is good to share with your students if they complain that the screen is too small).

Another new feature is the background blur. Participants and host can choose to turn on the background blur so that you can't see what is behind the person in the video. It does warn that this may cause the computer to run slower.

You can also see in the menu that you can choose to record a meeting, as well as, turn on captions. Always check the 3 dots menu to see if any new features have been added.

Chrome Extensions for Meet:

The Google Chrome store is a place where you can applications you can add to your Google Chrome to help with productivity, quickly access tools, etc. Before adding any extensions, I ALWAYS look at the reviews and star rating. People are always creating new extensions and some of them do not work or are not effective, so the ratings and reviews will allow you to see what other people think about them.

Before Google Meet added the tiled layout option where you can see more people in Google Meet, I had added the Google Meet Grid View (fix) extension. I still use it sometimes because it keeps the videos tiled in an organized manner and it also puts myself and my shared screen in the top right corner, which I like because I don't need to see a large area telling me that I am sharing my screen.

Google Meet Breakout rooms is another extension that I have added. It allows the host to create breakout rooms within Google Meet. I have only used this twice so far because most of the time when I am using a breakout room it is for another teacher to pull a small group, so I will just create a quick Google Meet link, drop it in the chat and then have both Google Meet sessions open.

My favorite extension so far is Google Meet Attendance. This extension tracks who enters the Google Meet, how long they stayed, if they left and come back. You can create a list of who you are expecting in the meeting and save it for each class so that you can easily see attendance at the end of the meeting. It also downloads a file at the end onto your computer that shows you a spreadsheet-like document with each participant and their attendance data for that session. This was created by a teacher who knows the importance of privacy, so this extension does not collect any data of the users.

There are always new extensions being added, so you can always check the chrome store regularly for any updates. I am also going to be writing a blog about my favorite Chrome extensions in the near future.

I am hopeful that Google will continue to make Google Meet better as we continue in this new territory of virtual classrooms.

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Instagram: @mrspotterstyle

Twitter: @apotter730

"I'm Done, Now What Do I Do?"

This question never goes away. 

Whether you are in the school building teaching or teaching virtually, the question, I'm done, now what do I do seems to get asked at least once per class period. When teaching in the school building, I always have bins or things set up for the students to do either independently or with a partner when they have finished their work.

Now that I am teaching virtually, I realized that I need to have something set up for the students to do when they have finished their work. Originally, I would tell them that they could just log off the live session and work on any assignments that they may need to complete in any of their classes. But now that our state is mandating the students be live with us for a certain amount of time, I wanted to give them a choice of things that they could do while still staying in the live session.

The first thing that they must do is check Google Classroom and make sure that there are no assignments that need to be completed. Because I only teach them math, I am only requiring they check their math assignments so that I am not getting questions asked about other content areas that I may not know the answers to. I am learning that many of the students are not finishing their assignments, or maybe they are finishing them, but just not turning them in on Google Classroom. So I thought if I give them some other things that they could look forward to when they have finished their work, then maybe it will motivate them to do their work or turn it in.

My county uses an intervention program called Dreambox. So that will always be one of their choices of things to do when they are done.

Math Blaster is a website with many online math games for different grade levels. I have it linked to the 5th grade activities. However, this is a box that I may change throughout the year. There may be times that I link to a specific math game. Here are some other math games online that students love to play:

• https://www.mathplayground.com/math-games.html
• https://www.mathgames.com/math-games.htm
• https://mrnussbaum.com/games/math-games
• https://www.coolmathgames.com/
• https://www.prodigygame.com/main-en/

Epic is an online platform full of books. While I will encourage them to read a math book every now and then, I also just enjoy promoting a love for reading. Check with your county, because many school districts purchase licenses for some type of online book platform. The local libraries often give access to their online resources for the public school students as well.

The two boxes on the right will be the boxes that I change throughout the school year depending on the topic we are currently learning about in the classroom. The KenKen puzzles is something we did in class during the first week of school, so I wanted to give the kids who like puzzles something to choose from. The place value riddles is an activity I used in my classroom when we were in the school building, so I just created a virtual version for students to complete. Below are some great websites to check out for math activities that could be used in the classroom:

• https://jenniferfindley.com/category/math/
• https://jillianstarrteaching.com/category/math/
• https://games4gains.com/pages/freebies
• https://teachingwithamountainview.com/category/math/

What types of activities are you using for your students to do virtually when they finish their assignments before others?

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Instagram: @mrspotterstyle

Twitter: @apotter730