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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Learning to Say No... again.

This is another one of my previous blogs that I wanted to bring back. Little did I know when I wrote this in December 2019 just how much our lives would change the next year. I knew I had an issue with anxiety before, but after dealing with the extra stress that 2020 has brought on I knew I needed to get help.

At the beginning of this year, I was starting to be the yes girl again (see the previous blog post below), but I knew for my mental health that I needed to say no. Saying no to your principal is not always the easiest, but I explained what I was going through at home. I was working from home while trying to help my daughter navigate virtual kindergarten. It was a lot. I needed to say no to some things, so that I could put a focus on what was important. This didn't mean I couldn't help others out, I just had to be selective about what I could and couldn't do.

Flash forward a month and I felt like I was finally getting in the groove with virtual learning. I was planning ahead, I was staying on top of my grading, things seemed to be going well, but I still did not feel like myself. I felt exhausted. I noticed that my hair was thinning. I just felt off.

Side note - I am one of the worst at going to the doctor. I usually only go when I am sick, but I decided that it was time. I went in for a routine physical and when the doctor asked me to tell her what was going on I  broke down and started to cry. I had let everything build up inside of me and my body just couldn't hold it in any longer. After talking for awhile, we decided to try some medication and therapy. I have to admit I was a little nervous about medication. I always felt this stigma around anxiety medication, but my best friend who is a pharmacist and my doctor helped explain it to me. They both said, look the medication is just going to help your brain function the way it is supposed to. Mental health should be looked at as an illness and we often use medicine to treat illnesses.

I am happy to admit that I have been taking my medications for 3 weeks now, and I feel absolutely great. I feel normal again. There are still some days that are worse than others, but I feel like I can function. I'm not exhausted all the time. I'm not getting frustrated with my daughter or husband or even my students. I still have a ways to go and unfortunately the stress of the world is not going away any time soon, but it is a step in the right direction. I'm working on becoming the best version of myself again and if my body needs medication to get me there then that is what I am going to do.

Original Post (December 4, 2019):

I had to take a break from posting for a couple of weeks. Honestly, I’ve tried to start this blog post a couple of times now and just wasn’t sure if I should post it or not.

Life has been tough. Work is stressful. Coming home and trying to take care of kids and a house after work pushes me over the top some days.

Last year I was the yes girl. I was the person at work that people would come to if they had problems, needed to ask a question, wanted to talk, etc. I was the person that if you needed something I was going to be there for you or at least point you in the right direction. It gets exhausting. Who is my yes person? Who can I go to with my problems?

I decided that this year I was going to put the word no into my vocabulary. When the committees list came out at the beginning of the year... I signed up for one. When people had questions, I would point them to the right person rather than trying to solve everyone’s problems.

I realized that I was actually doing me at school. I haven’t been behind on my grading. I’ve been planning things a week at a time and not having to run to the copier every single morning.

Then I realized there was someone that needed my help. So I started being a problem solver again. I started saying yes more. To be honest, I didn’t like it. I wasn’t happy again.

Two weeks ago I drove to work (about 45 minutes) and didn’t even remember the drive. I pulled into the parking lot and literally didn’t know how I got there. I didn’t feel right. But I went inside and started my day. All morning I just didn’t feel right. I went through the day as I would any other day, but something was off.

Around lunchtime I looked at my watch and realized my problem. My resting heart rate was 85. That was pretty much the lowest it had been day. I knew right away my blood pressure was up. I probably should have gone to the nurse to have it checked, but I think I didn’t want to know.

I made it to the end of the day. I called my mom on the way home like I always do and just talked. I realized that I needed to take care of myself. I was letting anxiety and stress get the best of me.

I realized that it’s not selfish to say no. We have to start worrying about ourselves first. We have to take care of ourselves so that we can be the best version of us for our friends, family, coworkers, and in my case my students.

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Ambiguous Vowel Digital Activities

I've got another word work activity ready to go. These two activities practice the ambiguous vowel patterns. I enjoyed making the basketball theme on a previous activity, so these two follow the same setup, just using a soccer theme instead.

One activity focuses on the vowel patterns: aw, au, al, and ou. 

The other one focuses on the vowel patterns: oi, oy, oo, ou, and ow.

This set of activities have a soccer theme, where students will pick a soccer on the main slide. It will take them to a new slide with an image. Students must identify which vowel pattern the word in the image follows.

If the student gets the vowel pattern correct, they add 1 point to their score. Students will double-click on the scoreboard and change the number. Each correct answer is worth 1 point. Students can choose to play until someone gets to 5-8 points. There are 16 slides with images in each of the activities. The last slide contains an answer key in case the students are unsure of what an image is or what the spelling pattern is for a word.

Here are some sample images:

Get your free copy here:

Vowel Pattern Soccer Activity - oi, oy, oo, ou, ow

Vowel Pattern Soccer Activity - aw, au, al, ou

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Instagram: @mrspotterstyle

Twitter: @apotter730

Thankful.

This year has been weird. We are going through something that I never thought we would go through in our lifetime, but it has been a time to truly reflect and be thankful. I know some people may not feel this way, because this year has taken A LOT from us. People have lost loved ones, jobs, homes, and a daily life that we were used to.

For me, though, I've used this month to sit back and be thankful.

I am thankful for family. I am lucky that Covid has not affect my family personally. We have been able to have our parents come to visit at different times in a safe manner. We were able to have our family beach trip in August. In a year where many of our trips have been canceled, being able to safely spend time with family was such a blessing.

I am thankful that I have a job where I can safely work at home, while also helping my daughter attend kindergarten in a virtual setting. I am happy with the way my county has handled the idea of virtual learning and tried to prepare us teachers as best as they could for charting this unknown territory. I am also thankful for my husband's job. Working in a restaurant throughout this pandemic has not been easy for some, but his company really created a good path for them to navigate while making sure to take care of their people.

I am thankful for my kids, who have taught me a lot of patience this year. There have been many struggles while being stuck at home with them for the past 8 months. But we have learned to appreciate all of this extra time together.

I am thankful for friends, especially those who I can call up to talk at any time of the day. Not being able to visit and be with friends as often as we normally would has been hard. I enjoy being social, I enjoy being able to get together for happy hours, dinner, fire pits and this year it has been really tough to do that. So being able to pick up the phone and chat is always a great thing.

I truly hope that things start to turn around for the better. This year has been full of ups and downs. While some may find it hard to be thankful for anything, we must continue to look forward. Things will get better. Keep your head up. Stay safe. Wear a mask.

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Technology Spotlight: Jamboard

I really wanted to jump on the Jamboard bandwagon sooner, but I needed some time to see how it could truly fit into my virtual learning world. Oh how I wish I had started using it sooner.

My favorite thing to use it for is my small group sessions. I love that I can preassign them each a slide and then quickly scan back and forth between their frames to monitor what they are doing. Here are some examples so far:

Use the grid background to practice area model for multiplication:

Drag and drop the fractions on the train cars to match equivalent fractions.

Review adding fractions with the same denominator.

Review decimal place value.

As you can see, I've started off pretty simple/basic. I have seen some great templates already created out there!

Click here to see my presentation on the basics of Jamboard to learn more about it.

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Instagram: @mrspotterstyle

Twitter: @apotter730

My Social Butterfly Has Lost Her Wings - Revisited

I am continuing to look at blog posts from the previous year and this one really struck home. The original post is below, but so much has changed since then. We have ventured into the world of virtual kindergarten. My little social butterfly is struggling. She just wants to make friends in her class, but that is so hard to do when online for 20-30 minutes at a time.

Luckily, since this post I have allowed my kids to go back to daycare. My 5 year old gets to go once a week on Wednesdays, when school is just small group time. It is SO good for her mentally. She NEEDS to have socialization with other kids. I have been told numerous times that staying home with mommy is NOT fun.

While we have eased up on our social outings (ie. we visit the playground every now and then if it isn't too busy, she gets to go to the store with me every now and then), there are still a lot of things that she is knows she is missing out on. She wants to travel and do fun things, but it just isn't the time yet.

This post reminded me that we are still in the middle of pandemic, especially with cases slowly starting to rise again. We have to make sure we are checking in on our children. While we think this is all hard for us as adults, it is even harder for the kids. So yes, my little social butterfly is has gained part of her wings back, but she is nowhere near full flight like if she was in the school building. I hope for ALL of the kids sake we can get this virus under control and slowly get our kids lives back to normal.

Original Post - March 17, 2020

Last night was tough. I was trying to put my 5 year old to bed and she was fighting it like a champ. When she avoids bedtime she asks questions and lately these questions have been hard.

In the past week I’ve had to explain to her that our trip to Tennessee to visit family has to be postponed. She doesn’t get to go to daycare and see her friends. Gymnastics is canceled until further notice. We all have to stay at home even though daddy has to go to work which in her eyes is “not fair”. 

My little social butterfly is losing her wings because of a virus that is challenging to explain to a 5 year old. She understands that right now there are bad germs in the world and the safest place for us to be is in our house, but she’s a planner and she wants to know for how long. She thrives off of being able to play with her friends and go to gymnastics.

While everyone is worrying about missing school, online learning, parents becoming teachers... don’t forget to also check in on your child’s social and emotional well-being.

These are tough times. There’s a lot of uncertainty and that’s scary for a child. So while I encourage you to try and continue helping your child learn, also know that it’s ok to just focus on survival. 

This morning we made green pancakes for St. Patrick’s Day. We made it into an art lesson. What colors mixed together will make green? It was fun. We all need to find more of these little teachable moments that will help all of us get through the new norm for the next who knows how many weeks.

Remember, check in with your kids, family, and friends. We all have a lot going on and we need each other right now.

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