Learning in Progress

As a follow up to the Power Lunch we had on Friday, and for the teachers who couldn't be present, I sent out an explanation of some of the things we covered in the session. Twitter for Educators—Power Lunch—Resource Roundup In case you missed our Power Lunch on Friday (or maybe you were here, and just need the links), here’s the run down of what you need to get started. Twitter for Educators —infographic on Piktochart can be found [ here ].   Get all the basics here, including important vocabulary, chats, and tools that you can use to manage tweeting . Teacher Training Videos —by Russell Stannard is fantastic (follow him [ here ]).   Find the videos [ here ].   The videos will auto play straight through, but if you want to review different topics, you can do that by clicking on specific topic on the left side of the screen.   This is the perfect way to learn about Twitter if you’re an audio & visual learner.    For the most part each video is under 3 minutes

Shortened URL to this page:  http://goo.gl/j1eTj3 This is something I put together for a Power Lunch session for teachers in my building .  Sessions last about 15 minutes, which is really only long enough to talk to them about the benefits of Twitter - the handouts and resources here, will help them get started later, when there's a little more time. If links aren't working, you can find the information at Piktochart, [ here ]

Center Inspiration After much debate at the end of last school year, I was able to get 10 extra minutes added on to each of my classes for this year boosting class library time from 35 minutes a week to 45 minutes a week for my fixed schedule.  For me, 35 minutes a week, just wasn't enough to pack in all the awesomeness I wanted to achieve.  It seemed like we would just be getting started into something great when it was time to go. I was thrilled to know that this year I was going to have the extra time to work with my classes on research skills and technology projects while working in more time to allow them to browse the shelves and look at books.  That being said, truth be told, I was completely freaked out about what to do with my kindergartners for 45 minutes. Did I mention in my former life, I was a high school English teacher?  Four years ago, my first two weeks in an elementary library were a complete culture shock to me. I was used to walking into a room and just say

These were the tips I shared with my faculty today. Links are in brackets. A Few Classroom Management Tricks and Tools t’s that time of the year when the barometer is dropping, the moon is full ( ok it’s not, but it feels like it ) and of course we just had our first snow—in November!   It’s the perfect storm for the kids to be a little more “enthusiastic” ( and by enthusiastic we all know I mean wound up ).   This might be the perfect time to revisit procedures or introduce some new   things that will get your students’ attention and help them manage their own enthusiasm. First, check out Angela Watson’s post “ How to Get Students to Follow Directions The First Time ”, on the Cornerstone by clicking [ here ]. In the post, Watson suggests, 9 ways to get your students to stop and listen to directions.   Some of my favorites are “the 3 before me rule” and the “magic word”,   which I would likely make sloth or even better the phrase “Goonies Never Say Die” as in: “Goonies Never