Managing Electronic Late Work

Figuring out your system for organizing online paperwork can sometimes take a little trial and error. This week, I had two teachers share how they keep their sanity with electronic late work, and when they showed me, I had one of those "Huh. Why didn't I think of that?" moments. Maybe you already have your method perfected. Maybe you did think of this. But just in case you didn't, I give you...the Electronic Late Work Form!

Overall, the teachers utilize the same process. There is a stack of little forms by the class turn-in tray. When a student turns in an assignment electronically, he/she also picks up one of the forms, takes two seconds to fill it out, and turns it into the tray. The form then serves dual purposes. First, it not only informs the teacher that the assignment was turned in, but also tells the teacher where it was turned in, which is probably the more important of the two. (Knowing it was turned in doesn't speed things up a whole lot if the assignment is aimlessly wandering the halls of Google High School.) Second, the form becomes a receipt for the student; after the teacher grades the assignment, she writes the "graded date" on the form before returning it to the student.

Here are both versions of the form that teachers said I could share with you. Version A is only available as a Word document because Google goofed up the formating. Version B is a little more elaborate and available as a Google Doc.

If you have another method to manage the digital madness, I'd love to hear about it. Please email me or leave a note in the comments.

Starting the New Semester...

It feels so strange to me that today officially marks the end of first semester and that we will all be off and running with second semester starting Monday. This new calendar is messing with my semester transition schema! As you look ahead to Monday and the start of the new semester, here are a few transition pieces for your perusal.


In 5 Tips for a Successful Second Semester, a teacher reflects upon a challenge he received after completing his first year of teaching: "How do you plan to improve next semester?" He shares five tips that helped him respond to that challenge.

Looking for a new way to set or review classroom expectations? Hang poster paper on the walls, each with a question important to how the classroom functions. (Examples: What does _____ look like? What rules help a classroom function more effectively?) At the start of the semester, arm students with sticky notes and have them add their responses to the poster paper. (This activity could easily be tweaked to fit other pieces throughout the semester, too! And, adding movement to the class period can positively impact student engagement and learning.)

In 7 Mid-School Year Reminders on Finishing Strong, an administrator shares (you guessed it!) seven helpful reminders for getting the second semester off to a better start and finishing the year well.

A Winter's Tale at Augustana University

Looking to add a little bit of literature to your life? (Beyond the classroom, that is...)

Augustana's Mikkelson Library is hosting an evening of readings and music, hosted by one of my favorite professors, Dr. Sandra Looney. See the details below.

"Dr. Sandra Looney '62, professor of English at Augustana, is the mistress of ceremonies for this program of literature and music. The event's readers are Carrie Aaron, Jill McManus, Ron Parsons, Charles Holmes, Margaret Novak and Kyle Rogers.

Music for the afternoon will be provided by Craig Spencer and Gary Pederson.

A reception will follow the event.

Tickets are $15 and are available at the door.

Contact the Library for more information: 605.274.4921."

Buffalo Buffalo?

Need a little humor as you wrap up review and head into semester test? Have your kids try to explain how and why this sentence is grammatically correct.

"Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo."

Not sure of the answer? Check out the explanation here.

B&N "My Favorite Teacher" Contest

The Barnes and Noble "My Favorite Teacher" Contest is an opportunity for middle and high school students to give their favorite teacher a shout-out. Using a maximum of 500 words, students can choose to submit an original essay, poem, or thank-you letter.


Need a reason to entice your students to enter?

The national student winner will receive a $500 B&N gift card and a Nook.


Need a reason to encourage your students to enter? 

Five teachers will "win" on the regional levels, and each of them will receive a $500 B&N gift card. The national teacher winner will receive $5000 (!!!) and his/her school will receive $5000, as well.


Deadline: March 1, 2016

Paired Texts from ReadWorks

ReadWorks is a non-profit online reading comprehension tool, and it is FREE for educators to create an account and access ALL of their materials. (How often is the entire access free?! Woo-hoo!)

One of the newer features of ReadWorks is the expansion of their paired texts sets, which now includes a number of passages that are deemed 9-10 reading level or 11-12 reading level (according to their Lexile scores). Within the paired texts sets, teachers have FREE access to literary texts, non-fiction texts (some of which are primary sources), artwork, and question sets; all of the pieces are available for print or as a PDF download, which could then be shared with students via an online classroom (such as Google Classroom or Edmodo).

The question sets appear to follow this format:

• a few questions pertaining to text #1
• a few questions pertaining to text #2
• a few questions requiring the synthesizing of information from both texts

The purpose of the questions appears to focus on student ability to state an answer and support it with evidence from one or both texts. The questions could easily be used as is, but they would be enhanced by adding a few questions that look at other aspects of the Informational Text standards or research skills.

To view all of the passages available in the paired texts sets, click here. Filter the list keyword, grade, Lexile, topic, text type, or skill.

Chunk-Challenge-Chew-Chat-Check

You may be familiar with the concept of chunk-and-chew, where you break the content into chunks and allow the students time to chew (ie. process) the information.

It is time to take the chunking and chewing to the next level.

ASCD posted a Road Tested article​ that takes the concept further by adding a challenge, a chance to chat, and a quick check (formative assessment!). By expanding the traditional chunk-and-chew, teachers can walk away with a better understanding of the student learning going on (or not going on) in the classroom, and students can become more involved and engaged in the learning process. That's a win-win!

SMART Equity Sticks

Sticks.

No, not those Styx. These sticks.

Every time I talk with someone about discussion or cold-call strategies, the sticks inevitably make an appearance. Whether you put numbers or student names on the sticks, there is something wonderful about their simplicity. While they are not perfect (is there a tool that is?), there are a number of strengths hidden in their grain. The top two for me are that they add more equity to the questioning process and work to raise student engagement by raising their level of concern, both due to the randomization of the process.

While I am personally a fan of the tangible Popsicle stick version, there are also some digital versions worth exploring, and until this week, I wasn't aware of one that has been right at our fingertips. SMART Notebook has the ability to randomly select a student name from your roster! There are only a few steps to set this up, and my awesome colleague created this tutorial to help us get started. Thanks, Chris!

Teacher Loan Forgiveness

Did you pay big bucks so that you could teach? If you are looking to get rid of some of the debt that came along with that degree, here are two pieces for you to consider.

1. Horace Mann is offering a workshop on Tuesday, January 12, to help teachers determine if they qualify for student loan forgiveness or repayment programs and get started on the next steps. Interested? Join them at Washington High School at 7 pm in A106. Bonus: You can earn 1 CECH toward re-certification. Please RSVP to betty.erickson@sdea.org if you plan to attend. (They need a headcount so they can plan dessert accordingly.) UPDATE: Non-SFEA members are welcome to attend; there is, however, a $20 fee for non-members.

2. If you would prefer to look at your options independently, the Federal Student Aid website provides some helpful information. There are two types of loan forgiveness programs for teachers you can explore. If you have a Direct Subsidized Loan, Direct Unsubsidized Loan, Subsidized Federal Stafford Loan, or Unsubsidized Federal Stafford Loan, you should look into the Teacher Loan Forgiveness program. If you have a Federal Perkins Loan, you should look into the Teacher Cancellation program.