Leading From the Classroom

 I have a new Saturday morning ritual. I get up before the kids and make coffee and sit in the basement and grade portfolios. But it's actually fun. (unlike grading tests) I am only 2 weeks and 4 slides in BUT THIS IS SO FUN!  I was deeply inspired by Adele's (@mathinct678) Blog Post Here.   And as soon as I heard we were 1-1 I wanted to find a way to try this.... After each class (we meet twice a week virtually) students are responsible for creating 2 portfolio slides summarizing their learning. These are from a template that I share with them via Schoology (our LMS).  Schoology makes it so easy to assign a Google Slide Presentation. It automatically copies my template into their google drives AND shares with me. When I grade I can do it through my Schoology account and I don't have to wade through the unorganized swamp that "Shared with Me" can become. I can comment in the Schoology Gradebook or Insert comments directly into the Slide Show.  My first slid...

Well, I just wrapped up week one of virtual school. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't horrible. I tried some new things and some things went really well.  The BEST decision I made was to have a two week Unit 0 where we practice using the tech and the tools. This was so smart. Here are our learning goals for Unit 0 and my plan. (This is student facing...and coded and linked) I am SO glad I did this. Some things that I tried that went well.  Digital Four Fours (From Week of Inspirational Math )  We did this on the first day and I loved the chance students had to collaborate digitally.  Virtual Emoji Graphs (also from Week of Inspirational Math)  We explored these after watching the math is visual videos from YouCubed and Jo's Emoji Graph. We brainstormed some ideas for visual graphs like this with no numbers. I gave students the option to create one digitally OR on paper. Love the idea of a Google Doc for a quick digital brainstorm. The brainstorm is like my check...