Word Walls and QR Codes!

If you are like me, sometimes you may struggle with making the word wall relevant or a tool that students use frequently. At the beginning of the year, I felt like my word wall was just there, taking up space. I wanted to spruce it up and I wanted  my students to actually pay attention to it! After all, I was spending a lot of time painstakingly writing the words on sentence strips, laminating, and cutting. Then, inspiration struck me! Why not add QR codes to my word wall? QR codes are the cute little barcodes you see on everything nowadays. You use a barcode scanner on your smart device and it will take you to a website or informational text. Students have technology at their finger tips but rarely know how to use it to discover information. I love it when I hear a student ask if they can look something up on their phone. I decided to take my word wall to the next level and guess what? Students love it and use it on a daily basis!

 

Here is a close-up of my laminated words and QR codes. Students are able to get up and scan the word.

The words at the top need to be redone. Those are my pitiful word wall words from the beginning of the year.

 

 

Of course, just like anything new you introduce to your students, you must teach procedures for how to interact with the word wall. I do not have the QR codes taking my students to websites, instead, I have it take them to a text document that has the definition provided. I am going to start putting QR codes on students' desks when they come in and it will provide them with a discussion question. I will post about this endeavor at a later time.

 

 

Also, if not all students have smart devices, don't fret! My students are in groups of 4 so usually, at least one student in the group has a smart device and can use it for the group. Also, if you have extra iPads, you could utilize those.

 

 

 

A look into my classroom...

I have been wanting to post this for a while but have struggled finding the time. I must admit, a part of me has been very nervous to show off my classroom for fear of having to pack it right back up and be transferred to another school. I have had a taste of heaven teaching at my current school and I do not want to jinx it. However, as the dust settles, I finally felt confident enough to finish unpacking (I know! Took me long enough) my trunk in December. There are quite a few boxes in my classroom that still need unpacking though, care to come help out?

There are quite a few things I want to show off from my classroom but alas, I have not taken pictures of everything (oops!).

The first area I would like to show off is the designated hall pass area right beside my door. These hall passes were featured in a previous entry. I am quite proud of these little guys. However, I often wonder if the appeal of these hall passes make students "need" to go to the bathroom more frequently. 

The next area is my whiteboard. Can I please just go on for a few minutes about how excited I am to have an actual white board? My last classroom featured ONE shower board as my "whiteboard" and half of it was covered by my Smart Board. In this classroom, not only do I have a separate Smart Board area, but I also have FOUR white boards. Shut the front door. I am in heaven. HEAVEN I tell you. So, I have an amazing area in which I can grid off 5 sections for my students. 

The five sections I have gridded off are: Bell Ringer, Agenda, Reminders, Learning Target, and an Essential Question. I prefer to call it a "driving question" in my classroom. The above 5 laminated labels are the ones I created for my amazing Language Arts teacher on my team. Anyway, the bell ringer is a little area in which students have a quick review question to get them situated and ready for class to begin. The agenda is were I feature what we are doing that day, homework, etc. Reminders is just what it says, reminding students of important details...such as this:

Finally, the Learning Target and Essential/Driving Question areas are my favorite. The learning target is where I feature the topics/information I want students to be able to learn by the time the lesson or unit is over. I write these in "I can" statements. The driving question is the main question I want students to be able to answer after we have completed the unit. 

I bought these cute little boxes at Target to hold my erasers and markers. I am very excited that this real whiteboard is magnetic. Like I said, the one I had before was shower board and it did not work! The cute mail trays in the back were featured in an earlier entry as well. I constructed those from USPS mail boxes, duct taper, Modge Podge, and scrapbook paper. 

Here is my "No Name" board which is featured in a previous entry as well.

I find myself surrounded by WVU fans and I must represent Marshall as much as possible. Needless to say, this year has been a great year to be a HERD fan ;) 

Well, that's my classroom thus far. Stay tuned for an entry on Word Walls & QR Codes and how a Laminator and Cricut can change your life forever.