Smart Devices and the Past...

I decided I wanted to do something fun and new with my 6th graders this year when teaching about President Nixon. I found myself wondering what life would have been like for historical figures if they were to have cell phones and smart devices during his or her life time. Would their impact have been greater? Would they have been able to accomplish more? I searched the internet for a cell phone template that I wanted to use but could not find one that included everything I wanted to do. I decided to make the template for my students to use next week.

This week, I am beginning my unit on Nixon's foreign policy and geopolitics. I know, this doesn't sound interesting but trust me, it will be. Life is too short to not enjoy what I teach so it will be fun for the students and informative. Students already have some background knowledge of Nixon due to learning about the Vietnam War. However, this week, we will dig deeper into his foreign policy and his unfortunate scandal.

The plan is to teach the background knowledge and when students are finished learning about Nixon, they will design Nixon's smart phone. I plan to use the smart device template as a form of assessment in order to see what the students learned about Nixon. The template I created includes space for 9 apps, contacts, text messages, and a call log featuring missed, received, and sent phone calls. I am hoping this goes over well and can be used for other historical figures. The other template assignment I created last year, the Instagram template, worked very well and the students thoroughly enjoyed it.

If you'd like to check out the Smart Device template, you can do it by clicking here!

I have not yet taught this but I think it is going to go well and I am excited! I will report back after next week to see how it goes.

If you haven't checked out my Teachers Pay Teachers website, be sure to check it out. I am having a 10% off sale between now and Friday!

QR Codes and Word Walls 2.0

I have been sharing this strategy and learning tool at various workshops and I have been asked to provide people with step by step instructions of how I created the QR codes for my Word Wall. I decided to write a blog post. While this may seem familiar to my previous blog post (see here), I added a step by step tutorial of how I constructed my words for my word wall.


Step One:
Construct a list of your vocabulary words & definitions needed for your lesson or unit. I prefer to do mine by unit but it is your preference.

Step Two:
Find a free QR code generator on the internet.
I prefer to use: QR Code Generator because the QR code pops up right on the screen and I can then copy & paste the image without having to download it and/or save it. You can type a definition or you can have the QR code lead students directly to a website.

Step Three:
I open a Word document and type up my words. Then I go to the QR code generator and do one word at a time. For the example below, I am defining the key term "iron curtain." I will then copy the QR code image and paste it into my Word Document. The reason I do this is to stay organized. All the QR codes begin to look a like and if you print them without labeling them, it will take extra time to sort them later!

Here is a screen shot of what I do with the QR codes once I make them. I copy and paste each image and type the word beside it. Like I said above, this helps with the organization factor and it helps me to save paper because I shrink down the size of the QR code to make them small enough to fit on my sentence strips.

Step Four:
Print all of your QR codes off. Depending on the number of the words and the size of your QR code images, this should only take 1-2 sheets of paper.

Step Five:

Write your words on sentence strips, construction paper, cardstock, etc.

Step Six:

Cut out your QR code images (be careful to not cut into the actual encrypted part or else it won't scan) and glue them beside your words on the sentence strip.

 Step Seven:

 Cut your sentence strips. I am OCD and I plan to use these for a while so I try to make them as nice and neat as possible. I prefer to laminate mine when finished as well so they can be used again next year. I just hot glue them to my concrete wall at school and voila! Word Wall is complete!

Feel free to comment with any questions or suggestions. In the next few days, I hope to have some vocab activities I do with my students using QR codes so stay tuned!

Differentiated Instruction with WWII

Wow, we have been hit with this "polar vortex" and it has made teaching very sporadic lately. I struggled trying to get my WWII unit finished. I struggled with whether or not to keep my final project, the choice board but I decided to go out on a limb and keep it. I AM SOOO HAPPY THAT I DID! I must admit, I was almost guilty of doing quantity instead of quality. I was so worried about whether or not I was going to be able to fit in all my curriculum this year, that I was almost ready to cut corners. I am so grateful that I stuck with my gut and decided to allow the students an opportunity to really shine with this final assessment. My students did not disappoint!

At the conclusion of my WWII unit, I presented students with a choice board that held 9 project options. I wanted to give students enough wiggle room but structure at the same time. This was the first time I had introduced a choice board of this size. My students really loved this project. I was amazed at how different each project looked. It is truly amazing what students can do when we step back and just let them learn and discover on his/her own!

I have included some photographs of students' work below:

May I re-do this, please?

As a teacher, I think it is crucial to reflect upon your lessons, teaching styles, and performances daily. I expect nothing less from my students. I expect my students to reflect upon their attitudes, work habits, and skills daily. I want my students to be reflective learners. I try to instill in my students a sense of ownership when they create a project or complete an assignment. I feel that if they take ownership of something they have created, they will put more time and pride into it. I am a sucker for letting students re-do assignments. Some educators look at me like I am crazy but hear me out before you arrive at that conclusion. Do I not get a chance to re-do something if it is less than stellar first period? Do I not have a chance to fix it by 5th period? Do I not have my off days? Why would a student be any different? Now, I am not saying students should make a habit of rushing through assignments and then expecting a re-do. I am saying that when a student does poorly or completely misses the mark but WANTS to re-do it and improve the assignment, why not give them that shot? I feel that my job is ensuring students master a specific skill or concept. If I have to allow students to work hard to improve their skills and then re-do the assignment, what is it really hurting? I take it as a teachable moment. I think it is a time to show students that when you make mistakes, you can get back up on the horse and try again. Still differ in opinion? Well, that's okay but you can feel free to check out my template and info below :)

I have decided this year that I am going to allow students to REQUEST permission for a re-do. Do I have to always grant it? No. The point is for students to reflect upon their work habits in and out of the classroom when completing assignments, studying, or working on projects. I will allow the students to the opportunity to complete the form below and then they will have to reflect upon the various activities they have used to improve the skill or concept previously tested or assigned. I will read their request and I will either grant or deny the student the opportunity for a re-do based upon what they have reflected and how honestly they have reflected about their previous performance. If I do grant them the opportunity to re-do an assignment or re-test a skill/concept, I will not use the same form of assessment. See? There's the rub. Yes, it is very easy to re-do an assignment if you just have to fix a few facts, numbers, and/or grammar mistakes. Instead, I will assign the student some other form of assessment. Will it be more work for me? Maybe in the beginning but isn't differentiating instruction and assessments what we are suppose to be doing in the first place? Yeah, I thought so. 

Feel free to download and use my templates by clicking on the images above or visiting my TPT Store :)
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