Lots of stuff happening, and a lot has been coming together is some really nice ways. No major complaints this week. First up, second graders continued work on their story telling unit (Sharing Stories in Open Court Reading). I started a VoiceThread where I asked students to share lessons learned from the fairytale we watched [...]
The week went well in general. I’m feeling like I have the basics down in general, but…some of my lessons have been off and need adjustment. What worked Sixth Graders did work setting goals. They had already written goals the prior week. This time, I had them view Wil E Coyote, The Fast and the [...]
I love using VoiceThread with students. I find it easy to use, intuitive, and very flexible. It’s not for every situation, but what it does, letting you add photos or video, with narration or audio commentary, it does very well. I love to use it in particular ways, letting students pick pictures to add to [...]
VoiceThread has honored my students’ work by featuring one of our VoiceThreads in their new Digital Library. The library is a resource to find good examples of VoiceThreads, and to find out how they were made. As you can see in my example, VoiceThread – Digital Library – Third Graders on Friendship, entries tell you [...]
That about describes a lot of the administrative response (and my reaction to it) this year. First we were “failing” then, we were “met AYP goals”, then we didn’t. First we had money for computers, then we didn’t and now we do again. Strange as it may seem, the two are related. Funds were freed [...]
Howdy! I teach sixth grade at an elementary school in Sacramento, CA. I started my career in Oakland, Ca, and moved here to Sacramento in 2001.
My goals are:
To help me reach my goals, I use this blog as a place for me to reflect on best practices, and the practices I’m (trying to) putting in place in my classroom.
My philosophy of teaching is pragmatic (I’ll use what works, and I’m not particularly wed to one theory or another). I want students thinking critically, and engaged in what they are learning (Constructivism), but I know that many of my students (language learners and others) need schema, scaffolding, and explicit modeling, so I’m not afraid to use those as well.
My philosophy of technology education is that teaching comes first, but technology is an awesome tool to use to engage students, and help them create stuff. I prefer that the learning goal guide the use of technology, and not the other way around.
That’s the big picture. Other salient details are that I can be sharp, but I prefer to see the positive and connect with others rather than fighting and argufying. I can be hard on others (having high expectations), but no harder than I am on myself.
I can be contacted here.
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