I am a 5th Grade ELA teacher. I am completing my 21st year of teaching. One might think that those years of experience would have me comfortable or possibly even complacent. That is not the case for me EVER. I am always a learner.
As the world is in a national crisis, I need to find ways to engage my students differently. We have just completed 7 weeks of distance learning that we never anticipated nor were prepared for. My days are LONG and full. I need to find the key to activating the brains of 5th graders when they aren’t physically in front of me. I want to help them see the sense and relevancy of what we are continuing to do. I want to spark THEIR curiosity. I love that this distance learning setting gives my students (and me) the opportunity to embrace trial and error. It also gives all of us time to practice reflection.
When May hits, our school will be doing the majority of our teaching from Google Classroom. The last time I actually had a class in Google Classroom was 2015....Yep. I used to do it and then I quit doing it. I have been working hard this week to learn all that I can about the best ways to videotape my lessons and create activities for Google Classroom. I have some super fun ideas in mind....Now I just need to use the time this weekend to put it all into place while at the same time completely packing up my classroom and moving it's entire contents to the library. These are the times when I am super thankful to be in the town where I live and to have the help of my family.
Here is my challenge to you this weekend:
-Do something to make your heart happy.
-Learn something new.
-Spend time reflecting.
And just for fun you are welcome to enjoy this wordless story that I shared with my students this week as we learned about inferences:
#headupheartout
