Spooky Awesome 1st Grade Skills RIGHT HERE! Listen as three first graders share about their experience with Rebus stories, the mega tech skill of copy & paste, and being technology leaders. Special thanks to Eric Curts for the idea!
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GLOBAL READ ALOUD ROCKS! As promised, listen to both the teacher and student experience with the Global Read Aloud initiative taking place in our classrooms right now! It’s been an incredible way to connect with classes all around the country (and even outside of the USA) and discuss the awesome books we’re all reading.
Giving students opportunities to connect beyond their classroom walls can really change their learning experiences… for the better! These are the types of activities that our kids will remember forever! Listen as two students reflect on the importance of communication, collaboration, technology and an authentic audience.
Classity Class? Yessity Yes! The brain is designed to learn in a special way. Whole Brain Teaching is an approach that capitalizes on this and fuels student engagement. Listen as rockstar first grade teacher, Mrs. Joan Nelson, shares more about this classroom-changing philosophy!
Elementary students creating digital portfolios and resumes? You better believe it! Listen as 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th graders share about the designing of these incredible learning experiences. Portfolios are powerful tools to facilitate growth, reflection, and fun!
Want to know about the process of having students create the rubrics for their work? Listen as three fourth grade students share their experience, feelings and insight about taking ownership in generating their own assessment criteria and how it impacted their learning! You won’t want to miss it!
ALL students deserve a voice! Listen as Special Education teacher, Mrs. Dyer, shares some of the unique ways she gives students opportunities to shine and take ownership. From leading IEP meetings to self monitoring their own behavior in the classroom, you’ll be sure to add more ideas to your toolbox! Hover over the images below to get a "taste" of student voice in the unique ways shared by Mrs. Dyer on the podcast episode!
At DuJardin, 5th grade students script, film, and edit their own weekly video news announcements. These DJ Weekly News episodes, played Monday mornings for the entire school, have transformed our school culture. Listen to hear all about it from the kids and rockstar newscasters themselves!
View last year's episodes below!
Want to spice up instruction and give students more ownership? Listen to 5th Grader Teacher, Mrs. McGrane, as she shares about her experience in “revolutionizing" her math block with the Flipped Learning Model. Traditional Math Instruction NO MORE! She’ll address what it looks like, how to begin, parent reactions, student empowerment and more!
#FlippedLearning on Twitter
"It's too hard for my students." "I'm not sure they can handle it." Listen as Kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Amy Fonk, shares her insight on shifting from statements like these to "Yes, they can- and they will!" She has developed a "No Excuses" mindset that makes for powerful learning experiences beyond what most think primary students can do!
Go Slow to Go Fast! It’s the beginning of the year and building classroom community is more important than ever! Listen as incredible teacher, Lexy Beckwith, shares about Morning Meetings and Responsive Classroom to develop environments where kids are comfortable and excited to learn!
"Livin' on the Edge" is DuJardin School's theme this year. We are all about celebrating the unbelievable risk taking that the learners (both staff and students-- shout out to George Couros for that phrase) continuously exercise in order to grow and create incredible opportunities. More on this later...
Writing has always been comfortable for me. Blogging allows for re-reading your work and the ability to craft nicely written material. In other words, if I don't think something sounds great, I can change it- easily. However, podcasting makes me nervous. I don't always speak as eloquently (I use that term loosely) as I write. I mess up. I don't use rockin' vocabulary. I say UM... a lot. SO... instead of shying away from a new growth opportunity, I'm going to say "BRING IT ON!" It's time for me to do the same thing that the DJ staff and students are doing- stepping outside of the comfort zone! SO... WELP... here goes. This year's podcast is called "THE ROAR: LEARNING RUN WILD." Here's a little bit about it: Looking for new ideas to change the learning landscape in your classroom? We’re here for you! The Roar features different DuJardin Elementary Jaguars (students and staff members) who will be sharing their innovative and authentic learning experiences! A platform to share the UNREAL things that are taking place for the learners at DuJardin is exciting. We aim to inspire others and also want to learn and grow from our listeners too! I'm pumped (and apprehensive, of course) about this journey! Please join us, as we "live on the edge." As I thought about what the topic of my latest blog post would be, I keep bringing myself back to a blog post that I read this morning. George Couros is AMAZING- that's not new news. His blog post titled "Don't Add, Make Better" really resonated with me, my philosophy and my work. The meat of the post revolves around "tech" positions today in schools. With this in mind, I wanted to share his wisdom.
Here are my big takeways/stand out statements & thoughts:
Thanks, Mr. Couros. Once again, your words have become my anthem! Heyyyooo!
April = National Poetry Month! Want to incorporate some digital poetry opportunities for your students? Consider using some of these templates (maybe during independent work or even as a collaborative task)- Spring Magnetic Poetry Template Haiku Template Pi Poem Template Lots More Templates Questions? Just ask! Don't have time? Totally get it- save them in your Drive for another day, another month, another year :) Happy Poetry Creating (today, tomorrow or never), Jen PS- Thanks, Eric Curts, for the awesome resources and ideas! Not all teachers are ready, willing or able to just jump right into Genius Hour like models where the students are all working on projects that they've chosen and are passionate about. Naturally, student directed learning models are more simply implemented with students at the Intermediate, Middle Grade and High School levels. However, I'd like to share some of the ways our teachers incorporate student choice and passions into their daily lessons. Obviously the standards are our framework/blueprint- that's not going anywhere. But what really can take flight and change is the way we address these skills and content. It's about baby steps and trusting our students to step into the driver's seat. That's exactly what these teachers are doing- YES! Kindergarten Example: Students were learning about different kinds of geometric shapes. During our time together, students were shown how to add, resize, move and color these figures in a Google Drawing. Then, students had the complete freedom to create a scene/setting (totally tied into ELA standards as well- WOOT WOOT). One young boy obsessed with Harry Potter created his own picture from the movie. Another girl put together a representation of her visit to the zoo. They were not told how many or what shapes to use. The creativity from our little guys was incredible. Had we not given them the opportunity to sit in the driver's seat, not sure that we would have been able to see everything they brainstormed! First Grade Example: Students were in the early stages of working on fractions. After some basic instruction, students were given the autonomy to create their own kind of story problem involving fractions (with some teacher syntax help, of course). The eyes of our kids LIT UP when they were able to choose the topic of their story- everything from Pokemon Cards to pizza to puppies were popping up on their screens. They felt empowered to be the "teacher" and create the story problem. Once they finished writing the math story, they represented their fraction using virtual manipulatives, requiring a strong understanding of what the numerator and denominator stand for. THEN, they solved each other's math problems. What was the teacher's role here? To facilitate, to conference, to walk around and help struggling students. The students really were the ones driving this work. ROCK ON.
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Author(s)Jennifer Eggert Archives
August 2019
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