LMS Tiger Times
February 2016
Congratulations!!! You Won THREE Jeans Passes!
What is the competition you ask...the first department, for each grade level, to have all teachers earn a piece of flair wins 3 jeans passes. Just so happens that 6th grade Math and Social Studies earned it at the same time. We are still looking for the 7th and 8th grade department. Will it be you?
What is flair you ask...check out the Tiger Teacher Training website here.
HUGE thank you to 6th Grade Teachers for their hard work with the mLISD rollout.
Christine's Corner
When we embark on a journey of improvement, questions will inevitably arise. In the area of blended learning, while defining the concept is a necessary first step, providing connections and real world examples can provide answers to practitioners in the midst of preparation for next week’s lesson! Project based learning weaves inquiry, collaboration, content, and research into student-lead learning experiences. Technology naturally integrates with PBL in multiple ways which include (but are not limited to) the following:
- Access to multiple sources
- Access to content
- Blogs
- Data collection and dissemination
- Online collaborative group chats regarding the planning, new learning, and application
- Access to various presentation platforms
Imagine the possibilities! The Quest/Pre-AP ELA classes’ presentation each spring of their World in Conflict Museum stands out as a highly successful model of PBL. I would love to share other examples of PBL on our campus, so please email me with your PBL stories!
Lesson Ideas for Google Maps for ALL Content Areas
Chris's Corner
Vocabulary instruction and review is an area of academic focus that spans across all content areas. As we near the spring testing season, teachers often ask for new ideas to help with targeting vocabulary as students are tempted to forget what they learned during the first semester and as new vocabulary is encountered as we address the remainder of the TEKS before June.
One of the most practical and immediately useful CIC sessions I attended was presented by two high school instructional coaches, Cammie Toomey and Stephanie Chisholm. A couple of the strategies were familiar, but many of the others, like a graffiti wall using the incredibly cool Realtime Board tool, were either completely new or had a fresh spin on a solid strategy. As proficient educators often do, I quickly stole their presentation and linked to it on my website. Here’s the direct link: https://docs.google.com/a/leanderisd.org/presentation/d/1dHsfKKbLSGrULazASJAapJAB4uLjwgolpGUvJb2VtfM/edit?usp=sharing
I plan to share at least one of these activities during my next round of department meeting visits, but there are many others that you can begin using today with little preparation. In addition to the presentation, there are also many more vocabulary resources listed here: https://sites.google.com/a/leanderisd.org/achgap/vocabulary . One thing to keep in mind, though, is that almost no strategy is as good as students using new vocabulary in frequent academic conversations, either verbally or in writing.
Helpful Resources
EduCafe website - district resources (curriculum, learning model, web tools, etc.)
EdTech Nut website - Kelly's personal website with resources and integration ideas
EdTech Nut Blog - Kelly's blog with tutorials and information on various digital tools
Which Websites are Blocked for Students?
- Copy the URL of the website in question
- Go to http://filter1.leanderisd.org:7080/swg/urlLookup.html
- Paste URL in URL field
- Keep selection as Default (this shows student view)
- Click Lookup