Back to School 2014 - Pictures of my new space!

As I write this, I am one week away from the teachers' back to school week and two weeks away from the first day of school.  I spent the better part of today in my classroom removing a gazillion staples from the walls and putting up a few decorations.  Now that the room is pretty much under control, I can get my head wrapped around the unit/project/lesson planning!

I LOVE this "wordle."  I found this on Pinterest and added my own spin to it by printing the words out onto American Girl scrapbooking papers (11x11", cut down to 8 1/2x11" to fit in my printer).  I then cut them out, and mounted them on various colors of construction paper borders.  The original idea/blog post was found here.  There is a link included to a Google Docs page with the words ready to print!  

Since this is a new classroom and a new grade level for me, I need to go through the bookshelves to see what I have in my classroom library.  I set up a Goodreads account with my school email address (so it's a separate database from my personal reading list).  Tomorrow I will spend some time scanning each of the titles in my library to Goodreads and placing them on a new virtual shelf titled, "5th Grade Classroom Library."  This way, I will have a place to go to see the full database of books already belonging to my classroom!  Too bad Goodreads doesn't have a way for me to use their site to check books out to students.  Maybe someday?!

Genius Hour?

This summer while learning how to use Twitter for professional development, I happened upon the term genius hour.  I found it when following links related to project based learning and design thinking.  

Even if you teach in a traditional setting, it only takes one teacher with one innovative idea to make a tremendous difference in the lives of your students.  By reading this today and following these links, YOU could be the one to start something wonderful in your classroom or school this year.

The more I read about genius hour, the more interested I become.  

I'm not sure how this looks in practice, but I'm sure the links below can shed more light on the subject.  

What if, for one period per week, your students were allowed to create a project based on their individual passions?  

I posed the question to my son, who will be starting middle school this year.  I asked him what he would want to learn more about.  Connor replied as I predicted with "pugs."  For quite some time now, Connor has been in love with pug dogs.  Well, what about them?  "Everything!" he replied. He wants to pull together his favorite pug photos, resources about their care and training, and where to find one locally.  This led to a conversation about the varied projects he could create around his topic.  Academic skills could include reading, research, critical thinking, validity and credibility of sources, writing (grammar and usage), presentation skills, tech skills related to the format of the presentation or project method he chooses to share his learning, and so much more. 

My son immediately began creating a PowerPoint presentation featuring his favorite pictures of pugs.  His audience is himself.  It's July, he's not in school yet, and he took it upon himself to do this. Just the mention of creating something based on his passion inspired him to get started right away.  

If this is presented in the classroom, think of how students will react to being encouraged to pursue their passions within the school day.  

Follow some of these links below to learn so much more from educators who have already implemented this plan in their schools.  

http://www.geniushour.com/

http://cybraryman.com/geniushour.html

http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=829279

http://ajjuliani.com/the-research-behind-20-time/

Genius Hour Newsletter Link:

  https://stemgeniushour.bloomfire.com/posts/832288-genius-hour-newsletter/public

Compassion Based Learning: 

 http://compassionbasedlearning.blogspot.com/2014/06/are-you-part-of-this-if-so-help.html

Mr. Solarz Genius Site:

  http://psolarz.weebly.com/2013-2014-passion-projects.html

More Solarz Passion:

  http://psolarz.weebly.com/passion-time.html

More Solarz Passion - Getting Started:

  http://psolarz.weebly.com/mr-solarz-eportfolio/creating-passion-projects-genius-hour

Wonder Wall: 

 http://www.geniushour.com/2013/10/06/a-constructivist-take-on-genius-hour-using-wonder-wall/

I Love Edmodo!

I don't remember when or how I first discovered www.edmodo.com, but I love it and want every teacher to know about it. 

In the past, I found it to be most beneficial for collaboration with faculty and staff at the school level.  I don't know about you, but when people send me emails during the school day, I don't typically have time to give them my full attention, and they get buried.  I probably need to spend time figuring out how to flag them or color code them for better efficiency.  So, instead of sharing great ideas, blogs, websites, and projects with my co-workers via email, I started up a group for my faculty and staff.  I posted the links in our group, lobbied with administration to use the group more often, and I organized the shared links in the library in categorized file folders to make the group user-friendly.

This system made me feel so much more organized.  Our staff now has the ability to document the completion of certain school-wide requirements in the files, in addition to collaborating within the group setting.

Being a teacher in a private school, collaboration opportunities with other teachers in my grade level were extremely limited.  Our Diocese did catch on to the Edmodo opportunity for collaboration, yet participation was limited.  Hopefully over time, more teachers will see the positive benefits of group collaboration.  

This summer I am learning more about the apps offered within Edmodo.  I stumbled upon them just by clicking various buttons on the tool bars within my groups.  I started using Twitter for professional development, and stumbled upon a tweet inviting users to apply to become an Edmodo Ambassador. https://blog.edmodo.com/2014/06/30/calling-all-aspiring-edmodo-ambassadors/comment-page-1/#comment-184972 Because I wanted to learn as much as possible about how I can best use all the features, I signed up right away.  I was put into an 8-module webinar series, and I HIGHLY recommend every teacher who wants to be more aware of the options to follow the link and get started!

The look and feel of the group section of Edmodo is very similar to Facebook.  When using the groups with students, however, there are some key differences:
*Parents can see all direct one-on-one communications between teacher and student.  Parents can also see grades and assignments, plus the status of assignments that are turned in or still outstanding.
*Students cannot send direct private messages to each other.
*Groups are closed, which means they are not open to the public.  The audience is limited to the teacher, classmates, and administration.  I personally like this for my fifth graders, as they are learning how to positively interact in digital situations.

These are great safety features, and any teacher using the groups for classroom assignments and collaboration will certainly want to add digital citizenship lessons at the start of using Edmodo or any other blog space, and ongoing as needed.  There are moderation features available.  This means that new students or students who might have made unfortunate choices in their collaboration can be moderated, and posts will not be published until the teacher approves them.  

I am looking forward to creating quizzes and assignments within my student groups. I can create small groups within my classes for language arts and social studies projects and discussions.  

If you are a veteran Edmodo user, I would love to hear from you with project ideas!

Coding Classes - A Couple of Free Options

My boys, like many teens and pre-teens, are interested in video games, computer games, and robotics.  Summer camps that address these interests tend to be more expensive than my budget allows, so this summer I have discovered several options for learning coding at home.  None of my friends have ever mentioned the word "coding" in "What to do with the kids this summer" conversations, yet I know they are always looking for new ideas.

The easiest place to start is www.code.org.  

Create a free account and take classes on a variety of topics:

Tutorials for Beginners
-Write Your First Computer Program
-Create a Holiday Card with "Scratch"
-Build Your Own Game (Tynker)
-Lightbot
-AppInventor Hour of Code

Tutorials That Teach JavaScript
-An Introduction to JavaScript (KhanAcademy)
-Codecademy
-Learn to Code with Karel the Dog
-Build a Game with JavaScript (Code Avengers)
-Code Combat

"Unplugged" Computer Science for people who don't have a device handy.  


I found a great option for teachers through www.Edmodo.com.  As a teacher, I was able to download the free "Coding Made Easy" app from LearnStreet. 

 I assigned the apps (which include Python, Ruby, and JavaScript) to the class or "group" I set up.  For summer "at home camp" purposes, I invited some of my friends to create student accounts for their children.  I invited those children along with my own to join our class so they could access the courses.  After the students complete the courses, there are dozens of projects they can create from Minesweeper to Sudoku games!

Check out these links for more options, and please add any you know about in the comments section below!  
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/coding-apps-and-websites

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/7-apps-teaching-children-coding-anna-adam

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/hopscotch-programming-designed/id617098629?mt=8

http://readwrite.com/2013/04/19/how-to-raise-the-next-zuck-6-coding-apps-for-kids#awesm=~oILDugO83dFmHK

http://www.graphite.org/blog/12-best-apps-and-websites-for-learning-programming-and-coding