Ditch That Textbook: Templates!

WEBSITE ↬ DTT: Templates

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

Matt Miller, of Ditch That Textbook, has a wonderful website packed with templates that are free and available to teachers everywhere. I love how he has them organized into groups to make it easier to find what you are looking for. The categories are:

• Social Media Templates
• Game Templates
• Interactive Activities
• Graphic Organizers
• Lesson Plan Templates
• Communication Templates
• Feedback Templates
• Exit Ticket Templates
• Back to School Templates
• End of Year Templates

HOW CAN TEACHERS USE THIS RESOURCE?

I can see teachers using DTT's Template Gallery to hep themselves in quite a few ways. Feedback & Exit Tickets are helpful in many classrooms. Having students provide each other feedback is helpful to learn and improve. The Back to School & End of Year Templates are a great way to help start and reflect on the school year. If you only check out one of the categories, be sure to hit up the game templates ... so many different games that you - AND your students - can customize and create using.

*** Interested in more resources like this? Every Monday, I share a newsletter with a collection of Tech You Can Do resources. Interested? Sign up here!  ***

DocStickers

WEBSITE ↬ DocStickers

AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ all content

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades

This resource is for all of us who have students turning in digital work. (Isn't that pretty much everyone at this point?) The creator is Stephanie Filardo (@i3algebra). Her brilliant idea provides "stickers" that you can put on your student's digital work! How awesome is that?!?!

Stephanie shares an entire Google folder with pre-made stickers; a video to get you started; and a video to help you make your own!

This is a perfect time to further your tech skills AND surprise your students with some awesome stickers!

#PodPeeks Innovator's Mindset - George Couros & Dr. Jody Carrington

YOUTUBE link ↬ Connecting with Kids & Teachers in Challenging Times - A Convo with Dr. Jody Carrington

PODCAST (ListenWise) link ↬ link to listen - (I listen via the podcast app on my phone)

AUDIENCE ↬ educators & administrators

CONTENT ↬ SEL, mental health, future of eduction, solid philosophy

GRADE LEVELS ↬ all grades 

I make no secret of the fact that I LOVE listening to podcasts. I listened to this one on my morning walk. I will admit, at first I wasn't super excited, but I thoroughly love listening to George Couros. Then as he & Dr. Jody Carrington got to talking, I became captivated. Dr. Carrington is a child psychologist and loves working with the "toughest" of our kids. (She's someone I think I'd love to have on speed-dial!)

Both George & Jody said so many wonderful things - PLEASE take the time to listen to this podcast or watch the YouTube video. If I could shout from the rooftops to listen to this, I would. Ours kids deserve it.

I won't spoil the episode for you, but there were a couple of things they said that really made an impact on me.

1 - Jody said she has this quote nearby - "Leaders must either invest a reasonable amount of time attending to the fears and feelings, or squander an unreasonable amount of time trying to manage ineffective and unproductive behaviors." ~ Brene Brown

*** Spend a minute unpacking that quote ... I've spent nearly ALL day contemplating it!

2 - All behavior has meaning. 

*** Yes! Yes, it does!

3 - George said, "School is about ensuring that every kid has the opportunity to be successful in a way that is meaningful to them." (He also noted that we often define what success is for others.)

*** Yes! Let's contemplate the purpose of school.

I now have 2 more books to go on my "Books" Wakelet ... "Kids These Days" & the soon to be released, "Teachers These Days". 

Goodness. Looks like I have a busy summer ahead! 

Grading Forms in Google Classroom

WEBSITE ↬ Grading Forms in Google Classroom
AUDIENCE ↬ teachers

CONTENT ↬ any/all

GRADE LEVELS ↬ any/all

As much as I love Google Forms, their typical use in Google Classroom is simply to be an assessment (or survey) tool, rather than a means to allow the back & forth between teacher & student. 

Last year I had a teacher embark on the ability to use Forms TO assess, but also give his students feedback. NOT an easy task! It took a bit for us to work through, and I received his permission to use our experience to share with others. The result is this: "Grading Forms in Classroom". 

I've had numerous requests for help with this process recently, as teachers have been embarking on different ways to teach & provide feedback to their students. There are very specific settings that require this to work ... BUT IT DOES!

If you get stuck - or have questions - feel free to reach out! I'd be happy to help.