Just two months ago, I blogged about developing a list of changes for the next school year. It's hard to believe that "next year" is almost here!
I report back to school for in service in just 11 days! I have added a few things to my list over the summer including having students be guest bloggers on my classroom blog and that students who sign up for retakes must come in for a help session or show evidence of extra practice before they retake an assessment. I'm also diving in to standards-based grading full on! My school decided to implement a benchmark report card for reading/LA and math. I'm THE 6th grade math teacher, so that's me! I will be working to develop a benchmark report card very soon!
What are some things you're going to change in your classroom this fall?! I would LOVE to hear your ideas!
Becky,
ReplyDeleteTime flies, especially with a little one at home! I'm looking forward to hearing how your student guest blogging is going to work. I'm hoping to implement more student blogging now that our kids (supposedly) have blogger accounts through google apps. We'll have to compare how it works!
Also, I'm interested in how you have kids "sign up" for a retake- do you do a google form? or just on paper? I've got to figure something out.
Looking forward to hearing more about this as the year continues.
@Eric I just set up a Kidblog account, so I think I'm going to try it out. We don't have a blogger option on our Google apps that I can see, yet.
ReplyDeleteLast year for retakes, I just had a paper for kids to sign up on. I don't have a computer in my classroom other than my own, sadly, so having a Google form wouldn't be accessible. I just did columns with name, LTs, date, and time of retake, but I also need to put something on there about a help session or extra practice.
WOW - you have fantastic and realistic ideas for this year. I am also implementing a student blog component in my sr. creative writing class and may consider a guest blogger like you instead of separate accounts. Last year we did blogging within the class, but only classmates could read and comment, looking for something a little more global!
ReplyDeleteI am also working on a portfolio grading system with reflection, conferences, etc.
As a school we are trying to implement project-based learning after our training with Apple in Aug. - we will see how that goes!
Good luck this year!
New this year:
ReplyDeletehttp://youngernews.blogspot.com/2010/07/regrets-and-plans-part-3-new-stuff.html
I have more ideas, but they are still nebulous. Its gonna take more thought to get them concrete enough to talk about.
@sfarnsworth I had one login to blogger last year for all of my students and surprisingly no one abused it! I think for ownership purposes, it will be exciting for them to have their own blog this year. We'll see how it goes!
ReplyDelete@Rachael You have some great things on your list! Parent communication is so important. Do you have a classroom blog? That is how I communicate with many of my parents regularly!
I still have five weeks of summer and with summer school starting next week, I'm not thinking much about the regular school year yet. I am also unsure what my assignment will be. I may be back in the classroom half time and only coaching half time. And since classroom could be either Spanish or language arts, it is hard to make any real plans. IF my assignment stays the same, I would like to implement a during-school writing club that would allow a small number of interested students to participate in the young writers program of nanowrimo. We'll see!
ReplyDelete