In the Spotlight: 6th Grade SS

How is it possible that Spanish Conquistador, Hernan Cortes, with his roughly 500 men, were able to defeat the entire Aztec empire in a span of a few years? 

This week TIS 6th grade Social Studies teachers facilitated a fun and engaging activity using evidence and inferences.  The transformed classrooms were made into CSI & FBI headquarters with crime scene caution tape draped across rooms and over doors.  Some teachers even played the part by dressing up in detective gear and costume.  Students used text evidence in Spanish and Aztec accounts, visual evidence from battle and interaction photos, and even invisible ink messages to help gather clues to crack the case.  Cooperative groups discussed and questioned the sources to record their findings.  Based on evidence, students independently wrote a theory on what they believe happened and how such a small number of Spanish could overtake the entire Aztec empire.

It is lessons like these that will live in the minds of our students for years to come.  The 6th Grade Social Studies department is continuously thinking outside of the box to incorporate concrete lessons and enhance student learning.

Amazon Inspire: Free Teacher Resources

Let's be honest!  When we hear "Free Teacher Resources", we can generally equate that with crap.  It is usually poorly put together, lacks rigor, contains mistakes, or is not conducive to the high standards of our classrooms.  Amazon Inspire is a great site to be able to search for free, quality resources.  And who doesn't love Amazon?  (If you don't, we can't be friends!)  The majority of the material is contributed by educational foundations, state departments of education, and universities.  You will find professional development resources, interactive activities, rubrics, digital breakout games, and much more.  (Disclaimer: Most of the resources are common core aligned, but can be tweaked for Texas state standards.)

Material is compiled by subject or grade, or you can simply search by typing in the content you are looking for.  I am including a couple of resources below to highlight, but this is one that you really need to dive into yourself to use to its full capacity.

Interactive Lesson on Force & Motion

Infographics (One Pager) & Rubric

Ratios, Proportions & Percents

Interactive Professional Development: How to Create Video Lessons using EdPuzzle

Tech Tools for Your Classroom Instruction

How amazing would it be to have a variety of technology tools for your classroom instruction compiled in a single click?  Our fantastic tech team has done just that for you!

This list of technology tools has resources for everything from classroom management, annotation tools, digital flyers, vocabulary, video capturing, coding, literacy, photo editing, video conferencing, and SO much more.

Have an awesome lesson, but need a tech extension?  Need an interactive vocabulary lesson to check for understanding?  Want a new platform for a formative assessment?  Check out these tech tools and dig in to something new!

Cult of Pedagogy: Professional Awesomeness... Seriously!

Let's talk Cult of Pedagogy.  If you haven't heard of this awesomeness... you're welcome!  This is a culmination of educational rockstars that have come together to put their expertise in one pretty little online package just for you.

THE BLOG

The blog consists of three categories to fill your teacher tool belt, your teacher mind, and your teacher heart.
The Craft: resources for you to fine-tune your art of teaching.
Go Deep: where you can dig into theory and thinking behind the practices
Teacher Soul: the guts and raw emotions of teaching

THE PODCAST

Seriously, this is my guilty pleasure every day on the way to work!  I feel that EVERY. SINGLE. TEACHER. should hear the professional dialogue, meaningful practices, and expert theories brought to you by this cute little podcast.

THE VIDEOS

The wide variety of professional videos demonstrate great teaching practices, share classroom management tips, show some tech tools so they look super easy, and offer up advice for some of your trickiest teaching situations.

Cooperative Learning Strategies

Picture this:

A full classroom with desks in straight rows and all facing the same direction.  A teacher standing at the front of the room teaching a lesson.  Students sitting at their desk and raising their hand when they want to answer a question.  Some students are not quite engaged: one looking out the window, one with their head down, another too shy to answer, and one who doesn't know the answer to any of the questions the teacher is asking.

Wouldn't it be great if ALL of the students were incorporated in the lesson?  How awesome would it be if every student was engaged in academic conversation discussing or debating the question at hand?  What if we could hold all students accountable to have an answer rather than just the one waving their hand because they are the top student?

Cooperative Learning is the perfect answer to all of these questions!  Turning students around and grouping them will allow for safe conversation in a smaller setting.  Assigning each of those students in a small group with a letter and/or number will eliminate students having to figure out who their partner is every time they are asked to pair up for a turn and talk.  This assignment also gives each student a role within the group that only they are responsible for (time keeper, recorder, facilitator, reporter).  Getting kids up and moving with engaging activities helps with the monotony and predictability of the class, keeping them on their toes... literally.

Although there are tons of resources and activities out there, today I want to share with you Kagan Cooperative Learning Strategies, as well as Laura Chandler's website.  Here you will find a wide variety of ways to make your classroom interactive and, most importantly, engaging.  Students will be the ones going home tired at the end of the day!

This article can give you some more insight and almost a "how to" on cooperative learning groups.  Of course you can tweak areas to make it your own or to best fit your classroom dynamics.

I will be looking to do a "Part 2" Just in Time training on more cooperative learning strategies in November.