Spring is in the air. CUE has come and gone and was again an awesome experience. At the end of this week my school district will begin Spring Break. This is typically the point that marks the beginning of the end for the school year. After Spring Break, the end of the year rush is on to get students caught up, assign and finish projects, wrap up studying for AP Exams, and end the year on a strong foot.
This year I feel rushed. I have introduced new content in the form of the Web series "Ticket nach Berlin" to the German 3 and AP classes and the students have been more than receptive. In fact, I have been able to pull back with introducing other cultural readings and projects because the content for these is so super rich.
Most courses are really behind. Why? I'm not sure, we go through content, we assess, we address and intervene if they don't get it, but we move at a snails pace. So, this year is the first year with a new text and while the text is awesome, it's hard to get the students moving through it.
So, next year I am looking at doing the following: Frayer model for vocabulary, continue with Nearpod as a homework tool with Cornell Notes on the topic, mini formative assessments on an almost daily basis as we go through the content and tie everything through Google Classroom. In addition, continue working on micro blogging through Google + communities (thank you to David Theriault for this idea.) In addtion, I am hoping to take a major student writing project from German 1 - AP and wrap it into an iBook for those classes for that year.
Google Classroom has proven amazing and the students like it well. They do not get the comments and support system that is built into each Google Doc, but they will slowly get it. I am hoping Google will add a scheduling feature for adding assignments so that they can be posted and released based on date and time.
In the end, we shall see. I have a lot to do and so little time.
This year I feel rushed. I have introduced new content in the form of the Web series "Ticket nach Berlin" to the German 3 and AP classes and the students have been more than receptive. In fact, I have been able to pull back with introducing other cultural readings and projects because the content for these is so super rich.
Most courses are really behind. Why? I'm not sure, we go through content, we assess, we address and intervene if they don't get it, but we move at a snails pace. So, this year is the first year with a new text and while the text is awesome, it's hard to get the students moving through it.
So, next year I am looking at doing the following: Frayer model for vocabulary, continue with Nearpod as a homework tool with Cornell Notes on the topic, mini formative assessments on an almost daily basis as we go through the content and tie everything through Google Classroom. In addition, continue working on micro blogging through Google + communities (thank you to David Theriault for this idea.) In addtion, I am hoping to take a major student writing project from German 1 - AP and wrap it into an iBook for those classes for that year.
Google Classroom has proven amazing and the students like it well. They do not get the comments and support system that is built into each Google Doc, but they will slowly get it. I am hoping Google will add a scheduling feature for adding assignments so that they can be posted and released based on date and time.
In the end, we shall see. I have a lot to do and so little time.