Are you a teacher that is transitioning or considering changing careers?

If so, there will be a VIRTUAL Teacher Transition Summit THIS FRIDAY & SATURDAY – April 16-17, 2021.  DON'T MISS OUT!   
All sessions are recorded - So you will enjoy the entire summit TODAY.

Link:  https://courses.teachertransition.com/bundles/summit?ref=63b57c

Every presenter is a former teacher that transitioned successfully to his/her new career and will be sharing steps to help teachers make that strategic step.

Why EDUCATORS are so AWESOME!

View the Facebook posting I saw BELOW.....

We as educators have always known we play multiple roles in a student's life.  But here is where an educator was willing to ease a mom's wish to obtain her education when the babysitter did not show up.

As others have commented...We are proud of the mom for not making an excuse to not to go to school that day.

And we are also proud of the professor who encouraged this mom to stay in class when her baby began to cry.  He became the "babysitting lecturing professor" to show how important her education was to him and that "life is life".  

Sometimes "LIFE" gets in the way of our dreams, but sometimes there are "education angels" around to help motivated individuals along the way.

This professor is an AWESOME education angel!!
(This FB post may become visible slowly.)

So one of the students came with her kid, because she didn't have a babysitter. The kid starts to cry in the middle of the class, so his mom, all embarrassed gets up to leave, and the professor takes the kid from her, calmed him and continued teaching. #ashe #bravo #loveit
Skai Juice Facebook Post - 5/13/2015

Balanced Literacy Activity - (Story Elements) - Jeopardy Game

Your students will LOVE this game and learn at the same time.  

Download this presentation and OR play it directly from here.

Special Note:  Make sure you read the Teacher Directions on (Slide 2) to ensure maximum fun with the interactive capabilities.

Here is the link to the "Jeopardy Theme Song". 

You can visit my "Diary of an iPad Grant Team" for other iPad Friendly lessons or activities.

Jeopardy_[LanguageArts]_Version 2

More PowerPoint presentations from Reba Gordon Matthews

Helping Teachers Understand..What is Balanced Literacy?

At the beginning of the school year, my consulting focus was on
Balanced Literacy.  My tasks were to train and assist elementary teachers with their understanding the five components and organizing their classroom environment for effective literacy instruction.

Balanced Literacy PowerPoint

More presentations from aSGuest105467

Some beginning teachers and a few veteran teachers asked, 
"What is Balanced Literacy?" and ..................
"How is that different from what I am doing at this time in reading?"


I began my answer by saying...
 "For some of you, this will not be that different...........


1.  All of you are reading stories to your children.
--- That is the beginning of the Read Aloud component.

2.  Some of you are displaying/projecting the text you are reading on your whiteboard/smartboard.
--- That is the beginning action of the Shared Reading component.

3.  All of you are meeting with students in small homogeneous groups for reading instruction.
--- That is the perfect approach to begin the Guided and the Differentiated Reading components.

4.  All of you provide regular writing instruction in your whole and/or  small groups, then expand the writing opportunity within your literacy stations.
--- That is of the beginning of the Guided and Shared Writing component.

5.  All of you have your students select books from your classroom and/or school library to read alone at their desk for SSR or DEAR time for 15-20 min.
--- That is the beginning of the Independent Reading component.
Special Note:  This can be one of the most challenging components of this literacy model.

My answers launched a plethora of great questions and comments regarding their current work and what is needed to have a "balanced" reading implementation in their classroom.

THEN....."How do we need develop a "balanced" program?"


Now....the coaching door has been open.

I began introducing the "Balanced Literacy Model" with a comprehensive resource PowerPoint (above) I found on Authorstream by a student named, Emily Addleman at Ball State University.

This resource had great results in helping the teachers understand what to plan for within each of the literacy components.  See the presentation above....
I hope Emily received an "A" for her assignment.

Literacy Cafe Ideas

As I work with assisting teachers with their Balanced Literacy programs, I have run across so many wonderful teacher ideas and classroom management routines. I will periodically begin posting their ideas and links to their sites for you to visit.

Teaching is such a WONDERFUL Collaborative Environment, where we all LOVE to share as we all work on improving our teaching practices and supporting other teachers. 

Here are some of the Literacy Cafe resources I located this week:

 1. A Literacy Cafe classroom poster that I found weeks ago and took a screenshot.
 (SEE at the bottom of this post.  Sorry I cannot remember where I found this photo.)

2. Literacy Cafe Video: How to Use CAFÉ: Involving Students in Building Essential Reading Skills by The Balanced Literacy Diet
Link:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfJEp-thTeM

3.  Blog: Lesson with Laughter - Molly Maloy
Link:  http://www.lessonswithlaughter.com/2012/04/reading-writing-notebooks.html
Twitter:  @mollymmaloy
This blog displays a very comprehensive way to develop a student literacy portfolios.

4. Need Bulletin Board Headings? 
thedailycafe.com site provides FREE heading posters for you to download, along with many other liteacy teacher resources.

5.  Literacy Cafe Documents for Teacher Reference and Instruction

a) Titled:  The Literacy Cafe Menu
by  The CAFE Book: Engaging All Students in Daily Literacy Assessment and Instruction by Gail Boushey and Joan Moser, " The Sisters."
Link:  http://marcy.mpls.k12.mn.us/uploads/the_literacy_cafe_menu.pdf

b) Titled: CAFE Transition Menu by Karen Sekeres
(Beverly Hills Unified School District)
Link:  http://www.bhusd.org/ourpages/auto/2011/9/16/43017830/CAF_%20Transition%20Menu-1.pdf

c) Titled:  Stanima Graphs for Reading & Writing
by by Karen Sekeres (Beverly Hills Unified School District)
Link:  http://www.bhusd.org/ourpages/auto/2011/9/16/43017830/stamina%20graphs-how_long_can_we_work_graph.pdf

Literacy Cafe Classroom Posters for a Bulletin Board

Spark Students' Interest in NASA

Sign up FREE with the NASA Explorer School Program. Spark your students' interest in STEM subjects with the help from NASA.

Also you could also gain an opportunity to have your students share their learning and projects at Kennedy or Johnson Space Center before scientists and engineers.

 What a Once in a Lifetime experience. 
 View this presentation and see the SPARKS!

 

Spark an interest in stem with nasa from Reba Gordon Matthews

Story Elements - Jeopardy Game (iPad Friendly)

Another meaningful Balanced Literacy activity for students.

This is an excellent jeopardy game I found on the Internet
 (Author Unknown)

I just upgraded the slides, added linkage between the slides,    and added a Story Elements Resource Slide at the end of the game.

Your students will LOVE this game and learn at the same time.  

Download this presentation and OR play it directly from here.

Special Note:  Make sure you read the Teacher Directions on (Slide 2) to ensure maximum fun with the interactive capabilities.

Here is the link to the "Jeopardy Theme Song". 

You can visit my "Diary of an iPad Grant Team" for other iPad Friendly lessons or activities.

Jeopardy_[LanguageArts]_Version 2

More PowerPoint presentations from Reba Gordon Matthews

"Mouse" Practice Webtools for Beginners at Computers

FREE Computer Classes -

Every Wednesday Morning

@ the Lancaster Veterans Memorial Library

1600 Veterans Memorial Pkwy.

Lancaster, Texas 75134

http://www.lancaster-tx.com/index.aspx?NID=149

(Look at the bottom of this post for upcoming classes)

Today I utilized the following "mouse" practicing webtools for participants who are learning how to use the computer.

1st Webtool: 

MouseProgram.com

Each participant practiced each of the mouse skills below.

2nd Webtool: 

Mousercise

Participants followed on-screen instructions to click on objects.

Each click gave the participant instant feedback and encouragement.

*********************

Dear Techie Lab Teacher,

I was setting up my livebinders and wanted to create a subtab under subtab.
How do I do that?   Can I do that?

Thanks


Dear Livebinder Question,

Unfortunately you are NOT able to make a subtab under a subtab.  You are only able to add an additional subtab to left and to the right of that subtab.  I wish that feature was available as well.

Yours Truly,
        Techie Lab Teacher



BELOW is a video tutorial for anyone needing assistance in making a subtab
in LiveBinders:

A Suitcase Full of Resources

Review the following tech tools and see if you can fit them into your existing suitcase of tools.

TechTraining_Feb_23rd

More PowerPoint presentations from Reba Gordon Matthews