Monday, November 3, 2014

The Anti-Coloring Books

I recently purchased The Anti-Coloring Book and The Third Anti-Coloring Book (they came in a pack so I'm not sure why I didn't get the 2nd one). I was flipping through them and they have some really good writing and drawing prompts. I think this will be a great way to get my students talking more.

I have one problem...there is no table of contents to know what the prompts are on each page. I don't know about you, but I have limited no time to flip through and read each prompt to find the one that works for a particular student.

So......
I typed a table of contents for each one to glue into the front of my books. I figured that some of you may be in the same boat so I thought I would share.  Enjoy!


~Emily

Saturday, November 1, 2014

Integrate Technology into your Lessons!

I love having technology at my fingertips and I am so blessed to be at a school that is technologically rich. Our PTO is amazing and has allowed us to purchase a wide range of tech devices. I am lucky enough to have a SMART board in my office as well as several iPads and Chromebooks. I use technology frequently when in counseling sessions with individuals and groups and for data collection.

My newest venture was to use student devices during a counseling lesson. I wanted to gauge how well my students understood the concept I was teaching (the differences between bullying, teasing, mean, and rude). I used a website called Socrative. I was able to set up a "quiz" to check for understanding. Every student had a galaxy tablet (reserved from our Library Media Center). I set the quiz to teacher paced so I could stop at each question and have a discussion. I also disabled student names because I had it displayed on the SMART Board. I could have a quiz with student names and not have it displayed so I could use it more as an assessment rather than discussion. Reports are available to view/print/email).

The students LOVED being able to use the tablets and it was a fun way to get them all engaged. Of course there are always glitches when using technology so we also had a teachable moment to "just roll with it"........2 lessons in one! If you have a tech lab, you could easily take a class there for a lesson.

If you are looking for a new twist on pre and post tests or just a way to do a quick check of understanding, I highly recommend using this site. If you try it out, please post below and let us know how you used it!


PS. I am sorry since it has been so long since I have posted...I will try to be better!