It's the time of year when most schools are heading back to class! As Summer 2019 draws to a close, I'm excited to see what the 2019/2020 school year has in store. I will return to Ross in the same position - which I absolutely love! - and I'm excited to see how we grow, the new challenges we will face, the new people we will meet, and how we will work together to accomplish all that is in store for us.
As I see it, each new year presents me with the opportunity to reinvent myself, in a way. We have a whole new group of students to work with, we have new colleagues to meet, we might have new "things" in our classrooms, or we might be starting over in a completely new place. A new school year for teachers is very much like a new school year as a student.
As we prepare to return to school, I thought I'd share a couple activities you can do with your students. AND ... they do not have to be digital!
Back-to-School Bento: I came across this tweet by @ClassroomQuips awhile back where a teacher shared about a #BookBento. I was intrigued! For starters, I had no idea what a bento was. Once I had that figured out, I fell in love with the simplicity of the photo. I knew it would make a great digital activity. When I sat down to create one, I realized I didn't want to confine you or your students based on my design. Instead, I created a Slide deck with a VERY basic example, and then a couple of slides with some teacher tips as well as how to use this beyond the first week or so of school. I also encourage you to take a look at the #BookBento hashtag on Twitter for how others are creating.
Using this for a beginning of the year activity, I'd go one of three ways:
- All About Me Bento ↬ have the students bring in items (or do an image search) that give you info about themselves
- Summer Vacation Bento ↬ students can tell the story of their summer, in pictures!
- Goals Bento ↬ ask students to share goals they have for this school year
- ... don't worry, I tucked in a few ideas of how you can use bentos later in the year.
Or allow your students to choose which one(s) they want to do.
Here is a link to the example with teacher tips: Back-to-School Bento
[Pssst! You do not have to do this digitally! Allow students to draw their bento's!]
Another option ...
How about a video? A video can be a wonderful way to be introduced to your students. (I also think it can give you a baseline of information for your student. You can brainstorm as a class what they might want to include in their video. You could also incorporate writing by having them write a script for their video.
How can this happen?
- Have ipads? turn on the camera and move to video mode. Pair students up and make it a collaborative effort. The videos then "live" on the iPad. Your students can upload to Google Drive, or submit via Google Classroom
- Have chromebooks? use Screencastify extension to have students record themselves. Screencastify can automatically save to Drive, so have students either share it to you or submit via Google Classroom.
- Interested in an online method? Try out Flipgrid! The whole point to Flipgrid is to be able to share videos! Don't worry, you can protect your grids so they are not publicly accessible, an it's FREE! If you allow students to see each others videos, they can comment on them and you can incorporate discussion on appropriate commenting.
If you have gone back -- if you are heading back this week -- or if you don't go back for a little while, just remember, the relationship you build with your students starts every day. Smile and listen. One day at a time. I'll be right there, too, next week. We can and do make a difference in the lives of our students.
Have a question or comment? Feel free to comment below, reach out to me on Twitter @kiefersj, or email me at sarah@techyoucando.com .
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