3 Tips to Using Nearpod in the Classroom (Virtual and In-Person Teaching!)

2020 has been quite the year, hasn't it? We are all dealing with what this year has brought upon us, whether it be personally and/or professionally. I truly wish and hope that everyone is handling it all in the best way possible. This can and will look different for us all, but we will continue to look forward as educators tend to do. 

The 2020 school year has been challenging for myself as we started it with great uncertainty, a later start date , an abundance of absolutely necessary changes for safety, and adjusting to an abnormal school year. My district decided to keep majority of teachers in school, whether teaching in-person or virtually. This meant all teachers were to report to school in-person, and I began the first quarter with a traditional class in the morning and a virtual class in the afternoon. 

What an adjustment! This of course not even being the most difficult of situations, as I knew teachers with plenty more classes. It was a learning experience for us all. I currently teach 100% virtually from my classroom, which again, has been a learning experience. Even so, I am grateful to have learned a new platform which I now enjoy! This bring us to my newfound love of NEARPOD!!

I have learned a few tips and tricks for using Nearpod effectively virtually. I also had a brief time using it the traditional classroom setting (it was actually created to be used with in-person classes). Below are three reasons why I think Nearpod is so great for either class:

1. Students can participate simultaneously! This can easily lead to 100% participation at the SAME TIME!

2. Teachers can embed engaging content throughout the lesson (videos, virtual reality experiences, & competitive quizzes)

3. Teachers can easily grade formative assessments/quizzes by using the generated reports.

Something to know is Nearpod and Google Slides are best friends. You can add the Nearpod Google "Add-On" to make this marriage official.  They work together, so if you or your school are familiar with Google Slides, the transition to Nearpod might be a bit easier. I have been using Google Slides to create lessons for quite a few years now, so I quickly began creating my own lessons and "turning" them into Nearpod lessons using the add-on. My district uses Microsoft 365 and purchased Nearpod, so I already had access to it through my teacher Microsoft 365 account, but it is also linked to my personal Google account. This may not be the case if your district is already using Google along with Nearpod. You may just get by with using your teacher credentials and account. Below is how you can access the Nearpod Add-on For Google Slides:

Tip #1

Since Nearpod requires the students to login for access, they have to navigate themselves on the internet to see your Nearpod lesson. This can lead to the problem of students not getting to where they need to be in a timely manner, and precious instructional time being wasted just waiting for students to get to where they need to go. 

Solution: I display the following Google Slide for my students with the directions on where to go AND a three minute timer. 

(I praise students during the timer who HAVE made it to motivate the others. For any student(s) who did not make it, I send them a message afterwards simply stating I noticed they were not there and look forward to seeing them on the next one. I don't "yell" in the message because there is no need. Often times, they simply say sorry and usually do go the next time just for holding them accountable.)

Tip #2

I create Nearpod reading lessons to use in real time with my virtual classes. To best utilize my time with my students, I include the text/illustrations on the slide using the snipping tool, the questions I plan to ask them, and any anchor charts they need to refer to. 

No matter what subject you teach, I suggest displaying the support students need along with the question(s) right in the slide. This way, all students get what they need, and they don't have to "remember" something you may have discussed on a previous slide. 

For any questions asked during the lesson, I usually have students participate in Microsoft Teams, where we meet for live lessons (you may Zoom as your platform). This requires them to raise their hand and only a few students participate at a time. So how does this require 100% participation??? That leads me into tip # 3!

Tip # 3

I display and verbally say l when a Nearpod feature is coming up on the next slide that requires ALL students to participate. This keeps students aware of where we are in the lesson and in anticipation of when they should really be paying attention. Of course they should always be paying attention, but even in the physical classroom, students can zone out, and the teacher still has to identify critical content (how's that for Marzano ha!)

For those shy kids who don't feel comfortable unmuting or raising their hand, you still get to see their progress through the quizzes, discussion boards, and open-ended questions you include. For the students who always participate and can't press their hand-raising button soon enough, they still have the opportunity to speak, but are also still required to complete the activity. 

So those are just a few tips that have helped me with using Nearpod! I hope you can take away a tip or two!

How to Be an EFFECTIVE Teacher Leader (for Teachers & Administrators)

Administrators and teachers alike can be great leaders in a school and can have a HUGE impact on the performance of a school. Lets be honest: there are great teachers and administrators and there are not-so-great teachers and administrators in a school, but you as an individual can be a great example without trying to show off no matter how big your influence is. Below are tips on how to be an effective educational leader!

1: Have a realistic "Solution Mindset" and plan action steps as a team. 

How many staff meetings have you gone to and there is Negative Nancy, Complaining Carol, and Non-Cooperative Ned going on about how a particular idea won't work. None of those people will help move the school. Rather, instead of dismissing an idea, try to think of HOW it might actually work for you. Then if you do see an issue, present a SOLUTION, not another problem. There will always be enough of those.

2) Remember, you cannot do your job alone and know that you are not the best at everything.

At the end of the day, it's not all about you or your position. The quicker you realize that, the better off you'll be because you WILL need a team to accomplish your goal(s). If your goal is to move to a higher position to make a bigger difference (hopefully not just a bigger paycheck), it's your colleagues who will get you there! Also, along the way, please, please, please never forget your humble beginnings and treat those who are where you started with the dignity and respect you wished was done with you at that time. You weren't an expert when you started, so keep please that in mind when setting expectations of others. 

3) When problems arise, approach people one-on-one. No one likes a tattle-tale, a gossiper, or to be attacked. 

I cannot stress this enough. Be respectful. The goal isn't to make the other person feel bad. The goal is to come to an understanding and listen to their side and for there to, ultimately, be a change made by one or both parties. 

4) When you want to bring about change, consult your team whoever that may be. 

You might have a great idea about how to make the library checkout run smoother or a lesson to be more engaging, but you need to ask your team or the person running it first. As in ASK for their input first, not TELL them about your idea and expect it to be done. Maybe they can add to your idea and the more buy in, the more likely your idea will be accepted.

5) Empower others! You are NOT there to be the boss and micromanage, but as an effective leader you create other leaders! 

You know why!? Because it makes YOUR job easier and you stop complaining about what others AREN'T doing because complaining gets you absolutely nowhere! Teach others because most of the time they are willing to learn. People in education don't want to be ineffective and if given the opportunity to be taught how to be effective, they will want to learn. Also, micromanaging is the WORST thing you can do and the fastest way to get others to dislike you because you're automatically sending a message that people are incapable of doing their job without you. 

6) You cannot complain about a colleague if you haven't talked to them about why you are complaining. 

When a colleague does something that is upsetting and you complain about it to others, get ready to complain a million other times because that colleague probably has NO idea that they are being upsetting. So in order to spare you the stress and the potential of ruining work relationships, please let it go and if you can't do that, then confront that person in a non-threatening way and ask for their input on the situation before you impose your own feelings no matter how valid you may feel.

Don't just tell people what to do, but be an effective leader. 

Happy Teaching!

Organizing Your Classroom Library

I absolutely love having a classroom library! I've had one during all of my years of teaching, although my first classroom library consisted of books that just so happened to be in the room left by the previous teacher. They weren't organized and I was too busy trying to survive that I didn't pay much attention to it and the area just wasn't maintained.

Fast forward to me now going into my seventh year (crazy how time flies!) and I am moving to a new city along with my five IKEA plastic bins of books, four bookshelves, and countless dollar store bins. Is it a lot to haul them around? Yes, yes, and yes. But to me, having students excited about reading these books makes it all worth it!

So exactly HOW do I organize these books? I've researched soooo many ways and read many articles and have come to the conclusion that the way I organize my class library now works best for me and more importantly, my students who will be reading these books.

Many teachers organize their class library by reading levels, whether that be AR, Lexile, Reading A-Z, etc. There are a million programs that help teachers choose books for students based on their instructional level. That's exactly what those programs are designed for: to help teachers for instructional purposes, not really for students when choosing a book to read independently. Of course, as the teacher, I do choose books for my students for whole group lessons and differentiated small group lessons by their current reading level, but not when it comes to the classroom library. That's their time to choose a book to read based on their interest level and their own ability to realize whether or not a book is a "good fit" for them. When I introduce my classroom library  expectations to students, I also go over how to choose a "good fit" book for themselves using the I-PICK strategy from the Daily 5 program that many teachers follow. This is also when I introduce various GENRES,which is how I organize my classroom library!

I use these emoji labels I purchased from TPT HERE. I printed, laminated, and hot glued them to dollar store bins. From there, I simply placed my books in the bin that went along with the label. I found it also helps to separate the picture books from the chapter books just to keep things looking a bit neater! I also bought genre posters here for students to refer back to when choosing a book HERE and posted them up on the wall in the library for easy access. When a student asks me what a certain genre is, I simply point to the wall so they get used to referring to the posters instead of me lol. The emoji labels comes with the following 16 genres if you want to purchase, or create your own:

• Fiction
• Nonfiction
• Sports Fiction
• Autobiography, Biography, and Memoir (one label)
• Realistic Fiction
• Historical Fiction
• Mystery
• Science Fiction
• Fantasy
• Animal Fiction
• Poetry
• Greek Mythology
• Graphic Novels
• Adventure Fiction
• Traditional Literature
• Informational

Happy Library Organization!

My Favorite Year in Teaching (Also a Difficult One)....and How It Can Be Yours TOO!

I had been four years in the teaching game when I was approached by my good teacher friend to join her team for the 2017-2018 school year. I loved her and my principal at the time who encouraged me to do it, as well, but I was SCARED. Why, you ask? Because I was going from my sweet, sweet little third-graders (well most of the time sweet lol) to HUGE and MATURE fifth graders. Now a two year jump doesn't seem like a big difference in adult years, but boy is it different in little people years lol. It also seemed much scarier in my head because I had never taught any grade level above third, so I was a bit intimidated, but I did it anyway. Lesson for those reading, challenge yourself to go into the unknown because it will make you stronger and you will be better for it! 

Now that year started out rocky because during pre-week, we found out A LOT of our teachers were being placed at other schools due to reasons I still don't understand. It was a district decision based on prior state test scores and the teachers who were moving were notified during pre-week.  They also would not be replaced. So BOOM, our team was down two teachers in a matter of days, which caused everyone a lot stress. 

That year also brought on many behavior challenges, a new curriculum to follow, and a whole new set of standards to teach that I had never taught before. But with those challenges and through the tears, as a team, we decided to have FUN. We brought hype music into our classrooms, implemented a house system across the grade level, which brought about pep rallies at lunch and standing on tables (the Ron Clark Academy inspired us...that's another blog post because of all of its amazing-ness), and super engaging lesson plans! We also made it a point to support each other, knowing none of us were experts, but willing to learn new strategies. For new and veteran teachers, the best teachers are not the ones who have been in the game the longest, have the best TPT resources all over their room, or the cutest classroom. The best teachers, regardless of whether you have all the things mentioned, are the ones who never stop learning and unconditionally treat others as professionals. Our profession is forever changing (a bit too much at times) and being stagnant is not going to help. We can all learn something new to try to implement in our classrooms. 

So to make it the best year of your life, do the following:

1) Find YOUR SUPPORT! It's impossible to do this job alone because teaching is hard. I could not have accomplished anything without mine! 

2) Be open to suggestions, and not just from administration. Suggestions to try something new can come from anyone!

3) Have FUN with your team and in your classroom! Dress up for spirit week together, plan a fun lesson to do together outside of the classroom, play Kids Bop in your class, dance down the hallway with your teacher friend just because. It'll give you something to look forward to and make the day go by a little easier.

4) Ask questions if you don't understand something and do your research. No one is expecting you to be perfect, but they are expecting you to learn in hopes of later becoming an expert. So if you don't know the answer, be honest, and ask for clarification. Then make sure to look up standards, resources, strategies, etc. Please bring something to the table because your voice DOES matter, my dears. 

5) Plan and organize to save your sanity and time. Of course, we plan as teachers. That's our job, but if you can make your life  a little easier to get something ready ahead of time, DO IT! Put those centers in bins the day before and have the STUDENTS place it back neatly. Set up the science experiment ahead of time so it runs smoothly and you're not stressed. Pre-organize the math manipulatives so you're not passing it out in the middle of the lesson. It's the little things the make the BIGGEST difference, it really is! 

HAPPY TEACHING!!

New Beginnings with a Fresh New Look!

Summer vacation for teachers always brings out the creative side in all of us, doesn't it? We think about fun side hobbies/businesses to start while we're sipping our morning coffee, water, or whatever you choose to consume in the morning (or afternoon for some of us reveling in not having to wake up early!) Either way, maybe we decide to create a teacher-gram, lifestyle blog, You-tube channel to vlog our lives, or work on all of those cute TPT resources. 

It's insane how we are never truly "turned off" over the break. It's just the teacher in us, I suppose. I started this blog a year ago, along with a teacher Instagram by the same name (feel free to follow me ❤). If I were being honest, I haven't kept up with either accounts and I'd like to change that because writing has been a passion of mine since I was young and teaching has been a passion I "fell into" six years ago. It has been quite a journey and I'd like to share it with anyone who just might be able to learn a thing or two or maybe just laugh at the mistakes I've made. I'd also love to learn from others because teaching (and really, life) is never something you master, but learn to improve along the way from many different avenues. 

I listened to a podcast today (Kayln Nicholson's Coffee Talk. She's pretty awesome, so check her out) and it mentioned how no one likes being a beginner in anything, forgetting that every successful TPT-er, teacher-instagrammer, teacher vlogger/blogger had to start somewhere. So I'm starting on my beginner status in this blogger world to discuss this crazy, fun, ever changing profession we call education, fashion, food, whatever lol.

Check These Out Below:

https://www.instagram.com/fabulouslyin5th/?hl=en - Instagram

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/kalyns-coffee-talk/id1372126575 - Kayln's Coffee Talk Podcast

Flexible Seating Adventure!

Flexible seating, flexible learning environments, innovative learning environments; these are a few of the names to describe what teachers are creating all of the world for their students. The idea of providing students with various options around the classroom to choose their best learning space is becoming more and more popular. Myself included in the growing popularity, a fifth grade teacher in Orlando, FL. As an educator, I truly believe in the concept of allowing students to choose where they’d like to work. My journey to flexible learning environments began early in my very first classroom where I’d let my students sit or lay on the floor to read or complete centers if they wanted to. The requirement was they had to remain on task. There was an instant increase in their engagement level because they were able to work in a way they felt most suitable for them to focus. I also noticed they were able to stay focused for a longer period of time, as well as less behavior problems. From this point on, I decided to add in more options, such as stools, rugs, and comfortable chairs for my students as the years went on.

Flexible classrooms are continuing to be researched all over the world to see its effectiveness in academic and behavioral success. For example, an early 2017 study was conducted by the University of Melbourne in Australia and New Zealand. The study confirmed that “deep learning occurs within open plan classrooms coupled with collaborative and shared learning pedagogical practices.” More and more educators are seeing the benefits of a non-traditional classroom.

This year is an exciting year as I continue this journey to creating an innovative learning environment for the 2018-2019 school year. I was able to receive a grant for flexible seating, which I will use to purchase tables from IKEA. I asked my administrators to remove the traditional student desks, which they thankfully agreed to. They will be replaced with five to six LINNMON/ADILS IKEA desks.        

I was also very fortunate to have won a local dream classroom contest in which I asked for pieces to add to create more seating and standing work station options. The changes will be coming at the end of July to early August. I will be updating this journey to flexible learning environments included with before and after pictures! Take a look at the 2017-2018 classroom here!