Read, Write, Remote Learn

 Although I absolutely love using technology in the classroom and that my students now have access to 1-1 devices, this does  bring about some issues, like monitoring students to make sure that they are being academically honest (plagiarism and cheating are huge concerns!), and that they are not accessing websites which they shouldn't. Even though our school has an Acceptable Use Policy and filtering, there are still times where students are either off task or are visiting websites that aren't 100% appropriate.  That being said, I want to recommend an extremely useful tool that your school district may want to adopt to prevent some of these problems: GoGuardian! GoGuardian is a suite of tools which can be purchased by the district either separately or as a bundle. These tools include Filtering and Monitoring content, Teacher Classroom Management, Suicide Prevention, Network Filtering, and Asset Management.  In a nutshell, the administrative tools can be used to block...

 When considering things in which teenagers today are interested, one of the first things that comes to my mind is social media! Over the past ten years, trends in Social Media have definitely shifted, but one thing remains the same: using social media in some form in the classroom is a great way to engage students! Now, I want to be very clear in stating that I don't use the actual social media sites during class, because I always have some concerns about legality or some students not being permitted to use social media by their parents. However, I create assignments that use the premise of a variety of social media sites to grab my students' interest! Here are some ideas: Text Messaging: Give students a paper with a text message template (these can be created by the teacher or purchased on  Teachers Pay Teachers ) and ask them to create a text conversation that might occur between two (or more in a group text!) characters. This is a fun way for students to portray their unde...

 If you're anything like me, you might have resisted your students' pleas to use Google Docs for their writing assignments instead of Microsoft Word for way  too long. When I was a high school student, we learned how to format our essays using Microsoft Word and only  Microsoft Word--no exceptions! I held onto that mindset for a long time, even though my students continually tried to persuade me that Google Docs is far more useful for a number of reasons! Well, I've finally made the switch, and I have to say (although I hate to admit it!), they were right! On one hand, there are many similarities between the two: the formatting options are fairly user friendly and easy to find on both, and the user is able to change font sizes, styles, and colors; adjust spacing; insert charts; insert images; and perform other simple tasks in both. However, there are a few reasons I prefer Google Docs for classroom use! 1. Students can share their document with other students for peer edi...

 One thing I've really tried to focus on within the past few years in my classroom is differentiating not only my instruction, but also my assessments! I recognize that my students have a variety of different strengths and interests, and giving students some freedom in how they showcase what they've learned can be an amazing way to engage students, especially those who might not have been as excited about the content being taught in class. When they have some freedom to choose from a variety of different tasks or to collaborate with their peers on a project, it's fascinating what talents are revealed! When providing students with options, one of my favorite choices for projects is to allow students to create a video or a podcast. Within the English Language Arts classroom, especially at the middle school or high school level, here are some ideas for potential projects using podcasting: Interview with an Author : Students can take on the role of interviewer and "author...