Ms. Rodriguez's Classroom

I watched videos about collaborative learning in the cloud, which essentially walked me through how to use Google with students. This is something I'm already pretty familiar with and good at in my classroom, so I decided to use the poster method the presenter described. Students used an infographic generator to create information about slave resistance in the colonies. They got together with a partner and creatively constructed a virtual poster on topic or person we had covered in class today. They really liked this because they got to be creative and dig in to a topic they were interested in. Here it is! This one isn't as colorful as some, but the information is pretty good and in a different format than this student was used to.

Not gonna lie, this is the first post I've been excited to write here! My idea was to ask students what they're thankful for from their past weekend instead of doing highs and lows. BOY did they deliver! It was as simple as "my bed" to "my teammates" to "my sister returning safely from college". It was so lovely! I really appreciate them taking the time to think of something small. In addition to that, I found a card on my laptop at the end of class. A super "bro"-y, macho jock type student wrote me an extremely detailed and heartfelt note (below) with a coffee gift card inside. Totally unprompted! This absolutely made my day, and also kept me grateful for my awesome kiddos.

Part of my SEL implementation plan was highs/lows every Monday/Tuesday depending on our class cycle. The goal of this is to get to know students better. This Monday, the 19th, and Tuesday the 20th, are our last days before Thanksgiving break. What : Instead of highs and lows from the weekend, we will do something we are thankful for outside of school. Getting these high level academic minds out of school for a bit can really help them center as actual people  and not just students. Update: So what? They were so cute about this! I really liked simple things they were thankful for. Now what? I think I'll carry this with me to my next institution and make it an annual Thanksgiving tradition.

What: One thing that I wrote down from conference was "Flippity". I knew it would help me, but I had no idea how much! Another social studies teacher brought it up for groupings, and I knew I had to try it. It's essentially a Google extension tool that utilizes Sheets and puts your roster on spinner, into groups, pairings, orders, or anything you want. You can also make class review games. So what: It's a little clunky and not that cute to use, but it's helped me mix up my classes already. My largest class is 16, and they gravitate toward the same people over and over. I love mixing up classes like this! Now what: Yup. Definitely going to keep using. You have to keep your rosters in a Google Sheet and it makes you a link, but it's so worth it!