BTS 2015: Engage & Interact

This summer has been full of professional development in ways I would have never thought possible. Through the use of Edcamp Global, Twitter, Google Hangouts, Periscope, and Blab I have been able to connect with educators from all over the world. I have tried to take in their plethora of information for the beginning of the school year but it can become overwhelming. I decided to focus on one main topic at a time and today my focus is:

Engagement & Interaction

Much of the PD was about making kids excited for school and keeping them engaged all day, every day. I don't know about you but that seems like a daunting task! However, I know it's necessary because students don't connect to boring worksheets or mindless tasks. I am making it my mission to make every lesson as engaging as possible. 

I'm not saying that everything we teach is mind blowing fun, but after listening to Hope King's exciting Periscopes, I know I can add attention getters, songs or chants to celebrate learning even in the most boring of lessons. These simple attention grabbers can keep kids going and make learning exciting. Check out her blog at Elementary Shenanigans for more chants & cheers! She will be posting her Periscope & information soon!

I also want NEED to make New York Engage math lessons much more interactive and fun. While I believe that the curriculum pushes students to think deeper, the workbook pages are dull, boring and not kid friendly at all. I dreaded teaching math last year because my students would turn
into globs of jello and melt into their desks. I would literally watch as they slipped down in their desks and the life went out of their eyes. They knew math was full of blah, repetitive workbook pages and I didn't know how to fix it until now. I am going to start math workshop where we will work for four rounds on different math activities related to the lesson.

1. Students will work with me on New York Engage lessons in small groups.
2. Students will get hands on learning using manipulatives.
3. Students will play math games on the iPads that focus on second grade standards.
4. Students will complete interactive workbook pages that allow students to reflect on what they learned.

I will be using the Second Grade Common Core Interactive Journal Bundle from Common Core Kingdom on TPT. It has everything you need for a full year of interactive math journals!

For reading and language I am also adding the interactive notebooks. This will allow them to collect their thoughts and have a fun book filled with their learning that they can reference all year. I will be using the Second Grade Reading & Language Interactive Notebooks from Nicole Shelby on TPT!

Finally, I am going to make learning fun by showing my own excitement! I fully believe that you have to sell what you are teaching. If you are excited about learning, your students will be too. I agree with Hope King when she says you have to be willing to make a fool of yourself for the sake of learning!

GOAL: I want this year to be a blast! I want my students more engaged than ever before!