Friday Focus - April 17, 2020

In response to all of your awesome videos for our students (and of course, all your amazing hard work through all of this!), here is the students response:

*Note--while our students love to post their pictures to Snapchat, TikTok, Instagram, etc. the majority didn't want their faces in this video, so all the pictures without a student are middle/high schoolers. ;)

Great Things I Noticed this Week:
*A class discussion question checking in on how students liked the addition of Kahn Academy as a learning tool in the class and what their favorite online activities are from other classes. Seeking feedback from students is so important!
*In a class discussion in Schoology, the teacher took time to reply to every student's comment. This was to give feedback and ask follow-up questions (that students responded to again). This helps show students that their responses are purposeful and are being read by the teacher (not just a compliance task).
*A teacher audio recorded her feedback to students, emailing each individually to provide feedback for learning with the opportunity to redo their assignment.
*Students were given the choice to create a model of a neuron or a diagram of one and many chose to create a model with household items and their pictures are rolling in with creativity.
*Did you see one of our student's comments to the Thankful prompt in Schoology? I know that many of our students feel this way (they're just teenagers that don't find it cool to be this affectionat!). Just soak this in: I am thankful for the teachers who are working there best to do what is best for there students and even when they are not physically next to us in the classroom they always find a way to make sure we get it.


Upcoming Events:
Wednesday - Virtual faculty meeting
Friday - your virtual teaching duties are relieved early for you to join in a bluejeans session for a live virtual keynote from Adam Welcome.  If you don't know who this is, you are in for a treat. Adam is co-author of Kids Deserve It (and other books). He is a highly sought after speaker for education conferences and I guarantee you'll end your week feeling pumped up!  I will email a bluejeans link for you next week.

We will be promoting another week of "virtual spirit week" days to encourage students/families to share on social media, but more about activities than attire.

Just for you to fill your cup:
*Stop Remote Teaching 24/7!  You are now working from home, but don't work at home all the time. Set boundaries to take care of yourself and your family!
*Tired of the news? I'm not subscribing to John Krazinsky's Sharing Some Good News show. It's way better than the real news channels!
*Repeat of what Ms. Vitale shared, because there's some awesome ideas in here with an issue many of you are also experiencing: 5 Ways to Increase Attendance in Optional Online Meetups


Tech Tip of the Week:
Schoology Reminder. Anything you create in Schoology will be available to reuse and Copy to Course in the future. Example, two years ago we had an assignment or document that I’d like to make changes to and use again: Courses>My Courses>Archived. When you find the material, the Setting wheel at the right>Copy to Course.