A Year in Review
To say 2020 was a complicated year for teachers is quite an understatement! The orders to teach from home or in a hybrid format provided little to no notice for teachers, but everyone made it work due to the immense dedication to students. However, these difficult, unprecedented times allowed teachers much needed time to reflect on their classrooms and strive to be their personal best in 2021.
A year in review: 3 things I would keep or change from my classroom in 2020 allowed me to be proud of what is working and honest about what I can improve.
Keep: Google Doc Writing Assignments
Change: Go Back to Handwritten Assignments!
Children need to be writing as much as possible in school regardless of the learning format of at home, hybrid, or in-person. When writing, studies show that the hand is communicating with the brain, thus engaging the brain to learn the information better. This means that when writing by hand, children develop stronger skills at reading, comprehension, and spelling!
The impact technology has made in schools is great! Students are more engaged with the amount of activities that can be done on the computer. However, some aspects still need to be done on paper and pencil. Therefore, I am going to keep my writing prompts that have been done on Google Doc but make one very important change. Students are going to write their drafts and final copy on paper and take pictures to submit. Technology is still involved with the submission, but students will be able to take more ownership of their writing skills!
Keep: Listing Assignments on Google Classroom
Change: Reflect Graded or Not Graded in the Title
Remote learning is so tough for many students! While the teacher may be on Meet or Zoom, it is simply not the same as being in the classroom and having help in-person. Additionally, parents are busy working and are struggling to sit down and help their child complete assignments. Furthermore, the home environment of students greatly impacts their ability to keep up with the pace of classes.
Since some students are struggling so much in an already stressful time, the titles of assignments will have a note on whether or not they will be graded. Therefore, if a student is behind, they will know which assignments will impact grades and which are just for practice. Additionally, for the students who are thriving in the virtual environment, they can complete the ungraded assignments for extra practice.
Keep: Fun Center Activities
Change: Modify to Automatic Grading
I love utilizing fun centers in my classroom- digital or in person. It is so important for students to have fun while learning in order to learn the information deeper. However, centers can create a lot of grading. In order to still have fun centers, I am going to make sure there is a component that is automatically graded.
Boom Cards have allowed me to keep fun centers while implementing my grading change. The cards self-grade, so students are able to have instant feedback. If they get the question wrong, the card will let them know and they can answer again. This is the perfect formative assessment while ensuring students are truly learning the material.
Boom Cards are Certainly a Keep
Additionally, one of my 2021 goals is to really ramp up my grade book due to district expectations, so Boom Cards will be the perfect activity to use. In these 2nd Grade Math Place Value New Year’s Boom Cards, there are 36 cards that will allow students to determine the value of the underlined digit, drag and drop the New Year’s Eve hat to the correct drop zone, and determine the place value location, such as ones and tens. In order to increase my assessments, there will be a Google Form included with the center. The Form will have questions that all relate to the standards in the center that students would have just completed.
Therefore, the centers will now be used for practice and to build engagement while the self-graded Form will be the assessment. However, both of these aspects automatically grade, so I can record two grades, if desired, without having to personally grade! This results in more time spent planning high-quality lessons and building relationships with my students.
2020 was a challenging year, but it allowed me to reflect on my teaching and classroom. Even if students are learning remotely, I want it to be a year they will remember for positive aspects instead of only COVID related hardships. For this reason, self-reflection was vital as 2021 began. By keeping some aspects and changing others, I can reduce stress and improve the educational experience for my students.
