Starting a new school year

People have traditions and ceremonies ... I guess it's in our DNA to develop and cling on to them. Some up us have a "Waking Up" ceremony before we get our day started, or "Going to Bed" rituals to help us wind down into sleep mode. Others have "Birthday Traditions" that run through the generations. I have a "New School Year" ritual.

I can't start a new school year without it. I learned it many years ago, in one of my first years of teaching from Pippa, who is no longer a teacher in our school, nor does she even live in Israel but blessed me with a ritual that I am now doing for the 33rd time. I used to do it with a pencil and ruler. Then it got a fancy word processing upgrade. For the past few years I have moved it over to Googledocs, which enables me to share it easily, print it out or just use it online so it can expand or shrink as need be.

Basically, the idea is to map out your entire year on both sides of one page (now that it's a Googledoc, it's less of an issue because the page is virtual). It has a line for each week of the school year, and columns according to the main skills and tasks that I will need to get done or achieve in each class I teach. I divide what I plan to get done in my text book over the year, I put in the test dates and dates for things like book reports or when I plan to complete a project. And even if I get carried away with one unit of work or another,  at least I know that there is a basic "game plan" to go back to, to adjust, to be sure that I fit in everything that needs to get done for that year. 

I am happy to be sharing it with you, here. Click here to duplicate the file, and make it yours. Do what you like with it. Add columns or topics. Delete topics. Make it yours. It's served me well - maybe it will be of use to you! If you have any helpful alterations, please feel free to share them in the comments!

So, enjoy the last few weeks of August and have a great new shool year!

Digitally yours,

@dele

Making your own Googlesite, in Ten Easy Steps

This is the time if year when teachers around the country (and probably around the Northern Hemisphere) are getting into first gear to get back into their classrooms. 

One of the things that are really helpful is to have a website for your class, where you can post the day's lesson plan, or homework reminders, or links to interactive activites you plan to do, or anything you plan to use for your lesson! It's a fantastic way to keep yourself organizaed and not have to go groping around to find that ellusive link.....

To share the link to your site, it's good to shorten the URL. In the webcast I showed the use of Google's useful webshorterner, where you just type goo.gl and shorten the link and/ or grab a QR Code, but another option is Bitly, which enables you to make up a more logical sounding shortened URL. (Hhmm... an idea for next week's YouTube! If I make a tutorial for that, I'll link it here.. or just subscribe to my YouTube Channel, and you won't miss it!)

Googlesites are still a great way to have your students do their projects for the oral bagrut, as I did in 2014 (with the old version of Googlesites). If you want to read about that, you can read about it in my blogpost from way back then!

So... have I whet your appetite? Well, it just so happens that, I have made a short video to encourage teachers to make a Googlesite!: 10 Easy Steps to Making a Google Site, and in case you don't follow my YouTube channel (yet ;-) I am sharing it here, as well. If you DO decide to make your own class site, share it here, and let us know how  you use it!

Please feel free to ask me questions if you have any, in the comments section below the YouTube. And DO subscribe to my channel where I am trying to ensure that no teacher gets left behind!

Digitally yours,

@dele

Don't forget to subscribe here, as well!

Starting the year off right! Getting to know your students.

It's August 31st, the day before school starts. 

This will be my 36th year in the classroom, and you know what? I STILL get excited (and nervous) before a new school year. I STILL spend hours and hours getting myself ready for my classes. (And as I keep saying: the year I do NOT get nervous and excited is the year I step away from the classroom!)

I have these..... "Getting Ready Ceremonies". 

One of them is preparing a yearly plan, with a line for each week. (When I first started teaching, I would do it meticulously on lined paper. Then I moved it over to WORD. Today I do it in Googledocs! (Which is why I can share it here!) You can make a copy and use it if you feel it will help you!

Another "Ceremony" is getting to know my students. I need all sorts of information from them. 

I want to know how THEY write their names in English.
 
I want to know their mobile phone numbers (to build a WhatsApp group.... I am considering using a broadcast group this  year instead of a regular group... any thoughts on that?)


I want to know if they all have smartphones (because I like incorporating smartphones in the lessons and I need to know what to expect)


I always use an email group (even though I am considering using Google Classroom this year... but I still haven't decided about that finally). 


I also want to know what learning styles work for them. 


I have not yet decided for sure which literature to teach, and I would like to know what genres interest them. Not that they will decide, but again - I want to know my audience. 


Finally, since I am getting a new class of 11th graders, I want to know if there is anything THEY think I should know about them. 

Of course, we will be doing an icebreaker activity, to get to know each other, but that's not enough. (Sharing that here, too - it's based on an activity from Jennifer Gonzales' "Icebreakers that Rock".) I want this information to come to me, individually. Which is why I make a Googleform to gather all of the information that I want. I embed it in my class website, and post a QR Code below it so kids will be able to scan it and respond in the lesson, on their smartphones. 

So... that's it! I guess I'm ready! 

Roll on September 1!!!!

What do YOU do to get YOUR new school year started?


Have a GREAT school year everyone!!!!

Digitally yours, 


@dele