Pi R Scared

  Did you know you can get a link to share with students to play GimKit? Last week, I was playing a GimKit with my students and waiting for them to type in the site and then the code.  A student shared to click on the code and it would give a link.  If you click, not right click, on the code it will give you a link you can share. 

  You are taught to teach the students your expectations. From day 1 you share the expectations, practice the expectations, and then expect them to follow them.  When you do a new activity or one you haven't done in a while, you remind the students of the expectations and yet I found myself correcting so many behaviors on a daily basis.  It seemed that students didn't know, remember, or want to follow the expectations.  Last year was different, last year didn't involve nearly as many corrections or behaviors.  This is what I learned last year. Each day, after the students completed the warm-up I went over my expectations.  Every single day, I reminded the students of my expectations.  I reminded them of how to participate and how to signal they had a question.  I reminded them of what I expected and what it looked like.   Did it go perfectly? No  Did students come back from break full of energy and need extra reminders? Yes   The difference was the corrections weren't h

  I've shared before that I love group work but not all my students feel that way especially about group projects.  I understand that many worry who they will be grouped with or that they will do the entire project but everyone will get credit.  I start putting the students in groups 2-3 weeks before the group project.  I give them a simple task to work on let them know my expectations.  During the first group work, I ask that they be with their group, I encourage them to talk but I understand they probably won't.  After the group work, I have them complete an exit ticket about what went well and what could have gone better.  Before our next group work I share the most common answers from the previous exit tickets. For the "negatives" I share that they were written by more than 1 person so you aren't alone in feeling that, if you put that as your answer.   The next round of group work, I encourage the students to try to talk to each other as this is normally the m

  I do group work often with my students and they want to know whether they are right or wrong.  You can code desmos to tell them.  This is helpful for several reasons. First, it provides students with instant feedback. Second, they can use that feedback to ask for help.  If you know of a common error you can add that; for example, when we do our fractions activity, I remind them to simplify in the incorrect feedback.  Third, students who are solving the correctly will know and be able to help their group.  Here’s a quick video on how to code it. After I code the first slide, I will code/paste the coding into the others and just update the number so that it can be done quickly. 

  Have you ever wanted less than 60 seconds when you hit end breakout rooms? If so, you can make it as short as 10 seconds.  You can also have a timer show at the top of the students screens when in breakout rooms.   When you click to set up your break rooms, after selecting the type(automatic,manuel, student select), there is an options button.  When you click the options button you can select the amount of time for them to remain open and a little further down, you can select how fast they close.   I’ve been using the timer this year so my students know how long they have on an assignment.  It helps them stay on track as they see how long until I am going to pull them back together and have a discussion.  I am currently using the 10 second timer for return to the main room and it works great.  I would use a longer one if they didn’t have the work timer to see when the rooms would close. The timer and shortened return from the break out rooms has been great this year as we’ve done cla

  My secondary students are still at an age to enjoy cut and paste worksheets.  This is how I create a template to quickly make a cut and paste worksheet on a template for them.  A template is super helpful to use as you can make a copy any time you want a new topic in that style of activity.