Try This, Not That!

Examples of books made by teachers in Book Creator.

Teacher-created books

VIEW: Take a peek at this Look Book created by teachers who transformed their classrooms.

ADD: Check out the ongoing Padlet I've created. Do you have an idea/photo to add to the TRANSFORM column?

LISTEN: "Classroom Decorations Can Distract Young Students."

READ: "Five Signs Your Classroom is Overdecorated and How to Fix It."

WATCH: A third grade teacher who won the 2015 "Classroom Cribs" Makeover Challenge.

EDUPROTOCOLS, developed by Jon Corippo and Marlena Hebern, are student-centered lesson frames "for any subject or grade to break up clich&#233;d lesson plans, build culture, and deliver content to K-12 students in a supportive, creative environment." Essentially, it's a great activity to add to station rotations and to break out of the rut of worksheets and lectures.

SOLE stands for Self-Organized Learning Environment and is a simple educational approach "designed to promote inquiry and foster self-empowerment." It's quick, easy, and it allows the students to explore and learn and discover for themselves. Plus, there's even an app for it that makes facilitating easier!

Have you even considered using YouTube to curate your own PLAYLISTS? By using the "Add To" icon at the bottom of your YouTube channel home page, you can add videos to your playlist that others have created. (I once created a playlist of comma splice videos, since a number of my students were having issues with that particular grammar item in their writing. It freed me from having to devote an entire class period to teaching the concept.)

You've already read how Catlin Tucker uses the station rotation model for student-centered learning. But what about station rotations for differentiation? Read how Tucker utilizes her One Stop Differentiated Station Rotation.&#160;

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One of the concerns often expressed by educators when introducing voice and choice into our learning experiences is the concern over how to grade multiple projects. The idea of creating multiple rubrics for those projects is daunting, to say the least. No worries; there are two educators out there to help.

READ this blog post by Chris Aviles that walks you through how to create a one-size-fits-all rubric that puts the onus of learning on students.

Author Jennifer Gonzalez has another option: the Single-Point Rubric. It's been effective helping a number of teachers manage voice and choice with student projects--and it's EASY PEASY!

The easiest way to differentiate in the classroom is with Google Classroom, the online platform for distributing and collecting student work.&#160;Take a look at this post from The Tech Advocate to learn how it's done.

HyperDocs are NOT just Google Docs with hyperlinks. They're digital lessons, yes, but they've been designed with the learner in mind to explore, question, engage, collaborate, and create. Think of them as learning packages that are great for differentiation! Learn more about HyperDocs by engaging in one yourself. This activity was created by an educator to teach other educators how HyperDocs work. Slide #14 provides a link to HyperDoc templates.

READ this article by Rick Wormeli entitled "Moving Students from Passive Consumers to Active Creators."

WATCH this video from John Spencer titled "The Shift from Engaging Students to Empowering Learners."

READ about Choice Boards, Digital Menus, and Bingo Boards and copy the templates so that you can make your own.

<a href="http://stephaniedemichele.org">stephaniedemichele.org</a>

WATCH this video by Jennifer Gonzalez. She offers a manageable approach to flipping that incorporates the station rotation model. It's called "The In-Class Flip."<br />

One of the issues with flipping is the lack of a social component to it. This article offers practical solutions to the issue.

Flipping the classroom is quite a task, to be sure. Hopefully, the insights provided by Jennifer Gonzalez make it easier. Think about all you've learned and provide a reflective response in Flipgrid by clicking the link above.

<a href="bookcreator://page/VJJWmy9ISR20v5KvqpcQ7g">Transform</a>

<a href="bookcreator://page/ndqVvqArQzu8ayDsBKDj6w">Facilitate</a>

<a href="bookcreator://page/32gXmEA0TSutAtY50EbfUw">Create</a>

<a href="bookcreator://page/Bd3UiS6ETxmsk5jea1WIng">Differentiate</a>

READ this post by Angela Watson entitled "Eight Ways Teachers Can Talk Less and Get Kids Talking More."

PLAYLISTS are a way for students to pursue self-directed, self-paced learning. Teacher and author Catlin Tucker provides a brief overview of the playlist model: "As students work on a playlist, the teacher must be available at a 'help desk' to work directly with students who hit a 'stop sign.' These short conferencing sessions allow the teacher to partner with students to ensure each child is getting the support, scaffolding, instruction, and practice he/she needs to develop."&#160;

STATION ROTATION: Once again, Catlin Tucker provides practical advice for educators in the form of station rotations. Station rotation allows for the creation of smaller learning communities within the context of the larger classroom, and thereby giving the teacher more time to customize and personalize instruction.

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