# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Building Academic Conversation Skills Handout 8-15-13

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.edutopia.org/stw-collaborative-learning-college-prep

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teaching Small Group Ideas Guided Reading Small Group Instruction Small Group Instruction in Middle School Differentiated Instruction in High School Small Group Teaching Approaches Why Use Small Group Instruction Small Group Instruction Best Practices Shallow Small Group Small Group Humor Video Small Group Instruction Strategies

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Pre-K - K Life Ready Skills Tracking Tool

# data[].attributes.headline
Why Is Team Communication Important When in Teams?

# data[].attributes.subject
Why Is Team Communication Important When in Teams?

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.livestrong.com/article/105939-team-communication-important-teams/

# data[].attributes.body
Student-Teacher Communication Tools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
One of my passions as a teacher has always been finding and implementing new classroom management strategies! Having anywhere from 20-36 students (depending on my grade level) made it necessary to have strong, positive communication tools in place, to help maximize every minute of instructional time. So today, I want to share with you three classroom communication tools that I have had great success with, and will hopefully help you in your classroom, too.

The first communication tool that I LOVE, and that has saved me tons of interruptions, are these Hand Signal Posters. These posters are finger signs 0-5, all communicating a different message from the student to me. This way, if I was in the middle of a lesson, working with a small group, or helping an individual child, a student could hold up their fingers and I could quickly see what the student needed to communicate with me. These posters are perfect to display at the front of the class (above the whiteboard) for a quick and easy reference for students. Such a BIG TIME-SAVER!

Another tool that is so handy when working with a small group is the STOP sign. It seemed like as soon as I would sit down to work with a group of students, five other students would raise their hands with questions. So, I taught my students that if I had my STOP sign on display, then they needed to ask three other students in the class their question before interrupting my small group and asking me. Four out of five times this worked like a charm!

Majority of my student interruptions during small groups were from students asking me, "How do I spell _____?" So my solution to that problem was to implement personal Student Dictionaries. Every student would keep their own dictionary at their desk, which includes over 300 pre-printed words. There are also lines for students to add in words, so this way, they could ask three other friends in the class how to spell the word, and not interrupt me during group time. Love the independence this created!

the stop sign is in a whiteboard. There are so many options and I have included two different sizes of this stop sign which
Now, back to the STOP sign for all of those other interruptions...My favorite way to display clear, stand-up sign holder shown below on the left. Although, you could also use a picture frame (pictured below on the right), or even just laminate the sign and pop some magnetic tape on the back to display it on theyou can grab here!

Last but certainly not least, is my favorite (and students' favorite) communication tool...Silent Response Cards! This tool allows EVERY SINGLE STUDENT TO PARTICIPATE!!! Yes, that's right, no more frustrated students grunting and waving their hand back-and-forth, in hopes that the teacher will call on them for the answer.

Here's how it works...Each student is given a set of pre-made The cards are double-sided and color-coded (a great project for a parent volunteer to prep). The teacher asks a question and students manipulate the cards to SILENTLY hold up the answer to the question. Here's an example:

The best part about Silent Response Cards are that they can be used during language arts, math, science, social studies, test prep, and class games. This is also a quick assessment tool, because based on the colors being held up, it is easy to spot which students are and are not understanding a concept.
Thanks for reading and I hope you find these freebies useful in your classroom!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
One of my passions as a teacher has always been finding and implementing new classroom management strategies! Having anywhere from 20-36 students (depending on my grade level) made it necessary to have strong, positive communication tools in place, to help maximize every minute of instructional time.

# data[].attributes.body
We will be using leveled readers. Initiating Progress- Choral reading
Approaching Expectations-  Students will read some of the words by their own- at their level.
Meeting expectations- Students can read on their own.
Exceeding Expectations- Students can read on their own and with fluency and intonation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Reading A-Z: The online reading program with downloadable books to print and assemble | Reading A-Z

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Award-winning reading solution with thousands of leveled readers, lesson plans, worksheets and assessments to teach guided reading, reading proficiency and comprehension to K-5 students

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Starfall Education: Kids Games, Movies, Books & Music for K-5 and above

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
At Starfall, children have fun while they learn - specializing in reading, phonics & math - educational games, movies, books, songs, and more for children K-5 and above.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/standards-aligned-genius-hour-matthew-farber

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
All of the seventh-grade students who gave me cards for Teacher Appreciation Week included the same sentiment: They all thanked me for "allowing" them to choose their own projects, giving them freedom to pursue their learning goals. Most of these comments pertained to 20 percent time, also known as Genius Hour.

Genius Hour is time that students are given to work on projects that relate to both their interests and the curriculum. It's sometimes called 20 percent time because some corporations (famously Google, at one time) have given employees 20 percent of the workday to follow passion projects. In a classroom, 20 percent time can mean one class period out of five. For me, it's every Wednesday. After I rolled it out last September, it became a favorite day in my students' school week.

Meeting the Standards

Over the years, my social studies students have often asked questions like, "When are we going to learn about World War II?" In New Jersey, World War II is not covered until sophomore or junior year of high school. Up to four years is far too long for a student to wait to learn about something he or she is interested in now.

One of the obstacles to adopting 20 percent time in a classroom can be meeting standards. I knew students' research for projects would meet Common Core State Standards such as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.3: "Identify key steps in a text's description of a process related to history/social studies (e.g., how a bill becomes law, how interest rates are raised or lowered)."

I decided to use the standards as a part of the overall design challenge. Students would have to align their ideas to the grades 5-8 New Jersey Student Learning Standards. I gave as an example 6.1.8.D.2.a, which states, "Analyze the power struggle among European countries, and determine its impact on people living in Europe and the Americas." This can apply to any time period, from the American Revolution to the Cold War.

Like many teachers, I am required to write lesson objectives on the board. But in the 21st century-with so many tools that support personalized learning-should all students always be learning the same concept at the same time, and at the same pace? I met with my vice principal and explained how, on Wednesdays, I would write a generic objective in my lesson plan book (e.g., Student will compare an event in modern U.S. history to one in the Colonial time period).

Geeking Out in History Class

The project-which came to be known as Geeking Out in History Class-was inspired by the HOMAGO framework. HOMAGO- an acronym for "Hang Out, Mess Around & Geek Out"-is " an experiential learning theory based on research by Mimi Ito on how youth learn in new and social media environments." When young people in informal settings want to learn more about fan fiction or stop-motion animation, they will hang out with peers to learn more and then mess around with digital tools, moving from novice to expert-geeking out, in other words.

To track student learning, I created a simple Google Form, asking students the following questions:

Are you working alone or with a partner? If so, whom?

What is a topic in U.S. history-after the Civil War (1865)-that you want to learn more about?

Match a standard to the topic you want to learn about. Pick a grades 5-8 New Jersey social studies standard and share how it connects to your project.

What are you planning to do/make/create as your project?

Once students completed the Google Form, I exported it to a Google Sheet, which enabled me to view individual responses at a glance. Because this was a project-based learning assignment involving creating, I knew all students would be meeting higher order thinking on Bloom's Taxonomy. Plus-as a bonus-the presentations of projects would be passion-based, as students shared their aha moments.

History Class as Makerspace

Many students brought their informal learning passions to 20 percent time. There were several Minecraft worlds built, including a World War II mod. Three students who enjoyed hip-hop music downloaded beats from Flocabulary to make a series of Hamilton-inspired rap battles about World War I. Other students used a hot glue gun and an X-Acto knife to build the Normandy Beach invasion out of reclaimed cardboard.

Some students returned to technology tools introduced earlier in the school year to deepen their learning. One student, who coded a Valley Forge story on the free interactive fiction tool Twine, wrote a follow-up story set in World War II. (I've written for Edutopia before about Twine.) Another student seized on 20 percent time as an opportunity to hone her public speaking skills, presenting a TED-style talk.

Genius Hour's underlying pedagogy speaks to self-determination theory -specifically the autonomy. Students had agency, or control, over what they learned. Each week students had to write reflections on their learning, a weekly grade. My role was to be the "game master," curating and scaffolding student choice, all while managing the class using free Google tools.

And there were no classroom management issues. Many students even asked to come in during lunch and opted to work on projects from home. Engagement like that convinced me that more teachers should try bringing 20 percent time into their classes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
All of the seventh-grade students who gave me cards for Teacher Appreciation Week included the same sentiment: They all thanked me for "allowing" them to choose their own projects, giving them freedom to pursue their learning goals. Most of these comments pertained to 20 percent time, also known as Genius Hour.