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Grades- K-2, 3-5

Supports- SPED (verbal skills), GT (Critical thinking skills), Accommidations (extra time for processing)

Description- Allows students to think for themselves. They think on their own, share with their shoulder partner, and then share with the class.

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Grades: 3–5, 6–8
Supports: GT (challenge their minds), SPED (visual cues), Accommodations (more timing)

Description: Kahoot! is an online game service. where students or teachers can make their own real time games. Makes reviewing fun. students earn points and receive immediate feedback. Visual features are great for EL and Sped students.

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Kahoot! | Learning games | Make learning awesome!

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Kahoot! is a game-based learning platform that brings engagement and fun to 1+ billion players every year at school, at work, and at home.

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Grade: 3-5, 6-8

Supports-GT (self-directed learning), SPED (guided prompts), Accommodations (graphic organizers)

Description: Students can set a goal weekly of their personal and academic goals. they can also write a reflection at the end of each week. This helps to promote ownership of their own learning. The journals can be spiral notebooks or digital ( google classroom, Canvas).

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Digital Writing Journals? Oh yeah! I have helped many teachers set up a digital "Work on Writing" station this year through Google Slides and the feedback I am receiving is unreal. Students are motivated and the teachers are in awe.

Digital Writing Journals can be set up through any kind of digital program; however, Google Slides is Dabomb.com. Why?

1. The teacher can check in any time or anywhere. While the teacher is busy at the reading table, he/she can "check in" on the students who are busy typing away in their digital writing journal. My teachers "check in" by using the Google Drive and Google Slides app on their phone, iPad or just using Drive on their laptop. It is a beautiful thing! They can even leave comments to help the students along or to provide encouragement. The kids get a kick out of getting personal comments in real time from their teacher.

2. The teacher doesn't have to "mark up" a child's writing piece. Somewhere down the road we have all learned to NEVER use a red pen when marking a child's paper so they don't learn to associate the color red with "bad" things. I believe my Education 101 course taught me to change up the colors I use when grading papers. As a classroom teacher I always remember worrying about the colors I used making sure that I didn't use the same colored marking pen repeatedly. Say bye bye to those worries! Digital Writing Journals in Google Slides will allow the teacher to leave comments on the side of the child's paper. This makes it clean and more effective for editing purposes.

3. Easy editing! Students can simply look at the teacher's comments to help them edit their writing. Once they have fixed what needs to be fixed, they simply click "Resolve" on the comments. This is pretty awesome for two reasons. (1) Teachers can assist in the writing process without a ton of writing conferences (don't get me wrong...I believe face to face writing conferences are incredibly important) (2) Students don't have to spend a ton of time rewriting draft after draft. Uhhhh...I sure do remember those days. Rewriting drafts made me despise writing as a child!
When I taught my 2nd graders to expand their writing, we would circle all of the nouns in our writing and add one adjective in front of each noun. Or, we would box our verbs and add an adverb in front of each verb. You can do the same thing with digital journals! Students can change the font color of the type of words you ask them to focus on. This strategy is also great for teaching students to be more descriptive. If they highlight, bold or change the font color of all descriptive words in their writing, this will serve as an incredible visual and help them focus on where to add more detail:

4. Reference materials are just a click away. Students have access to an online dictionary, thesaurus, encyclopedia, online sources and various types of media right within Google Drive. This makes research and writing go hand in hand. Simply go to the " Tools" drop down menu:

Tools>Research will bring up this search on the right hand side of Google Slides:

UPDATE: Google removed the Research Tool from Google Drive (we are crossing our fingers that it makes a come back). Instead, you can use the Explore Tool.

5. Not to state the obvious buuuuut it is paperless. Gone are the days when you had to cart home a huge pile of writing journals. You can grade while on the go! Whether you are sitting at the doctor's office reading papers from your phone or at home on your laptop while lounging on the couch, grading has never been easier.

I limited myself to provide just 5 reasons; however, I could talk all day about the different facets and benefits of Google Slides digital writing journals.

My district is not one to one so I know the struggles of limited access to technology. However, my teachers make this work by providing 20 minute writing stations on the 5 classroom computers, borrowing laptops from other classes, checking out the computer cart once a week, sending home directions on how to access their journal, etc.. Would digital writing journals show more impact in one to one settings? Absolutely. However, that isn't our reality so we have to find ways to make it work! The teachers that I know using digital writing journals in their classrooms also use the "old fashion" writing journals. These digital writing journals are just another method that helps "change up" Work on Writing time. We have to keep our students engaged!

Digital writing journals in Google Slides is simple. Each "slide" is a journal entry. I'd recommend starting out digital writing journals with writing prompts that contain an image. This will not only help your students with their writer's block but will also get them comfortable with navigating and using the tools in Google Slides. All the students will do is click inside of the text box and start typing:

If you need a no-prep writing journal that you can implement ASAP, then be sure to check out the different sets I have in my TpT store:

Once your students become familiar with digital writing journals, have them create their own! They could either find their own images and come up with their own topics or your could provide them with a prompt in which they would find an image and add a text box. I also like to use websites like FunFaceCam for students to take a selfie using one of the "fun" templates to add to their journal. This helps them with their ideas. Here is an example of one we used the other day with a 4th grade class. They could write about ANYTHING as long as it fit with the picture (this piece is still in draft mode):

If your district has not gone Google yet (HARK!), you can still implement digital writing journals in Google Slides! Just set the share settings to "Anyone with the link can edit" and students can access the presentation to add their text. The only thing they can't add are images. This might require a little more prep time on the front end but I promise you it would be worth it! Just make a copy for each child in your class or assign each child a slide number if you want to make it a collaborative presentation and place the link in your Student Server, LMS, PortaPortal, Symbaloo, blog or whatever you use to share links with your students.

Those of you who are a GAFE district, you have a few options with how to share and organize your digital writing journals. Here are just a few:

Distribute via Google Classroom and set the link to automatically "Make a Copy"

Share the link to the presentation you want your students to use. Replace the ending of the url with "copy" so they are automatically prompted to "Make a Copy"

Students will have to share it with you by placing it in a shared folder or emailing it to your Drive

Share via a Shared Google Folder-students will have to "Make a Copy" and share it with you by placing it in a shared folder or emailing it to your Drive

Have your students create a blank Google Presentation and share it with you by placing it in a shared folder or emailing it to your Drive

Definitely consider trying out Google Slides digital writing journals with your kiddos, even if they work on them once a week or every other week!

Follow me on Pinterest to get more techie ideas:

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Learn about how you can incorporate digital writing journals in your classroom! Whether you are a 1:1 classroom or have access to just a few Chromebooks, laptops, or computers, digital writing journals will prepare your students to be thoughtful and expressive writers while saving time and paper.

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Grades: K–2, 6–8

Supports: GT (tiered challenges), Accommodations (custom rewards), SPED (positive reinforcement)

Description:Using class Dojo Point system as a way to reward effort and behavior. This can be effective for students with BIP's, RTI behavior, or SPED behavior. ClassDojo also gives students immediate feedback.

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ClassDojo helps teachers, parents, and students build amazing classroom communities.

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Grades: 3-5, 6-8

Supports: GT (leadership roles), Accommodations (Check-in), GT (leadership roles)

Description: Starting every morning at your door to greet each student is important. At this time the teacher can use it as a way to check-in with the studnets coming in. It allows us to gauge their moods and listen to any issues they have. It fosters emotional safety and trust over time.

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Morning Meeting is an engaging way to start each day, build a strong sense of community, and set children up for social and academic success.

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Grade: 3-5, 6-8

Supports:

Description: When pairing students look for those that can mentor and mentees. This helps to boost those who need the extra help and also makes students feel comfortable. Plus, the mentors are learning empathy and leadership skills. GT students can thrive in the classroom as mentors. SPED students are gaining extra support. I believe it helps to strengthen the students relationships.

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Ability Grouping for Gifted Students | Davidson Institute

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Learn more about the benefits and different methods of ability grouping. As well as the differences between ability grouping and tracking.

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Grades: K-2, 6-8

Supports: GT (group leadership), Accommodations (visual task cards), SPED (scaffolded roles)

Description: Students can work in diverse groups that are small. Each student in the group will have their own role to play. This is to make sure that each student is playing a vital part in the assignment. This is a huge help to SPED students that need structure, while the GT students are acting as a leader. The learning groups help with teamwork and social skills.

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How Cooperative Learning Can Benefit Students This Year

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Working on tasks that have been carefully designed to require collaboration helps students develop interpersonal skills.

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Grade: K-2

Supports: SPED (visual cues), EL (Language acquisition), GT (word extensions), Accommodations (Icons, Color coding)

Description: Having a vocabulary wall around the classroom is a huge help to students. There can be words, images, and the definitions to support students who need language development. EL students can greatly benefit from the visual context, GT can us it to extend their vocabulary, and SPED can gain clarity through repetition. This helps to enhance their communication and comprehension.

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A word wall is a visible display in a classroom that features a collection of words students are studying. Word walls can focus on high-frequency words, word study examples, academic language, and words that are introduced in the content areas. They can be used to support phonics, spelling, vocabulary, comprehension, and writing.

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Grades: 3-5, 6-8

Supports: Accommodations (audio/video submissions), GT (creative expression), SPED (multimodal options)

Description: Students can work on posting digital projects through Padlet and then when completed they can go look through their peers and comment on their work. This gives immediate feedback and also works on how they are as digital citizens. GT students can us it as a way to showcase their own advanced work. SPED students can use the video or audio tools to tell all about their ideas.

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Grades;: 3-5, 6-8

Support: GT (advanced tasks), SPED (simplified steps), Accommodations (modified expectations)

Descriptions: Tiered assignments helps students to work the same TEKS but at different grade levels. This ensures that the students are working at the correct level of complexity. GT students can work on deeper applications. SPED students can receive scaffolded support. It shows that not all students are on the same level, that each child has their own personalized learning path.

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Effective Teaching Strategies for Supporting Tiered Students in the Classroom - Progress Learning

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As educators, we are always looking for new and innovative ways to support tiered students in the classroom. It’s important that our teaching strategies are tailored to each student’s unique needs so that they feel engaged and motivated to learn. In this blog post, we’ll discuss effective teaching strategies for supporting tiered students in the classroom and how these can increase their academic achievement.

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Grades: K-2, 3-5

Supports: SPED (guided choices), EL (visual supports), GT (creative options) Accommodations (simplified tasks)

Description: Following along with Blooms Taxonomy students are able to choose from a menu or board of different activities to show their understanding. This allows the studnets to take ownership of their own education in diverse ways. GT students can work on tasks that are enriched. EL and SPED students can benefit from the visual and structured options when given.

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The Ultimate Guide to Choice Boards and Learning Menus — A.J. Juliani

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Take a moment and think about your favorite learning experience ever. What did you enjoy about it? Why did you get so much out of this experience compared to the thousands of other learning experiences you’ve had over the years? Chances are you had a great teacher, a safe environment for learning,

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Grades: K-2, 3-5

Supports: SPED (Visual storytelling), GT (Theme analysis), EL (language Exposure), Accommodations ( Repetition, visuals)

Description: Teachers can read culturally diverse books to the classroom and have discussions with students. This promotes empathy, inclusion, and critical thinking.

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Using Read-Alouds to Support Social and Emotional Learning

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Teachers can support elementary students’ literacy skills through focused read-alouds that also target SEL competencies.

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Grades: 3-5, 6-8

Supports: GT (research depth), SPED (Visual/Audio), EL (Language and Cultural inclusion), Accommodations (guided templates)

Description: Have the students create projects, exploring on their own cultural backgrounds and identities. This can foster empathy of others, cross-cultural understanding. GT students can dive into a complex research, with higher critical thinking questions or parts. EL students can feel that they are valued amoungst the students in the classroom. This promotes community and shows how the classroom is a safe space.