Link List by Madison Osorio

Creative Educator

madisonrosorio — 2024-03-19 21:06:15 UTC

Initiatives like Creative Educator provide access to online courses, webinars, and workshops to enhance creativity and innovation in the classroom. It also offers resources like lesson plans, teaching strategies, and project ideas to support educators' professional growth, helping them foster creativity and engage students in meaningful learning. As discussed in the principles of SEL, “teaching social-emotional learning, we are looking at the whole person. The emotions connected to learning are inseparable” (Karem 2018). It offers new and unique approaches to traditional lessons that are practical for newer teachers like me.

EngageNY ELA Curriculum Archive

madisonrosorio — 2024-03-19 21:11:20 UTC

This resource provides detailed modules broken up by unit to teach ELA or Math aligned to the CCSS standards. While the website does say New York, they align with both NYSP and CCSS. Within those unit guides is an organized table with the objective for the Unit and a list of guiding questions and the main ideas to reinforce. Next is the lesson-by-lesson guide on how to support learning targets, the ongoing assessments to use, and any anchor charts or protocols to implement. "Critical thinking refers to the ability to make constructive choices and understand metacognitive strategies to enhance learning. Critical thinking skills build responsible decision-making and analytical and critical inquiry skills" (Indiana Department of Education, PK-12 Emotional Learning Competencies, 2019). This is a resource I am certainly going to take advantage of, especially when it comes to tackling the standards in a more immersive way.

Edutopia & specifically 50 Ways to Check for Understanding

madisonrosorio — 2024-03-19 21:14:04 UTC

Edutopia is a resource I was shown in my undergraduate studies and have been familiar with throughout my education at National University. However, I discovered their comprehensive list through Kathy Schrock's blog link. This list has 50 ways teachers can practice formative assessments rather than repeated summative assessments. As many instructors know, it is crucial to balance summative and formative assessments throughout a lesson/unit. We can indicate whether students are best prepared for the "application" portion by checking for understanding. According to the SEL toolkit for Critical Thinking, one example is "‘Socratic Questioning.’ Socrates established the method of questioning beliefs by closely inspecting assumptions and relying on evidence and sound rationale" (2020). This is the indicator for instructors to see if students apply their knowledge correctly and are prepared for the next steps.

ASCD Teacher's Blog

madisonrosorio — 2024-03-19 21:15:42 UTC

ASCD is similar to Edutopia. However, they provide a wider variety of topics that relate to the teaching community in terms of politics, lessons, and any other news that would be relevant to our lives. I think frequently reading updates about teaching nationwide helps inspire and bring a necessary perspective to the profession. In a way, this blog post format represents SEL in the adult world, which is the ultimate goal for students to discover/practice in their own lives. ASCD represents the landmarks of SEL, "the process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitude, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy towards others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make reasonable decisions" (Durlak et al., Greenburg et al., 2003).

Internet for Teachers

madisonrosorio — 2024-03-19 21:18:19 UTC

This website provides direct lessons, graphic organizers, and assessments connected to Common Core Standards. It includes explicit content for ELA and mathematics. However, it also suggests cross-curricular ideas that can be used in social studies. When students see a cross-over between the content they are learning and what you may be teaching, it allows for critical observation and linking. Students can apply their knowledge in a deeper context and recognize the significance of collaboration. "Encourage valid thinking in a conflict situation based on observation. This helps develop compassion and collaboration" (SEL Critical Thinking 2020). When coinciding with compassion and collaboration, a safe learning environment can be prioritized and flourish.

Achieve the Core

madisonrosorio — 2024-03-19 21:18:55 UTC

Achieve the Core provides a range of resources and materials specifically designed for middle school ELA classrooms. Includes high-quality instructional materials, lesson plans, and texts that align with the Common Core State Standards. It has premade lessons in its library, but you can also create your own lesson with their suggestions and AI options to aid in creating differentiation or essential questions, etc. Utilizing Achieve the Core's resources, middle school ELA teachers can effectively support their students in developing strong reading, writing, and critical thinking skills. All of these are necessary for day-to-day life, but communicating the listed skills can appear in numerous ways. As exhibited by Achieve the Core and SEL principles, "the way we communicate with others and with ourselves ultimately determines the quality of our lives” (Tony Robbins, March 24, 2015). Teaching communication skills can help children’s ability to form and maintain relationships. The ability to communicate clearly entails being a good listener and having the ability to use a variety of strategies to exchange ideas, ask questions, and express feelings, all while exercising unique SEL approaches to the outlet for communication.

Reading Universe

madisonrosorio — 2024-03-19 21:20:49 UTC

This website contains a resource option titled "Explore Teaching Topics" to access a specific lesson you will be teaching. For example, I found a lesson guide for How to Teach Inferencing. The website provided me with instructions on how to apply it to the different CCSS categories: Language Comprehension, Reading Comprehension, and writing. Next, they showed me options for sources on how to differentiate the lesson via pictures, read-aloud, sentences, and decodable text. Inferencing steps and examples were provided, along with a video of how it can look in the classroom! All the anchor charts/activities are conveniently supplied as a downloadable PDF. What stood out to me in this video example was the teacher's intentional approach to introducing her students to inferencing. This works in hand with the SEL principle of Critical Thinking, "the goal is for children to feel confident tackling challenges independently and understanding that the path to solutions isn’t always clear or linear" (SEL 2020). She sequenced the content to build off of each other while also calling back on what they had learned prior. These practices have proven to be effective for ALL learners.

"NCTE Voices for Middle School"

madisonrosorio — 2024-03-19 21:22:04 UTC

The NCTE, also known as the National Council of Teachers of English, is a platform that provides resources and support and is a community for middle school English Language Arts (ELA) teachers to enhance their teaching practices and promote literacy development in their classrooms. There are many lesson plans and tips on incorporating more significant picture ideas into lessons that will engage and inspire Middle School students. When we hand over some of the instructor's responsibilities to the students, they can showcase more individual traits, highlighting each of their voices differently. As instructors, this is an ideal opportunity to model empathy in the classroom to show students "the quality of sensing or imagining others’ emotions and feelings, in a way that creates connections and promotes understanding between people" (SEL and Empathy 2020).

LearningApps.org

madisonrosorio — 2024-03-19 21:22:35 UTC

On this source found in the Hamilton book, there are tons of categories under the 'English' section. It ranges from both literature to english language which is perfect for my current class. There are some interactice word sorts, videos, mad libs (which is extremely popular in my classes), and other challenges that is centered around the learning topics. You can also set parameters on the age range which makes it accessible for all grade levels.

Fun Brain

madisonrosorio — 2024-03-19 21:25:47 UTC

FunBrain is a resource that has video and game content for children. It is essentially like YouTube but has safe content for any minors. The appealing part about this website is that there is not a risk of ads that may not be appropriate for the classroom. There are also digital books like the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, which could be useful for when students finish their work early and do not have a physical book with them (which happens quite often).

Templates for Teachers

madisonrosorio — 2024-03-19 21:26:42 UTC

This online resource has a variety of pre-made templates for teachers. They have the potential to boost student engagement and encourage creativity in their assignments. It also has teacher templates that make grading an easier experience and organizes assessment targets and lesson planning.

We Are Teachers

madisonrosorio — 2024-03-19 21:40:23 UTC

This website provides lesson plan ideas, teacher support, and a diverse approach to teaching all learners. It has certainly helped me incorporate methods that address all learners' needs while maintaining a creative learning environment. For example, a recent post was titled “18 Student Activities for AAPI Heritage Month.” In this post, the author discusses why it is important to celebrate Asian American heritages in school and provides direct approaches to do so, ranging from reading books that reflect their heritage, virtual field trips, folding origami, or writing a haiku poem. Incorporating cultures is crucial in any classroom to demonstrate "acknowledgment and recognition of the diverse and unique members of a classroom community, and establishment of an environment inclusive of all backgrounds and types of learners" (SEL Introduction to Diversity and Inclusion 2020).

Class Tools

madisonrosorio — 2024-03-20 00:40:58 UTC

This is another excellent option for game-based learning, random group generators, seating assignments, text element identifiers, and graphic organizer templates! This website is a resource that can provide unique approaches to engage students.

Middle School Teach Flix

madisonrosorio — 2024-03-20 00:45:15 UTC

This website is a collection of kid-appropriate and parent-approved videos. This website makes finding appropriate videos easy without sifting through hundreds on YouTube. 'Teach Flix' is also highly accessible by offering video categories based on subjects or general content topics!

Real Rap Reynolds Youtube

madisonrosorio — 2024-03-20 00:50:28 UTC

I have followed this YouTube profile for the past three years! CJ Reynolds provides excellent lesson ideas, advice on every hiccup along the way with teaching, and guidance through difficult student or parent relationships. "Building a culture of positivity in the school is the most important step to setting the tone in a culturally responsive campus, beginning on the first day of school and continuing throughout the year" (Karem 2020). I highly suggest his videos because he exhibits a successfully inclusive classroom that strives to reach all his students daily.

References Google Document

madisonrosorio — 2024-06-01 07:14:34 UTC