https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL Assignment 1B en-us 2018-07-12 22:19:39 UTC 2023-07-16 21:40:51 UTC hello@padlet.com https://padlet-assets.s3.amazonaws.com/icons/Apple.png hector_lerma https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270093131 Hey y'all!

My name is Hector and I am a 6-8th Grade AVID Teacher at The O'Farrell Charter Middle School in Southeast San Diego. I began my teaching career as soon as I finished college at UCLA in 2016 with a B.A. in Anthropology and a Minor in Theater. I entered my education pathway through Teach For America - San Diego, a non-profit organization which mission is to "One Day" provide all students with the education they deserve. 

Driven by my passion for equity among intersectional communities, I use my ability to create intentional programming and relational capacity to empower individuals of color. 

The purpose of this website is to act as a toolbox of teaching best practices, which will be a collection of  resources such as websites, videos, and more.

Always, in solidarity,

Hector L.  ]]> 2018-07-12 22:23:36 UTC https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270093131 hector_lerma https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270094256 Education is a career field that is most successful when educators of all types work together to share out strategies and techniques that best help our students succeed. Through teacher training and professional development sessions, it is common to hear the good old phrase, "do not reinvent the wheel". Part of our lifeline in this hard work is that we have others to count on when we are struggling, and  we (I'd like to think) pay back this loyalty by offering our assistance if the case arises. As we share our techniques and strategies with one another, we also ask for feedback and listen to those who tried said strategies to find out what worked and what did not. 

This is where "Best Practices" come into play. As Hattie mentions in his lectures, we should see ourselves as more than just teachers delivering content by reciting the material via Google Slides. We should strive to evaluate our students as a means to evaluate ourselves and our own strategies put in place in our classrooms. If something is working, and you have evidence of student learning, then share it! Best Practices are formed when a teacher shares how they work in the classroom, why it works and provides evidence of so. As evaluators, as teachers, and mentors of each other, we must work collectively to share these Best Practices so that every student can strive for success. ]]> 2018-07-12 22:43:11 UTC https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270094256 hector_lerma https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270094982 This PDF is meant to target the following areas for student development: Relational Capacity, Metacognition, Collaboration, Inquiry, and Leadership Development. This book is a collection of strategies that can be implemented across all grade levels and subjects. 

Relational Capacity focuses on the ability to build strong peer-to-peer relationships, which have been proven have an effect in student's growth. 

Metacognition is the ability for students to provide personal feedback to themselves and reflect on their learning.  

Collaboration, one again, focuses on peer-to-peer interactions, which allow for better learning in the upper grades. 

Inquiry pushes students to think critically and beyond just what is presented to them. Through these activities, students must ask how does the material connect to them, in which ways can they apply it to other situations, and more!

Lastly, this document also includes leadership development activities that are meant to focus students in being the best peer influence on others. 

All of these contribute to Socioemotional and content learning areas, based on a collection of best practices as implemented by the AVID Curriculum.]]> 2018-07-12 22:58:59 UTC https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270094982 hector_lerma https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270095269 If you are a science teacher who has access to technology, but not many physical materials for demonstrations of scientific phenomena, then this is the website for you. I have been using this website for my last two years and it has proven to be a life saver. PhET is a website delivered by the University of Colorado, Boulder. Here, you'll find a series of Java and Flash simulations that demonstrate different phenomena in Physical, Life and Earth sciences. This website will allow your students to experience the focus of your content first hand and gives room for exploration, and experimentation. Most of the simulations are meant for Secondary grades, but can also be applied to Elementary students. 

A great way to use these simulations is to have your students experience the simulation first and have them create questions on what is happening, or you could guide them with scaffolded question as well to help push for inquiry. ]]> 2018-07-12 23:05:03 UTC https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270095269 hector_lerma https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270095607 Kaizen Teaching is a YouTube channel that focuses on a variety of teaching strategies based on Lemov's book Teach Like a Champion. Kaizen uts them in small videos that best explains each technique. Some of the strategies work for classroom management, others for providing feedback or encouraging peer-to-peer learning. All in all, every teacher is bound to find one or two things in this playlist that will help in their ]]> 2018-07-12 23:16:02 UTC https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270095607 hector_lerma https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270095842 Google has come up with a plethora of tools that have allowed us to move away from having to carry everything around on a CD, Floppy Disk, or USB, and allow it to live safely in the "cloud". With that being said, Google has also brought out a great tool that works both for providing student/teacher feedback as well as for formative assessments. 

Google Forms is an online platform that allows one to create (you guessed it) forms for people to fill out for any setting. Creating a pot luck? Use a Google Form to keep track of what people are bringing. Want students to give you feedback on a certain unit? Use a Form so students enter their thoughts and even share it with the class. Want to quiz students on their latest English novel? You can use Google Form to create a multiple choice, matching, free response question or a combination of the three to evaluate your students. You can also set so that questions grade themselves or you can grade them manually! It also keeps track of which questions students struggled with and more]]> 2018-07-12 23:23:13 UTC https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270095842 hector_lerma https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270096233 Socratic Seminars provide an space for students to have a healthy dialogue about a specific topic brought up by an article or two. This strategy requires that teacher select a text or two for students to critically read and is framed by an Essential Question or Objective that scaffolds students in discussing their ideas as a group. There are many ways one can do Socratic Seminars, such as a "Fishbowl", where half of the students are in the circle acting as student participants, creating dialogue, asking questions, etc. The rest of the class is on the outside of the circle, taking notes, listening and continuing the conversations once it's their turn to be inside the circle. 

I have used Socratic Seminars with my students multiple times, grades 6-8th, and it has worked fantastically. We have had conversations about what it means to be responsible, on cell phones in school, on college, and more. I truly gives the opportunity for students to use their voice and to learn how to share ideas in a brave space. ]]> 2018-07-12 23:33:00 UTC https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270096233 hector_lerma https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270450050 One of the things I share in common with my middle school students is our love music genres. Coming from a people of color neighborhood, and a "minority-majority" school, my students and I share our love for many of the same artists and songs we will play on our computers or phones in our free time. With that being said, I try to include music in science whenever possible and this is where Flocabulary comes into play. Flocabulary is a website that provides videos and activities to strengthen the knowledge of subject-specific vocabulary in different areas K-12. The website does so by showcasing the material using hip-hop and raps to make the material more engaging. I use these videos when possible, and it comes with lyrics captioned so students can follow along. Flocabulary has proven to be successful as a way to access prior knowledge, but also provide an introduction to many terms they will be seeing throughout our different units. ]]> 2018-07-17 21:34:35 UTC https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270450050 hector_lerma https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270450262 Using student voices during class is important for our children to feel engaged and important while learning. It is also important for us, as teachers, to educate our students of the best ways to engage in a discussion with another person. Philosophical chairs allows for just that, along with practicing reading comprehension. This activity allows teachers to have their students focus on a topic, read articles "for" and/or "against" said topic, and use them as a way to defend or attack either side. The topic chosen should be one that engages the students' interest, such as "All cell phones should be banned from schools" or, "Teachers should be allowed to carry guns on campus." One can also adapt this technique to their specific subject, and the more you relate it to real life the more students will see the importance of learning your content. This is especially important in today's day and age with "fake news" and online discussions happening left and right. It is important for us to equip our students with the proper tools for discussion of any kind. ]]> 2018-07-17 21:41:26 UTC https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270450262 hector_lerma https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270451222 AVID's Focused Note-taking (FNT) is a great way strategy to allow students to do more than just read a text and answer questions to show "understanding" of the material. If you want students to be well prepared to show comprehension of a text, using the FNT process allows students to interact with the material in multiple ways before being assessed through an assignment or quiz. Yes, there is still some basics, like asking students to take notes and highlighting important parts, but it forces the teacher to be more intentional in their practices. If a student receives and article, the teacher may asks students to "take notes" by annotating in the margin. They then will "process their notes" by highlighting the main claims throughout the text. Afterwards, students will connect their thoughts by writing questions in the margin, identifying where the passage gets confusing, and how it related to their life. In the end, students can be asked to summarize the text and to share their thoughts on it, did they agree with the author? Why or why not? These phases allow students to work with the text in different ways and to go back to the original source multiple times, before showing their comprehension in the last phase, "Applying Learning." Focused Note-taking carefully lays out a path for students to follow and the teacher guides them through their journey, with the students paving the road itself with their own thoughts and ideas.]]> 2018-07-17 22:06:48 UTC https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270451222 hector_lerma https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270452430 Working hand in hand with AVID's Focused Note-taking strategy, Writing in the Margins provides multiple ways for readers to understand the content given to them in a text. As educators, it is important for us to provide students with the opportunity to do more than just read a text, for doing so does not truly guarantee understanding of the material. This strategy allows the teachers to pick and choose in which ways do they want students to work with the text. Maybe you're trying to explain how the author uses "imagery" so you ask students to write or draw what the author is trying to describe through their words. Maybe you're teaching students about Newton's laws, and how one action has an equal and opposite, simultaneous reaction. One can ask students to connect with the material by asking them, "How does this relate to sports, or an event in your life where you saw this happen?" By having students interact with the text, they can think about the material in different ways that allows for maximum comprehension and also can help identify gaps in learning. ]]> 2018-07-17 22:32:24 UTC https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270452430 hector_lerma https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270453017 When trying to assess student comprehension, one thing we tend to often do as teachers is provide a text to students and have them answer a series of questions afterward to show their understanding. Another way for us to show student understanding of the material, or to identify areas of growth, is to have students come up with question themselves that relate to the material. Now, I don't mean just come up with questions out of nowhere, but to be intentional. For example, let's say you give your students a text about the differences between private and public universities. Your assignment could be for students to create a Costa's Level 1, 2 and 3 question that may appear on an exam. Once students have read the text, they can create their questions,a and they can quiz their partners or groups afterwards to show gaps of understanding or to demonstrate their reading comprehension with one another. This serves as a best practice because it allows student to work with the material in a way that they have to recall, process, and apply the information they learned in a small, quick task. ]]> 2018-07-17 22:46:18 UTC https://padlet.com/hector_lerma/MAT670HL/wish/270453017