Ditch Summit 2020 - Days 3-6

Dear Teacher, 

I thought finding an hour in my day would be easy. I can take the time to watch the videos but I forgot something. 

Quarter End.  Semester End.  Winter Break.  Report Cards. Holiday Baking. The list goes on and on. What was I thinking? 

​I was thinking that this is important for me and my students. I need this to be a better me. 

Please note... The sketch notes below were created by Jen Giffen.

Day 4 - Matt Miller

How to Do More with your Learning Management System (LMS)

I currently live on my LMS - G Suite and the Google Classroom. In this remote teaching world, this is where I meet my students and teach. It is where we build relationships. 

I am always wondering if I am doing enough. What more do I need to do? Is that I am doing working? 

Today's presentation was with Matt Miller himself. I found out that I am doing a lot of things right. I loved his discussion on prime real estate.  I have been doing this well but could do it better. I discovered that taking the time to make a custom header for my Google Classroom was the right decision. I needed to hear that the time I had invested was for a good purpose. 

My favorite thing... Just Mote! I have tried other voice memo apps in Google Classroom and they just did not work for me. They simply took more time than I was willing to give to it. This embeds. I can literally talk to my student while reviewing while reading what they wrote, offer feedback, put in the grade, post and it uploads easily with less time than when I write a comment. LOVE LOVE LOVE!

My second favorite thing (can't have just one when Matt Miller is talking)... is asking one more question on your tests. Out of the 65 students I have, 2 are native English speakers. Most have passed their English as a Second Language classes but they still need a little more help understanding sometimes. THIS really spoke to me and would be such a huge benefit to my students! Adding the question "Everything I know about this topic but wasn't asked." This is HUGE! Why didn't I think of this before? 

In addition to this, Matt talked about how to set up the classwork page. While I really like his suggestions, I think I am going to keep what I have as it is working for us. Perhaps, I will share it with all of you another day. This presentation goes with his new book which I have moved to the top of my reading list. 

​Day 5- Dr. Lindsey Portnoy

How to Energize Your students with Games and Play

I think learning is fun and I try to add in as much as I can into my curriculum. There is not a lot of time for games but this is the area where I am struggling in my classroom this year. 

I have sooooo many in-person games but how do I do that online? How do I do that online when I am teaching all 65 students at one time? 

I was hoping for ideas that would work for me but most of what was suggest I do in-person when I have 3 classes of students not 1 jumbo sized class. When we return to blended, I will continue to have 1 jumbo sized class which is difficult to teach. 

The one take-away I had was to ask what they are currently playing and what they are not playing. I am constantly asking my students for feedback but this was one thing I had never thought of asking but will start doing so. 

​Day 6 - Nyree Clark

The Heart of Culturally Responsive Lesson
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With our country in upheaval over race and equity, this is a topic that has become more and more important to teachers. The district curriculum used in my classroom is also diving into this topic more but on a historical level. It has been interesting to see the connection that students are making to their lives.

A lot of times when we talk about culturally responsive instruction, we focus on building personal relationships with our students. We are often asked what we know about a particular student to prove we are being culturally responsive. One of my favorite quotes from Ms. Clark is "It is beyond building relationships. It is connecting those relationships to instruction." I loved this!

It goes so well when the presentation from the previous day where we were talking about asking students what games/apps they play and don't play. It is taking that love of football and bringing it into the curriculum to help the student connect to it and thus turning an ordinary lesson into an experience (as Dave Burgress would say). 

​I enjoyed the deep dive into Equity. We looked at this table by Z. Hammond on the differences between multicultural education, social justice education, and culturally responsive education. Which one is best for our students and why? What type of teacher are you currently and how can you adjust your current practices to be better?

This was another one of those things I needed to hear. I have done a lot of work in this area but have I done enough? Listening today's steps to culturally responsive teaching tells me that I am right on target. I will continue to grow and learn but I needed that reassurance that I am a culturally responsive teacher. Thank you for showing me this!

​If you want to hear more this guest, please visit her website at MsNyreeClark. ​

Days 7-9

Only 3 more days and so much learning has happened! You can still view all of the videos and catch-up on the fun. Visit Ditchsummit.com. 

Talk to you soon, 
​Misty