As I was making my rounds this morning at Kennedy Elementary, I was snagged by Beth Kerber and asked some LearnPad questions. She was understandably shocked at the less than ideal performance by some of her fourth graders on a basic subtraction facts quiz. Chalk it up to summer brain-drain, a full moon, or any number of other excuses, but the bottom line was that these students needed a solid fact foundation to build upon. Right now, we needed a way to address this concern.
I described how LearnPads could be used to differentiate and allow all students to practice the facts that are most meaningful to their development. After leaving her classroom, I came back to my office (that little room off of the library - come find me and say hello) and built a basic Fact Practice lesson for the LearnPads. Within this lesson (QR Code below) there are six categories. Addition, subtraction, place value, multiplication, division, and videos. These categories are populated with resources to address the needs of students in those areas. Or, in the case of the video tutorials, it will provide a chance to learn something new. This lesson is available for everyone to use when ever you would like to use it. To check it out, grab a LearnPad and scan away! If you have an area of concern with your students, please talk with me about it. Perhaps, working together, we can find some resources that will be both helpful and fun for the child to learn.
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We are officially one full week into the 2014-15 school year, and there has been a lot accomplished! I am beginning to see art projects appearing on the walls in and outside your classrooms. Getting-to-know-you projects are being presented and posted. I am noticing classes and students falling into their new or familiar routines. It's comforting.
As a teacher, your feet have likely not come back to the ground, but they are getting closer. I am looking forward to the time when you feet are under you and I am able to provide your complete sets of LearnPads. With that will come a request. I would like to meet with site grade level teams periodically (once or twice a month) for a short "what are you doing and how can I help you integrate technology into that lesson/unit" gathering. The time can be used for a quick how-to demo, but mostly I want to know what you are working on and what resources I can supply you with to help your students master the given topic or concept most effectively. How do we go about doing this? For now, if you're interested and eat together, just drop me a few ideas at Lunch Crunch. Tell me what you're currently working on with your students. Let me know what's coming up. I can tailor resources to your requests and needs - I just need to know what you desire. Once we are able to establish a meeting time, we can sit down together to plan deeper integration, like app-flows, where students use our technology more and more. When should we be starting this? Any time that feels right for you and your site grade level team (within the month of September). The last thing I want this to be is overwhelming, stressful, or intrusive. Working together we can make this what we need it to be. Supportive, resourceful, and (hopefully) fun. I cannot wait to work more closely with you. Until then, I'm available. Let me know what you need, pull me into your class for introductions, and think about what you would like to accomplish together. |
AuthorAndrew G. Leiser Archives
February 2016
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