My second cup of coffee in hand, I headed to my office and pulled my To-Do list out from beneath a stack of books, notebooks, and papers with every intention of adding to it.

I mulled it over: syllabi to complete–high school and college editions; lessons to plan; phone calls to make; emails to send; seminars to attend; workshops to develop. And this didn’t even include my everyday tasks and errands such as groceries, laundry, appointments, catching up with friends, dinner. The list was never-ending. After all, that’s precisely why we have To-Do lists in the first place: because there will alway be things we have to do. They will always exist, evolving as our roles and responsibilities evolve, never leaving us to wonder, “Whatever will I do with my time?”

Today, though, as I contemplated the future of my To-Do list and what I might add to it, another thought crossed my mind. As you know, the onslaught of the Coronavirus Pandemic has brought the education world to a standstill of sorts. School leaders across the country and around the world have had to consider decision-making that could literally have life and death consequences for students, teachers, staff, and even the community at large. As a result of these decisions, classroom learning environments will change drastically this year for every student and every teacher in the country, despite whether they return to remote learning settings or to in-person classrooms in their traditional form. Either way, teachers and students will be faced with new challenges that include, for some, computer screens and internet connectivity as potential barriers to learning. Others will have to navigate the challenges of social distancing and face masks as deterrents to potentially life-threatening illness and, subsequently, to the loss of instructional time. Regardless of how we feel about these decisions, without a doubt, education has been turned on its head, and we cannot–we should not–approach it with the same old To-Do lists we have created for ourselves in the past. My thought? For the first time in a long time–maybe even for the first time ever–I have the chance to reimagine education for my students as they return to me this fall. This to-do list just won’t do.

With my morning epiphany in mind, I’d like for you to do a little exercise with me. You have a to-do list, right? I want us to put aside our To-Do lists and think about something else for a moment. We have been presented with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a new reality for our students as they re-enter our classrooms, virtually or otherwise. Now, I know we have to be realistic in understanding that the Pandemic did little to nothing to erase well-known issues in education. In fact, some of these issues have been greatly exacerbated by the arrival of COVID-19. Thankfully, though, many of our state and local school leaders have realized this, and grace has come in the form of elimination of certain standardized assessment types, smaller class sizes, adjusted schedules, and more. Obviously, these things were necessary to ensure safety and the continuation of education; however, with these things also came the smallest sense of liberation. The adjustments made will allow teachers the chance to restructure learning in ways that we haven’t been able to before. We have been given access to new forms of technology and more modern communication tools for connecting with our students. In some instances, we have been permitted to side-step programming and compliance practices in order to meet the needs of all of our learners. So, now that those already outdated To-Do Lists are out of the way, let’s consider the aforementioned things and create for ourselves a new kind of list. 

If you will, please, take out a new sheet of paper. Across the top, title it your “Un-Do List.”

So, what will you put on this new list? I’m not sure. That’s up to you. But, I do know this list could be as endless as our To-Do lists, and I also know that this Un-Do list has the potential to affect change far more than our To-Do lists ever could.

Evaluating our current circumstances, what are some of the things we might seek to “un-do” in these unprecedented times? Perhaps we can work towards undoing things like:

• Systemic Racism
• Achievement Gaps
• Labeling Students
• Ignoring Social-Emotional Needs
• Teaching to the Middle…and so many more. 

I’m a realist (to a degree), and I know we all have things that we must do to prepare for a new year with our kids, especially in these entirely new learning environments. My question, though, is this: why would we even think about doing things in the same ways we did them before? This year, our Un-Do list has the potential to bring magic to our classrooms. From our Un-Do lists, educational transformation can begin. These lists will give us the chance to reimagine learning as we seek to create new experiences that will grow engaged, inspired, life-long learners. Un-Do lists can offer us the opportunity to draw out the Greatness that exists in every single one of our students.

Here is my challenge to you:

This school year, commit to finding what you will work to Un-Do so that every student in your classroom can grow into the learner he or she is capable of becoming, and so that we can keep education on its head in a way that continues to benefit our children every day we see them.

Principals & Administrators, what will you Un-Do in your buildings or within your districts?

Teachers, what will you Un-Do in your classrooms?

Parents, what will you Un-Do at the dinner table, on car rides, or in your living rooms?

And we can’t stop there. We then need to figure out how we can reimagine or Re-Do these things, because like our lists, education will never, ever be done. 

Contrary to popular belief, because we are teachers, the ability “to do” is an innate quality we all possess. Renowned educator, Rita Pierson, affirms this in her famous Ted Talk, “Every Kid Needs a Champion.” She asks, “Is this job tough? You betcha. Oh God, you betcha. But it is not impossible. We can do this. We’re educators. We’re born to make a difference.”

And make a difference we will.

Share with us what you plan to “Un-Do” this year and how you will reimagine education to make a difference for your students. 

Use the @Twitter hashtag #EducationUndone so we can continue the conversation.

I can’t wait to hear all about your undoings!

Don’t forget to Comment, Like, and Share

It’s Math & Statistics Awareness Month!

We all know math is playing a vital role in helping the world fight the Coronavirus pandemic. The data, research, and methods involving math are a great way to explore the importance of numbers in our fight against COVID-19. Link up with AMS and others on Twitter @MathAware or on Facebook for more details and fun activities.

National Poetry Month is finally here!

What better way for students to chronicle their experiences during their COVID-19 Quarantine than by writing poetry? Poets.org provides tons of information on how you can celebrate this month with poetry. April 30th is Poem in Your Pocket day. Have students record their poems and share them on Flipgrid so the whole class can hear and respond.

April 22nd is Earth Day!

This year Earth Day is going to look a little different. Going completely digital, the EarthRise campaign will challenge the world to open up conversations and connect digitally, in order to mobilize, even during the Pandemic.

So many other fun-filled days in April…

The Spruce has put together an awesome calendar filled with something for every single day in April! Check out their article “30 Reasons to Celebrate in April: A Celebration for Every Day,” to find fodder for those homeschool and distance learning lessons and activities. Here are a few you could try…

April 10th – Siblings Day: Have students write a letter to their sibling(s). In their letters, have them share what they’ve discovered about their brothers and/or sisters while they have been at home together. Ask them to elaborate on how they feel staying at home together has helped or improved their relationship.

April 12th – Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day: Have your students write down the recipe for their own grilled cheese sandwich, then help them to make one! Incorporate technology by recording them while they cook and having them edit their final video into their own “Cooking Short.” Share it with friends and family, near and far!

April 23rd – National Picnic Day: Go on a REAL picnic! Take a break and celebrate all your kiddos’ accomplishments this month! While there, ask kids to take in their surroundings. Have them talk about the sights and sounds in order to help them appreciate the wonder of the outdoors!

Have fun learning and growing together,

Dawn

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Pear Deck is an engaging Google-connected platform that offers students a variety of ways in which they can interact with content, both individually or as a group. 

In this post, you’ll learn how to use Pear Deck as a competitive, team-based grammar review for the ACT or any other classroom review you need to plan!

Preparing for the ACT

As my ELA III students anxiously prepare the ACT in February, one of the most challenging aspects of the preparation process is finding ways for students to interact with test content that does not consist of kill and drill activities that thwart any chance of engagement.

Often times, when reviewing grammar skills, ELA teachers take students into various text types to analyze the lines for proper usage of language conventions. While it is beneficial for students to be able to recognize errors in usage when reading, students also need the opportunity to hone these skills via writing practice. With a well-planned set of exercises, Pear Deck is a great place for students to practice grammar skills through written response.

Diagnosing the Problem Areas

In order for me to properly set up this Pear Deck activity, we first began with a quick 20 question diagnostic assessment on conventions. The assessment we utilized came as part of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt‘s online suite of Collections products at my.hrw.com. If you don’t have access to my.hrw.com, try using an online quiz like the one here in Quia. The results of our quiz gave me an entry point for beginning our language conventions review. 

Note: We used Strunk & White’s Elements of Style as our unit resource to help us understand and review the rules for commas and possessives in the days prior to this activity. We also looked at some comma and possessive use within our current class text, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. We even began with a debate about whether or not the title needs a comma!

Now, I probably didn’t need a diagnostic assessment to know that these were my students’ greatest weaknesses; but it was confirmation anyway. Not to mention, a diagnostic is a really great piece of data to have if your admin drops in for a walkthrough, or if you know you have a formal evaluation coming up soon. Data driven instruction, right?!

So, where did the data say we needed to start? Yep, you guessed it: commas…and possessives, too.

I Like Cooking My Family and My Pets.

Anyone who has ever read the average American 10th or 11th grade composition knows that high school kids don’t use commas. While their spoken language may be English, their written language is Run-On. And if you ask them what serial commas are, with a questioning look and shrugged shoulders, they might answer, “psychotic word killers?”  

Just like commas are a challenge, possessives pose a whole other set of problems for teens. Introduce them to the form that includes examples like “Charles’s mom,” “witches’ brooms,” and “Moses’ laws,” and they are on the edge of a brain implosion! As their teacher, if I don’t make this fun, it will be “Game Over” before we even begin.

Enter, Pear Deck!

Pear Deck Comma & Possessives Practice for ACT Prep

The steps below outline a fun, fast-paced team activity that any student will enjoy, especially the competitive ones! This particular activity was designed to help students practice and review comma and possessive usage, but it can be modified to fit nearly any language skills review. 

Follow these easy steps and, I promise, your students will have a blast!

1. Create a new Google Slide deck and open the Pear Deck add-on.

If you don’t have the add-on, click here for instructions on how to add it in Google Slides. 

2. Begin building a series of slides in which each one contains an incorrect sentence example with improper comma or possessive usage, or…Click here for a link to a Pear Deck that I created for this activity.^* (P.S. It’s a view only Google Slide deck, so you’ll need to have a Google account to copy and edit it.)

^*Students will be correcting these sentences as part of this activity, so the sentences on the slide are meant to be incorrect. The answers are in the presenter’s notes field at the bottom of each slide.

3. When your slides are complete and ready to go, break your students into groups of 3 or 4. Make sure each person in the group has a sheet of paper and a writing instrument. 

(This is a team activity, but requiring each student to record their own response gives you something tangible to evaluate for each student, so that you can see you their individual responses to the grammar problems presented.)

At this point, you can allow students to give themselves team names, or you could simply assign them numbers, i.e., Team 1, Team 2, and so on.

4. During this activity, one student will be in charge of entering the team’s response into the Pear Deck slide. This student must join your Pear Deck at joinpd.com by using the code you provide them:

While only one computer per team is involved for this activity, students must understand this is still a collaborative effort. Circulating the room while they work will help to keep them focused and engaged. 

Other than the one computer, no other technology is permitted. Students cannot look up answers to the grammar issues presented.

5. Before getting started, on page one of the Pear Deck, have your student teams work together to review the rules of comma and possessive usage. Each group can type their responses into the Pear Deck answer box and you can review them as a class.

The Race Is On!

6. Once students are assembled in groups^* and are prepared to write and collaborate, you can project the first incorrect sentence on the board so students can easily see it.

^*Make sure your students are situated in a way that allows them to collaborate with one another, face-to-face, but where they can also easily read the presentation sentences. Encourage them to move whatever is in their way to allow them to work together as a strong team!

7. Once each group has finished their collaboration and once everyone has a sentence on their  paper, the students assigned to typing each teams’ response will begin typing their responses into the Pear Deck. Make sure the team representative puts their team’s name or number before their response so you know which team has the first correct answer.

In order for a response to be considered correct, the ENTIRE sentence must be correctly written, including capitalization, spelling, end punctuation, and whatever concept is the central focus, in this case commas and possessives.

The first group to get the sentence completely correct will earn a point for that round.

8. If no one gets a sentence correct the first time around, you may offer them a hint and let them try again, or you could simply give them the correct answer and move to the next incorrect sentence without assigning any points. This is where you, the teacher, can tailor the rules of the game to meet the needs of your students.

Play for as long as you like, and if time runs out, simply save your session in Pear Deck. You can always come back to it later!

And the Winner Is….

At the end of the game, you can decide what you’d like to offer your winning students as a prize. For secondary students, here are some great incentives that will keep them motivated and engaged during game play:

• Earbuds / Music for a designated time period during class
• Extra credit points in the gradebook
• Early release to lunch (they’ll love this one–especially last lunch kiddos!)
• Brain break time (Rubik’s cube, online games, boardgame play, etc.)
• Choose item from supply box: notebooks, folders, pencils, pens, erasers, etc.
• Solo library time (with permission from the Librarian, of course!)

There are so many great, free rewards for students in any gradeband that are just a Google search away!

Again, while I designed this activity for the purposes of reviewing comma and possessives in English language conventions, you can use it for whatever grammar review is required. Simply make a copy of the Pear Deck and tailor its contents to meet your students’ educational needs!

Have fun learning and growing your students!

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