Using Edmodo to Differentiate and Engage

While I sometimes question the amount of screen time our younger generation is experiencing,  I do believe in the theory of moderation. I do believe technology gives us an advantage in the education world and culturally that we’ve never experienced before. When I was growing up I couldn’t just talk to somebody on the other side of the world and learn something new with them with the click of a button. Today, our children can. So I try to keep up with the newest trends in technology.  Plus I try to teach my students that technology is an amazing tool but they have an obligation to stay healthy and that requires movement.

One tool I’ve been playing around with for a while Is Edmodo. I used it some last year. Then did some more research this summer and I attended the 2015 EdmodoCon and I was sold. The features are unbelievable.  

As I stated previously, I started dabbling with Edmodo last year when I came across the Global Read Aloud.  A teacher from Australia and I used it to create small groups that met once a week to collaborate and discuss Jennifer Holm's The Fourteenth Goldfish. It was amazing! My students were so excited to use a platform similar to Facebook to meet with others their age. Their excitement crossed over to their love of The Fourteenth Goldfish not only because it is an amazing book but they were in control of their learning. They were able to ask questions and share connections with peers on the other side of the world.

Today I'm going to share with you how I'm using Edmodo to create self-regulated learners in my intervention classroom.  I’m using it with my sixth graders this year because they have a 1:1 classroom and they are able to bring their laptops down to my room.  

I want to share some amazing features I’m using to make learning more engaging!

Here’s what the group page looks like:

                                         

You can see the group setting and the ability to create small groups within your class group. This makes differentiating so much more simple.

Then I’ve highlighted the middle “post” portion. This is very similar to Facebook except it has education features that allow the teacher to create assignments, tests, quizzes and polls. Students can post but you need to remind them that their post are not private and can be read by all members of the group including yourself.

There is an Assignment Center for the students to quickly find assignments and all their assignment details. I don’t assign “homework” but they do have assignments that they work on in class. I’ve already found that even my reluctant speakers will ask questions in a post this way.  And I can only imagine the relief it would be for parents if there was an assigned time in the evenings that a teacher would answer any questions on Edmodo for homework help at home. The possibilities are endless.

Last but certainly not least, my apps! I’m just going to highlight the apps I'm using right now but you should definitely check it out for yourself because there are more apps then you could ever imagine.

My number one favorite is Snapshot. 

This app gives you the formative assessments needed to ensure coverage of standards. You choose the standards, your students take a short test,  the app gives you reports. Then it  offers lessons for students who may need more direct instruction regarding the standard they're not meeting. I'm using these reports as part of my students' goals & reflections notebook work. Click on the graphic to learn more about snapshot.  

 This is my second favorite app. My goal for all my students is to become self-regulated learners. With my 6th grade group I'm able to give them opportunities  to practice setting goals, asking essential questions and their ELA standards using this app. This is where I create their lessons. I give brf mini lessons, release them to work on their Blendspace assignments then  I meet with individual students to conference regarding goals, lessons and reflections. Click on the graphic to learn more about blendspace. 

I'm just now in the beginning stage of introducing this app but I felt like it was worth the mention. It's similar to GoodReads but it's for kids. They can find books, write book reviews, read others' reviews, and much more. 

I'll be posting more on my experiences with Edmodo on Looney's Literacy so be sure to follow along here. 

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Teaching & Practicing Fluency

Hello everyone! This is Tara Looney from Looney's Literacy. I know this may find a lot of you already on summer vacation so the topic of fluency may be far from where your brain may be.  If that's the case, and you find these tips helpful you can always pin this and come back when you're ready! 

How do you teach fluency?  My first and easiest response was reading aloud and modeling. Yes, this is one way to teach fluency. But another,  very important way to teach fluency is repeated reading.

I want to clarify a few things before I get started. One, there is a difference between teaching and assessing fluency. When you assess fluency you listen to a child read for one minute from a passage they've never seen before. When you teach fluency (I'm talking: fluid & accurate reading) you not only model but you give students the opportunity to practice what fluency sounds like in a text that they already know. Two,  my purpose for reading aloud mentor texts is for them to hear fluent, expressive reading without any interruptions. So on a first read, I don't do any teaching. I may pause and ask rhetorical questions (model comprehension strategies)  but we don't discuss. That's for the 2nd or 3rd read (which is for comprehension strategies that support fluency).

 During my small group instruction time with my primary students,  I always have my students preview the text prior to reading. This time gives them opportunities to look at pictures, think about the story and skim the text for words they may need to work on (which will aid fluency during reading).  With my elementary aged and middle grade students (3-6),  I have them go read it to themselves silently and then come back to the table to read it together. This helps support reading fluently when working together in small group.

If a group is still struggling to read a text fluently without hearing it first I read a page a loud and then have a student read the same page a loud. That way they know what the story sounds like. How many pages I read a loud depends on how quickly the group catches on and begins reading fluently without support.

With that being said, I would like to discuss one way the fourth grade teachers in my building teach fluency that supports an internal drive to be successful and get better. I'm not exactly sure where the strategy originates because it's been several years that one of the fourth grade teacher's brought this strategy back from a conference they had attended. But I still love it! It' s one of those timeless classics in education that may "swing" in and out but never really goes away.

We use Macmillan McGraw-Hill Treasures™ and in the past couple of years we've adjusted the program to work for our mission and building goals. We've adopted a 7-8 day ELA schedule (I love, love, love it!). It gives the teacher and the students time to really concentrate and work on different skills , including those they may need to continue to work on from past weeks'.

So what does this have to do with teaching fluency? This...the teachers use the short story before the main story to practice a variety of skills. On day one, the students read the short story to themselves for one minute.  This  "cold read" warms them up for day two and three. The students then work on the vocab. skills for the week. On day two, the students read the short story to themselves again for one minute.  Then as a whole class work on the comprehension skills.   By day three most of them are reading the whole passage to themselves in one minute. Most students really enjoy watching this growth occur over the few days.

 On day one at the beginning of the year, the teachers teachers hand out a blue, yellow and red post-it flags. (These should last for a whole semester, with exception to those "few") The students read the short story to themselves and when the minute timer goes off they mark with the blue sticky marker.  Day two, they will use the yellow marker and on day three they use the red.

You may be  wondering  how to hold them accountable if they are reading to themselves. The beauty of it all is, you don't. You  talk to them about being honest and if they choose not to be they are only cheating themselves. This activity  is not about comparing yourself to others it's about helping yourself get better. You may also want to remind them that fluency is not about how fast you read but how fluid you read. It should sound like you're talking. Let them know this will help them understand the story better also.

I hope this gives you some tips to take back to your classroom!

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