April29
I feel like weeks with a student holiday seem to be the longest weeks for teachers. I know I was out for two personal days, and only working three days felt like an entire week. It seems I was always doing something on the days I was in. On the plus side, I got well over my desired steps for the days and will achieve over 100 miles for the month of April.
Even with my short week, I visited some fabulous classrooms. Mrs. Lopez and Mrs. McDonald were 
using Peardeck to review the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to the Constitution. One of my favorite parts for the activity was the point of view slide (shown to the right). After discussion and reviewing the 13th Amendment, students then had to write a thought from the viewpoint of the North and the South. Students really had to think about how the viewpoint of the amendment would be considered based on their geographic location and how it would affect their livelihood.
8th grade Science students were focused on reviewing Moon Phases for the upcoming STAAR test. Mrs. Troy’s class used the Google Expeditions Phases of the Moon AR activity. She modified the activity by having the students pull up the Moon from an AR marker. Then, they moved around the moon and described what phase it was currently in by identifying the position of the light and dark surfaces. Many students had great conversations about the position of the Earth and the Sun in relation to the moon. Watch a student explanation below.
On Friday, I stopped by Mrs. Gilliland’s room to see what her ELA students were doing. She had them use Google Docs to write a short essay. After writing the essay, they choose a student in the classroom to share their essay with. Then, each student used the comment feature in Google to make three positive comments about their peer’s essay and to make two suggestions to improve or extend the essay. Students were quiet and on task because all of their comments were made on the devices.
April18
“Every person I have ever met enjoys learning, but not every person enjoys school. That gap is where I think we should veer toward ‘Let’s learn something together‘ as opposed to ‘Let me teach you something.’ It focuses on the positive experience rather than the negative.” – Stuart Easton, Vista High School
April16
So even with STAAR testing for 7th and 8th graders, teachers found great ways to use technology to engage the students through the long week.
I saw many teachers using Goosechase to have students review before the test or review content in a new and fun way. Mrs. Gilliland and Mrs. Harper completed their first Goosechase on Monday to review ELA concepts. Students raced around the building to answer questions about homonyms, parts of speech, etc.
In 8th grade Science, Mrs. Troy and Mrs. Wells used Goosechase to review multiple Science concepts for their upcoming benchmark. Students moved around the building in stations to make videos about each of the concepts representing their knowledge and understanding. Check out a student’s response above.
Coach Pope and I had a short training on Flipgrid. He is interested in using Flipgrid to have students response verbally about their understanding and connections of material in Texas History. His plan is to gain an understanding of Flipgrid throughout the last month and a half of school, so that he can use it to gain insight for how to use it at the start of next school year.
Mrs. Harrell invited me to her class to see her students use Kahoot Jumble. 
Kahoot Jumble has you put four answers in some type of order instead of the traditional Kahoot where you just select one answer. For Mrs. Harrell’s review of the essential standard on ordering numbers, she had students use the Kahoot Jumble to put rational numbers in order.
April12
“It is critical that our students know their thoughts and conversations are valued and important. Invite conversation whenever possible.” – Dr. Jamie Lipp, Ohio State University
March29
Spring is in the air at LLMS. Staff and students are enjoying the longer days and the fabulous weather. I know my kiddos are enjoying riding bikes and playing in the dirt in the evenings. Tball has also started and many nights you can find the Soose family at the WYAA cheering on Jenna, who happens to be the only girl on her team.
As we enter this final nine weeks, just a reminder to create engaging, high-quality lessons will help keep students on task and on track in classrooms. Please let me know if you want to schedule some planning time to look at some ideas on engaging students with creative technology projects.
Students in Mrs. Gutierrez’s 6th Pre-AP science classes completed their digital timelines on Space Exploration using Tiki-Toki. Students were given eleven events to add to their timelines. After getting all the events, students had to add information and details about each event. They could include pictures, video, and websites as well. Click on the link below to see a student example.
Student Timeline
The Electromagnetic Spectrum took over Mrs. Troy and Mrs. Wells’ Science classes. The students used the Google Expeditions app and the VR (Virtual Reality) viewers to learn about the different type of waves. During the virtual field trip, students viewed the waves in the viewers and then answered questions based off of the material presented on the projector from Google Tour Creator. The discussion about microwaves, radio waves, infrared waves, and ultraviolet waves taught me more than I learned from reading the information. For example, did you know microwaves are more than just a device used for heating or cooking food, but actual waves used for radar and communication?
Mrs. Johnson’s 7th graders competed in a Goosechase to review Surface Area.
Students answered a variety of questions using photo and video evidence, as well as self-checking answers. Students described pyramids and prisms, found lateral and total surface area, and competed to be the first team to finish.
Let Mrs. Soose know if you need ideas to integrate technology or helping planning a lesson.