"You're Such a Teacher, Mom"

Those words were uttered by my daughter after I asked her if she wanted to help me build a blanket fort.  Unfortunately for me, my mom didn't write down her instructions for building the best blanket fort before passing away.  So, Caroline and I will have to go by memory in order to build ours tomorrow. 

Let me backtrack a little bit.  At the end of the current school year, our grade level's Google Classroom was archived.  Right before we were to archive it, I participated in a meeting to determine which professional developments we might be able to do at the beginning of the year to help new teachers on campus and all teachers before school started again.  Not knowing how the school year might go and realizing the need to utilize the technology we have instructionally, I volunteered to co-present a PD on "Technology for Instruction and Not Babysitting".  I would say that I'm pretty good at technology, but I'm by far no guru. I have seen these "Master Classes" being offered for the Google products, but unfortunately, I have other areas of my life that need the money.  So, I had an idea.

I decided that I would put it out to the Google Classroom Universe (aka...my 4th graders) and basically down-low beg them to participate in an experiment this summer.  Basically, I told them I was creating a Summer Google Classroom to help me experiment and practice with new aspects of the technology in order to do distance learning better.  Just on the off chance that we may need to do a bit of distance learning at some point next year.  I told them that they would simply be helping me figure out what works, what doesn't, how it should be changed, what might make it simpler for students to use on iPads, and what they're opinions are.  I was surprised to find that 12 students signed up for the Google Classroom. 

Our first order of business was to vote on which book they wanted to do for our "Virtual Literature Circle".  As it turned out, I was able to divide the kids up into two groups.  They then were given an option on voting for which book they wanted to read first.  The girls were ALL over the Google Form for voting, but the boys didn't respond to the form.  They did however, respond to the email I sent asking them which one they wanted.  🙄. Off to Scholastic books to use those bonus points I've been saving up.  I told the kids I'd order the books and then deliver them when they arrive.  For helping me this summer, they're going to be able to keep them when we're done.  The girls chose, "The Gold Cadillac", and the boys didn't care, so we are reading the first in the Magnus Chase series.  That should be fun!

Our next order of business came this week.  Today, I posted an activity for them to do that I told them I needed their help with.  Using RISD's summer reading list of activities for Elementary students, I decided to create a Bitmoji Virtual Classroom.  But I created it with the idea in mind that my students could use this if we go to an A/B rotation and one day of distance learning.  The task that I gave the students was to go through the classroom and visiting the links I'd embedded.  This week, we are doing the items off of the Bingo card that has to do with reading to someone else.  There are at least four activities that the kids can do to take care of the items.  For example, I posted a picture of a blanket fort and linked a science video about how to build the best blanket fort.  After watching it, the kids were encouraged to build one of their own, take a picture of them in it reading and send it in.  One student did that, and then included a video saying that they were reading in their pajamas (also on the list).  I got so excited when he did that, that I asked Caroline if she'd build a fort with me tomorrow.  Of course, she asked why.  When I showed her the assignment the student turned in, she saw my excitement because of it and said, "Oh my goodness!  You're such a teacher.  Only teachers would be excited over that."  Darn tootin' sisterpants! 

On Wednesday, I'm going to create a Google Hangout with the group so they can give me feedback on how the Virtual Classroom went and I can tell them what I want them to look for during the next round of activities. 

So, I'll proudly say, "Yes. I am a teacher. Yes, it does get me excited that I have students who are helping me help the others. Yes, that make me excited."

My first student to turn in a picture of his blanket fort.