Teach.Thrive.Triumph.

                          Week Three of school and I finally figured out a good, workable flow to zoom!  I have been getting so many questions on how to structure live video classes.  Below is my zoom schedule for my 85 minute classes. Attendance, Wellness Check and Goal Setting (5 minutes)                         During the initial first five minutes of zoom, I login to zoom.  I have them wait in the waiting room, until they are done with their attendance poll, wellness check and goal setting discussion board.  I give the students five minutes to do all of these things.  In the meantime, I am seeing who showed up live to my zoom class and doing the attendance through the zoom waiting room. Below is a picture of what my wellness check and goal setting looks like for my class.  Add caption For more ideas on how I do...

When school started I was not prepared for how stressful attendance would be! Trying to figure out who logged in and when was just a lot of work, especially when you have kids sitting in front of you.  After trying a few different things, this method is the easiest one that I was able to find. I saw different ideas about using different forms for each class and it started to get too complicated.  Instead, I created one form.  If you want a copy of my google form, click on the link and make a copy. https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1yGnyiiKeTDRaE-53n-Bb6lDX89-kokdXCJdpwEAN4Lk/copy If you take the form and edit it so that it fits your class, then you can just click share and copy the link on your learning management system.  I decided to keep my form short and sweet.  My first form I created had different questions and I decided it was too much and it took the students too long. I decided to simplify my form and ask only for the student's first and last name...

Harry Wong used to be my best friend for the first two weeks of school. This is the first year that I have taught that his book is essentially irrelevant.  So taking a lot of his ideas, I have been creating lessons to teach students how to do our new blended and remote learning class set ups.  The one that I will be doing in class tomorrow with students will be about teaching the kids how to use PowerSchool and how to use basic kami tools. In order you to teach students these skills, I decided to create videos on left showing students how to do the specific skills and put the skill practice on the right hand side.  For example, the second video is a video on how to use the LMS poll, then on the right the students take an actual poll.  The post essential skills that I decided to teach students are: 1. How to Take Attendance 2. PowerSchool Learning Polls 3. Navigating PowerSchool Learning 4. Using a PowerSchool Learning Discussion Tool 5. Using Kami Tool...

       Kids can’t learn from people they don’t like. PERIOD.  A little laughter in the classroom can change the entire classroom culture and environment.  The few seconds it takes to incorporate a little joy, can be the engagement difference for students.  These are a few chrome extensions that I found that can add that little sprinkle of joy into the classroom and they don’t take that much extra time.  If you are new to chrome extensions or need help learning how to download a chrome extension, go to: https://teachthrivetriumph.blogspot.com/2020/05/basic-one-click-chrome-extensions-every.html Emoji Keyboard for Chrome 😍 This extension is a ton of fun! It is really a couple extension in one. You can add emoji's to LMS pages or documents, you can create audio clippings, change your cursor, or have access to copy and pasting of new fonts. Watch the video below for more details...   Bitmoji      Bitmoji allows you to create a ...

New to chrome extensions?  Need to be more efficient on your computer?  That is why I love these chrome extensions.  Not only do they require just one-click to use them, but they require no computer skills.  These are the first chrome extensions that I used to learn about extensions.  Even though I use many more chrome extensions now, I still use these to save time and be more efficient. How do I download Chrome extensions?   Watch the video to learn how to download a chrome extension. One Tab When I am working on my computer, I have a HUGE open tab problem.  One tab solved my problem of always having a million tabs open.  All you need to do is download one tab to your chrome taskbar.  Then, when you notice you have a lot of tabs open, just click the one tab icon.  After this, all your open tabs can be found on a single page.  The other interesting part of this extension is that you can then import the page and send...

I know I wasn't the only one with this face after the week of online zoom!  At the end of the week when I looked at the number of students who had actually finished their assignments I was completely devastated.  That weekend I quickly brainstormed some PBIS ideas that I could easily and quickly implement into my online classroom.  I needed something that was easy to maintain and that did not cost any money. The first positive behavior support that I started was game time.  Every Friday morning, I would check all the students work.  Any student who finished all their assignments would receive an online zoom code link in their email.  I only shared this zoom code with the students who were done.  Then, Fridays at noon, we would all login and play math games together, such as prodigy or sumdog.  While I am not necessarily sold on these online games from a content and educational standpoint, I do know that my students love them, so I use them ...

This guy fills my month of August.  Every educator knows that every school year must start with the routines and procedures that Harry Wong outlines in his classroom management books.  When the year starts off strong with routines and procedures in place, they become normalcy.  However, this year had a completely different turn of events.  This is the first year that I had to revisit Mr. Wong in APRIL! After my first week of zoom sessions, I realized that something needed to change quickly.  As I was turning my wheels, I realized that I needed to re-set my classroom environment, culture, procedures and expectations.  In this whole new environment, students no longer understood the behavioral expectations that were required of them.  I quickly had to re-outline what those expectations were and have the students practice their online routines.  Below I came up with a couple quick steps to quickly place some routines and expectations into your zoo...

CHANGE! There has been so much change.  As educators we have had to adapt to a new, online teaching world.  Many of us are using zoom or other ways to teach using live video.  My first couple zoom sessions were exciting and thrilling, but after a couple weeks it became routine.  I needed something to further engage my students and make things a little more fun.  Below are some ideas to help enliven your zoom sessions. Welcome Activities These are activities that I start off my zoom session with.  These are silly ice breakers and get to know you activities. 1. That's Me: