A Midsummer Night’s Reality Check

Yes, friends, the summer is moving by oh so quickly!  I always say after the fourth of July, the rest of the summer becomes a fast-forward blur.  Nonetheless, I find myself getting antsy about the upcoming school year.  My brain is shifting from restful mush to inspired reality – in weeks, I will meet a new generation of 8th graders.  My next batch of students.  This excites me.  Call me crazy, but I am one of the ones who gets giddy when I see back-to-school supplies filling the aisles of office supply stores.

Just today, I sit down for a relaxing session of Pinterest-surfing.  Somehow, I end up with 27 windows open simultaneously on my computer, each one stemming from the next – a chain reaction of finds that I know I can somehow use in my classroom.

Here are some “pins” I hope to use this year!

1.  Tagxedo.com

How cool is this?  I am familiar with the Wordle of old, but Tagxedo offers a level of control I haven’t experienced with Wordle.  Yes, these word clouds look cool, but I plan to create word banks to inspire students to write and explain mathematics this year.  Kids have a hard time explaining their thinking, but with a word bank to help equip them, I think the quality of their explanations will improve.  Funky-looking word banks with tools like Tagxedo can’t hurt the process.

 

2. iPad Inspiration

This presentation offers over 100 ways to implement iPads in the classroom, as well as some troubleshooting tips.  With an impending 1-to-1 initiative, I know this will be a helpful resource for me.  I hope to blog about my iPad experiences a lot this year.  So excited to have such a motivating and cutting-edge resource at my fingertips… literally!

 

3. Curiosity and the Unexpected

I like to keep kids guessing, and this idea for rewards fits the bill!  Homemade scratch-off lottery tickets?!?  I better get busy making these now!

 

 

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