Saturday, September 21, 2019

Getting ready for the day: organizing and tools

This is a quick look at what getting ready for a day of teaching looks like. 

But there is a HUGE disclaimer:

There are SO many things that are *not* visible that I have already done to get ready for the day.  These are things that are part of getting a unit ready.  

These include:

  • Planning the units 
  • Prepping (copying and chopping) the materials for students (see the above link for how this is different than planning)
  • The Great Organizational Project- Which includes:
    • Youtube playlists of videos and songs by unit, 
    • Itunes or spotify playlists of songs
    • Electronic file of related resources 
    • Hard drive files organized
    • Paper file of lesson plans and materials
  • Setting up my internet environment with an extension such as Toby or Onetab.  (I actually do this at the beginning of the year.) 


REMEMBER:  This is gradual work.  When I teach unit 18 for the first time, I am going to build a youtube playlist with songs and videos, purchase the recommended song and put it in my iTunes playlist, create an electronic folder on my hard drive, create a notebook in Evernote, and print up all the materials to put in a binder.  This is *all* part of planning for a unit.  I don't do this all at once. It is bit by bit.  



WAIT!  Don't be overwhelmed!  

I have taught most of these lessons before - several times.  I *still* look at the activity and if I need to, grab the printed out lesson plan and carry it around with me as I teach.  Sara Chronister, one of my fellow admins of our SOMOS collab group, created this AMAZING list of links for activities in SOMOS.  This is awesome- but is one more thing on the computer.  For me, I prefer to read it on paper and file it with the unit.  

The other thing that I urge you to consider as you use any curriculum- (aside from our #mindset shift, Connections not curriculum!) is to consider activities as opportunities for input and as such, as bullet points in a list, not I must do these five things today because that is what the lesson plan says and I don't want to be a bad teacher.  

For me, shifting to a bullet point mindset ("this is the order that we are going to do things in, more or less, and they take up as much time as they will take up") makes prepping and planning much easier.  As soon as we finish one thing, we do the next.  Planning becomes about looking at the bullet pointed list (which honestly is in my head at this point, but here is an example I made for a Stepping Into SOMOS training).  

When I step into class: (This is what you will see in the video)

  • Check for handouts that I prepped for each unit, organized by unit.
  • Lesson plans printed (this isn't in the video, but the printed plans are with the handouts)
  • Open computer
  • Open Chrome (which opens TOBY) (tab organizer)
  • Open Teaching Tabs (using TOBY) 
  • Open attendance tabs using TOBY.  
  • Open iTunes Música de la clase playlist 
  • Open unit folder PLANS on hard drive
  • Open any film clips or something that will be projected(because the internet rarely actually works in my room so I download most clips).
  • Open campanadas. (This isn't in the video. I forgot to do this that day. It was fine, because it took me less than 5 seconds.)

Here is the video  
(Click if it does not play- for some reason the auto-play function is not working.)


Referenced in the video:
SOMOS 1, Unit 02 
SOMOS 1, Unit 21 (free)
Modified Comida unit 
Toby Chrome extension
Brain Break slides 
Classroom screen

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