Great Idea! Put It On a Post-It Note

Wallwisher is a website which allows users to post messages on an electronic bulletin board. This website gives you the ability to post a question and easily get feedback from your co-workers or students. It works just like whiteboard hanging from your refridgerator: you write a question, then you receive a responses all over that board, in no particular order.

Here are some suggestions for using Wallwisher:

• Brainstorm ideas before a unit (What do you know about Electricity and Magnetism?)
• Get ideas from staff about best teaching practices.
• Kids could post “sticky notes” recommending their favorite book.
• Answer a specific question: What types of mammals live in Washington State?

Your task for this week is to create a Wallwisher board (once in the site, click on "Build a Wall" and simply follow the instructions). You may choose adults or students to respond to the wall that you create. If you want your students or parents to add/respond to the wall you create, you will need to post the link you create on your SWIFT site. If you want other adults to respond you could simply email them the link.


Assignment: In your comment below, please post the URL of your Wallwisher board along with any ideas or comments you might have regarding use of this tool.

Voice Data

When meeting with parents during conferences, it can sometimes be challenging to explain their child's reading grade by simply showing them written data. This is a tricky area because unlike math and writing, reading grades require the teacher to listen to the student and take formal or informal notes. Parents then rely on these teacher notes and try to apply necessary changes at home in order to have their child improve in their reading ability. Isn't there an easier way to communicate student reading ability with parents? Well....

OneNote is a Microsoft program we have had on our computers for some time. A few of us use it to organize files and notes, but most of us go running for the hills whenever they hear anyone utter "OneNote." But there is an easy and effective way to use this program: voice recordings! Instead of sitting down with a parent to discuss notes about their child's reading, how about letting them hear how their child reads while you analyze and offer suggestions. This post is to allow you the opportunity to see if it might be worth your time.

First, we need to open up Microsoft OneNote. Then we need to set up a folder to hold student voice recordings. Then we need to record and label. That's it! Take a look at this brief tutorial for help, then give it a try yourself!

After you have tried a few recordings yourself and played them back, here is what I would like for you to do: Please tell me if this is something that might be useful at all to you; either with reading or any other activity/lesson in which voice recording might be beneficial. Also, during parent conference time, do you present student information in any unique way? (perhaps through video, having the student work on a quick task in front of the parent, computer projects, etc.). Don't worry if you do not do anything out of the ordinary; I know I am still thinking of different ways to present information during conferences, but have not yet put them into practice.

Connecting With Your Students

"As a teacher, you can make progress effectively and much quicker if the student feels a connection; something tangible that shows the student you care."

We have all heard something along these lines before, and most of the time it holds true. Think about yourself (in or outside of the teaching profession). Are you more apt to listen to someone you have a personal relationship with, or are you more likely to carry out orders from a stranger who starts making demands?

Connecting with Twenty-first century students, truly understanding what motivates them and what their interests are, can be challenging and perplexing; especially if you do not have children of your own around that age (ahem, me). We need to work harder to find out their interests, as they change as quickly as technology has been advancing. However, The Teacher Chronicles, a site for teachers that puts out online articles, addresses some basic steps you can take to begin to understand where most of your students are coming from in terms of the world in which they are growing up. This particular article addresses basic steps teachers can take in order to better relate to the students they teach. My personal favorite is #18: "Get a new mobile phone. Your phone from 2006 is too old." Until recently, most of my fifth (and third graders last year) had better phones than me.

I also stumbled across a very interesting artcle from Edutopia that addresses the difference of how today's students brains have been trained the intake of information, and subsequently what teachers around the country are doing to tap into that learning style. It is a long article, but worth the read.

You have two options for this week's post (you can address option 1 or option 2 or both).

Option 1:
Read the article from

The Teacher Chronicles and tell us which step(s) you would like to try in order to become a "2.0 teacher." If you have completed all of the steps listed, then which ones did you find to be most beneficial for you as a teacher relating to your students?

Option 2:
Read the article from Edutopia and tell us about something interesting you learned from the article and how it might impact your teaching style and/or how you relate to your students.