We had a fantastic guest speaker this week: Joanna Lake is a Middle School Teacher at Lansdowne Middle School. It is so nice to hear from someone who is currently teaching and in the mix of what we are heading into.

First, Joanna spoke about the importance of creating connections with students. She emphasized the importance of building a solid morning routine with students so that they can feel safe about expectations and have time to share. Joanna showed us some fun mood scales (guinea pigs, medieval owls) and suggested we check out Tara wood\s pinterest board of mood scales for inspiration.

She emphasized creating low-risk opportunities for students to share/build connection so they can build confidence and trust such as:

  • familiar routines of fun videos/jokes/ playlists
  • check-ins: mood scales/finger scales/ thumbs up/ post it notes
  • bulletin boards they can add to- fun questions/ place name in a category
  • Let the class design the room
  • Student surveys
  • memes
  • feel good fridays
  • tea time

Joanna also shared the benefits of using Flipgrid to make videos in the classroom. I have worked in classrooms that use flipgrid often and can say it was a huge hit. Many students can shine with it. I am definitely wanting to incorporate it into my future classroom.

Finally, Joanna spoke about assessment, specifically using assessment as learning in the classroom. She highlighted to benefits of involving students in constructing criteria and rubrics. By doing so they become aware of quality and can craft their work with intention. As well as using explicit models to help students understand what is expected. Joanna gives her students an emerging and proficient example so her students can spot faults and identify what works.

She also mentioned that when assignments are creative and fun, that students will buy into them and engage more. I think this is very true and one of the great things about being a teacher: you get to be creative and fun! You aren’t just following instructions, you are sparking interest, joy, and curiosity!

I really valued this time with Joanna. It was so great that she took time out of her spring break to come.

Extra Resources:

Fawn Nguyen: Visual Math Resources

Liz Kleinrock: @teachntransform