Frazzled Friday

Ms. Baldwin brought in a group of five eighth graders to lead small group collaborative learning.  These eighth graders broke off with sections of four seventh graders and walked them through the capabilities and resources provided on the IPad driver's test.  Before the seventh graders were allowed to take these Ipads off of school grounds, they had to demonstrate their skills in opening documents, downloading apps, and using school resources like Schoology and Notability.

This was a hectic time.  Ms. Baldwin had to repeat the instructions for signing in, choosing passwords, and setting up accounts several times.  Once the process got rolling, however, the eighth graders took over.  They had to write their own initials as a check-off when the seventh graders in their group exercised the identified skills on the rubric.

A large incentive for getting through the tedious tasks that day was the promise of library time for independent reading.  Ms. Baldwin structures a lot of her curriculum and time around independent reading.  The students disperse around the library, using the online library available on their Ipads as well as hard copies provided in the school library.

Ms. Baldwin regularly allows students to fill out cards, recommending their independent reading books to other students after they have finished reading.  Students appear to appreciate picking books out for each other based on the student's interests.

I liked that even Ms. Baldwin and I got to bring out individual reading books and model independent reading alongside the students.  The general quiet time served well as readers reacted to books that interested them.

It was an exhausting day in the seventh grade today, but a lot of business was taken care of.  Seventh graders are now well on their way to participating with school resources online.