In a few weeks, I will be traveling to Indiana to attend the 2016 Spring Teacher/Blogger Retreat. I went last year and had an AMAZING time connecting with other educators, sharing my passion for our profession, and leading round table sessions on the power of using Twitter and Instagram in the classroom. For me, this weekend is all about connecting with other educators from all over the United States and talking about all things teaching. It is an experience that fuels the soul and sparks creativity. This retreat is also a way for us to give back to teachers who deserve to be spoiled and BOY do we have some amazing gifts to give away at the retreat thanks to our sponsors. However, teacher retreat or not, these companies LOVE teachers and support us in so many ways so if you are looking for companies who are STELLAR teacher supporters then take a moment to check out these amazing folks! Here are some of our AMAZING ...
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Why Teachers Should Periscope
I am constantly amazed at all of the wonderful opportunities social media can bring to teachers and students when used efficiently and correctly. When others ask me why I am so involved in the educational world of social media, I tell them that it is my way of connecting with classrooms and educators from around the globe. Social Media--Periscope and Twitter specifically-offers educators the opportunity to create their own "personalized" professional development. Are you interested in learning about Genius Hour or maybe altering the way you are incorporating it in the classroom? Maybe you are getting ready to start a unit on the Great Depression and you are looking for lesson ideas. Perhaps you have iPads in the classroom but are not using them to their fullest potential and are wanting help! Periscope(and Twitter) can help you answer all of those questions and much, much more. Here is a quick video that my district helped me put together to talk about ...
Flocabulary in the Classroom
I cannot believe that I had never heard of this website until the company reached out to me and asked me to check them out. I am a huge advocate for promoting tools and resources in the classroom that are authentic, rigorous, and meaningful to my students and to me so when I decided to give Flocabulary a try, I can promise you that I was NOT disappointed. There is so much about the website and the resources that you can find on it that are top notch and my favorite part is that Flocabulary offers what our students are interested in---music, lyrics, and visuals on content that they are learning about in the classroom. BOOM! That is gold! I have partnered up with Flocabulary to bring you something special---a free extended trial to their website! You are going to want to sign up for this....whether you teach 2nd grade or 11th grade....there is something for everyone on this site. Here are my 3 reasons why I LOVE Flocabulary. Because I teach ELA ...
