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Showing posts from March, 2019

Our School, Our Story

Stories. We all have them. We all like to hear them. Some of us like to read them. And in today's society, we ALL love to see them. Capturing the pulse of a high school is no easy feat. Sharing it with the world in an engaging way....even harder. While the purpose of this blog is to share the awesome things happening at Neuquqa Valley High School, I recently started to consider how we could reach a bigger audience: the students. Whether they admit it or not, students are curious about what is happening around the building. They are also excited to share what they are doing, learning, and feeling with others. How do they typically do this? Yes, you're right.....social media. Specifically, Snapchat and Instagram. They spend half of their day snapping pictures and videos of themselves while spending the other half looking at what others are sharing. In our collaborative, digital world, we all love to see others' stories, and social media makes this easy and fun. In Febr

Creative Learning and Fun

Sometimes, our students need opportunities to be creative and do something different in class. Yes, we all know this and work tirelessly to differentiate instruction to engage our students, but I am hoping some of the examples below will spark an idea or motivate you to try something new and creative in your class. During my classroom observations this week, I witnessed a few different activities that asked the students to apply what they were learning or going to learn to some sort of creative activity. Each class had the same result: student energy and engagement. Here is a snapshot of this fun in the classroom: It was first period on Monday, but the students in Mr. Farrar's MATH class were still up to the challenge of trying something new. Mr. Farrar asked the students to use Adobe Spark to create a poster connected to their current unit while starting the class with a good 'ol fashioned carousel activity. Students worked in groups and moved around the room to complete var

Life Lessons

Before this week, I never noticed how much of our instruction centers on life skills that will help our students lead strong, healthy, motivated, and proud lives. Yes, the content does creep in, and most times, it is our lesson's main event, but if you really pay attention to the commentary provided by our teachers as they teach this content and facilitate student learning, it is pretty cool how much of what we say teaches a valuable lesson for the future.  After a few weeks off, I was excited to continue observing my students this week. And let me tell you, I left each class feeling excited about what I observed and eager to debrief with my students. As mentioned above, each class I visited moved beyond the content; instead, I witnessed instruction, advice, support, collaboration, critical thinking, student creation, implementation of various strategies, and development of student skills that are not only essential for the classroom but also for real-life and future experiences