Rachael GrilloAES Chapter Secretary Free Certification/Badges for Teachers
Are you a teacher looking for some ways to enhance your students’ learning experiences? Maybe you are looking for things that will enhance your resume and assist you in job hunting? Or you just like freebies….. Whichever category you’re in, here’s some training that can better you in the classroom. AND THEY ARE FREE! Nearpod Certified Educators As a teacher, I relied on PowerPoint notes and then sometimes did exit tickets or short quizzes to check for understanding. Everybody had to be on the same page. What I love about Nearpod is that you can build the interaction right into the slides. You can do live presentations or do student-paced and allow the students to go through it at their own pace. You can integrate videos, quizzes, open-ended question, matching games, etc right into the slideshow. Nearpod will track not only participation (if they interact with the interactive slides), but also accuracy on things like the matching and quizzes. It’s easy for teachers to pull a report (and save paper). First, Nearpod recommends you attend a webinar to learn more about what will be expected of you to achieve certification. Next, Nearpod gives you an outline of what your submitted lesson must contain. Finally, you must launch your lesson and have at least 15 students use it. It’s just that easy! I submitted my application and heard back within two weeks that I was now a Nearpod Certified Educator! They also sent me a certificate. There is NO COST. If you’re interested, the website with all information is found here: https://nearpod.com/certified-educator Common Sense Educators Common Sense Media has a certification called “Common Sense Educators”. There is also no cost for this program. Common Sense Media is all about assisting students in the digital age and providing teachers with the skills and tools to achieve that. The Common Sense Educator badge “publicly affirms your commitment to helping students think critically and use technology responsibly to learn, create, and participate” (Common Sense Media website). Common Sense Media provides three sections to complete to attain the certification. First is “Learn” where you do a series of activities to “level up your teaching practice”. Second is “Do”, where you choose two activities in which you will engage your students. Last is “Reflect”, where you will reflect upon the process. Again, there is no cost. If you’re interested, the website with all information is found here: https://www.commonsense.org/education/recognition-educators Microsoft Innovative Educator The Microsoft Innovative Educator badge is free. The goal is to learn fundamentals to apply technology in education. The website is very personalized because you only have to complete tasks adding up to 1000 points to get the badge and there’s a lot to choose from. I chose one task that was 1500 points to complete the badge, but you can complete several smaller tasks or a larger one. The choice is yours. If you’re interested, the website with all information is found here: https://education.microsoft.com/microsoft-innovative-educator-programs/mie If there are other free badges or certifications you know of, please share in the comments below!
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Rachael GrilloAES Chapter Secretary If you have anything to do with a classroom or education, you have probably heard the term “differentiation” over and over and over again. We have a good idea of what it is, but with the diversity of learners in our classrooms, the challenges to implementing differentiation seems insurmountable. Every resource has a different idea of how best to utilize differentiation in a classroom. One method that I use in my high school science class (covering special education through advanced placement) are choiceboards.
In this blog post, I am going to cover some types that I have found work well in my classrooms that can be easily adapted for use in any classroom. These are simply things I use to help me differentiate, but they’re not the only way. They’re a great way to incorporate graphic organizers while allowing student choice and teacher structure. Tic-Tac-Toe We’re all familiar with the game Tic-Tac-Toe. How on Earth does it apply to differentiation? It’s easy! You create 9 assignments in a tic-tac-toe board and students choose 3 to complete. However, they must complete 3 in a row for tic-tac-toe so you can make sure that a variety of assignments are completed. There are so many different activities you can use. Some ideas for student choice activities can be:
Now, some of these activities seem very basic. This is where the teacher in you comes into play! You don’t want the student to simply to regurgitate information – you want them to demonstrate some level of understanding. I try to arrange them in such a way that each tic-tac-toe has a variety of mastery levels and a variety of different activities. Here is a model that I ask my chemistry students to create:
As you can see, they are creating a model but in order to create that model, they have to be able to create and explain different chemical reactions. An art teacher could use this method to show mixing colors to create new colors. A math teacher could use it to show addition. Here are 2 options I ask my physics/physical science students to choose from:
They have to be familiar enough with the laws to apply them to their own life and explain the relationship to the sport. Need students to learn vocabulary?
The assignment choices do not have to require lots of photocopies or a ton of instructions. I’ve had students create memes to explain concepts and vocabulary words and act out scientific principles. Sometimes I leave the middle as a “free space” where students can bounce an idea off of me to try to use for mastery. You can re-use the same option multiple times in the tic-tac-toe board if it’s one thing you really need to force the students to complete. You can have all 9 boxes be different. It’s also easy to have the board on one side and a rubric on the other side so that everything fits and students know what will be expected. Here is a sample chemistry choice board: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1boR_IKh_jdLpMfWOiYcVWJHpbDKwo6DRCkOOmJvpK8U/edit?usp=sharing Menu Boards Another method of differentiation is using menu boards. It’s not as popular of an option as the tic-tac-toe, but is still useful. I use menu boards frequently in my high school science class but again, this can be adapted for any level or course. My version of the menu boards is a restaurant menu. There can be appetizers, side dishes, entrees, and desserts. It’s also a lot of fun (for me, at least) when I have the time to format them to look like an actual menu. I will often list the “easier” or low DOK (depth of knowledge) assignments under the appetizer option and ask them to choose one to complete. The more involved or “meatier” options are listed under the entrée section and they are to choose one (and the entrée is worth the most points). There can be side dishes listed if you choose (when I use side dishes, I have them choose two to complete). Finally, there is a list of desserts to choose from (or just one dessert that everybody does). Here is a sample I use for my environmental science class: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Tn_xlLum0uqkvoqnAYp9Hg9VAE_M3nInRBsd2obBS1E/edit?usp=sharing So those are two ways to incorporate student voice and choice and differentiation into your classroom. There are SO many other ways, so don’t limit yourself to just these. Good luck and be sure to enter the giveaway below! You must be a current KDP AES chapter member to enter and you will be asked to provide an email address where you can be reached to claim your prize. Prizes not claimed in 3 days will go to the next person on the list. Please click here to enter the drawing: http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/0bebab240/? |
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