I had a teacher ask me for ideas for how her students could show their knowledge at the end fo a unit in a way that wasn't a traditional, paper, presentation or test. I pulled together some resources about infographics and thought I would share them. 

We see infographics all the time. They are visual images used to share information or data. Infographics work in the classroom because they grab students and allow an entry point to learning — and because they sum up pages and pages, even chapters, of information that would take a student hours to process. In addition to organizing information for students, infographics can be one more option when students are asked to research, share their findings, or analyze information. It is an alternative way for them to creatively communicate knowledge or an idea using a combination of visuals and small snippets of text.  

If you haven't created an infographic yourself, here is a good blog post that walks you through the process.  (Like just about everything these days, we have to teach ourselves before we can help our students learn!) 
​

In looking for resources about infographics I came across the image above. It made me want to dive in and learn more about everything it was saying!  This is just an example of how inquiry and learning can start with an infographic. I found it here. ​

​Looking for ways to introduce infographics to your students? Check out these resources: 
​

• This will save you tons of time - Here is a link to a lesson plan with resources all ready to go so that teachers can introduce what an infographic is and how it organizes and presents information.
• Fantastic Resource - Kathy Schrock has a Guide to Using Infographics as a Creative Assessment. She includes links to help develop formative or summative assessments that have students creating infographics to showcase their mastery of knowledge. Check it out, because there is A LOT there! ​

• One free tool that will help students create an infographic is Easel.ly. This site requires no sign in at all so you can either plan to have students create in one sitting OR you can use the "groups" feature to create users under your e-mail that require no shared personal information. This is a nice option that will then allow the students to collaborate. The groups feature also enables students to save and come back to their designs later. 
  
  Easel.ly also has a ton of templates already available as starters. For example, if a student or group plans to compare/contrast two things, there is a template available to either edit or to inspire them to create their own from scratch. While there is a pro version, the free version offers everything our students need to create their own infographics.
• ​Use Google Slides or Microsoft Powerpoint to create infographics. There are templates that have been created to guide students. Read all about how you can use the tools you already have on your device to create infographics on this TCEA Blog Post Infographics Made Simple. 
  ​

If you have additional resources or examples of using infographics in our learning environments please leave them below! 

As our Christmas decorations come down and boxes that have been stored for over a year in our garage are unpacked while we remodeled after Hurricane Harvey, I am sitting back and looking at my "big picture".  I am grateful to be a part of the #CompelledTribe and to have developed a practice of sharing my thoughts and learning through blogging. (More about the #CompelledTribe and why I blog here.)

Here goes where I am as we close out 2018.....

I’ve found this year to be filled with reflections on gratitude, appreciation, inspiration to keep learning, stretching, growing, exploring, creating, and contemplating who I am meant to be.  Seven take aways from 2018 that I will carry forward in my journey are:

• Failure is an opportunity for growth. It is evidence that I had the courage to try. It is the best way to learn how to do (or not do) whatever I am striving to achieve.
• Try not to ever pass up an opportunity to travel. Being a traveler expands world views, perspectives, and empathy in powerful ways.. It makes us more insightful and accepting.
• Loss comes in many forms. It isn’t something we get over but something we learn to live with and shapes who we are and how we see other people. (Empathy) 

• Use my opportunities and privileges to extend more opportunities and privileges to others.
• Things gather dust and most things will eventually end up in a donation box.  Keep it simple.

• My time is the most valuable and precious commodity I have. Gifting it to others is the most meaningful gift I can give. Filling my time with people who make me feel motivated, challenged, inspired, valued, or loved is the most valuable and memorable gift I can give myself.
• Never settle for what is, continually ask what if... including looking within. (It's ok to change your mind and your goals.) 

I learned the Latin phrase alis volat propriis or "She flies with her own wings."  It makes me smile. 

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year!  Now on to the fun of thinking of my three words for 2019! What will yours be?  #ChallengeOn

Finals are coming! We assume students have the skills and tools they need to make connections and deepen their learning independently, but many times freshmen have never been exposed to skills and strategies to use.  Creating a study plan is a first step students can take to help them experience greater success. 

Creating a study schedule is a time management method that can reduce a student's level of stress by teaching them how to set aside the necessary amount of time for studying, and also how to use that time wisely.

When reading about ways to help our students begin to get organized I came across a blog written by a student at the time in Portugal. She shares from a student's perspective 10 Essential Steps to Creating a Study Schedule.   Students love to hear and learn from other students! 

A study plan can be created on paper or electronically. Need a template or a place to start? Below are templates you can make a copy of. Feel free to use as is or edit.

• Starting with your hardest course, work backwards from the exam date and assign study chunks to individual blocks in the schedule (If using a paper schedule use a pencil because you may need to revise!)
• Schedule your peak learning times for your hardest studying. 
• There is no perfect plan: try to spread your studying over a period of 5 days or more, and reach your targeted number of study blocks.
• Be sure and schedule breaks and things to look forward to doing. 

Encourage students to create a study plan that is reasonable  Keeping in mind the amount of time they need to study and review each day, students also need to realize that, blocking off four hours, for example, with no break will set them up for failure. 

Develop a plan to communicate and share information with parents also. As we began to post our Finals schedule we also began to push out information to our parents through our weekly eNews.  We also have a Study Skills and Resources section available on the Cardinal's Nest our Freshman website. 
​
Once a student has their study plan in place, some helpful reminders are:

• Place the calendar or printed schedule in a visible location so that it is easy to see or if the schedule is electronic have it bookmarked and easily accessible. 
• It is important to review, study, and self-test. First, spend a few minutes reviewing the material you studied during the previous study block; then spend most of your time reviewing the current chunk of material; then spend some time testing yourself on that material.
• Take the breaks that they have scheduled into their study time. 
• Find a place or environment that is right and comfortable to study and concentrate. 
• Include exercise and healthy snacks in your break schedule. 

Creating a plan is the first step. If you have additional suggestions or resources for students to use, please share them below so that we can all learn and help students draft a study plan that will help them be successful.  Next post I'll focus on Retrieval Practice and how it plays such an important part in making learning stick.

One of the many things that I love about Google is that they are constantly seeking feedback and looking at ways they can get better. Here is a simple improvement that made them better. Whenever you want to create a new Google doc, slidedeck, form, sheet or site.  Simply go to your browser's address bar and type in the type of Google app you would like to create followed by dot and "new". So for a Google doc you would type "doc.new" and press enter. A new Google doc will appear and you will be ready to get to work.

Better is better....and this is better!  

The assessments listed above are tools that educators have to use and administer at the classroom level.  The first type of assessment, formative is a term commonly referred to in education. The use of formative data to alter instruction and to scaffold next steps forward in instruction varies from classroom to classroom. There are times that the formative data is being used to create a grade as an indicator to the student of their level of understanding. When the formative data is simply a grade to the teacher and instruction continues as planned the power of using a formative assessment is lost. (In other words.....I have taught it and you have either learned it or not and I am moving on.)  In defense of many teachers, the pressure to move forward to keep up with a pacing calendar encourages this practice at many schools.  

The next three types of assessments: the screener, diagnostic and progress monitoring assessments are tools that are not as commonly referred to or used in many classrooms.  In my experience, they are tools that can help identify where a student is performing at in overall literacy and numeracy. These types of assessments help educators know where to adjust the basic point at which instruction is going to begin.  I think of it in terms of someone setting out to climb a mountain.  

Using the data from a screener and a diagnostic report allows a teacher to decide a starting point, for example reading level for the students they currently are teaching. The use of progress monitoring allows educators to see in a snapshot if the strategies and instruction they are using are helping students show growth. 

When looking at the list above, summative assessments are used often in our classrooms to assess over-all learning.  Creating summative assessments prior to instruction is critical. Summative assessments should be created by a PLC. When the PLC creates a common assessment it allows for every teacher to know what learners will need to know and at what rigor level they'll need to be able to perform at.  My question, and it is a question because I don't know what the answer is, how do our summative assessments address the various starting points of our learners? 

Bringing all of these assessments together into one big picture takes a team, planning, brainstorming, and constant change.  What it looks like and how instruction is affected cannot be scripted by pacing guides, and it is going to look different depending on the group of students. The challenge here is that the learning goals identified for students may be different than the standards identified by the student's grade level and course. This is where traditional classrooms and data hit a roadblock.  Teachers need to be encouraged and supported throughout the process as it is complicated and hard work.  Asking questions along the way as to the use of data, instructional adjustments and student progress should be at the center of our conversations.  

I believe we have learning to do around the implementation of interventions and varied instructional groupings, especially at the secondary level.  Identifying technology tools that help differentiate and scaffold instruction is key to meeting more students needs.  Realizing the need to learn is the first step forward to improvement.   

If you have insights on the use of assessments to drive learning and adjust instruction, I would love to hear your thoughts.  ​

I need to be around people who have ideas and who are excited about creating learning opportunities for others. Having felt the power of a tribe early in my career, I have continually sought out communities where I felt connected. Looking back, I have been connected to a tribe at each school that I have worked at over the years.

Seth Godin wrote a book titled “Tribes.” Those who know me well know that Seth Godin is one of my favorite people to read, listen to and watch. I find wisdom and encouragement in his work. I have this AWESOME book that compiles much of his writing. (I just have to show you how huge it is!)​
​

The orange Quickchecks button leads to a list of instructional strategies that a teacher or PLC can chose to use.

Teachers can simply click on a strategy and the app guides them through the use of the strategy in a very simple format that can be applied to any learning environment and offers suggestions to extend thinking past the quickcheck. In the example below, I clicked on the 3-2-1 summary strategy. 

The blue Think It Up button leads to a list of strategies that can extend a students thoughts and lead to deeper understanding of the standard. 

The purple button Resources and Content Builders leads to resources that support Texas TEKS and STAAR testing data. There is good content here for Texas educators, but educators outside of Texas will not utilize this section of the app.  The green button Professional development provides information and links to Lead4ward PD opportunities.

There is a timer at the bottom of the app that teachers can use in instruction. Timers are easy to find on youtube etc., but it's nice to have it accessible in the app.  A teacher can have it open a Quickcheck or Think It Up once time expires. 

In addition to the App the Lead4ward website offers valuable information to Texas teachers regarding standards. The website has resources that vertically align standards. When planning, teachers can quickly see which standards students have covered in previous grade levels.  Using formative assessment teachers can assess if those standards have been mastered and scaffold instruction for students.  Below is an example from English 1, however the website has content available in all core areas.  The standard below is Figure 19 -reflect on understanding to monitor comprehension (e. g., asking questions, summarizing and synthesizing, making connections, creating sensory images). Take a look at how Lead4ward identifies the supporting standards from previous grade levels for a teacher.  

In addition to the content from the app and website Lead4ward offers paid features with additional support for teachers.  Having a solid list of strategies at a teacher's fingertips can facilitate conversations during planning within PLC's  and lead to different paths for instruction. I am looking forward to using and sharing these resources with teachers on my campus.  

What other apps have you found that organize strategies or help teachers when planning instruction?