Great Handout Creator-Smore

Recently my school tech department gave me a new Chromebook, and I spent some time perusing apps. Among other things, I was looking for an easy, seamless way to make eye-catching handouts. There are so many cool infographics and neat looking handouts around these days, I thought I could make some for my students. -That turned out to be a pretty tall order! I found this app, Smore via a Twitter post. It's easy to use, and makes beautiful "flyers"!

***After writing this post, I discovered that Smore is actually not free. When you sign up, you are allotted five free flyers. After that, you have to pay. They do have a discounted educator rate.

Here is a practice handout I made that I think I will actually end up using with my freshmen: 

Here is the Tweet where I found information about Smore. If you are interested in the concept of app smashing, it is really informational!

SMASH these tools to MAXIMIZE P/T/S communication & increase ENGAGEMENT for ALL! #21stedchat http://t.co/2yviPPQDne pic.twitter.com/arDa69Pcrz

— Lee Araoz (@LeeAraoz) July 27, 2015

Bulletin Board Ideas

I have been working on some ideas for my classroom bulletin board. The goal is for the board to brighten up the space and be meaningful for my students. I am hoping to involve my students each time I change up the board. Which, let's be honest, will not be often. So, since I will not be changing it up more than three-four times a year,  I want it to look really great.
Here is the first idea I am going with:

Turn Over a New Leaf

• Freshman do a journal entry about what they want to do differently this school year
• Seniors do a quote activity: find quote on Quote Garden (a great site!) and share it with a small group
• Freshmen choose a word to represent what they’re going to change and put it on a leaf, seniors write their quotes on leaf bordered paper--both are added to bulletin board
• Occasion: start of the school year

To see more ideas click here.

Character Shift Chart

I have mentioned that I was reading Deeper Reading by Kelly Gallagher; and I have finished it. What a great resource! Right now I am teaching summer school and I wanted a good way to assess students' understanding of the novel Speak. Using an idea from Deeper Reading, I created this great Character Shift Chart, perfect for demonstrating understanding of the development of protagonist, Melinda. View the chart here