School Starts

This year my goal is too use Edmodo to take over my classroom management. I will eventually put everything there. I love the format but had an issue this year with some students not being able to use it. After back and forth with their great help line, the answer was never really found, but I added my dog as a student and now I test everything with her. I put her picture in as well -the kids like it. I have loved using youtube and podcasts and letting students comment on this. It's a version of a flipped classroom, but with English they already have lots of reading and then they come in ready to discuss, so it's a natural flip. Even with the issues, I'm determined to make it work. Currently subtext is able to open in Edmodo and I have two students I am going to practice with. It is a great way if teacher has ipad but students have multiple devices. Parents and students have reported positive impact. Also this year I tried Inspiration Maps, I love it but to save and send you have to buy it. That doesn't work for students although they did screen shots and sent them to themselves, a great work around. I encourage any teacher that likes to use brainstorming as an activity to look into it. My students reported that it really helped them with a difficult essay they had to write. I was using it to identify quotes/ideas and then move those bubbles around to where they related. It's like your brain on mapping. There are other applications of this same idea on -line and some students tried it with their phones, not as great but still worked. Student engagement was measured by student comments and ontask behaviors. This assignment was "very engaged".