Socrative

In order to help me keep track of my students' progress (or lack of it) and reduce my workload, I use Socrative Teacher. Socrative is a website and also an app that enables you to design online quizzes, short surveys and games. I use Socrative to design weekly tasks that my students do as classwork with or without a grade.

I use it to sum up the material that we have studied during that week or review the material before a test. I even use Socrative to check reading comprehension (I photocopy the text and they answer the questions on Socrative).

So what's so great about Socrative? Well, I only” have to” prepare the quiz / task and the minute students finish doing it and I press on the FINISH button, I get the results. That's what is so awesome about Socrative ( I know that there are other apps/tools that do the same, like Google Forms). I do not spend time checking each student's work. It is done automatically. My students also like using Socrative very much and one of the reasons is that they get immediate feedback from me.

So, how do you prepare a Socrative quiz?
1. Sign up on Socrative Teacher.
2. Go to Quizzes and press on "Add Quiz" and then on "CREATE NEW".
3. Give your quiz a title.
4. Start inserting questions. I suggest you only use multiple choice and true/false question types.
5. Type the question and the answers.
6. Once you finish typing a question press SAVE and move to the next question. When you finish typing the whole quiz press on SAVE AND EXIT.
7. To make the quiz available to your students, you have to "launch" it. Choose your delivery method and settings. Your "room" will open and all you have left to do is to invite your students to go to Socrative Student> type their name and the room name... and start working.

What's in a Grade? 

Since I'm in the midst of doing final grades for the semester this is the burning issue that I want to share with you. Our school decided that in 7^th grade we will not use numeric grades in the report cards this year. Instead, we have to do an alternative written assessment. The report card should consist of comments written by the teacher and the student.

The learning goals of this period should be defined and the assessment should reflect the students' performance according to those specified goals. I should also add a few sentences with explanations of what exactly was covered and how the student performed in each area. The parent and student should be able to identify the strengths and weaknesses so as to allow the student to focus on what was difficult for him or what he/she didn't manage to achieve.

I 'm also going to include a remark on effort and motivation, especially to encourage the students and show them that their efforts are noticed and appreciated.

As for the students' part, they are supposed to reflect on the last semester, what they have learned and how have they performed in class and set goals for themselves for the next semester.

I started working with the students this week on their part for the report card and they are facing difficulties. The students are too young and they have never reflected on themselves before. This is a learning skill that they have to acquire and practice in advance and we haven't done it up until now. Also they are having issues with expressing themselves. What they write should be printed in their report card but their expression in writing is inadequate.

This process of making report cards has become a big challenge and the work load is pretty exhausting.  Have you ever had to do something similar?

Blog

I want to share with you my experience reading a post written by a teacher. I find this post very exciting and touching.

Surprisingly, the teacher who wrote the post has the same name as I have.

The teacher describes the most significant lesson in his life in 15 years and this is what he says-

Towards the middle of the year teachers are asked to write assessments for each child. 

The teacher offered the children an exercise to write an assessment about themselves in the third person. He asked them to write at least one page, and only good things. They began to argue with him. "I do not have anything to write" "I'm willing to write only one line" "Where do I know what to write”.

They began to squirm. They began throwing into the air all sorts of positive judgments in a dismissive and cynical tone. The teacher began to think that perhaps he was offering them something bigger. Or maybe it's an exercise that gets them bored. And he almost gave up. Then he realized he had two voices. One voice who knows this is a formative exercise. An exercise that he wishes he could have done when he was a child. An exercise that can enable them to experience something that may be possible only when they reach a workshop at the age of 40. An exercise that will break the wall of self-image based on external approval.

The second voice in him was the voice of an ego that was afraid it was boring. Afraid that he will not be able to attract their positive attention. A voice that suggested that he should do something else with them, something "more fun."

He knew instinctively that their reaction was due to embarrassment. But the little boy in him, afraid of being bored, almost gave up the exercise. As soon as he caught these two voices inside him, he stopped. He felt a deep pain in his little boy who did not hear how amazing, beautiful, wise, successful and loved he was in such a way that it would convince him for the rest of his life.it was a pain that the child in him could not believe what good things are said about him also today as a grown up.

The teacher insisted and said - “You are about to receive the greatest gift I can give you this year ... Look how absurd this is! I suggest you to write about yourself good things, and you argue with me that you do not want to. Do you get what's going on here??? "

The students fell silent. He shared this is what he felt. He told them about the little boy inside him who is seeking external validation, because there is no voice in him that plays him what he so longs to hear. No one has trained him to talk about the best in him. He told them that he was a footballer who was physically excellent, but he had an inner voice that he always felt was not good, so he retired at a young age.

 It was the sound of a wound that goes through deep healing. They were silent. One of them insisted that he would not do this exercise. And folded the page. The teacher told him that he could write ten full pages about him, how smart and sensitive he was and how successful he was during the year and a half they’d known him. The student looked at him with a look of” I can’t let myself believe you.”

 One girl said she would write, but it's very hard for her because immediately she had the voices of others who would tell her she was arrogant. He offered her a point of view on why. He said that maybe those who tell her she is arrogant feel difficulty and there is nothing wrong with telling the truth. On the contrary, we owe ourselves this truth. She watched and there was a small smile of understanding.

The teacher insisted that everyone writes and they started doing that. Some had difficulties so the teacher and the rest of the class gave them compliments.

One student wrote only 3 lines so the teacher completed his assessment. The teacher said many good things and the other students added other compliments. This student started crying silently after those warm words.

 Another boy just wrote- “I AM A BOY WHO…” so the students completed his words. The child’s eyes sparkled with joy and happiness. Eventually everyone happily talked while standing on a chair. Every time someone read about himself or herself the whole class cheered and everyone was very excited.

This exercise illustrated what we sometimes forget. The children’s self-image is a direct outcome of what we- adults, tell them about themselves. Therefore, it’s crucial for us to build up the children’s self-image by teaching them to be aware of their strengths and uniqueness.

What are your thoughts on this?

The Dancing Classrooms project

Four years ago our 4th graders started a new school project. They  took part in the “ Dancing classrooms” program. I was lucky to attend some ballroom dancing lessons to get fully involved in the practice and to be a part of this great event outside the dancing classes. From the very first lessons I realized that dancing lessons helped my students solve social problems. It helped them learn about honor and respect, improve self-confidence, cooperate, listen to others.

The pupils learned to behave in “ a lady- gentleman” way even outside the dancing lessons. Students were taught the vocabulary of various dances in a classroom setting. The vocabulary was presented and taught  in English by the dancing teacher,which made the dancing program multidisciplinary .There was a unique and successful combination between English lessons and a dancing practice.  My  teachers colleges and I decided to do something more than just repetition and learning the dancing vocabulary. We decided to turn this dancing program into an interdisciplinary project. The kids wrote a story with the “dancing plot” in Hebrew. I translated it into English and the 4th grade student Ella Gavor brilliantly illustrated it. This is how the scrapbook “Everybody, dance now” came to life It was successfully presented at the school dancing ball along with the other materials in English and Hebrew that were created in the classes who took part in the dancing program. After the ball I was asked to send all the materials to the Dancing Classrooms headquarters in Netanya. Then they were sent straight to NYC Dancing Classrooms manager Alee Reed. This is a short quote from her email :

Thank you for doing this so fully – and more!  I love that you created a way to enhance English studies with ballroom by teaching the dance vocabulary in the classroom, and that the repetition in the ballroom lessons helped reinforced what they learned.  And you made it fun, too, by combining creative writing with art, and even word puzzles! I am giving you a standing ovation right now!!!

For me as an English teacher “The Dancing classrooms” program was an unforgettable experience and a new challenge . It was also a fun activity as well. The unique combination of several school subjects made it the most educational, inspiring and memorable school event ever!

A Creative English Teacher – Lead the Way!

A Creative English Teacher – Lead the Way!

Benjamin Franklin said: "Tell me and I’ll forget. Teach me and I’ll remember. Involve me and I’ll learn."

A good teacher has to be able to activate the pupils, raise their curiosity and boost their motivation.
A good teacher nowadays has to be interesting, versatile, innovative – like a juggler or a magician!
A creative teacher can achieve all of the above and Rania Essa is such a teacher.

Some of her activities require some preparation: a Gallery Walk, Interactive notebooks, Quizlet games, videos (such as Learning English Idioms is a piece of cake), PowerPoint presentations, Powtoon videos, Bitmoji…But other activities that she creates are quite simple to execute in class and hardly demand any preparation.

Gamification is an educational approach whose goal is to motivate students to learn by using video game design and game elements in learning environments and to increase pupils' involvement and joy while studying. Gamification, in Rania's book, can also apply to simple, non-elaborate games.

Take, for example, the game "Who is the winner?!" Stick blank post-it notes on a board, divide the class into teams or groups and address questions in turn to each group. If they answer correctly, a representative comes to the board, chooses a blank note and lifts it. On the back of the note there are points. Most are 'plus' points (+5, +10…) but some are 'minus' points (-3, -5…) and this can create a 'twist'. It's a non-predictable element which turns it into an exciting game since everyone likes winning, but the surprise factor – "Lady Luck" - may turn the whole thing around and there's no way of predicting who the winner is going to be.

Luckily for us, Rania Essa's motto is "Caring is Sharing." She shares her ideas constantly on her website, on Facebook and in several teachers' groups.

Rania leads the way and inspires many teachers and those who follow her are no doubt all the better for it.

creating and making games in the 5th garde

This is the first time I'm using this format and I'm not so sure I'm doing it right but, here it goes. 

I used a few of my lessons with my 5th graders to come up with a topic that they like and create board games in English. 

The pupils are divided into groups and came up with amazing things such as Fortnite Monopoly, go fish around the world (food around the world), memory game, a book of games e.t.c
Before collecting the games in a box you should make sure there are no spelling and grammar mistakes, you also have to make sure that everyone in the group took part in the process of making the game.

I collected all of the games and put everything in a box in the classroom. Now we have a lovely shared games corner in our classroom and pupils can go and play whenever they've finished a task. 
I really recommend doing this activity with your students. This can really enrich their vocabulary in a fun and exciting way. You can also use this activity to practice grammar and basically whatever you like,    

Ganit, Ahavat Zion

news quiz- in 10th grade

I would like to share with you what I have done in my 10th class, 5 pointers.

I loved the amazing idea of "News quiz" (thank you Leo,the course's lecturer),and I thought that it could be a great opportunity to combine fun and enriching the general knowledge of my students.

I followed Leo's instructions on his amazing website and chose to use the intermediate level for my students.Additionally,I downloaded the different exercises to practice the new collocations.

I went over the new words with the students,as a pre-activity.

I also let them use their cellphones because I could not count on their knowledge. 

To sum up, they enjoyed it immensely and worked wonderfully together.The winners got a bonus.I attach some pictures to give you a glimpse of my classroom.Enjoy!

The activity was done in our new English classroom.You can see a smart board with movable chairs-tables.

I would like to hear and experience more fun activities to apply in my class.Do you have interesting ideas?

Let's blog!

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This is a place where you, the participants of the English Boost in-service course, can post our thoughts and reflections, express our opinions and generally boost your English.

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