Executive Functioning Strategies

 Hi everyone, this is Shyra at Junior High Core Values. Tonight I’d like to quickly share some strategies to help students with Executive Functioning challenges.  I’ll tell you now, it’s 8PM and I’m just getting home. Today was one of those days where I had to use every trick in the book!

There are eight executive function skills that humans, be they middle schoolers or adults, are expected to use to organize information and take action.  These are;

 Each student is different, and it’s important to keep trying different strategies until one clicks.

Checklists  When I see that a student is struggling, or at an SST, I sit with the parents and student and come up with checklists for school and for home. These checklists are detailed and clear, but never go beyond one page.  They are laminated and kept in a student’s planner , binder, or iPad case. For those students with iPads, the Reminder app is a great way to set up checklists ( and it’s less likely to get lost)

Star Stickers I go through star stickers like crazy! I start off putting them next to the directions (especially on tests) but they are also used for anything I want my student to pay special attention to.

File Folders At the beginning of the year, I show my students who get overwhelmed by the AMOUNT of information on a page, how to use a file folder to cover the top and bottom. Because of this, it’s easier to focus on one task at a time.

Timers  I recommend using a timer for many things. Especially homework.

Colored Paper.  Depending on what funds you have available, I have found that this strategy works REALLY well. Every one of my study guides is neon yellow. Summative assessments are on white, graphic organizers on light blue, articles on green. 

Provide Student Choice  (Where and when appropriate of course) Whether we are writing in language arts, reading in literature, or having our “Cool Club” at lunch, I always provide students as many choices as possible. For students struggling with getting started, I always explicitly state their options, but they have to be the ones to decide what they want to start with. 

These are the basic strategies I use on a day to day basis. What strategies are you using?

Start a Class Blog

As teachers, we're always looking for a way to make learning "authentic."  That can be a challenge when it comes to writing.  Sure, students can write a letter, article for a newspaper, or argument, but where is the real audience?

As adults, we know the importance of writing for an audience.  Our audience changes the tone, word choice, sentence structure, organization, presentation, and even the conventions we use.  

We can see proof of this in something as simple as the texts we send that are filled with emojis!  (Wouldn't it be fun to write your resume with emojis??)

Hosting a classroom blog is an ideal way to get students writing authentically.  Students are writing for a world audience!  Spelling, conventions, content, tone...all of it matters!  

Not only that, students are learning how to be responsible members of a digital community.   

I used Edublogs to create my class blog -- it's free (every teacher's magic word!), but there are other blogging platforms you can use.

You can decide the level of control you want over your blog -- who can post and make comments.  You may even decide to allow your students to create their own blogs.  

The advantages:  

• connecting to students and people around the world.  One year, we were blogging buddies with a class in Australia.  The visitor widget on our blog let us know where our visitors were coming from -- all over the world!
• staying in touch.  When a classmate moved to Mexico, we were able to stay in contact through our blog.  Grandparents and parents could read about what was going on in our classroom.
• extending the writing day.  Posting a "question of the week" or writing challenge kept my students writing.  
• inside jokes galore!  We know how middle school students love the inside joke -- the blog just kept them going!
• editing and proofreading practice!
• evidence that spelling really does matter!
• a platform for voice.  Students can practice writing with voice -- a skill that we often don't have time to teach.

The disadvantages:

• know and follow your school's privacy rules!  Make sure you teach internet safety to your students as well.
• the learning curve!  If you are not familiar with blogging, plan on spending time playing with the blogging platform you've chosen.  You can use a pre-set template, but you'll want to be able to monitor comments and add fun widgets.  You don't need to be a blogging expert in order to get your blog up and running, but you'll be happier if you spend some time playing with it.
• getting students up and running.  If you don't have access to student computers, tablets, or technology, it will be more challenging to help students figure out how to respond to blog posts, but you can do it!

January is an ideal time to start a class blog.  You've already established your class routines, you

know your students, and it will energize your class (new technology!!)  It will also give you a taste of how you want to run your blog next year. (Because once you start your class blog, you will want to continue!)

Give a class blog a try!  If you are interested in learning more, I've created a guide to running a class blog.  You can find it on my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

Happiness always,

Going Digital in 2016

Hi everyone! Tori here from Journey Through the Middle. I am so excited to be writing my first ever blog post for The Middle School Mob! This is such an fun way to start 2016. If one of your goals this year is to become more organized or utilize technology to make your life a little bit easier, then this is the blog post for you. I can't wait to share with you how to go digital in 2016 by creating your weekly lesson plans on Google Slides and saving them in your Google Drive.

I have been doing all of my lesson plans digitally for about a year-and-a-half now, and I honestly do not know how I functioned before. Having all of my lessons plans and accompanying assignments in one spot on the cloud has allowed me to keep track of and use the plethora of amazing resources I have amassed over sixteen years of teaching. Yep, sixteen years of hormonal and apathetic, yet empathetic and honorable 8th graders. I just love middle school! Alright, let's get started. 

So, obviously the first thing you need to go digital is to have a Google account and make sure you are logged into it. If you do not have a Google account, they are free and super easy to set up. Once you are logged in, go into your Google Drive and click on the red "New" tab. Then, click on "folder" and create a new folder for your lesson plans. Title the folder as you please. I titled mine 2015-2016 Lesson Plans. Once you have typed in your title, click the blue create button.

Open up your new folder. Now, click on the link below to open up the FREE template I have shared with you.  I love this template. It covers a whole week on a two-page spread to give you tons of room and make for easy printing if you want to print them off and put them in a notebook.

Weekly Lesson Plan Template

The template will open up in "View Only" mode. Simply click on "File," "Make a Copy," rename the file, and click "OK" to save it. I always save mine under the title of the week's lesson plans I will be writing, i.e. Week of January 11-15. Open up your saved copy.

Now the fun begins.  You just start adding your information into the text boxes. I love Google Slides because it is so similar to PowerPoint. You can easily change the font styles, size, or color; change the background color and shape; insert hyperlinks and pictures; easily make duplicate copies of any page, etc.  

Here is a sample of one of my completed pages for next week:

I add in the vocabulary words we focus on for each story we read on the left-hand side and a To Do list to help me focus. When I finish an item on my To Do list, I draw a line through it (highlight the text and then go to "Format" and choose "Strikethrough" to draw a line through text). I assign a majority of my work through the Google Classroom, which is why I clarify on my plans that the assignment will be housed there. If it is not in the Google Classroom, I know I probably have to make copies or students will be working in their physical Interactive Student Notebook.

When I am done typing up my weekly lesson, I share a "View Only" copy with my principal and LA team. I share it as "View Only" because I don't want someone to go in and accidentally delete or modify my plans. I also upload copies of every assignment I place in the Google Drive, handout I pass out, PP I show, and I try to take pictures of really awesome examples of student work. I place all of these items inside of the 2015-2016 Lesson Plans folder. I organize my 2015-2016 Lesson Plan folder by creating weekly folders inside of this main folder. Here is a small snapshot of what that looks like:

Here is a quick view of what the inside of my next week's folder looks like:

I cannot even put into words how amazing it is to have all of your resources right at your fingertips and organized. It helps save your sanity now, but it is life altering when you are able to go back into the folders next year and see exactly what you did, have all of your resources right there, and easily improve. No more reinventing the wheel because you misplaced something, no more smacking yourself upside the head because you realize you used a great resource the year before but forgot about it this time around, no more frantic scrambling because you suddenly realize your pacing is three weeks slower this year than last! Make this the year you organize your lesson plans (and your school life) digitally with Google Slides and the Google Drive.

As a side note, if you like the lesson plan template I shared with you, I have nine more varieties available in my Lesson Plans Bundle in my TpT store. Not only will you get multiple digital varieties, but the bundle also comes with editable PDF and PP versions. 

Thanks for stopping by and visiting the Mob! 

Until next time,

New Ideas for a New Year ~ introducing PIXANOTES!

Teaching Middle School sometimes means that you have to think out of the box in order to get the results of which you know your students are capable. 

So when I was confronted with the fact that my students seemingly couldn't remember things we learned from one day to the next, I began to research how to improve their memory skills.  What I discovered was that our brains are primarily IMAGE processors rather than word processors!

Source

So that got me thinking...how can I harness the power of visuals but still have some structure for my left brain thinkers?  That's when Pixanotes was born!

Pixanotes is a blend of interactive notes and traditional two-column notes with fill-in-the-blanks for content on the right-hand side of the page and pictures to illustrate key ideas to be placed on the left.

The pictures are on cut-out flaps so that students have to place them next to the correct content and can later write signal questions underneath.

However, this is just one of four versions that Pixanotes has to offer so that you can differentiate with various levels of structure to suit your students.

★ Pre-printed Pictures and no blanks (highest level of structure)
★No pre-printed pictures and no blanks (moderate level of structure)
★ Pre-printed pictures with blanks (moderate level of structure)
★ No pre-printed pictures with blanks (lowest level of structure)

Get a FREE sample of Pixanotes by clicking here!

Another new idea for the New Year is DIGITAL Pixanotes. 

Students can interact with the content using any device that can connect to Google.  This allows students to click and drag pictures into the correct positions as well as words to the correct blanks.  Digital Pixanotes also come in several formats to help you differentiate.  

I think digital is the ultimate way to go for differentiation because you can assign each person their own page and no one will be the wiser as to who is doing what because everyone will be looking at their own screen.  Plus you could sit students strategically so that students who have the same assignment can work together.  

Any way you go, digital resources set up your students for the 21st Century!

Click here to see these digital Pixanotes®.

Imagine all the possibilities that images can create!

Reflecting with Padlet!

Hi everyone!  Julia here from History from the Middle.  I have a FUN and EASY to use tech tip for you to try out this New Year!  Padlet is an interactive website that serves as a collaborative whiteboard.  Students are able to post comments, images and links to the topic you create within your Padlet board.  I have used Padlet for quite awhile, and my students LOVE it!  I've used it for electronic exit tickets, reflections, and discussion boards.  Here are some examples of Padlets I've used with my class:

~American Revolution 
~Good and Bad Emperors of Rome
~Life in the Colonies

Here are some easy to follow steps to get started with Padlet TODAY!

Step 1
Go to the Padlet website and create an account.

Step 2
Once you have created an account, you are ready to create your first Padlet board!

Step 3
Now, you have a blank Padlet board ready to build!  You first want to click on the Cog at the bottom of the options bar, and then start with creating a title and a brief description.  You can then add a small image that will attach to your title, and you can change the wallpaper.

Step 4
Next, go back to the cog to change the layout.  I would HIGHLY recommend using only Grid or Stream.  Freeform comes in very messy, and is difficult to see.  Next, click on Privacy.  I usually keep it in the default of Hidden Link.

Step 5

Lastly, click on address.  Here you will find the website for your students to use to access your Padlet.  I typically push it out through Google Classroom, or my Google Class site.  

NOW, you're ready to go!  Click HERE to do a practice post to this sample Padlet.

What are some ways you can use this in your class this year?  Share your ideas!

Getting Back on Track After Holiday Break

Hi Everyone!  It's Lyndsey from Lit with Lyns!  Getting back into the swing of things after the holiday break can definitely be a challenge.  I keep counting down the days I have left and can't help but feel a little sad.  The thought of having to send my own kids back to school, wake up to an alarm at the crack of dawn, commute to work in Atlanta traffic...I'm beginning to cringe just thinking about it.

In trying to keep it positive, I decided the best way to deal with the inevitable is to plan activities that I know my students (and myself) will enjoy.  First, I created a New Year's Student Reflection- Video Journal Responses &  Infographic.  This product includes video journal responses where students watch a short video related to the response topic, and then students write a response.  Using the information they include in the journal responses, students will complete a New Year’s Infographic.

Included are:
• 6 video journal responses that address various areas included in the infographic (goal setting, SMART Goals, resolutions, making positive changes, symbolism, etc.).
• 2 page infographic

Another product I use is a New Year's Character Reflection & Infographic.  This activity is a great
way to analyze a character, while also putting the New Year's spin on it.

The activities in this product will require students to:
• Develop a New Year’s resolution for the character
• Determine character’s most cherished memories
• Establish the character’s favorite “things”
• Symbolization- 5 symbols that represent the character
• Goals for the New Year

Similar to the topics discussed in the Infographic are these New Year's Character Reflection Task Cards!  This Common Core aligned product includes 20 task cards that require students to think critically about the character(s) being addressed, as well as to support their answers with evidence.  Approximately half of the cards require students to reflect on the character’s
past year or the year to come; however, the tasks do not have to be used as a New Year’s activity. The other half focuses more on characterization, in general (types of conflict the character has been involved in, internal and external traits, etc.). Therefore, these task cards can be used at any point throughout the year with ANY novel or short story.  Want to try out a free sample of this product?  Download this FREEBIE here!

I'd love to here what you're planning for your students when you return to school.  It would be great to have a variety of activities on hand to be ready to go!

New Year's Activities

We can't believe it's already the new year! Some of the ladies from the Middle School Mob have gotten together to share not only their great New Year's activities for the middle school classroom, but also to share a great GIVEAWAY.

Make sure to stop by the blogs below to read through our ideas!

An InLinkz Link-up

And enter to win this great giveaway using the rafflecopter below! In addition to our linky, we're giving away 12 of our best-selling resources. We've even included some products that are perfect for bringing in the New Year with your students! Make sure to enter using the Rafflecopter below.

Lit with Lyns - Argumentative Writing Process & Task Cards
EB Academic Camps - New Year's Unit & Activities for Middle School
Caffeine and Lesson Plans - PROBE Notebook: A Creative Yearlong ELA Research Project
Just Add Students - Poetry Analysis - "A Day" by Emily Dickinson
Raising Rigor and Readers - Winter Reading and Writing Activities
Anchored in Reading - ELA Text Dependent Analysis Questions - Author's Craft Task Cards
Teach Inspire Change - Student Behavior & Parent Communications Binder
Mrs. Spangler in the Middle - The Giver Reading Comprehension Games - Four in All!
Tori Gorosave: A Middle School English Teacher's Journey - Expository Close Reading: The History of New Year's
Edison Education - Multiplying and Dividing Integers
Koch's Odds 'N Ends - Student Worksheet for Self-Review / Analysis of Test Results
The Marvelous Middle - Looking Back Looking Forward New Year's Activity

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