MUST HAVE APP for TEACHERS: Confer!!

A few years ago, my colleagues and I applied for a grant to use iPads in our classroom to collect student data. We specifically wanted to use the Confer app to record data from our reading and writing conferences. This was normally done through paper and pencil and each year I struggled with finding a system that worked for me. I went from using notebooks, to binders with sections for each student, to random sticky notes plastered on notebook pages. Nothing ever seemed to work... until Confer!

Confer is an awesome app to use in any classroom- and I mean that - any classroom! I could easily see my math colleagues using this app to record teaching points, strengths and weaknesses, during math conferences/guided practice.

The Confer app is all about customization- it's all about you! You can create as many classes as you need. This allows for better organization and easier usability. I teach two classes of 25 students each and I love that my students are separated on my Confer app, too. Everything is very user friendly. You can directly import a class list/roster into Confer or simply type in each name as you go. You are also able to type in their reading levels/scores and there's a function to sort kids into groups that way.

I often work with Special Education teachers - You can share the data! You're able to share through email, Dropbox, a spreadsheet, or syncing through a cloud. Obviously, this data is even more powerful when you can share it with colleagues-- the case manager, ESL teacher, or intervention team. If another teacher has Confer, you can send them the data and it will automatically import everything onto their system. Amazing!!

Quick and easy data! Teacher lifesaver! Confer allows you to quickly create and save notes during conferences. This used to take me forever by hand. With Confer, you can write a general  note or add a note to any/all of the four fields: tags, strength, teaching point, and next step. When you add notes- it will save the text so that you can quickly add the same note to any student without retyping the entire thing! Unbelievable, right? When you're working with a small group, Confer has a feature that allows you to add the same note to multiple student profiles at once. Life. Saver!

Sorting students. You can sort students and data in multiple ways!

*By date- Confer will provide you with a list of students starting with who you haven't seen in a long time. Prior to the Confer app, this was my biggest frustration! 

*By level- This is obviously helpful for guided reading/math groups. 

*By specific need- Confer will sort through your tags, teaching points, or strengths and group kids based on a similar  need. 

Confer has definitely helped take my formative assessments to the next level. I can quickly and easily collect data, have that data at my fingertips, and then sort through the data to create effective and personalized teaching points/lessons. The developer, David Lowe, is always updating the app and was a great resource when we contacted him through email. We also took a webinar with him! 

Here's a fantastic video made by David Lowe as he introduces the Confer app:

Using Confer has made me feel like I actually have a teaching super power! It's an incredible resource and will change your life completely. I promise! Let me know if you have any questions about the Confer app! I really enjoy using it and I'm confident that you will too! 

Zen Shorts: A Heavy Load

Have you ever read the children's book titled, Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth?  If not, I highly recommend it for your child's bookshelf!  The book has many different short tales from China.  The panda bear, Stillwater, tells the tales to the children in the story as it applies to their life.  

One of the stories, A Heavy Load, is one of my favorites.  I hope you enjoy it!

Two traveling monks reached a town where there was a young woman waiting to step out of her sedan chair. The rains had made deep puddles and she couldn’t step across without spoiling her silken robes. She stood there, looking very cross and impatient. She was scolding her attendants. They had nowhere to place the packages they held for her, so they couldn’t help her across the puddle.

The younger monk noticed the woman, said nothing, and walked by. The older monk quickly picked her up and put her on his back, transported her across the water, and put her down on the other side. She didn’t thank the older monk, she just shoved him out of the way and departed.

As they continued on their way, the young monk was brooding and preoccupied. After several hours, unable to hold his silence, he spoke out. “That woman back there was very selfish and rude, but you picked her up on your back and carried her! Then she didn’t even thank you!”

“I set the woman down hours ago,” the older monk replied. “Why are you still carrying her?”

You are... [Feel-Good Revolution!] MUST SEE!!!

For the past few months, I've stalked followed Shop Compliment on Instagram. I stumbled upon one of their images, quickly pressed the "follow" button, and soon became addicted to clicking through each and every photo. Shop Compliment is a jewelry line of rings, necklaces, bracelets, and earrings and every item has a personal message attached to the box; a personal stamped message, with some examples being: "You are my soul mate friend," "You are appreciated," or "You inspire me to be brave." Once you select and purchase your jewelry item, you can decide on what you want your personalized compliment to be! Not only was I blown away at how unique this was, but I was reminded of how Amanda and I discussed these powerful statements a few months ago when discussing a possible Etsy shop endeavor. One statement can say so much and truly have an impact on that person's day.

Shop Compliment's messages align with what Amanda and I want to embrace (and try to embrace here at 730 Moments to Share blog)... spreading uplifting messages, building each other up, helping people refill their buckets.

I fell deeply in love with Shop Compliment when I learned that the founder, Melissa, was a teacher. She recently took a leave from her job to pursue Shop Compliment further. She often mentions teachers and teaching on her Instagram and I LOVE how she worded the importance of keeping your spirit happy and finding other ways to fill your bucket:

But like any educator knows, the time and energy teachers put in to their work is enormous and exhausting, and it's super important to find ways of keeping your spirit happy, or as I like to call it, "your love bucket filled." When we were little, my mom taught my siblings and me that every one of us has a little bucket in our soul that needs pretty active attention.  When we are feeling down, our buckets are empty and it's impossible to be loving to others with empty buckets.  And so we must find things to keep our love buckets full for ourselves.  For me, it's creating--be it writing, dancing, singing, cooking, painting, or making jewelry.  But I'm also able to refill my bucket by filling someone else's.  When we notice the people around us could use a boost, it's our job to do something kind to refill their bucket.  Something to uplift. Something to build them up. One easy way is to give them a sincere compliment.  

She posted the photo below the other day on Instagram, with this caption:  This pink gratitude necklace is headed out of here today for a teacher appreciation gift. And it's got me reflecting on my time as a classroom teacher. Teaching. It's the hardest/most rewarding job in the world and it fills my heart to see parents thanking the teachers in their students' lives who are making a difference. // this compliment also makes me reflect on just how blessed I've been in the last year. I owe much of that blessing to the love and support of family, friends, customers, strangers, this IG community and beyond. Thank you for loving me and helping me grow! 

Shop Compliment welcomes their customers to the "feel-good revolution" when they enter their website. Melissa often uses the hashtag #feelgood on Instagram photos, too. She commented the other day about "what a blessing it is to work in an environment where so many loving words, kind thoughts, and encouraging sentiments are shared." Imagine living and breathing that daily? How amazing!

Shop Compliment's Instagram is filled with positive messages daily. They're the best reminders! 

I hope you follow Shop Compliment on Instagram. Please consider checking out their website, too! What a great idea for bride's and gifts for your maids! 

Whole30!

You've been with me when I did the Slow Carb/4 Hour Body diet...but I'm trying something new!  It's called the Whole 30!   It's a complete overhaul of your eating habits, and a form of the Paleo diet.  You cut out anything in your diet that isn't real, clean food.  If you go to buy something at the supermarket and you can't read the ingredients, you don't eat it.  You don't eat dairy or sugars, and processed foods are  a no-no. 

Yes...you may think I'm nuts, but I'm ready to kick my body into gear!  We leave for Portugal and Spain in exactly 40 days, and I'm ready to get my body into top shape before we go!  

This diet is very similar to the 4 Hour Body diet, only you stick to three meals a day, with no snacking in between.  You focus on healthy, organic/grass fed/natural proteins and vegetables.  You eat minimal fruit, and your body becomes happy and alive again.  

I'll be honest...there are some things that I truly love, including coffee, but I think it will all be worth it.  Also...there's no drinking for the next 30 days, so I'll be celebrating the end of the school year with other forms of celebration that don't include alcohol.  A new body is worth the sacrifice!

Here's what I made tonight to get ready for the week:

Breakfast:Fajita Omelette

Lunch: Green Fajita Chicken

Dinner: Easy Pan Fried Lemon Chicken

Since I live alone, I don't mind the ease of eating the same thing every day for an entire week.  It's just easier, and more convenient.  I find that cooking ahead of time avoids unnecessary snacking.  

Let me know if you're doing the Whole30 diet, and if you have any suggestions, please share!

End of The School Year Fun!!

We're winding down the school year with just 11 school days left (but who's counting??)!  I was thinking that since our entire last week of school will have full days, the kids are going to need something to look forward to!  I'm going to choose 10 activities, one for each of the last 10 days of school.  Each day, the students will choose an envelope with that day's number on it to reveal what the day's activity is.  My friend Allyson did this with her students last year in Florida, and she said the kids had a ball!

Here are some of my ideas!

Sit anywhere you like!

Write with a pen!

Picnic lunch!

Math Game Day!

Work with a partner all day!

Reading Period Outside!

Write in cursive all day!

Write a letter to your favorite teacher!

Hang Man Competition!

Mad Libs Day!

Some teachers put their ideas in balloons, but I think I'm going to do the envelopes with numbers on them!  

No Red Ink! - A Favorite Technology Resource in the Classroom

I'm extremely fortunate to work in a school with incredible technology resources. My classroom has a permanent laptop cart filled with Dell Mini laptops for each student. As you can imagine, we use these all the time, especially for research and writing projects. I'm always looking for new resources to use on the computer with my students...anything to make class more fun, engaging, and interactive. Last year, I stumbled upon NoRedInk (No Red Ink) and it's my go-to website for helping students improve their spelling and grammar.

NoRedInk is FREE! It was created by a high school English teacher to help students improve their grammar/writing skills. The program is completely web-based and students can only sign up/log on with a class code from the teacher. The teacher has the ability to assign specific skills (practice exercises) to some/all students and assign quizzes. From there, the system displays color-coded heat maps to help teachers track progress.

I love how it teaches and explains while practicing. 

An example of the personalized questions... Justin Bieber!

Snapshot of the color-coded heat maps for teacher data. 

Once students sign up, they're asked questions about their favorite celebrities, personal interests, and Facebook friends, etc. NoRedInk uses these responses to personalize questions, in hopes to make the practice and exercise fun. The system also adapts to each learner's strengths/weaknesses as they move through the exercise. It's a fun, personalized way to get better-- without all the red ink! ;-)

Take a look at the short video below, the founder of NoRedInk explains the program:

I really love this program and my students really enjoy it, too! If you have any questions, please leave a comment below! I'd love to help you get set up! :-)

iPads in the Classroom!

I follow Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits blog on Bloglovin', and although I'm not a primary grade teacher, I'm intrigued by many of her posts and find that I can modify them for the upper grades. She's a rock star teacher and I wish that she taught in my district so that I could peek into her classroom and learn from her! Yesterday, she blogged about using iPad's effectively in the classroom. These tips would be great for ANY classroom that has access to iPads and that's why I'm sharing her tips here! 

1. Begin with iPad basics: Set clear expectations (6 rules to follow) and earn your iPad Citizenship! How adorable is the license below?! :-) Again, I can see these lessons being important in any classroom, for any age. Yes, some kids know how to operate an iPhone or iPad at the age of 2, but there are definitely routines that you want your students to follow to ensure success. 

2. Using Movie Maker to take ownership and highlight student learning. I love how quick and easy these videos are on the iPad! No fiddling with cameras and plugging wires back into the computer. Use the iPad! I love the director's sheet for planning and the project requirements checklist! 

Click on over to Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits blog and check out her full post on Effectively Teaching withiPads.  She shares a great video detailing the use of iPads in the classroom and she also has a link to her Teachers Pay Teachers page so that you can buy her bundle of lessons. 

I don't have iPads in my classroom for every student (one day, hopefully!), but I did apply for a grant a few years ago with my humanities colleagues to pilot one for teacher data. We use the Confer App to track data in reading and writing conferences. The app allows you to input student reading levels and group students based on levels or other teaching points. I really love Confer and I'll blog more about it this week. If you haven't checked it out yet, click here to learn more. 

Tonight we're linking up with the Show Licious Craft & Recipe party! Click on over for more awesome stuff!