Have you ever gotten an idea at night when you're TRYING to go to sleep and then you end up not being able to sleep because you can't stop thinking about it?! Welcome to my world, people. Mowing my yard and trying to go to bed are prime thinking times for this girl apparently (the latter being the more inconvenient, of course). However, I'm super excited about what my brain and I came up with tonight. :).
For a while now, I've been thinking about better ways to differentiate in my classroom. One of the biggest challenges I have had is meeting the needs of my high achievers. I'm not cool with "extra WORK". I want learning to be fun and meaningful. Every teacher's goal is to help children learn and to make sure that they ENJOY doing so. Oftentimes, students who are high achievers can get bored at school. We DEFINITELY don't want that. We also don't want boredom to stall their learning. So, thanks to Sesame Street, I have an idea! It's a start anyway....
This year I have started each morning with a "Word of the Day" (an additional "juicy" word to boost our vocabluaries-separate from Our words to know for the week). So far we've had words like: abdomen, generous, pounce, clever, and rambunctious. I post the word on the board with a definition and some sort of challenge for the kids that involves the use of the word. I introduce it, we challenge ourselves, it goes on the word wall, we review it- the whole nine. Well, if you've ever seen Sesame Street, you know that the show always starts with "What's the word on the street?" The show always chooses one word for the day. The character, Murray, then interviews kids and adults to tell about the word. SOOO... I have decided to turn this into a weekly project for my high achievers.
The general plan is to allow these kiddos to use the iPad to conduct short video interviews of staff members at school or students who can tell them or show them more about the "word of the day". The kids will be given the word in advance (prior to the day it will be shared with the class). They will then edit the video clips and make a short video segment for the class to watch when we introduce the next word of the day.
Anyway, the idea is still in its infancy at this point. I'm really going to try to get it to come to fruition. Stay tuned to see how it goes! Also, if you have any suggestions PLEASE share. :)
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