Teacher Tech: Tagxedo

Tagxedo I made using words from this blog!

www. tagxedo.com 

One of my favourite websites for making word clouds is tagxedo. Not only does this site allow you to input your own words but you can also choose a website for it to pull text from. Another amazing feature is the fact that it makes a word cloud in the shape of your choice. Choose from the options they provide, or upload your own.

I recently used tagxedo with my grade nines who are reading Gary Paulsen's The Hatchet. They had to choose an item they couldn't live without and make a tagxedo in the shape of the item using words that describe it. I've included the assignment for anyone who's interested.

• What's your hatchet? Tagxedo assignment  

Teacher Tech: Stay Tuned

I love using technology in the classroom. I try to use technology for instruction, assessment, and feedback. It seems fitting that the first feature on my blog be about technology in the classroom, so welcome to teacher tech! In the following teacher tech posts I'll try to share my growing knowledge of how to use technology in the classroom. If you don't believe in the relevancy of technology in the classroom, take a look at the infographic below.

Stay tuned for more teacher tech! 

Colour Sensory Poems on Paint Chips!

During one of my placements I completed a poetry unit with this cool and colourful project. In order to reinforce what they learned about sensory imagery, metaphor, simile and personification, the students completed paint chip poems.

• Colour sensory poem assignment details
• Colour sensory poem rubric 

Things I wish I learned at the faculty of education

This will probably be part 1 of a multi part post; as I figure out what I don't know I'll let you know! As a first year teacher I am quickly realizing that there are many things I wish I would have learned at the faculty of education. On the flip side, there are also things I have never used or even thought of since leaving. This time, let's focus on the things I wish I would have been taught during my (long) year at the faculty of ed....

1) How to write report card comments
As a recent graduate, I must compare report card season to exam time. During this time I run on coffee, salt and vinegar chips and a steady schedule of procrastination (case in point, this blog post!). It's not enjoyable, but it must be done! This being said, I wish I would have been trained to do this much earlier than the week before. I thank God everyday that I was offered this training and given the support to succeed from my school. So, dear teacher's college, please teach them how to write report card comments! Provide them with real life examples in their fields of study, and challenge them to write their own with assessments collected from practicum.

2) How to plan an entire semester 

Woah, first semester is done already? That was fast. It went by fast, and I can admit that I had a really hard time organizing my time in the classroom to hit all of my curriculum expectations. I'm still confident that my students have learned something (I hope) that will help them in their future English classes but I know that I could have done more. I blame my lack of long term planning. I planned units in teacher's college, but never a whole semester. This is so important! A class isn't just a lesson or a unit, it's the combination of everything you do in a semester. Dear teacher's college, please teach them how to plan and organize a semester that will hit all (if not, most) of the curriculum expectations. 

If you're in the faculty of education and aren't learning these things, ask! I'm sure a good teacher would be more than happy to help you.

I should also mention that I truly did like my experience with my school, but there's always room for improvement.