Thank you for visiting #ksedchat. We welcome all educators to our chat that runs Mondays at 8 p.m. Central. Though many of our educators have their homes in Kansas, all teachers are welcome to pop in and join in on the learning.
Heyyyy my #ksedchat fam! 👋🏻
WELCOME to our chat on learning experiences in the classroom!
Let’s start this party with some introductions & some GIFS!! 🙌🏻
Tim Vesco
4th Grade
Frontenac, KS
#ksedchat
My teaching style involves me doing lots of not so great dancing, lots of not so great singing, lots of 90's references that my students usually don't get, and LOTS of FUN! : )
Kyla, 2nd grade @ Neodesha. I feel I’m the 3 c’s ... cool, calm, collected. But sometimes that 4th c comes in.... crazy. (Me in the inside is the GIF) #ksedchat
Katherine Ternes, 3rd Grade at Christ the King in Wichita, KS. #ksedchat
I am super excited for @MissBush12 's chat tonight!
My teaching style ummmm...totally feel like I'm just winging it everyday.
Carrie Horn. Graber Elementary. Hutchinson, usd 308. First grade. I am going to be mostly on the sidelines tonight as I have some Tiedye calling my name. #ksedchat
Good evening all, TJ Warsnak SS teacher from Halstead HS. Teaching style is like I am conducting an orchestra with possibly a few poorly tuned instruments but still a lot of enthusiasm. #ksedchat
A1: a learning activity is something that your students will remember for that week or that month. A learning experience is something that your students will remember for years to come. They even forget they are learning #ksedchat
A1: an activity is something given like a worksheet, a problem set, etc. A learning experience has the students more actively engaged, they're doing more of the "heavy lifting" in the learning #ksedchat
A1: To me, a learning activity is more like "sit and get," where as a learning experience is where the learner is immersed in the experience, doing things, seeing results, hands-on. #ksedchat
A1: I feel that an activity to someone is a one and done thing to do whereas an experience is a life long memory that will be retained and reflected upon, an experience may have activities to go with goals but a single activity could be confusing on what the goal is #ksedchat
#ksedchat A1: a learning activity in my classroom is a structured learning lesson. A learning experience is something that occurs naturally— whether it’s that growth mindset, or learning to not pick on someone, or being compassionate when they see another struggle.
A1: Activity is fine & hits content knowledge at a base level. A learning experience has the knowledge plus a change (however small) in character or perspective that makes an imprint on a true person. #ksedchat
A1: An activity is often one and done or disconnected from other learning, but an EXPERIENCE is connected, meaningful, relevant, and expansive. The effects tend to linger long after the experience is done. #ksedchat
A2: Learning activity: Pertains to a subject but gives little hands-on engagement or connects to the real-word. Experience: With the subject there is discovery, hands-on, immersed. Experiences is what the Ss remember! #ksedchat
Heyyyy my #ksedchat fam! 👋🏻
WELCOME to our chat on learning experiences in the classroom!
Let’s start this party with some introductions & some GIFS!! 🙌🏻
QUESTION 2
Nothing is as beneficial, essential, or encouraging as collaborating & sharing with other Teachers!
Let’s share! Attach a video or picture to your response - if you have one!
Let’s show off what Kansas T’s can do best - BRING IT in the classroom!! 🙌🏻🔥
#ksedchat
A2: We just finished up our Famous Kansan Living Wax Museum. I know that I didn't create this lesson, but it was first for the students. What made it effective is that I gave them guidelines and let them go. I didn't kill their curiousity. #ksedchat
#ksedchat learning experiences are the way to go! An activity is something that is laid out in front of them that in their eyes they might “have” to do. Experiences are more fun, and can hit many more areas other than just one key focus.
A2: We did edible landforms a few weeks ago to wrap up learning about landforms. We are mining tomorrow to talk about fossil fuels and erosion and later this week we are making geology sandwiches to learn about fossils! All this if I have some more kiddos tomorrow. #ksedchat
A2-MinecraftEDU projects with students. Students recreate ancient civilizations in Minecraft. How does an educator know a learning experience is successful? #ksedchat
A2 Working with Arts. My student helped finishing writing a play, acted it, designed the set. Then Listening to the playlist, using just 2 crayons, drew. From that they wrote. THE best stories I got from them! #ksedchat
A2: Right now we are attempting PBL. It isn’t a true PBL though. We are using one that already exists and making it our own along the way. It’s been a great experience for the kids and they have loved it. #ksedchat
QUESTION 2
Nothing is as beneficial, essential, or encouraging as collaborating & sharing with other Teachers!
Let’s share! Attach a video or picture to your response - if you have one!
Let’s show off what Kansas T’s can do best - BRING IT in the classroom!! 🙌🏻🔥
#ksedchat
A2: I'm going to praise others on this one: @aewatkins8 at #HalsteadHS has started a Service Learning Project option that pushed deeper learning while still accounting for ELA standards. #ksedchat
A2 In my tutoring, I've tried to incorporate @LEGO_Education Story Kits (now retired *sad face*) where Ss demonstrate summarizing through using a story prompt and Lego bricks/people/etc. to build a scene as well as incorporating technology #ksedchat
A2: our Veterans Day interviews are so meaningful. Students interview local veterans and create articles and time mag covers to make them person of the year. Also research military conflicts #ksedchat
A2: Last spring, we incubated and hatched partridge eggs! Watching them hatch, up close & in person was a thrill for my PreKers. Also the discussion about why some did and some didn't. One of our chicks was born with a deformed wing and dies. Great discussions! #ksedchat
A2 cont: @coachschutte is awesome allowing student choice but is even better with his We the People Project. Watching students tension before turn into smiles of accomplishment is impressive. #ksedchat
A2: @joellmatlack and @MrsHill_HMS involved their whole school in a genius hour project that allowed Ss to pursue career interests, gain knowledge and work on soft skills. #ksedchat
I am so excited to have #ONEStudentPD at my school 2/20. I am hoping this is an EXPERIENCE that elevates student choice and voice. Check out our sessions: https://t.co/yqCxgJ0uBX#ksedchat
A2- I legit just started this last week, but I have a feeling (you know the one) that it is going to be good. I was trying to figure out how to make goal setting concrete AND to have the kids encourage each other. We picked one reading and one math goal (cont.) #ksedchat
A2: my amazing 7th grade team just completed a "generations" project! ELA read The Giver, Math and SS worked on immigration data and personal cultures and Sci looked at Genetics and the passing of traits. It was a great way to look a how all content areas connect! #ksedchat
A2b> A few years ago, when they had those horrible fires down by Medicine Lodge, the 3rd grade teacher , who was from ML, and I organized a coin drive: Coins for Calves, to buy milk replacer for the calves who couldn't nurse because the cows' udders were badly burned. #ksedchat
A2 cont: Our coaches like @CoachGrider@cwilson_56@androo88 all create experiences that elevate students in competition and also translate to better achievement in class and life. #ksedchat
Then we posted them next to our decorated names (on a notecard) on our cabinets. As the students work towards their goal, they color in a "step". That wasn't enough fun, so we added a bell ring every time they color it in. Now everyone knows when someone meets a goal! #ksedchat
A3: My go to my relationships with my students. I love using technology, games, songs, and dances, but none of that works it you aren't real with your kiddos! #BeReal#RealRecognizesReal#ksedchat
I am so excited to have #ONEStudentPD at my school 2/20. I am hoping this is an EXPERIENCE that elevates student choice and voice. Check out our sessions: https://t.co/yqCxgJ0uBX#ksedchat
QUESTION 3:
Alright my friends let’s talk TOOLS!! 🔨
What is your GO TO to enhance a lesson and take it from a learning ACTIVITY to EXPERIENCE? 💪🏻
#ksedchat
Music teacher in our building does a recorder karate unit where students earn "belts" as they progress from song to song. Of course it rises difficulty as they go. #ksedchat
A2: Every year we take a "trip" up Mt. Everest. https://t.co/cpl4OCxJfD The kids love it because it gives them a different environment for reading. Plus many of them have never tried hot tea before. #ksedchat
#ksedchat A2:the biggest impact to help my kids with reading was finding out what their interests were. My students LOVE history and art. This week, we’re finishing up a nonfiction study over Hidden Figures-final book project is groups of 3 collaborating on a poster presentation.
#ksedchat A2 cont. The students worked collaboratively to write a 10 sentence paragraph based on a topic related to Hidden Figures/civil rights. Aside from that, the only guideline was to make their posters related to their topic. They’re doing amazing! Pics to come this week.
A3: My go to my relationships with my students. I love using technology, games, songs, and dances, but none of that works it you aren't real with your kiddos! #BeReal#RealRecognizesReal#ksedchat
A3: Music!! We sing about EVERYTHING in PreK!! (I was a music minor in college, so I can make up a song for just about anything) . Music helps make the learning and the connections STICK! #ksedchat
A3- The kids guide it. What ever they think (or I think they think) might make it better....my co-worker decided the kids would love using cheeze-its to learn about perimeter and boy did that engage and motivate them #ksedchat
A3: Not sure I have a go to method but its important to be open minded to what your students need. Sometimes it's intense rigor and challenge & other times its a fun tie in to pop culture. I suppose my flexibility helps me be successful. #ksedchat
A3 Independence! W/ my position, it has to be very hands-on, guided, step-by-step but my goal is to get my Ss to be able to have a process so they can work independently #ksedchat
#ksedchat A3: my best go-to for this group of kids is to allow them to collaborate or study/work in partners. They are a VERY social bunch. It’s one of those things that I’ve had to learn to go with it instead of fighting it! They do well at staying on task!
QUESTION 3:
Alright my friends let’s talk TOOLS!! 🔨
What is your GO TO to enhance a lesson and take it from a learning ACTIVITY to EXPERIENCE? 💪🏻
#ksedchat
QUESTION 4:
It wouldn’t be the Miss B way, if I didn’t turn my question into a challenge! Good is never enough, if better can be achieved!
Let’s stretch ourselves this week! Step 1 - talk it out. What can you CREATE/CHANGE this week?! 🤔
#ksedchat
A4: Students are going to research the Four States of the Southwest Region. I am borrowing @JillWebs "Cutthroat Kitchen" learning experience for this lesson. #ksedchat
My kids work at #vnps to increase engagement. I see activities as being more closed, so I try to keep tasks a little more open. This makes it more student guided, or what I’ll call an “experience”. The goal is to link various student works & learn from the connections. #ksedchat
A4: So S Led Conferences are next week and one of the work sample artifacts is a daily interactive science notebook, so this week is notebook free, it will be full of games like hang man, boggle, scattegories, and pictionary for the new unit on weather #ksedchat
A4: We are doing math (GASP!!) on Valentine's Day by sorting, graphing, counting, and comparing conversation hearts! Math in PreK?!?! Say what?!?! Shhh!! Don't tell them they're learning. #ksedchat
#ksedchat A4: my goal/challenge is to let them struggle a little more with math. I’m not a strong upper grade math teacher yet, learning a new curriculum... and I don’t give them enough “productive struggle” time before I reteach content.
#ksedchat A4: Thirteen colonies commercials-research a colony and "sell" classmates on vacationing there. Enhancement-Write a script and produce the commercial on video.
A4: If you need some help with this challenge head on over to @go2Science and grab yourself a free trial. Ss will be counting "ticks" on kangaroos as they engage in a research experience and meet real kangaroo researchers! #ksedchat
A4) I’m having each group create a linear equation of their choosing, but no two groups can use the same rate of change or initial value. And each equation has to create an output of my choosing based on an input I specify. Graph. Then notice and wonder. #ksedchat
A5: Activities are done and gone at the end of the day. Experiences are what the kids remember and ask you about years after they leave your class. #ksedchat
A5: Anyone can get the curriculum and teach what the book says. It takes a real rock-star teacher to take what is in the book, turn it up, and have the Ss remember it years later. I hate how stuck I am in the book, with the curriculum and am not sure how to get out. #ksedchat
A5: I would say learning activities and learning experiences are both tools for the teacher to use. They both have different functions, uses, and end results. Both are appropriate for different situations. Learning activities do feed into learning experiences however. #ksedchat
#ksedchat A5: as someone said, experiences are memorable. A lesson might not always stick with them, but how they felt when they saw their results, built something cool, or worked well as a team—those are moments that they’ll remember.
A5: It's all about them kids! They will internalize an experience. There is a time and a place for an activity, but if you want it to stick you have to make it sticky #ksedchat
A5: Meaningful learning experiences can ignite passion and propel students not only to learn and apply sills and content at a high level, but to realize their power to make the world a better place. That is completely worth the effort! #ksedchat
A5) My goal is to shift largely to PBL. I’m not there...yet.
Over half the jobs today’s kindergarteners will have don’t exist yet. Information is out there, free, and largely easy to access.
We need to teach kids how to ask and answer Q’s. That’s the future.
#ksedchat
A5: We don't seem to remember day by day activities, but we do remember the experiences with people from those activities, and Ts that provide Ss with learning experiences leave a legacy of learning and are remembered for their lifetimes #ksedchat
@MissBush12 you killed it tonight on #ksedchat ! I had a hard day, and it helped to chat tonight so I could refocus and remember my WHY... especially when things fall apart or don’t go as planned. ❤️
Thank you @MissBush12 for hosting and excellent chat tonight! Thank you to the #ksedchat family for all of your inspiration tonight! Have a great week everyone!
