#4thchat is a hashtag for teachers or anyone to talk about educational issues relating to 4th grade. Using #4thchat will create a network of 4th grade teachers or teachers working with 9-10 year olds across the world. We welcome anyone who 1. teaches 4th grade 2 .Works with 4th grade students and or 4th grade teachers 3. Likes 4th grade teachers (Groupies are encouraged).
My tweets for the next hour will be for #4thchat. I'm Cherie from Missouri! I'm in a Digital Communications class with @ghartman. Excited to be chatting!
Hi John - Not easy trying to do all that while teaching. I remember when the tech wasn't working I had to have a back up plan (more time) so the kids weren't off the rails. #4thchat
I teach anywhere from 3 to 7 periods per day. On my 3 period day, I focus on the tech director part of job. On 7 period day, stuff just doesn't get fixed. #4thchat
I always have this problem! But I try to be present for my own family too. I have coached myself into believing it will all still be there tomorrow! #4thchat
A2: I love https://t.co/Oi55b7RWFc. It saves time since standards are all built in, I can bump, extend & delete lessons. I can view week by week, day by day, class by class. #4thchat
My grade level partner got to really collaborate for 2.5 hours the other day and got a lot accomplished but wished we had longer. We chose the smaller time #4thchat
This would be a dream!!! We have 4 sections of 4th grade and our specials don't even line up! It's so hard to get that time. I am so glad you do. I'll bet it makes all the difference. Everyone has ownership and input! #4thchat
Our Time Management page https://t.co/demH6xb0Ep It helps if you are very organized. You have to be prepared for all situations. Check out countdown & other timers. #edchat#4thchat
Our Time Management page https://t.co/demH6xb0Ep It helps if you are very organized. You have to be prepared for all situations. Check out countdown & other timers. #edchat#4thchat
A2: I use Google Calendar right now to organize my day. What I like best is that each morning at 5 am I have it scheduled to send me my agenda! #4thchat
A2.2 like today I was creating these documents on google realizing that if I did this over spring break I could create stuff all at once and not spend so much time creating things on the fly #4thchat
Q4: Some lessons have more āprepā than others. What are some ways that you might save time when prepping for those lessons that require more materials? #4thchat
A4: Kids love to help. We have some students for 25 min before the tardy bell rings and 20 min after the dismissal bell. I use them to help out and they love it! #4thchat
I wonder what we would do without Google Drive! Google Classroom has helped with the "ReUse" button. Next year, I can reuse an assignment (if applicable) by simply clicking 'reuse'! If the assignment is set to "Make a copy for each student" it does that too! #4thchat#Timesaver
It is so amazing! Keep encouraging. It will streamline what they already do- it's not just "one more thing!" I keep trying to get folks to use Twitter! #4thchat
A4: I used to use those plastic shoeboxes for everything. I would label them and store them in the cubbies for quick access. I put my sets of base ten blocks in them so all the kids need to do was agrab a box and go! #4thchat
You can set your Gmail settings to automatically put emails from certain addresses into certain folders or even trash. Cuts out a lot of the junk. #4thchat
Q4: Some lessons have more āprepā than others. What are some ways that you might save time when prepping for those lessons that require more materials? #4thchat
One of my teachers uses @seesaw for communication and she actually said to me, "I thought this would be time consuming but it makes my life easier!" #4thchat High praise indeed for that tool.
Iāve been going through and unsubscribing from a whole bunch in the last couple of weeks with my personal email.. doing that with my work one coming up here very soon. #4thchat
A6 Even in first grade, I have students change their papers, check them, file them. Explain where everything for the students is! They are in charge of their needs. #4thchat
I have tried and they keep sending. One person told me they say you are unsubscribed from that list, but they actually have you on several lists. #4thchat
I'm starting to do that too. I found I was trying to check my email frequently to stay ahead of things...when it was just really drawing me in! #4thchat
A4: #4thchat Lessons that take more prep I do when I have a larger chunk of time after school or the weekend. It gets hectic if I try to string together enough time chunks to plan out materials.
#4thchat A5 Many emails I need to know I have and search for later, so I put them in folders/labels. I try to keep my inbox for emails that I need to respond to only. When I need info I can search for the others.
#4thchat A5 Twitter has also helped emails, my resources and PLN are separate from my emails. Subscribing to blogs, RSS feeds etc was making my email too cluttered.
#4thchat Agree at home and in school, I unsubscribe rather than delete. Takes more time on the one message, prevents future ones. The unsubscribe link is at the bottom 95% of the time.
#4thchat We were hopeful that the polar vortex in MN killed off the mosquitoes and ash tree borer, but sadly no. Those bugs survived the last ice age, we are out of luck.
A6: I created classroom jobs for things like office runner and teacher assistant who counts lunches and then fills out the lunch count and gives it to the office runner and tells me who is absent #4thchat
That should be a lesson in itself! How amazing is that?? My husband just mentioned to me the other day how tics can survive extreme weather - how can this be??? #4thchat
A7 #4thchat It's a challenge but I find the sooner I check in with students by circulating/whispering, and the sooner I get early feedback, the better some of the behaviors are because the Ss are more engaged.
#4thchat If you haven't tried this free app, #IFTTT it has some cool features. It's a mini app that coordinates apps. For example when I post on blogger it tweets out. "If then this then that"
A8 #4thchat Making shared Google Calendars has been a big one. I like that you have different calendar "layers" and that diff people can access each layer. Helped our SPED team create a common layer for scheduling.
A8: My team has been saving everything to our Google team drive. Saves time in searching for it and no filing it afterwards when it's all online. #4thchat
A8: tech can be used to streamline stuff. I hardly ever have to recreate parent notes anymore because I already created them last year. Also the same with certain assignments. This year I plan to create a google doc for my writing that I want Sās to do for the rest of #4thchat
A8.2: the year and then I can easily recreate it for the next school year for the whole year. Iām learning how to do it from @alicekeeler website. She has some great tips to help make things easier for Tās #4thchat
#4thchat The biggest time saver I think with the faster pace of teaching/life is to pilot and prototype things. Am working with our media spec. to pilot @Flipgrid library genre book rec. grid. We are starting w/few Ss to learn/adjust before scaling up.
#4thchat I think the days of "setting up for the year" are gone. Now it's adjust while things are running and piloting things you want to try with a few Ss before you adjust the class. Change of mindset. Prototype-->fail/success/learn-->scale up
#4thchat Some resources are worth revisiting, some sites now integrate with Google Classroom and you can assign from their site to your Google Classroom. This is nice.
I used to feel like I was doing something wrong by taking the time to work through routines, expectations and building stamina in various content areas...but it always paid off the rest of the year! Great advice! #4thchat Go Slow to Go Fast!
A9 #4thchat I think it has to be OK to stay the course for one part of the day and to experiment and improve another. Then rotate. Routines are important but it's important colleagues and Ss see us experimenting/adjusting/failing/learning.
A9 #4thchat Esp with tech, it's important to share with staff the time scale. What did you implement right away, what took months, what took years. Sometimes we Ts don't honor our craft, we want to share the amazing product w/o sharing the effort.
