I’ve had some good reads in March, April and May – books that have made me think, act, disappear and relax. I’ve had a few that kept me up too late at night, and some that I couldn’t wait to dive into when I got home from teaching in the afternoons.
I’m up from 13 books in my January/February post, to 28 by the beginning of June. You can check out that good reads list here. And I’ve got a HUGE pile to be read over my summer – here are a few of the good reads I loved in the last three months!
Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.
This year has been hard, and I’m end-of-the-year-teacher-tired. I’m absolutely on my last nerve – not with my students, though. Actually, they’re the brightest part of my day. I soak in their smiles, their hugs, their laughter and desire to please. It’s about teaching teens about mental health.
I teach middle school. 7th – 8th – 9th grade. And they’re struggling.
Now, they’re not without their moments – especially the 8th graders. They’re the big questioners, the ones who wonder ‘why’ and ‘how come we have to do this’ and ‘ does this really matter’.
My 9th graders are just ready to move on. The run in the classroom completely oblivious to much besides themselves, their friends, and the latest ‘T”.
But my 7th graders….aah, they’re just special. This is my first year back in 7th grade since 2001, and I’m loving it. Every moment they try something new, agree to take a risk, jump into a discussion about a book or a topic or debate about global warming or plastics in the ocean or gun control or why animals should be rescued just makes me smile.
But they’re a whole lot of energy. Like herding puppies, in a way.
The hard parts of teaching mental health
This year there have been too many ‘not-so-happy’ times, too. I’ve seen more kids breaking down over struggles – not just with academics, but with relationships. Parents. Expectations. Friends.
My AVID 9 students learned about Mental Health issues and how to overcome the stigma associated with asking for support with this Mental Health hyperdoc lesson. I wish I knew the original creator, so I could thank them for helping me help kids with mental health. Please make a copy and use it in your classroom, or with your own kids at home. It’s powerful.
I’ve had too many 12, 13, and 14 year-olds run through my door in tears about what happens ‘outside’. I’m finding myself giving lots of hugs, wiping gallons of tears and going through bottles of lavender oil (it reduces stress, you know!). Mostly, I’ve been reminding them that despite what’s happening, they are strong. Stronger than they know…stronger than whatever force is trying to tell them that they’re not.
It’s hard for kids to trust in that, you know? The world seems like a pretty frightening place right now. I’ve got kids who are worried about deportation. Divorce. Sex. Gender confusion. Homosexuality. Learning Disorders. Substance Abuse.
Oh yeah – and remember, they are 12-14 years old. And we have 1.5 counselors on our campus. And I’m tired. And I’m searching for messages to give them that will mean something, especially over the summer when they don’t have the stability of a safe place at school.
Amy says, “The only person you should compare yourself to is the person that you were yesterday.” I TRY to remind
my students of this, but it’s hard. They’re constantly checking grades and evaluating their success based on a percentage. And navigating teachers with assinine rules about ‘no test retakes’ and no ‘do-overs’ and all the things that work precisely against the type of growth mindset we know helps create strong mental health.
She reminds us that “unhealthy beliefs about the world come about because deep down, we want the world to be fair. We want to think that if we put in enough good deeds, enough good things will happen to us.” I have to remind kids that the world isn’t fair – that equality and equity aren’t the same things, and that in school, they often have little control of how their actions can make a difference because someone else is creating the rules. At 12, kids have a hard time believing this. Often, they aren’t cognitively developed enough to understand this, and even when we tell them to ‘work hard’ and ‘do your best’ it’s not always going to turn out the way they expect.
So what’s next?
Instead, I’m going to remind them of Amy’s definition of mental strength:
“Mental strength is a lot like physical strength. If you wanted to be physically strong, you’d need to go to the gym and lift weights. But if you really wanted to see results, you’d also have to give up eating junk food. Mental strength is the same. If you want to be mentally strong, you need good habits like practicing gratitude. But you also have to give up bad habits, like resenting somebody else’s success.No matter how often that happens, it will hold you back.” – AmyMorinLCSW.com
And I’m going to add her book 13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do, to my classroom bookshelf.
Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.
Wakelet is a relatively new technology tool that, while not originally designed for education, has become the HOT ticket in curation, collaboration, awesome sharing of ideas, projects and big dreams, and most recently, a cool tool for student work submission! Think mash-up: Pinterest, Padlet, Google folders…it’s ‘a way to save, curate and share the things you love’.
And I love sharing student work. Thank you, Wakelet, for making it so easy!
Here’s the link to my Wakelet profile. I’ve created wakes about all sorts of teaching topics.
One of the key pedagogical components of HyperDocs is the importance of sharing student work with an authentic audience. Kids work harder when they know someone is going to see their work. They think more deeply when they know another person can comment on their ideas. To me, using Wakelet to share student projects makes total sense.
How I use Wakelet
In my AVID 9 classes, we’ve been working on a commercial project to answer the question, “What makes AVID great?” This project was more than just off-the-cuff filming; we actually dove into the art of commercial storytelling and what makes a commercial compelling and persuasive to the viewer. I modified a super cool HyperDoc originally created by Sarah Landis and came up with this:
We all had fun learning about how to build a strong commercial – we analyzed the elements, looked at digital shorts, and then students loosely scripted their own commercial stories. Next came filming, editing, and then after a few weeks, the big reveal!
Using Wakelet to share student creations is SO simple! First, I created the ‘wake’ and set it to allow contributors via a sharable link, and set it to ‘Public’ so we could all view the finished projects. Then, I copied the link to the wake and embedded it onto my HyperDoc. Done!
Wakelet makes it super easy to share links via Google Classroom, Facebook, Twitter, and anywhere else you can add a link. If you’d like to make a copy of my Create-A-Commercial HyperDoc, here’s the link. I’d love to share with you!
Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.
If you read my earlier post, you know I’ve been kind of dreading Easter this year. I mean, what is it all about if there aren’t little kids (or any kids) around to search for eggs, dive into Easter candy and make a fancy meal together?
In order to not be seen as completely pathetic, I PROMISE I will at least keep one tradition despite this empty nest – for Easter breakfast, I WILL make Grandma’s Dutch Baby Pancake.
As my kids grew from toddlers to tweens to teens, getting up early for anything was increasingly difficult. One sure fire method I’ve found for rousing them out of bed, however, is to prepare a warm, aromatic breakfast.
Having been raised in a family of spectacular cooks, it’s always been fun to prepare traditional recipes of my childhood. For a quick, simple and healthy Easter breakfast sure to please your family and friends, why not try my grandmother’s Dutch baby pancake?
Grandma’s Dutch Baby Pancake Recipe:
Ingredients:
2 T. butter
½ c. milk
½ c. flour
¼ c. sugar
2 eggs
1 T. butter softened
pinch of nutmeg
lemon wedges
powdered sugar or maple syrup (optional)
First, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Next, melt 2 T. butter in a 10-inch ovenproof skillet (I use Grandma’s cast iron) over medium heat. Make sure the butter covers the entire bottom and sides of the pan. Then, use a blender to puree together milk, flour, sugar, eggs, softened butter and nutmeg in a bowl. Pour into skillet. Cook 1 minute. Finally, place the pan in the oven and bake 12-15 minutes, until puffed and golden. Be prepared to serve immediately-it will deflate after you remove it. Slice into wedges, and serve with fresh lemon, powdered sugar or syrup. Serves 4.
Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.
Student engagement is definitely an education buzz word right now! All over the country, teachers and administrators search for tools, activities, and lessons to increase student engagement and create classroom opportunities for kids to respond actively, not passively, to instruction. For the last 18 years, we’ve been talking about 21st-century education. It’s time for educators to hop on board and create lessons that start with student engagement and center around the 4 Cs of learning: creativity, critical thinking, communication, and collaboration.
Since they launched in 2006, I’ve used Google Suite (formerly known as Google Apps for Education). These tools have TRANSFORMED my teaching and allowed my students to learn more richly than ever before (and I’ve been teaching for 28 years!).
A huge shift in my teaching came in 2016 when I met Lisa Highfill, Sarah Landis and Kelly Hilton, the creators of HyperDocs. They managed to wrap strong educational pedagogy with the 4 Cs of learning into super high-engagement lesson packages that revved me up to begin sharing, creating and learning about new ways to use technology as a tool in my classroom.
I started with multimedia text sets – a ‘gateway’ to HyperDocs, but not a true HyperDoc. Multimedia text sets are ways for teachers to start the learning process with engagement. They help kids explore and engage with provocations related to the topic of study. I connect this step with Trevor McKenzie’s work on inquiry-based learning – it’s the provocation (hook) that ignites imagination, interest, and incites students to dig deeply into their studies.
Here’s an example of a multimedia text set I made for textbook unit on ‘Risk and Exploration’:
I share this on Google Classroom and give the students a class period or two to explore the different stories, articles, videos, photo galleries, and podcasts. They LOVE it! It’s amazing how focused they become, and how they begin to engage in conversations about what they’re learning. It’s hard to get them to stop! In fact, they ASK if they can do it at HOME!
A key element of multimedia text sets is the share and reflect portion. Just by adding a link to a Google form to let students share their learning, create ‘wonder’ questions and let me know what they enjoyed most! This helps me to direct the next steps of the lesson, as well as ‘hook’ the kids into a direction for their learning.
Thanks to Lisa Highfill and Genevieve Pacada, this template is super easy to use and modify for each unit of study we do. It takes a bit of time to put the explorations together, but it allows me to not only get my class excited for our study, but also to be right alongside them as they discover new ideas!
Sometimes I use multimedia text sets as a smaller exploration.
Here’s one I created for my AVID classes prior to a career research study:
This multimedia text set was super fun and easy to create – I even took the personality and career tests with my class so they could see if I really was matched correctly to my job – of course, I was!
I’ve got lots of more examples I’d love to share with you. If you’re interested, leave a comment or email me at mamawolfeto2@gmail.com and I’ll help you out. Another great resource for multimedia text sets is the Hyperdocs.co website, as well as @TsgiveTs on Twitter. I believe we’re #bettertogether! Feel free to make a copy of these two multimedia text sets and try them out!
Jennifer Wolfe, a writer-teacher-mom, is dedicated to finding the extraordinary in the ordinary moments of life by thinking deeply, loving fiercely, and teaching audaciously. Jennifer is a Google Certified Educator, Hyperdoc fanatic, and a voracious reader. Read her stories on her blog, mamawolfe, and grab free copies of her teaching and parenting resources.