Week 21: Creating Change

It was another week busy in Room 104A at Southwest Elementary...

We have a new ELL student whose home country is China! His native language is Mandarin but speaks English quite well for only being in  America for approximately one and half years. He came to Clinton through New York and Missouri. I enjoyed meeting with our "team" to set a plan in motion for this young man, I am excited to see how he learns and grows with us! 


This week I had the opportunity to video a class during reading centers. It is wonderful to see the many different ways teachers set up and implement centers in their classrooms. Each teacher is working toward the same common goal, but there are many ways to get there...



Tech Tuesday became Wireless Wednesday this week due to afterschool tutoring the second semester. Thirty-three staff members were in attendance, the largest group this year! The first 10 minutes is what I call "Share Time". All staff members are encouraged to share something innovative or techy that they have done or seen, this leads to wonderful discussion. 

 Then it was  my turn to  share one of my favorite things, this month's was a "Mystery Box". It can be used in all subjects, whole group or at a teacher table, pre-reading strategy, for book reports, inferencing, predicting, retelling, etc. 

This month I also added a challenge to all staff members that attended Wireless Wednesday... reflect each day. A  "buzzword" in our district this year has been Reflection.  A handful of our staff  are writing weekly reflections,  I thought some may want  to start smaller, reflect each afternoon, write one awesome thing that they did that day on a slip of paper, and put it in a jar. At the end of one month (our next meeting) we will open our jars and share some of the amazing things going on in their classrooms. 

"We all have moments of greatness. Let's not forget to celebrate, reflect, and revisit those..."

January's Tech Challenge to Southwest teachers was to use the green screen in our Makerspace to make a video using Doink and Videoshop apps. I was able to assist six teachers with this project this week, they turned out fabulous! 

My week ended by organizing, producing, and publishing the Weekly Recap, I can't believe this was number twenty-one! 

Thank you for allowing me to share my journey as I learn and grow each week, 
Mrs. Hime