In last week’s episode, episode 59 where I talked about streamlining your content in order to have the time to actually put relationships first, the main recommendation was to put your content delivery into video.  There are many reasons why, and if you haven’t yet, be sure to go back and listen to those suggestions, but this week’s episode on creating one space for your students is in the same vein as streamlining your content.

Are we going to talk about Binders, Interactive Notebooks, and Digital Notebooks, oh my?  You betcha.

But this episode is more about streamlining your classroom, especially the aspects of it that are student facing, so you can use more of your time focusing on what matters - connecting with your students.

So what we’re going to streamline today is what, rather where, exactly our students house all of their materials and necessities for our class, and go over the purposes of this one spot for your students.

As chaotic as...

Even as a high school teacher, providing guided notes to my students is always something I have done.  I do NOT remember that being a tool I was given as a student, and I never thought I would like or appreciate giving students that type of scaffolding as a teacher, but it has been something I've done since day ONE of teaching.

When I first started, I probably couldn't even tell you why I did - it was probably a control thing.  I wanted to control exactly what they got out of the slides I worked so hard to create.  But as I progressed in my career I realized students appreciated these notes, and not just students who truly needed the accommodation, but almost all students.

Students appreciated the structure of guided notes because,

1. It allowed them to focus on what they were hearing without FOMO.  And it's not the kind of FOMO for Friday night's party you have to miss because you have an early ACT the next morning.  No no, it's more pressure of missing...

Phew.  I've finished up the biggest haul of resources to date because of CollegeBoard's reorganization with the new CED in AP® Psychology.

Seriously - phew!

I can't wait to show it all to you, and to provide you with a fun free resource you can use to get your students up and moving just for sticking around here at Teach On A Mission.

So, what do we have here in Unit 7 - well it's a big one.  Much like Cognitive Psychology, you'll want to be sure and keep this one nice and compartmentalized for students, helping them know where they are in their studies at all times.

I hope you find these resources helpful so you can spend time connecting with your students rather than on the wheel of content creation.

Slides

Let's start with the slides.  There are 12 sets of powerpoint slides in 12 big topics covered throughout the unit.  I like this unit in a flipped classroom, as I do all units, but I have to say the discussion that comes from these topics in class is...

"I don't learn this way," a student said in the second week or so of the new school year.  At that point students had taken notes from about two videos in our first unit of the course, and this was her (as it was for most students) first flipped classroom experience.

"I just don't learn this way, you know, from a video," she repeated. 

In an attempt to be patient and empathetic I tried reiterate what I was hearing her say, and then to be honest with her in a respectful manner.  So I said, "I hear you saying that taking notes from a video is new for you, and that you're used to taking notes from a teacher standing at the front of the room, is that right?  Well, let me ask you this... when you want to learn something new that you see someone do on social media, for instance you LOVE someone's new look and how she put on eyeliner.  What do you do to learn how to do it the exact same way?"

"I look it up on Youtube. [long pause]  O, I get it."

She understood...