Month: August 2016

Ed Tech: SeeSaw

Posted on by Mr. DeLaere

So this app seems really cool but I think you need a certain kind of students. 

Apple App Store

As teachers we want our students to be assessed by the work they do over the whole year and not just a single test at the end of the year. 

We also want them to see how they grew over the year in school. 

The way we do I this is through portfolios. And this app is a way to do that but digitally. With the app it kind of works like a personal blog for the students to snap pictures of all their work in class and it creates an online portfolio. You can have different classes to keep your students separate and organized. 

I doubt I will be able to use it myself in my class because of maturity level. But I think 7th or 8th grade is a good age to start this. 

Parents can use it too if they want to keep a portfolio of art work of their child. 

Post a comment on how you’d use this app. 

Vocabulary Reward System

Posted on by Mr. DeLaere


So I found these two posters on Pinterest and got the idea of word use for a reward system in my Reading/ELA classroom. 

For a word that is more advanced and descriptive the class will receive a dollar (fake money of course). For words that are less descriptive they will receive a penny.

I am going to create my own poster of undesirable words or what I’m gonna call “Tax Words” which if they use those words then they will lose 50 cents. 

Pictures of all three posters are on here. Links to the original Pinterest post will be hyperlinked. 

Ed Tech: Remind

Posted on by Mr. DeLaere

So many teachers have heard of Remind or what used to be Remind 101. Well, I can tell you it for sure works with students in high school. I’m thinking for my new middle school position it will only be for parents. 

I will comunicate with parents assignments that are due. Progress made in class and days we have off from school. I will also send parents links to practice material for their student to build their reading and comprehension skills. 

I am going to test the waters as to what extent I can use it in a 6th grade classroom. 

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In my high school classroom when I was teaching, I used it to send students extra credit opportunities. The extra credit typically would be a written paper on something of a current event or I even sent them the link to my Weird History Pinterest page. They all loved the weird historical events in the world. 

Change in my life

Posted on by Mr. DeLaere

So a lot has happened since the last time that I Posted. The reason why I haven’t posted in a long time is because I was terminated from OCPS with no cause. So I have spent the past 10 months working at Disney, working at Cracker Barrel and applying for teaching jobs. 

Well, I have finally been hired in Osceola County Public Schools to teach Reading/Language Arts. My job is contingent of me getting the Middle Grades English certification. My school says I have to get it by October but the district says end of April. I did all my paperwork, drug testing and fingerprinting done Thursday and Friday. And I had to get a TB skin test done which came back negative within hours. 

In my new PLC we will have same planning for collaborative lesson planning which is going to be amazing since I will be switching from Social Studies to English/Reading. 

I am going to have to take 5 ESOL courses and 3 Readingg Courses through the district to get my endorsements. I’m also gonna get their Gifted Endorsement. 

I’m gonna go through all this while I’m going to graduate school full time. I started my Educational Leadership masters program at UCF in May and should be graduating August 5, 2017. The spring semester is gonna be the toughest because I will be taking 4 classes two of which I have to be on campus for. 

I will be posting my recent ideas and anchor charts to share with you all for my 6th Grade English Language Arts and Reading classes.