PearDeck. A Lifesaver Teaching Summer School!

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    Monday always brings about yawns and sad feelings as the weekend drifts off into the horizon and another work week begins. As a high school teacher, I usually have summers off (NOT PAID!) Well, this summer I decided to buckle my bootstraps and teach a summer school term. The second term began at the end of June and goes until July 21st. That means that today starts my 3rd week working with this group of students (at a different school site and teaching a different grade level than what I taught these past two years). 

    Let me tell you - working with teenagers isn't for the week. Before anyone tries to come out of the woodwork stating, "Well your job isn't a real job. You're just a babysitter that sits around all day. Teaching isn't hard at all." No, I do not sit on my behind all day long, no my job does not consist of me "babysitting" students all day. For summer school, I have to teach these kids topics they were supposed to learn for an entire year, within 15 days. And keep them interested. During summer. It has been rough. 

    I am a HUGE fan of utilizing supplemental materials in my lessons. I am not a fan of completing whole-group lectures as my only way to deliver content in the classroom. I would also like to say that I am a project-based learning type of teacher and I always like to keep my goals long-term by utilizing backward-planning strategies. I'd love to share more on my backward-planning strategies and project-based learning I do in the classroom if anyone is interested! :) 

    One of the tools and resources I like as a brilliant resource in the classroom is the PearDeck extension found within Google Slides. It is one of the many ways I teach new information in the classroom. It is beautifully laid out and provides teachers a way to assess student knowledge as they are presenting new information. Did I mention that you can complete instructor-paced lessons or student-paced lessons in PearDeck? It is very versatile and allows students to see the information on their own screens. In fact, today I hit my 20th PearDeck presentation and was rewarded a cute little badge I can showcase.


    I can continue to brag about how amazing PearDeck is but I think I'll wait to talk more about the amazing features and even provide some insight on how to set up a very first PearDeck.

    I use other amazing tools within the classroom and can't wait to introduce or review those tools soon! Stay tuned :)

Signing off for now,
Mo <3

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