All posts by cassiemedley

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About cassiemedley

Instructional Coach at Seaman Middle School

“Was Kansas Actually Bleeding?”

best practice, Cassie Medley, graphic organizer, historical thinking, Kansas, ,

Bleeding Kansas

One thing I have learned as a teacher, kids really do say the darndest things!  Recently my Kansas History class started in on Bleeding Kansas, and I realized that very few of my students had retained any prior knowledge on the subject.  To get the students interested in the topic, and to provide them with some basic knowledge before we really got started on the topic, I planned a pre-reading strategy using key words from the Bleeding Kansas chapter in our Kansas Journey textbook.  Continue reading “Was Kansas Actually Bleeding?” →

4 Corners (not the ones in your classroom)

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Recently I had an administrator observe a group activity in my classroom which required students to summarize the facts from a lesson into a well constructed paragraph.  After watching the lesson, my administrator asked me “How do you hold individual students accountable?”  I had an answer to the question, but the question itself stuck with me for several days.  Yes, I can walk around the room and listen in to each group to see which students are participating and which aren’t, but with several groups in the classroom it is hard to get a good grasp on everything that each individual student is contributing to the group.  So, I put in some time researching and came up with several options, one of which is the strategy 4 Corners.

Continue reading 4 Corners (not the ones in your classroom) →

Tools 4 Students

Cassie Medley, graphic organizer, ipad, lesson plans, strategies, technology, writing

I promise I’m not going to spend the whole blog using text language!  Tools 4 Students and Tools 4 Students 2 are actually the names of a great app that I use in my classroom to get students working with technology and cutting down on the amount of time that I have to spend in front of a copy machine.

Between the two versions of this app there are 50 different graphic organizers that are both premade and editable for teachers and students to create their own.  Continue reading Tools 4 Students →

Augmented Reality

Cassie Medley, common core, technology, Uncategorized

This week our Instructional Technology Coach is in my classroom testing out a new iPad app on my students called Aurasma.  This app allows you to augment reality, similar to the way a first down line is added when you are watching a football game.  Students create a video and link it with an image, which can then be scanned like a QR code by anyone to play the video. Continue reading Augmented Reality →

The Dreaded Textbook

Cassie Medley, graphic organizer, lesson plans, literacy, reading, strategies

I would almost be willing to bet money on the fact that my student’s least favorite part of my class is when I say “grab your textbooks.”  The groans that echo around the room are enough to keep me from repeating that phrase very often, but I know my kids still need to learn how to use their textbooks, so I brave the sound effects every now and then.  What my students dread most is opening the book and silently reading hundreds of pages (or at least it feels like that many to them), so I try to find fun reading strategies to alleviate the amount of reading while still ensuring my kids are getting the information they need. Continue reading The Dreaded Textbook →