Mrs. Slaviero's Blog

I have to always remember who I teach. I work with teens that want nothing more than to spend time with peers. That, of course, is something that has fallen to the wayside most of this calendar year, and almost all of this school year.  Building community has been a focal point of my classes before 2020, now it's imperative but quite challenging. Students will talk to one another, but mostly stay quiet and prefer to work in small groups, or alone. Being at home tends to make them feel more reluctant to share and speak up, unfortunately. My Social Studies colleagues introduced me to Gimkit last year. Gimkit is a gamified review that my students have really enjoyed. The company has come out with a version similar to an incredibly popular computer game and we played this version in class last week, as a review of the Constitution, Three Branches of Government, and the Bill of Rights. My students loved it and they came alive during our classes. I was overjoyed to hear them hollering (a...

At the start of the school year I reminded myself to focus on the "WHY"s this year. Now that we are at the end of first quarter it's time to take stock.  Building community is a central focus, especially now. Calling each student by name when they enter our virtual or physical classroom is important. We frequently discuss norms for breakout rooms (this is actually a much bigger issue than in the physical class) and I give students specific activities while in breakouts, along with deciding which student leads each part of our activity. (Not giving students the option to choose who should lead is helpful for students--they can just get started on tasks, rather than wait for someone to take initiative. Taking initiative is something I would emphasize if we were all in-seat, it's something that will most likely come with time in the virtual environment.) This has really helped students to work together and they're getting more comfortable and staying on-task. I rotat...

First Quarter has been a blur of events. New schedules, updated schedules, updates to the updates, virtual teaching, and now hybrid teaching (teaching students virtually and face-to-face simultaneously). I haven't had the time to post an update and honestly I'm at a loss as to what to write.  I am grateful for my colleagues and our ability to work to our strengths and provide our students opportunities to learn deeply. I will once again provide my Historians the time and structure to create a Gratitude Journal this November. I still see student aha moments, though now through a screen or partially hidden behind a mask.  We have started our National History work, with more progress to come next week. These positive moments mean more now than ever. 

  I can't believe we are already a few weeks into the school year. My 25th year. And yet I'm feeling like a first-year teacher in so many ways.  There have been big changes, any one of which would've thrown me for a loop if I'm honest.  Block scheduling.  Teaching virtually.  Pivoting for hybrid learning.  My colleagues and I are leaning on each other. We are taking this one day and one week at a time. I'm incredibly proud of the work we are doing.  I've made a Bitmoji Classroom (sorry, not sorry--it's a fun way to introduce myself to my students but it's not central to the work we're doing). The classroom contains links to our school website, National History Day Symbaloo Webmix, and other links. It also holds a daily agenda slide. I've upped my tech game by creating it. Housing the classroom in our Schoology page was an tech accomplishment for me, too. I update it daily with an agenda slide that updates when I complete it in Google Slides. My B...

  The 2020-2021 school year is ready to begin. We teachers report back next week, our students the week after. I have been very, very quiet this summer because of all that is happening in our world. If I'm honest, I'm usually the one to make small talk or fill in the space when there is a lull in conversations (that's for better or worse--my intentions are good, though). This summer has changed all of that. I've spent these months listening and starting to process the multitude of events that have changed our country and our world--stepping back has helped me to somewhat prepare for this school year. Educators are called to be flexible, more flexible than ever before. With everything happening and changing fast I must pull back, quiet myself, and think. I must make time for this solitude this year. Thankfully this week has helped me feel more ready to start the year than I thought I would be.  I went in to organize my classroom. It felt good to refresh the space. It was...

Yesterday's 8th Grade Clap-Out not only ended the school year, it was the end of an era for my family. I have had my son or my daughter in the same building with me for the past five years. (I did not teach either of them but guided them while completing their National History Day projects in 8th Grade.) Their Middle School years were full of wonderful experiences, both inside and outside of the classroom. From my son's 6th Grade 50s-Themed Band Concert, track, clubs like Quiz Bowl and Stock Market Club, APT to Succeed interview, Civil War Day, and the Troybery Celebration, to my daughter's clubs like STAND and Stock Market Club, basketball, cross-country, track, cheer, pep assemblies, and both of their 8th Grade Washington DC trips they've had three exceptional years, ones that both have already looked back on fondly. My son, a rising High School Junior, was definitely prepared for High School because of his Middle School years, I have no doubt my d...

National History Day is still going strong for a small team of students in my school and district! I'm so proud to say that four students in my school, two students in one of our sister middle schools, and one former student of mine that's now a High School Junior have qualified for the National History Day (virtual) finals competition! These students are showing great perseverance working on edits and additional research, all while navigating online learning and, in the case of my High School student, studying for Advance Placement exams! We have been meeting regularly to continue to provide guidance as these historians hone their work before submitting their documentary, website, and performance script. The students are studying fascinating topics (the Japanese Internment Camps during WWII, Rosie the Riveter, and the heroic Ida Lewis) and the open-ended nature of NHD work allows these young ladies to really stretch their thinking and move their research forward. ...

I am team teaching about volcanoes, hurricanes, and earthquakes this quarter with my Language Support team. I am planning for next week's study of the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and needed an activity. I have never taught this topic before but as I was researching I remembered there was a US Mint in San Francisco (I visited it when I was 9 years old)!  The US Mint is an incredible resource for educators and I have utilized their materials earlier this year when my LS students needed lessons on learning American money and how to make change. What a cool "full circle" moment to go back to the US Mint for this lesson! I located a video about the Mint's role in helping to rebuild the San Francisco economy, but needed a student activity to go with the video. My students will create a Thank You note for the San Francisco Mint of 1906! Writing Thank You notes is an activity I thought of years ago for my US History students while studying the American Re...

Teaching Language Support-History has been so rewarding this year. This class has brought me back to being a first year teacher--the highs, lows, uncertainty, and the rewards of working with students learning English, Social Studies content, and American school at the same time. It's also been, as I've previously stated, a perfect mix of my two content area strengths: History and foreign language instruction, even though the foreign language is English, not German. (I do have a German student, though! It's been nice to practice my German when I have clarified concepts with her.) I've had one more professional bucket list want that I can finally check off of my list--I am part of a teaching team this year. Our Language Support students are together for English, Science, and Social Studies classes every day. The three of us teachers, along with our amazing Parapro, have gained so much momentum this year creating cross-curricular units for our students. The online l...

We received word from the Governor of Michigan last Thursday that, due to the coronavirus, all Michigan school buildings would be closed for the rest of the school year. We will completely shift to online learning after Spring Break. So many feelings. I feel for my students and for my children, a High School Sophomore and an 8th Grader. We are still adjusting to this change, and probably will be for the foreseeable future. I am also adjusting to the idea of teaching school online for the next quarter. I know how to teach my students when we are in the classroom together. I know what they need--opportunities to work together, to learn from one another, to experience deep learning, to work with routines. I know I will figure it out but wrapping my head around this new situation now is daunting.  A silver lining in this situation has been the educational community. The sheer amount of resources made available to educators during this uncertain time is extraordinary. I am...

Surreal, to say the least. One week ago today school communities in Michigan found out that they would be closing for the foreseeable future due to the Coronavirus pandemic. This highly contagious disease would cause schools to shift to online learning for the next three weeks (that would coincide with our Spring Break so we will be out of school for four weeks). Families in the state are highly encouraged to stay at home, self-isolate, and stay 6 or more feet away from anyone not in our immediate households (known as social distancing). Our staff gathered last Friday to start the transition to online learning. The district technology teams and administration greatly helped us make this shift. We are adjusting to a new normal. This past week has been unprecedented. Thank goodness we've been a 1:1 iPad school for years now. The technology piece isn't completely new for us. Finding the balance between a typical lesson and online lessons from home is taking some getting us...

What a week of learning! Language Support Student Historians continually surprise me with their "all in" attitude regarding learning! They never miss an opportunity to take advantage of learning something new. It is exciting and heartwarming. I am challenging all of us in Language Support-History by creating modified National History Day projects this quarter. It's going to be a fantastic learning experience for every one of us. I have absolutely no idea how things will progress but we are taking it one step at a time, together. Students learned about this year's theme, "Breaking Barriers in History" by constructing barriers with lego-style bricks. (None of the students had ever heard the word in English before.) We then created a word study of the word barrier, including examples of synonyms and antonyms. Word study completed, we began to search US History topics that might interest us, then took Cloze notes of the six examples of breaking ...

Happy New Year! January has been full of meaningful opportunities for learning! Eighth Grade Student Historians presented their Breaking Barriers in History National History Day projects to their 6th and 7th Grade peers recently. A special thank you to Learning Village--Michigan History Day's fearless leader, Ms. Amy Bradfield, our Media Specialist, Mrs. Chatel, our 8th Grade Language Arts teachers, Mrs. Galbraith, Mrs. Pagnani, and Mrs. Wright, and our Special Education teachers Mrs. Ritter, and Ms. Bard, for all of your help in making this day possible! It is always exciting to share learning but this year's work is taking on a special purpose--7th Graders and Language Support-History students will, for the first time at our school, complete modified NHD projects themselves later this school year. The 8th Graders will serve as mentors during this process. I am very eager to work with my students in this leadership capacity! Eighth Graders are continuing the...