Mrs. Slaviero's Blog

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...

  My reflections this week are all about leveraging technology to positively impact students and their learning. My Language Support Historians built community by creating and viewing persuasive newscasts about the geographical regions that make up the United States. Students had the choice of using either the TouchCast app or the new (to me) green screen technology in Apple iMovie.  Writing, speaking, and critical thinking skills were practiced and community building occurred when viewing. Each student wrote two compliments for each video (including their own video) and shared out.  My US History 8 Historians are in the midst of researching their National History Day projects. Classes are combined every hour at this point in the project so I get to interact with close to 300 students! It's so exciting to hear how they are interpreting this year's theme (Breaking Barriers in History) and the subjects they're researching. Last year I kept noticing that I...

It's been a bumpier start to the school year than previous years. I'm not writing this to complain, but rather to state that the wait for this week's developments has been worth it. This has been a week of wonder for me. My Language Support students are getting more acclimated. I'm hearing them talk about "our school" and claim ownership of the many opportunities they've had to represent us and our school community this quarter. What also warms my heart is the way they are seeking independence in their learning in our History classroom. They will begin to grow as learners even more now that this is becoming our norm. Small gains, such as one student finding the theme song to the current events news program we start our class with so that he can use it in his newscast project, mean so much. The US History classes are beginning National History Day projects in earnest this week. I'm meeting my colleagues' students now that we are combini...

We have had a busy week! Students in US History participated in a Gallery Walk, examining primary and secondary sources related to some of the battles of the American Revolution. We also reviewed the concept of propaganda and applied that concept to some of the sources. This important understanding will assist students during their National History Day work.  Student Historians also used the National Archives DocsTeach app to analyze multiple primary sources about Valley Forge. They needed to figuratively weigh the evidence on a scale as to whether or not the documents would make them quit the Continental Army or encourage them to stay.  This exercise is beneficial for many reasons. One is that the students are working and thinking on a continuum.  Being able to weigh evidence is a critical life skill (and citizenship skill). Preparing students to problem solve in this way will benefit them, regardless of their career path. I was impressed to see th...

One of my greatest professional accomplishments was the day I certified as a National Board Teacher. My Cooperating Teacher is an NBCT and after witnessing the impact she had on her students (and me) it became one of my top bucket list accomplishments when I was hired twenty four years ago. One of my closest colleagues achieved certification eleven years ago, she and other colleagues convinced me to attempt and I certified in 2011. It's hard to believe but it's been close to ten years since my initial certification and I became a renewal candidate this school year. My initial certification cycle consisted of four portfolio entries, two unedited videos (one of me teaching small group activities, the other of me teaching a whole class activity), and six Assessment Center tests covering pedagogy and Social Studies-History concepts such as how to understand and teach primary sources to students. (The tests were stressful--candidates are required to go to a testing site and t...