Tuesday, February 11, 2014

This is so exciting...I'm a blogger!  This is a new adventure for me.  I am currently working as an assistant principal in a middle school that serves grades six through eight.  I have previously taught second, third, and fourth grade students for the past eight years.  I enjoy reading blogs to get ideas and learn about what works, and now I can share some of my experiences. 

Let's start with this article I just read about checklists.
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/the-power-of-a-checklist-heather-wolpert-gawron

Common Core encourages teachers to use project-based learning in their classrooms, and the teacher in the article uses checklists to help her students stay organized.  As an adult, I make lists everyday...where did I learn to do this?  Honestly, I'm not sure, but I think this is a life skill that would be great to use in our classrooms.  I hear several teachers say that students aren't completing assignments that they should be working on outside of class.  Checklists would be a great way to help students learn to plan and organize their work in order to turn it in on time.  I would begin by modeling with a big class checklist for a certain assignment I want them to complete.  The checklist would be a tool for them to use, and I would have them turn it in with their assignment for additional points. 

What are some ways that you use checklists in your classroom?

11 comments:

  1. I retired after 40 years of teaching and currently run a tutoring business. We have several middle school students who have a great deal of difficulty with organization. I think the idea of using a checklist to help them complete work on time and turn it in could be very useful to them. We often have students who have completed the work, but just don't turn it in. I understand you are a new blogger, so congratulations. I'm sure you will enjoy this and make many new friends. Best of luck to you. cwhaccent@aol.com

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  2. I use checklists for myself all the time. I treat our daily schedule like a checklist in the classroom. We've made checklists for writing to check on important things for ourselves and for when we peer edit. Whenever we do seatwork in class, I put a checklist on the board of things to do. I think it's a great idea to go from this to teaching students to create their own checklists in order to plan and manage their time/projects. Thanks for bringing it up!

    On another note, yay for starting a blog! Based on your first post, I'm going to enjoy reading your blog. I especially like that you have the perspective of both a teacher and an administrator. Keep writing! :)

    andrea . m . lee84 @ gmail . com

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  3. I use checklists all the time for me. I do think children would benefit from learning this skill. I am not sure it is age appropriate for my class.
    Congrats on your new blog!
    lraines78@gmail.com

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  4. I have an ongoing checklist on the side of my whiteboard. Students are encouraged to continuously refer to the board to ensure that they are meeting all of the requirements. I agree with you, checklists are a lifelong skill. Going forward, I think I will have my students each have their own ongoing personal checklists. Thanks for the inspiration!
    Wonderful post! Congratulations on starting up a blog! Welcome to the blogging world! I look forward to reading many more posts!
    gardenfullofknowledge@gmail.com

    Najda

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  5. Congratulations on starting your own blog. I hope that you enjoy writing about different things and I look forward to reading them. I have taught many grades as well and am now doing Title Reading which I enjoy. Good luck with this adventure and have a great week.
    Megan
    Mhorman@north-cedarstu.org

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  6. Congrats on your blog ;)
    Lori
    lorih824 at yahoo dot com

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  7. congratulations! This is great. Looking forward to reading more.
    mgips@stlukeschool.com

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  8. Welcome to the world of blogging, Elizabeth!

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  9. Looking forward blog posts. I use checklists with my students in their writing. They must check for grammatical and content items.

    juliequain@yahoo.com

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  10. Congratulations! Looking forward to following your blog.
    chief9937@Yahoo.com

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  11. I've always used checklists, especially as part of my daily calendar. I think it began in college 20 years ago with my first Franklin Covey calendar. Encouraging our students to utilize checklists within their agendas might bring more accountability and require frequent viewing of deadlines and priorities each day.

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