Teaching Then and Now with Mrs. Grooms' Room

Hey everyone!  It's Mrs. Grooms from Mrs. Grooms' Room!  

We have been talking about how things have changed and BUH-LIEVE me!! There have been a ton of changes since I started teaching in 2000!! 

We had a taste of "Old School" this past month. We had our technology refresh and we had to work without technology for TWO whole days!! Yes, we did!! Oh my stars!! (Thankfully, we had a field trip on one of the days...so really it was just one day....BUT STILL!)  

So for that one day...no Smartboard, no laptop, no iPads…nothing!  It was not easy.  Even after teaching school for sixteen years, I took a deep breath.  In the beginning of my teacher career, I had lots of no technology days. But, now, my days are filled with technology. 

Ummm…Gulp.

Old memories of chalkboards, whiteboards, and overhead projectors filled my thoughts and it made me realize just how far we have grown as teachers.  (I still remember having to copy on transparencies and walking out of my classroom with pen-stained hands. Haha!) As an immigrant of technology, it has been amazing to see teachers including myself come from chalkboards to Smartboards.  

Then? 

I wrote my plans in a lesson plan book with a spiral-bound, faux leather maroon plastic cover and then I copied those plans for my principal and put it in her box. 

Now?  

My plans are typed up and shared on Google drive.  We share ideas, and ideas through group text, Facebook, or Instagram.  We use apps like Chatterkids to create work, and then we share our kids’ work with parents on apps like Seesaw.  Ninety-percent of my kids and their families are connected through technology. The journey for me has been eye-opening to see and the changes in technology have been really fast.

One thing that I want to share with you is the making of classroom books and how these community books have changed for me. 

Then?  

My students and I all planned together how to write a community book and we all took part of the process.  We each wrote a page individually, drew pictures, and published it.  We laminated it, stapled it, and then we had a wonderful book that we wrote together in our library. The kids would read it often.  Parents?  Usually, not.

Now? 

We are still planning together and writing together to create a classroom book. But things are a little different.  NOW we do not staple it.  Nope! Times have changed.  

\

Now?

We use an app called Book Creator to create classroom books. Each student still completes a digital page by writing, drawing, and publishing it, digitally.  We save it and then we share it. Together, we have a classroom book.  

Now?

It's on a digital shelf. And, it’s with my students and their families and friends, just like it should be!!  It should be read and talked about and shared.  (LOVE!) 

(Here is one that we are working on now.  Eventually, it will be an eBook that we we share with our parents and a study guide for their assessment.)

How do we share it? (Remember Seesaw?!!) We use Seesaw to share our works like our digital classroom books to over 90 percent of my class. 

If you make ebooks or you love to to make classroom books, head over to iTunes and check it out.  

(Click on the Book Creator app above and it will take you to iTunes!)

The free version allows you to make one book. Small cheer!  BUT the full version allows you to make as many ebooks as you would like to make. STADIUM CHEER!   There are different templates you can use...even some for your comic book fans! It's so easy to use but there are also webinars on their site to watch to help you if you need help.  

I hope you get to try it!! Let me know if you do!!  I am loving it!

Talk to you soon friends!!