Week 2 - #F5F

1. Live Twitter Chats - If you go to my Forum post, you can see my full recap, but I participated in my first ever Live Chat this week (#xplap). The whole process was a rush; everything moved so fast, and I struggled at times to keep track of where the conversation was. Overall, it was a great experience, and I highly recommend teachers to get involved in PLNs this way.

2. Quote of the Week - "[We] have to have empathy all around, and I think, if we start there, we'll continue to have conversations that can help move everything forward." - Patricia Brown. This quote came from a panel discussion on YouTube that I was watching for another class, but I found this quote to be extremely poignant. Heading into this fall, more than any other year, I am aware of equity issues in my classroom that have existed since day 1 of my teaching career. I wasn't doing anything intentional to create inequitable structures and practices, but the fact that I wasn't aware until now is the issue. Empathy for my students that have different levels of educational needs needs to be a priority, and I want to strive to change that in my classroom this year.

3. Article of the Week - https://mtgcardsmith.com/. It's not an article, per se, but this site was shared on the live Twitter Chat, and it allows you to create custom game cards (in the style of Magic: The Gathering) for your classroom. Even if I don't end up overhauling my classroom to match this structure, this is a still a great resource for a unit or fun game activity.

4. Video of the Week - "How Playing an Instrument Benefits your Brain." TedEDVideo. As a music teacher, this is absolute gold! This video is highly engaging from a visual perspective, and the content is spot-on to so many concepts I try to hammer home on a daily basis.

5. GIF that sums up my Week: I'm making progress and coming up with great ideas for the fall.