English Teacher: Gio Nebbio
Today I get to share with everyone my best friend, Gio’s view in her classroom. Unfortunately we are both crazy busy the last few months of school so she answered these via email. Gio teaches high school English and last year was in charge of the English Learner’s program at her high school. I have known Gio since the beginning of my Freshman year in High School and she is seriously the best! I am so excited to share her knowledge with all of you:
1. What do you teach and why did you choose to teach that subject?
I currently teach junior and senior English. It was always my goal to teach senior English because I think it is just an exciting time for kids as they are about to start a new journey of entering the workforce or choosing to continue their education. I've also always been interested in English because of its relationship with literature. I think reading and teaching students the skills to read and enjoy reading is a powerful thing because through reading we can transport to anywhere, any time, or be anyone we want.
2. What is a great tool you use and why?
I am a Google slides fanatic, everything I do in class is through Google slides. I plan all of my units and activities through Google slides. My students know that if they're absent or missed something all the simply have to do is go through the slides. See an example of Gio’s slide below:
3. Is there anything you do to accommodate students by using the slides?
The slides also provide good support for students with different learning needs. Often times my slides include additional resources (graphic organizers, extra practice, videos) that students can explore during their own time. I also post all of my slides to Google classroom and encourage students to follow along on their own devices as I am speaking.
4. How often do you use this tool?
I use this tool every day. Google slides is my life and because I like to make them pretty and graphically appealing I usually browse slidescarnival.comor slidesgo.com about once a week to make sure there are no new templates I'm missing out on. For example, slidesgo.com released a new St. Patrick's theme that I cannot wait to use.
5. Any advice for a new English teacher?
I know people say this a lot but plan, plan, plan. I know it gets hard and sometimes it feels like it is a mountain to climb but by ensuring you have proper planning and have stuff planned ahead of time you are making your and your students' lives much easier. In addition, to this, I think it is most important to know your students. Know what is going to interest them and making English fun and interesting because we really do get to teach the best subject. Don't just stick to teaching Shakespeare because it's what your teacher did or the other teacher's on campus do. Don't be afraid to make the curriculum exciting and you.
One last example of Gio’s slides she uses with her students.