Fridays are for Reflecting!

 

Class Dojo Reflection Activity

    Raise your hand if Class Dojo is your best friend! I really wish you could see how high my hand is raised and how hard I'm smiling right now! I use Class Dojo faithfully, to help enhance my behavior/culture system. Credits and rewards are earned for good choices while "reminders" (aka negative points) and consequences are earned for poor choices. At the end of each week, my students log into their student accounts to view their points and reflect on their behavior for the week. This routine has really helped my 3rd Graders to develop self accountability and goal setting strategies. Here's how I assign the Class Dojo Reflection Activity:

1. Upload the assignment to your preferred virtual learning platform. I like to use the 'Worksheets' feature on Class Dojo but you can definitely assign it on GoogleClasssroom using Google Slides or other platforms.
2. Students login to the student accounts on Class Dojo to view their reports for the week. I give them about 3-5 minutes of viewing and they have the option to ask questions about any of their credits or reminders (I have the memory of an elephant on most occasions but if you have a bad memory, then I do not recommend encouraging questions lol).
3. Students then complete the reflection activity by inserting text boxes for each prompt. Try to encourage students to find trends in their behavior. Maybe they have a hard time in the mornings but they start to improve later in the day. Or perhaps Wednesday was rough all together and they're just realizing that they were triggered by something that happened at home. This is my favorite step because I tend to get lots of heart felt apologies (without asking). It seems as though my 3rd graders are becoming more aware of how their actions impact the team and holding themselves accountable. 
4. Students share their goals if they feel comfortable. Sharing a goal sometimes helps to solidify its purpose and promote peer accountability. When you forget your goal or start to fall back into bad habits, your friends will remind you of the endgame!
5. The teacher gives feedback and affirms students. Although we are still making progress with creating SMART goals as 3rd graders, I never want to downplay a student's personal goal. I try my best to encourage them to make a goal based on a trend in their behavior and affirm them for acknowledging it.

If you like this resource and would like to incorporate it into your virtual/hybrid learning routine, download this freebie from my Teachers Pay Teachers store today. It comes with a Google Slides page for GoogleClassroom and the PNG image for teachers to save and use as necessary. Let me know how your students enjoyed the Friday Reflection!

Happy Teaching...on Coffee!

Tips for New Teachers

1. Get Organized

Having a personal organization plan and implementing it with fidelity is one of the most important things for having a successful school year. Think about your work style and the time of day when you're most productive and make a plan for getting work done. For me personally, I am most productive after school and I really enjoy working alone with the 'Today's R&B and Hip Hop Hits' Pandora station on. I also prefer to work at school (as much as I try to convince myself that I can get work done at home it just doesn't happen). Also think about how you like to organize your duties. Do you prefer an electronic org system by using a calendar on your laptop (TEAM MAC) or are you more successful when you write things down? I am a 'write it down or it won't get done' type of teacher. To keep all of my duties and planning organized in one place I use a teacher planner which I created myself to fit my needs (getting organized feels better when your planner is cute). Check it out at my Teachers Pay Teachers store. Once you put careful thought into how and when you want to complete your teacher duties, hold yourself accountable and just do them.

Pink and Teal Planner

Pink White and Grey Planner

 2. Map out your Classroom Culture Vision

Effective classroom management is a crucial part of promoting successful student academic outcomes. You can have perfect lesson plans but if your class is chaotic, the learning won't happen. Think about your ideal classroom environment. What do you see? What does is sound like? What is the teacher doing? What are the student doing? Now think about how you will respond when that vision isn't happening. Create behavior plan that considers the different nuances of responding to minor misbehaviors vs. major misbehaviors. I learned the hard way in my beginning years of teaching that responding the same way for all behavior infractions plays a big part in student disinvestment of your behavior policy. Be on the look out for a detailed post about how I use Class Dojo to enforce my behavior policy.

 3. Avoid the "One Man Island" Syndrome

YOU CAN NOT DO THIS WORK ALONE! The best teachers can attest collaboration is one of the biggest contributions that helped them on their path to being a successful educator. Don't be afraid to ask for help and definitely don't be afraid to steal ideas from someone who is doing it right and make them your own. If you haven't already heard of Teachers Pay Teachers by now, it will be your best friend if you are not at a network that provides lesson plans and curriculum resources. There are tons of materials that you can filter through for free and for purchase. Browse through the website and I guarantee you'll find what you need.

 4. Plan in Advance

As a teacher, it is your moral duty to make sure that you are intellectually prepared to teach your students the skills that they need to know. Knowing where they are and where they need to go is a major part of this preparation. Planning in advance is a way to ensure that you fully understand what students are expected to learn and can teach it effectively. This topic is a bit difficult to talk about in a concise way so I will just share some best practices that I learned throughout the years when it comes to making sure that I am intellectually prepared for my students.

Beginning of the Year

• Read or create a yearly overview of what students are expected to learn that year.
• Chunk the learning into units and allocate a specific number of instructional days for each unit 

Throughout the Year

• Create a logical progression of teaching points for each unit (try to do this before you actually begin teaching the unit)
• Have a meeting with yourself every week and map out what you will be teaching the following week 
• Read or create your daily lessons a week in advance so that you can adjust or prepare for those lessons mentally and physically (there is nothing worse than realizing the day before that you don't have the materials you need to teach a lesson)

Help yourself stay on top of your planning with this teacher planner and make sure that you have a good cup of coffee while you work!

 5. Get to Know your Students with Disabilities

Providing a rigorous education for ALL students is the role of an educator. Some people may try to advise you not to focus on students with IEPs when you first begin teaching but I believe this type of thinking to be immoral. These students' lives are in your hands for an entire year and being a new educator is no excuse to not do all that you can help them learn (if this sounds like I am getting a little preachy, that is not my intent. Supporting students with disabilities is something that I am very passionate about and my goal is simply to help shift mindsets that sometimes prohibit students from getting the education that they deserve).

When you receive your students' IEPs, take the time to read through the specific diagnosis, the academic and/or behavior goals, the mandated accommodations and descriptions of strengths and areas for growth. You may even want to create an IEP  At a Glance sheet to reference as you plan to support these students throughout the year.

Providing support for students with disabilities is not as hard as people would believe. Sometimes this support can be a simple as giving frequent feedback during and after work time. In the beginning of the year, start small by knowing who your students with disabilities are and check their understanding of directions frequently. Be on the lookout for future blog posts about supporting students with disabilities.

I hope that this was helpful! If you have any other tips that will help new teachers have a successful start to their school year, please comment below!

Bonus Tip: Become a Coffee Lover

Transitioning to a New School

I am excited to announce that I will be transitioning to a new school for the 2017-2018 school year and I can not even begin to explain how excited I am. I will still be teaching 5th grade (the best grade to teach) but instead of teaching only math at a middle school, I will be teaching math and science at an elementary school for the Citizens of the World Charter Network. To say that I am 'elated' is the biggest understatement of all time. Although, I really love the team and family at my current school and will miss the staff and students dearly, I cannot wait to make this transition and have my own classroom again! I wanted to share some tips with you on making a switch between schools that will hopefully help to make your changeover as seamless as possible!

1. Start an Inventory!

You want to start an inventory of your teacher stuff. You know the storage containers, manipulatives, books, school supplies, etc. that you've accumulated over the years. Getting a record of it will help to ensure that you leave with ALL of your belongings and figure out what you need more of. It can also help you figure out what you can get rid of/donate to other teachers (for all of us teacher hoarders out there that keep things for years that we don't use). Sometimes we don't realize how valuable (or not so valuable) our teacher things are until we take the time to write it down. You might even end up rediscovering a manipulative that you used to love and haven't used in a while. Download my Supply Inventory Freebie to get started on your inventory with style! 

              

Plan your Move!

I know that it takes me a long time to get things done in general, let alone moving to a new school. It's kind of like moving to a new apartment from an already, fully-furnished one that you've lived in for years. You want to make sure that you take your time and plan out how you are going to pack and where you are going to store everything. I won't be able to "move in" to my new school until August so I plan to rent a storage unit at the local CubeSmart near the new school. Starting in the first week of June (the last month of the school year for my district), I will begin to transport all of my things little by little. Until then, I am gathering boxes and propositioning friends to get ready to help me! 

Shop for Containers

While you are planning how your are going to pack, you should also start to pick out your color schemes and themes for your classroom. This way, you can start shopping (my favorite pastime) for different storage containers that match and any other teacher things that you realized that you needed after doing your supply inventory. I am sticking with a 'brights' theme so I will only need a few more storage containers to pack up the miscellaneous things that aren't currently stored in a container.  Having your materials already organized in storage containers helps to make the move much more efficient. Here are some examples of the storage containers that you can picked up from Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, or National Wholesale Liquidators. 

Build a rapport with your new Principal. 

Every now and then, you should send an email or card to your new principal just to see how things are going or to receive any updates on information involving your on-boarding. Principals get really busy toward the end of the school year and it is likely that they will get tons of new information (such as a draft calendar, scope and sequences, new hire information) but forget to send it to you. Keeping in touch is a great way to stay in the loop while scoring 'brownie points' with your new admin. 

 Go out with Class!

Whether you are leaving your school on good terms or bad terms, it is important to remember that you are a teacher first! Maintain your professionalism and continue to do all that you can to move your students forward in their education. Try to resist the 'End of Year Laziness' trap that a lot of us fall victim to. If you are leaving on good terms with your school, you are in a special position to possibly return if the worst should happen at your new school (you never know!). You want to continue to be the professional that you have been all along, being sure to leave a lasting impression. 

I hope that these tips were helpful and if you have any more tips, please share in the comments! Thanks for reading!

Get Ready for the New School Year

Most people spend their vacation days traveling, relaxing, spending time with friends/family and even indulging in a few libations to get over the stress of day-to-day life. And then there's teachers... It is likely to find a teacher spending the days of their summer vacation scrolling through Pinterest and getting excited for the new school year. Our good time is shopping at the Dollar Tree and Target finding goodies for classroom storage. As much as you may try to NOT think about work, the teacher heart wants what the teacher heart wants. As I was preparing for the upcoming school year, I thought that I'd share a few tips on how I get ready for the first day of school.

First things first, GET A PLANNER! A major part of being a great teacher is staying organized. I find that having all of my responsibilities in one place helps me a great deal with maintaining organization. There are many ways in which teachers pick planners; some use binders to organize with dividers and some use simple monthly planners. This year I decided to create my own teacher planner. I absolutely love how I am able to customize it to meet my needs using the ARC binding system.

Next, you want to start pre-planning. You need two things: your district/network calendar and the scope and sequence for your curriculum. If you don't have them yet, try searching for them on your district/network website. Once you have them you can start filling out your monthly spreads with important dates (I use pen for hard dates like holidays and pencil for dates that are susceptible to change like testing days) and developing a year plan for when you want to teach various domains for the standards. If you really want to make the most of your pre-planning, try making a pacing guide for how many days you plan to allocate towards each skill. There are so many skills that need to be taught in one short school year, developing a pacing guide helps to hold you accountable for teaching all of the standards. I have started my pacing guide by writing down every single skill that needs to be taught and so far I'm at 227 teaching days. Clearly I need to do some fine tuning since there are only 186 days in my school year lol. I will share my math pacing guide as soon as I finish finalizing it.

Once you've finished pre-planning, you want to start thinking about your culture vision. When you think of your ideal class, what do you see? What are students doing? What are you doing? How are students learning? Ask your self all of these questions and write down your thoughts. Now that you know what you want your class to be like, start thinking about what you are going to do when your vision isn't happening. The best teachers establish a system of accountability with consistency. My major goals when thinking about my culture vision are: establishing trust with my students, being fair/consistent and most importantly maximizing learning time. A great book to invest in when thinking about you culture vision is Teach Like Your Hair's on Fire by Rafe Esquith. He has such an eloquent way of establishing trust with his students and his classroom culture is truly inspirational.

Finally, you want to prepare for the new school year by planning  your lessons for the first week of school. I have recently come across the website called Planbook and I am obsessed. I found out about this site from Bridget at The Lettered Classroom on her YouTube channel. She sold me on the benefits of this website and I will definitely be using this site for my lesson plans. Check out her videos here; she has a promo code to get your first 6 months for FREE!

I hope that these tips were helpful and be on the lookout for more information about teacher organization, character development, math, science and more!

Weekly Planner Freebie

Organization has been one of my BIGGEST areas for growth over the years. When I first started teaching I would forget everything! Fast forward 3 years and a million apologies later and I'm so much more organized. One resource that really helps me stay on top of my planning ideas is a weekly planner. There's something about having all of your lesson topics in one space that really makes writing actual lesson plans so smooth. Whether you're a new teacher or you've been teaching for decades, filling out a weekly plan (with a hot cup of hazelnut coffee) is a great way to stay organized as you create your instructional materials. If you're a coffee lover like me and you're looking for a planner template thats simple yet spacious then this freebie is exactly what you need. Download my weekly planner freebie from my teachers pay teachers store (click the pictures find me) and become an organized teacher (on coffee of course). CHEERS!

If you like this freebie, then you will love my Coffee Lover's Teacher Planner available in a pink and white theme and a pink, gold and teal theme. Check them out and tell me how you like them on Instagram and Facebook using this hashtag 👉 #teachingoncoffee