Sunday:
After returning from a relaxing Fall Break trip, I stay up into wee hours of the morning entering grades for first quarter report cards that are due the following day.
Monday:
Surprise! The instructions on how to enter assignments into the grade book software were not given correctly. All grades are entered wrong and must be fixed (aka redo) by midnight!
Surprise! We're giving first quarter cumulative benchmark assessments this week!!
Surprise! Your below-level third graders (aka 80%) will likely freak out when they see the length of the passages which they are expected to read!
Tuesday:
Surprise! The scoring software is not compatible! Teachers will be hand-scoring all benchmark tests! As well as doing our own test item analysis!
Surprise! Student has an emotional breakdown!
Surprise! You have to teach specials during your plan time because there is a sub and, although nice, she's a total goon and your class is about to overtake her!
Surprise! Only 5 show up for Open House!
Wednesday:
Surprise! The sub for Ms. R didn't show up! Her class is being split between the other third grade teachers!
Surprise! Third grade is switching to a different, older, supposedly better reading curriculum! We don't have any complete sets, but hey, resourcefulness is what we're good at! Right?
Best of all: There are still two full school days left in this week for even more surprises! YAY!!
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Monday, October 25, 2010
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Bieber Fever
When assigning the spiral notebooks my students brought with their school supplies, I came across one with a very supermodel-looking Justin Bieber printed all over it. I collectively asked my class who it belonged to so that I could be sure to write the correct name inside. As I was looking across the room at each of my girls, waiting for a response, I heard a voice say, "That's mine!" I turned to see who the voice belonged to and, to my suprise, it came from one of my little boys. And he was claiming that Bieber book with pride!
I had to remind myself in that moment (as I was trying my best not to chuckle) that when you're a third grader, you're totally allowed to be a boy and have Bieber fever.
I had to remind myself in that moment (as I was trying my best not to chuckle) that when you're a third grader, you're totally allowed to be a boy and have Bieber fever.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Grading Blitz 2010
400 papers.
3 people.
2 hours.
A tremendous thank you to my friend Ra and her momma for their willingness to spend a Saturday morning helping me to conquer what, otherwise, would have been an insurmountable amount of work.
You are wonderful. You are incredible. You are amazing. I could go on... Words can't describe how seriously grateful I am! I am indebted to you forever.
Love you both!
As I'm now entering assignments in the grade book, I'm realizing it would have been a MUCH better decision to grade along the way… Maybe then I would have realized how many of my students weren't turning in their work… or completing their work... or that one of my students has a 23% in math (not including missing assignments)…
Live and learn.
From now on, I'm grading papers at least once a week.
Before I sign off, I'd like to add one more thing to this post…
BOOMER SOONER!!
That's better. :)
3 people.
2 hours.
A tremendous thank you to my friend Ra and her momma for their willingness to spend a Saturday morning helping me to conquer what, otherwise, would have been an insurmountable amount of work.
You are wonderful. You are incredible. You are amazing. I could go on... Words can't describe how seriously grateful I am! I am indebted to you forever.
Love you both!
As I'm now entering assignments in the grade book, I'm realizing it would have been a MUCH better decision to grade along the way… Maybe then I would have realized how many of my students weren't turning in their work… or completing their work... or that one of my students has a 23% in math (not including missing assignments)…
Live and learn.
From now on, I'm grading papers at least once a week.
Before I sign off, I'd like to add one more thing to this post…
BOOMER SOONER!!
That's better. :)
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Confession
It's well into the sixth week of school and I have yet to grade a single paper.
Not because I'm lazy, but because a first year teacher's got to prioritize.
And, up to this point, planning what I'm going to teach the next day has taken precedence over less pressing issues… like grading.
Only now it's becoming a pressing issue.
For a couple of reasons:
a) Report cards will be issued for the first quarter of school in a mere three weeks.
b) My students each have a hanging file in which they place their completed work for all subjects. A few days ago, one of my students very politely asked me if I could please take some papers out of the files because she can't fit anymore work in her folder…….
Now, in my district our grade book is live online. Parents can access their child's grades at any time simply by logging in to a website. I imagine most parents wouldn't be too thrilled if they could see that their child's teacher has yet to enter a single assignment thus far...
One perk about working in a low-income school: most of our parents don't have access to the internet. (cha-ching)
And the ones who do likely won't take the time to go to the administration building to get a login ID. (cha-ching)
I realize from a certain angle this is a sad reality… But for me it's a small victory! If my students' parents were faithfully checking for postings online, I'd probably be receiving some preeetty unpleasant phone calls.
This is quite certainly the first time I've thought that something about working in a low-income school actually makes my life easier. Weird.
I'd like to leave you with a "short story" one of my students wrote today in class.
I am a big fan of laminating colored copies of center activities and letting students work using dry-erase markers. This way the pages are reusable, and it saves TONS of paper (maybe literally). So, in an effort to keep my kids accountable for actually doing work during the writing center, I asked them to show me the stories they wrote before they could erase them. This one was my favorite of the day:
You think I could get this wizard to do some grading for me?
Not because I'm lazy, but because a first year teacher's got to prioritize.
And, up to this point, planning what I'm going to teach the next day has taken precedence over less pressing issues… like grading.
Only now it's becoming a pressing issue.
For a couple of reasons:
a) Report cards will be issued for the first quarter of school in a mere three weeks.
b) My students each have a hanging file in which they place their completed work for all subjects. A few days ago, one of my students very politely asked me if I could please take some papers out of the files because she can't fit anymore work in her folder…….
Now, in my district our grade book is live online. Parents can access their child's grades at any time simply by logging in to a website. I imagine most parents wouldn't be too thrilled if they could see that their child's teacher has yet to enter a single assignment thus far...
One perk about working in a low-income school: most of our parents don't have access to the internet. (cha-ching)
And the ones who do likely won't take the time to go to the administration building to get a login ID. (cha-ching)
I realize from a certain angle this is a sad reality… But for me it's a small victory! If my students' parents were faithfully checking for postings online, I'd probably be receiving some preeetty unpleasant phone calls.
This is quite certainly the first time I've thought that something about working in a low-income school actually makes my life easier. Weird.
I'd like to leave you with a "short story" one of my students wrote today in class.
I am a big fan of laminating colored copies of center activities and letting students work using dry-erase markers. This way the pages are reusable, and it saves TONS of paper (maybe literally). So, in an effort to keep my kids accountable for actually doing work during the writing center, I asked them to show me the stories they wrote before they could erase them. This one was my favorite of the day:
You think I could get this wizard to do some grading for me?
Monday, September 27, 2010
A More Than Pleasant Surprise
Guys!!!!!!!
We did centers for the first time today AND it wasn't a disaster!!!!! Woohoo!!!!!!!
Our school day is designed for my students to rotate through learning centers for a full hour and twenty minutes each morning. The idea is for students to spend time working independently on various reading, word study, writing, and math activities while I work with small groups on targeted reading skills and strategies.
I've been procrastinating when it comes to implementing centers in my classroom...mostly because I don't trust my kids (yet) to work autonomously for twenty-minute periods (not to mention rotating around the room on their own...ha).
But, I was feeling the pressure from our literacy coach to get started; because the small literacy instruction groups really are crucial for students who are struggling. Soooo, I went for it.
First, I took time to explain how we would rotate, my expectations for behavior (mostly voice levels), and what they would be doing at each center. Then, without holding my breath, I sent each group to their first center location…
and…
they. worked. in. dead. silence.
OH
MY
GOSH
it's a miracle!!!
I'm so happy to say that my students proved me way wrong today! They can behave themselves after all :) Who'd have thunk it??
Now, naturally, by the fourth and final rotation they became a bit restless - but, guys, they worked for a full hour like civilized little beings.
I told them that if centers continued like this I was going to have to buy them all something awesome for Christmas!!
...maayybe I should have considered how limited my teacher budget is before making such an enthusiastic promise……..meh!
We did centers for the first time today AND it wasn't a disaster!!!!! Woohoo!!!!!!!
Our school day is designed for my students to rotate through learning centers for a full hour and twenty minutes each morning. The idea is for students to spend time working independently on various reading, word study, writing, and math activities while I work with small groups on targeted reading skills and strategies.
I've been procrastinating when it comes to implementing centers in my classroom...mostly because I don't trust my kids (yet) to work autonomously for twenty-minute periods (not to mention rotating around the room on their own...ha).
But, I was feeling the pressure from our literacy coach to get started; because the small literacy instruction groups really are crucial for students who are struggling. Soooo, I went for it.
First, I took time to explain how we would rotate, my expectations for behavior (mostly voice levels), and what they would be doing at each center. Then, without holding my breath, I sent each group to their first center location…
and…
they. worked. in. dead. silence.
OH
MY
GOSH
it's a miracle!!!
I'm so happy to say that my students proved me way wrong today! They can behave themselves after all :) Who'd have thunk it??
Now, naturally, by the fourth and final rotation they became a bit restless - but, guys, they worked for a full hour like civilized little beings.
I told them that if centers continued like this I was going to have to buy them all something awesome for Christmas!!
...maayybe I should have considered how limited my teacher budget is before making such an enthusiastic promise……..meh!
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Say Hello to My Little Friend
On Tuesday, I introduced what has become my secret weapon…
It's called a blurt chart.
And this is how it works:
Each day every student starts with three "blurts" next to their assigned number. I give them a warning for their first "blurt" each day. A blurt, in my classroom, is defined as talking during instruction or while I'm talking without first raising your hand and waiting to be called on. Each time a student blurts after the warning has been given, without stopping my instruction or interrupting the lesson, I simply walk over to the chart and take a blurt from next to their number. If/when all three blurts are gone, their parent is called immediately - no ifs, ands, or buts. (Again, praise God that my students' parents have agreed that I can call them mid-day! I LOVE parent support.) I give an M&M to each student who still has all three of their blurts at the end of the day. (I know, one M&M. Seems a bit meager, ey? It's my way of rewarding those who consistently make good choices, but not to the extent that they are working for the sake of the candy alone. I'm not about to have a classroom full of bratty, walmart-aisle-type children who will only work for candy haha. It is wise to not underestimate how quickly that can happen...)
Pretty simple, right?
And it works like a dream!!
I'm not kidding - my students were like a whole different class with this procedure in place. I was honestly amazed at what some little clip art squares velcroed to a poster can do.
It has really helped my little "blurters" become more aware and begin to practice self-monitoring their behavior. Several of my students now catch themselves when they start to blurt and quickly place their hand over their mouth and raise their hand (they do not get a blurt removed if they self-correct). I think that some of my students were really just unaware of how often they were talking during class - and it is for those students that this chart was designed.
The blurt chart paired with playing catch with my students on recess was a winning combination.
My kids must have thought I was the coolest teacher ever since I could actually spiral a football (not to mention I was naturally able to throw it twice as far as any of my little third graders).
By simply playing with my students I was able to make leaps and bounds in the quality of our classroom interactions. It's amazing how correlated a student's behavior is to their relationship with you. I guess it really is true that students don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
Below is a photo which perfectly combats a previously uploaded image bearing preeettty much the exact opposite sentiment. Needless to say, I prefer this one by far.
Thank you, J, for teaching me how to properly throw a football haha - we had no idea what the payoff would be down the road! I'm so grateful that you took the time to practice with me :)
(This week we're starting an "out of your seat" chart as well…..muah ha ha HA ha)
It's called a blurt chart.
And this is how it works:
Each day every student starts with three "blurts" next to their assigned number. I give them a warning for their first "blurt" each day. A blurt, in my classroom, is defined as talking during instruction or while I'm talking without first raising your hand and waiting to be called on. Each time a student blurts after the warning has been given, without stopping my instruction or interrupting the lesson, I simply walk over to the chart and take a blurt from next to their number. If/when all three blurts are gone, their parent is called immediately - no ifs, ands, or buts. (Again, praise God that my students' parents have agreed that I can call them mid-day! I LOVE parent support.) I give an M&M to each student who still has all three of their blurts at the end of the day. (I know, one M&M. Seems a bit meager, ey? It's my way of rewarding those who consistently make good choices, but not to the extent that they are working for the sake of the candy alone. I'm not about to have a classroom full of bratty, walmart-aisle-type children who will only work for candy haha. It is wise to not underestimate how quickly that can happen...)
Pretty simple, right?
And it works like a dream!!
I'm not kidding - my students were like a whole different class with this procedure in place. I was honestly amazed at what some little clip art squares velcroed to a poster can do.
It has really helped my little "blurters" become more aware and begin to practice self-monitoring their behavior. Several of my students now catch themselves when they start to blurt and quickly place their hand over their mouth and raise their hand (they do not get a blurt removed if they self-correct). I think that some of my students were really just unaware of how often they were talking during class - and it is for those students that this chart was designed.
The blurt chart paired with playing catch with my students on recess was a winning combination.
My kids must have thought I was the coolest teacher ever since I could actually spiral a football (not to mention I was naturally able to throw it twice as far as any of my little third graders).
By simply playing with my students I was able to make leaps and bounds in the quality of our classroom interactions. It's amazing how correlated a student's behavior is to their relationship with you. I guess it really is true that students don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.
Below is a photo which perfectly combats a previously uploaded image bearing preeettty much the exact opposite sentiment. Needless to say, I prefer this one by far.
Thank you, J, for teaching me how to properly throw a football haha - we had no idea what the payoff would be down the road! I'm so grateful that you took the time to practice with me :)
(This week we're starting an "out of your seat" chart as well…..muah ha ha HA ha)
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