I am a 4th generation educator in our state, and I've given birth to two 5th generation educators. They remember going back-to-school shopping with my mom before they were even in school. As she was shopping for her classroom, they would be treated to cute pencils and folders. (Part of the reason they became teachers? They played school almost every day of their childhood!)
When my daughters and I were all three classroom teachers, we had a system for back-to-school work. We would spend one day working in each of our classrooms. Day #1 would be in my oldest daughter's high school room. Day #2 would be spent in my high school English room, and Day #3 would be spent in my youngest daughter's 1st grade room. We'd work, go out for lunch, and laugh a lot.
They taught me to use fabric to cover my bulletin board. (It doesn't fade like paper does.) At one time, all three of us had the same bulletin board: Starbooks Cafe, imitating a favorite coffee design. I even made a cafe curtain to go over the top of the bulletin board. (I just pitched my faded bulletin board last year. Sadness! It was a favorite.)
Working together this way, I figured out quickly that high school teachers have it made. Elementary teachers spend hours working on their rooms. High school teachers do quite a bit less. (My oldest daughter and I would be done with our rooms, and my youngest daughter would spend 5-7 more days working on her room.) The year after a tornado wiped out our schools, I spent hours working on my classroom trailer. For over a week I went to work before breakfast, and frequently my husband brought me supper and helped me work until well after dark. Finally, I had some idea of what our elementary teachers do almost every year.
My oldest daughter is now my principal/boss. Decorating her office is not a group project. So now, I usually spend two days helping my youngest daughter with her elementary school classroom. She lives several hours away so this is Mom-Daughter bonding time. Two full days in her classroom makes a small dent in her work, but she will still have quite a bit to do.
This summer I have spent quite a bit of time switching classrooms and decorating the new room. My youngest daughter is switching schools and grade levels, so she has a new classroom to decorate and organize, too. Unfortunately, her new school had a land shift or sinkhole that postponed teachers getting into the school. She is just now able to get into her school and is feeling several weeks behind. Much of the time she would have worked during the first week of August will be spent at new teacher meetings in this new district. Fortunately, I started my room early and am pretty much done. Now as I'm working on her room, I won't be worrying about mine. (Oh, and both girls gave me fits about working at school too much. I feel like a genius now!)
I will spend the next two days working on a first grade classroom, and getting to know my daughter's new school. I love the creativity of elementary teachers. I frequently pick up new ideas.Their ingenious ideas inspire me.
You know those coffee mugs and t-shirts that say: The three best reasons to be a teacher? June, July, and August. I have always hated them.
Don't get me wrong, I love summer; however, education is a year-round job. Excellence in the classroom doesn't really allow for a three-month vacation. Who am I kidding? Even "adequate" in the classroom doesn't allow for three months with no thought of our classrooms. I take a few weeks off and some long weekends, but I've seen several colleagues and most of the coaches in school on a fairly regular basis this summer. That is probably a pretty good indicator of a great 2015-2016.
Sunday, July 26, 2015
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
This Summer Work
Working at school this summer has been different. I'm getting quite a bit done, but it has had a few distractions.
Yes, not every classroom comes equipped with a Pack 'N Play. This little bundle has been keeping me company some of the time.
Most of the time she is asleep, but when she isn't she spends quite a bit of time staring at posters of James Dean and Marilyn Monroe. (Some day her therapist will talk to her about the effects of early life. yikes!)
Yesterday, my niece brought the bundle's big sister up to see me. The Bug was pretty pleased with her Nana's new classroom.
And Nana's nice neat prop/costume closet? Well, let's just say it got a work out. Signs of what my students will do to it in the fall?? Yes, probably. (Hopefully, their shoes will be on the right feet though!)
Someone wasn't all that impressed.
Pffff... you're an amateur kid!
Give me a year and I'll show you how it's done!
Kind of amazed I am getting anything done this year. Photos to come.
Saturday, June 27, 2015
Evidence of Summer Work
Before
After
This is/was the prop closet in my new classroom.
Organization makes me happy.
P.S. Three full days of work. *sigh
Thursday, June 25, 2015
Weekly Schedule Board
I live four blocks from school. When I have a couple of free hours and I am tired of reading (rarely!), I run down to school to work for a couple of hours. Yesterday, I worked on a place to put the schedule for the three new preps I am teaching next year. (Washi tape and letters taped with double-sided tape to the non-magnetic board. With a magnetic board, I use the same tape but then the adhesive-backed magnets for the letters.)
This negates the need for the students to ask, "What are we doing today?" They always know. (This board still needs the days of the week added along the side. I'm working on that.)
Maybe a bigger problem than students asking that question was that after I answered it 10 times, my smart mouth would start making up "creative" answers: swinging from the lights, nothing, just looking at each other, taking naps, coloring, etc.
Maybe a bigger problem than students asking that question was that after I answered it 10 times, my smart mouth would start making up "creative" answers: swinging from the lights, nothing, just looking at each other, taking naps, coloring, etc.
Tuesday, June 23, 2015
Summertime Teachers
Tiny Town doesn't have summer school. If they did, I would probably be teaching it. Instead, I am channelling my teaching skills in other ways.
I have been filing, storing, and trashing paperwork that I have been storing too long in my daughters' bedrooms. Unlike teaching, I boxed up what was left and delivered it to my daughters' homes. I'm sure they were thrilled.
At the end of the school year, I was cleaning out cupboards and closets for the teacher who is teaching in the room next year. At home, I cleaned out closets and cupboards for my own benefit. My husband was surprised to see there was a floor in one closet. It was pretty awful prior to the cleaning.
For my new classroom, I cleaned and weeded out things that I wouldn't need. I gave quite a bit to the art teacher. At home, I sold quite a few furniture pieces and household goods on a garage sale. Things were priced to go--and they did. Both places are now a bit emptier, and I like that. (Clutter makes me tense.)
I'm still getting up early to walk, though it is 5:30 in the summer and 4:30 during the school year. Unfortunately for them, people can see me walk in the summer-- rolling out of bed and out the door means no makeup or hair combing. It isn't pretty, but no one knows during the school year when it is too dark to see.
At home there is a stack of books on the table beside my chair and another on the dining room table. At school the stacks are always on the counter or a back table. There is always something that needs reading or grading. Piles--there are always piles.
I'm so used to schedules, that I schedule in the summer, too: appointments, vacations, lunches with friends, even hikes at a different trail every week. Yes. I admit it. Just like at school, I have been researching trails, too. Success is always in the planning. It works at school, so I figure it works at home, too.
In the summer I've been known to shush people in movie theaters, caution kids about running at the pool, and stare down an elevator full of teenagers who have pushed the button for every floor. (Not all of my skills are appreciated, I'm sure!)
Teachers are teachers are teachers- whether we are in school or not. Is it in the DNA?
I have been filing, storing, and trashing paperwork that I have been storing too long in my daughters' bedrooms. Unlike teaching, I boxed up what was left and delivered it to my daughters' homes. I'm sure they were thrilled.
At the end of the school year, I was cleaning out cupboards and closets for the teacher who is teaching in the room next year. At home, I cleaned out closets and cupboards for my own benefit. My husband was surprised to see there was a floor in one closet. It was pretty awful prior to the cleaning.
For my new classroom, I cleaned and weeded out things that I wouldn't need. I gave quite a bit to the art teacher. At home, I sold quite a few furniture pieces and household goods on a garage sale. Things were priced to go--and they did. Both places are now a bit emptier, and I like that. (Clutter makes me tense.)
I'm still getting up early to walk, though it is 5:30 in the summer and 4:30 during the school year. Unfortunately for them, people can see me walk in the summer-- rolling out of bed and out the door means no makeup or hair combing. It isn't pretty, but no one knows during the school year when it is too dark to see.
At home there is a stack of books on the table beside my chair and another on the dining room table. At school the stacks are always on the counter or a back table. There is always something that needs reading or grading. Piles--there are always piles.
I'm so used to schedules, that I schedule in the summer, too: appointments, vacations, lunches with friends, even hikes at a different trail every week. Yes. I admit it. Just like at school, I have been researching trails, too. Success is always in the planning. It works at school, so I figure it works at home, too.
In the summer I've been known to shush people in movie theaters, caution kids about running at the pool, and stare down an elevator full of teenagers who have pushed the button for every floor. (Not all of my skills are appreciated, I'm sure!)
Teachers are teachers are teachers- whether we are in school or not. Is it in the DNA?
Monday, June 1, 2015
DIY Lesson Plan Book
We have an in-school printing business; however, I'm sure any copy center could put your lesson plan book together for you.
One colleague formats every page of her book and sends it to our printing business. I did that last year, but this year I sketched a general idea of what I was looking for, and one of the students developed the pages for me. I tweaked a few things, changed a few things completely, and told her what I wanted for a cover. She did a great job and even thought of a few things I hadn't.
The juniors and seniors enrolled in the classes for this printing business do some incredible work under the eye of an outstanding young colleague. She is super organized, super detail oriented, and super insistent that her students produce quality work. (And yes, she really is Super Woman!)
Anyway, this is next year's lesson plan book.
I loved the sticky note book from last year, but I switched from card stock pages to a heavy weight paper. (Not so bulky!) The printing class even has a paper cutter that will cut through an entire pad of sticky notes, so they cut the English class (green) notes to fit my pages. The Speech, Drama, and Forensic notes come in the size I need.
Now, you might be wondering why sticky notes? I like the fact that I can peel them off and stick them to my clipboard and then return them to the page at the end of the day. (My clipboard is my brain.) I love that when our schedule changes, I just have to pull up the note and attach it to a different date. And I especially love being able to write underneath the note if I run out of room or have things I want to remember about that day's lesson.
I handwrite the dates on the weeks of my book. They could type them in for me, but I knew that made quite a bit more work and wasn't a big deal to me. I did ask them to put in blank pages to separate the months. I will add the school calendar for that month. (I reduce the size of the month and glue it in.) The rest of it I use for notes to myself. (Things I don't want to forget, standards that need to be evaluated again, or a student I want to keep an eye on.)
Finally, every month in the Notes column, I had a reminder added to check on my advisory students and how they were doing in classes. (Something, I frequently forgot to do this past year.) And I'm sure in another year, I will have several other reminders that I will be adding in the notes columns.
And that's it. I don't add the sticky notes very far out--usually, just a month at a time. It keeps me from wrinkling them before the week arrives. (My computer bag gives the book a bit of a work out.) I am going to see if I can get the cover laminated at the beginning of school. The business kids tell me that adding something or changing something (like the cover), even in the middle of the year, is a snap.
Oh, and you might be wondering about the initials: R W S L on the English page. That is to remind me that my sophomore English students should be involved in productive reading, writing, speaking, and listening in class- every single day. (Emphasis on the word productive!)
One colleague formats every page of her book and sends it to our printing business. I did that last year, but this year I sketched a general idea of what I was looking for, and one of the students developed the pages for me. I tweaked a few things, changed a few things completely, and told her what I wanted for a cover. She did a great job and even thought of a few things I hadn't.
The juniors and seniors enrolled in the classes for this printing business do some incredible work under the eye of an outstanding young colleague. She is super organized, super detail oriented, and super insistent that her students produce quality work. (And yes, she really is Super Woman!)
Anyway, this is next year's lesson plan book.
Oh, and you might be wondering about the initials: R W S L on the English page. That is to remind me that my sophomore English students should be involved in productive reading, writing, speaking, and listening in class- every single day. (Emphasis on the word productive!)
Sunday, May 31, 2015
A Teacher's Summer
Interspersed with trips to the water park, a short vacation, ball games, and other summer activities, I am already working on next year. And that is the life of a teacher.
What might most teachers be doing in the summer?
*Cleaning out files. (Sometimes, actually filing all those loose papers we didn't get to during the year. Or is that just me??)
*Weeding out supplies: markers and pens that don't work any more, dried up glue sticks, tape dispensers that have "lost" their inner core, recycling paper and magazines that aren't needed, cleaning out all the excess in cupboards and drawers, and pitching all the lost and found items that weren't claimed.
*Planning for new teaching assignments and making lessons for the first weeks of school. (Three new assignments next year: Speech, Drama, and Forensics. These require a different kind of planning than Sophomore English, but I'm on the hunt for all kinds of new activities!)
*Researching blogs and websites for new lesson planning ideas or classroom management techniques. Some favorites: Edudemic, AchievetheCore, Dr. Curtis Chandler, Edutopia, Teachers.net, ReadWriteThink, and WeAreTeachers.
(Best resource for finding new ideas: Twitter.)
*Designing needed methods of tracking data (Spreadsheets, Google Docs, etc.)--and it would be oh so helpful if Excel were working this summer.
*Writing shared formative and summative assessments for classes.
*Tweaking class notebooks in English II. (Between Standard's Based Grading and Interactive Notebooks, I'm not sure which was the best addition to my classes last year.)
If I plan and work now, next year will be much less stressful.
Oh, and I really need to select next spring's All School Production. If I leave it until after school starts, I will be hunting the show over Christmas Break. Then, I really will be rushed and unprepared at the start of 2nd semester.
June, July, and August. These days, I consider them an extended Plan Period.
What might most teachers be doing in the summer?
*Cleaning out files. (Sometimes, actually filing all those loose papers we didn't get to during the year. Or is that just me??)
*Weeding out supplies: markers and pens that don't work any more, dried up glue sticks, tape dispensers that have "lost" their inner core, recycling paper and magazines that aren't needed, cleaning out all the excess in cupboards and drawers, and pitching all the lost and found items that weren't claimed.
*Planning for new teaching assignments and making lessons for the first weeks of school. (Three new assignments next year: Speech, Drama, and Forensics. These require a different kind of planning than Sophomore English, but I'm on the hunt for all kinds of new activities!)
*Researching blogs and websites for new lesson planning ideas or classroom management techniques. Some favorites: Edudemic, AchievetheCore, Dr. Curtis Chandler, Edutopia, Teachers.net, ReadWriteThink, and WeAreTeachers.
(Best resource for finding new ideas: Twitter.)
*Designing needed methods of tracking data (Spreadsheets, Google Docs, etc.)--and it would be oh so helpful if Excel were working this summer.
*Writing shared formative and summative assessments for classes.
*Tweaking class notebooks in English II. (Between Standard's Based Grading and Interactive Notebooks, I'm not sure which was the best addition to my classes last year.)
If I plan and work now, next year will be much less stressful.
Oh, and I really need to select next spring's All School Production. If I leave it until after school starts, I will be hunting the show over Christmas Break. Then, I really will be rushed and unprepared at the start of 2nd semester.
June, July, and August. These days, I consider them an extended Plan Period.
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