0 Reflect: Learning from Mistakes

When you were in undergrad, did your professors talk to you about being a reflective teachers? A teacher needs to look back at your lessons to see what worked and what didn't work, so you can improve them.  This is how you continue to grow professionally.  It is very easy to get caught up in all of the details and hectic-ness (if that is a word) of your job, and forget to look back over what you have been working so hard to do.  Sometimes, spending a little time looking over what you have done, tweaking  this or that, will make your future lessons more productive.

Reflection is a great skill to include with your lessons. Do you have a student that is a perfectionist or one who is afraid to take risk?  These students may have a fear of making a mistake.  You can use "today's reflections" like an exit slip.  There are colorful and black-white signs that you can use with your class to discuss what worked well today and what needs some improvement.  You can target this for a specific topic or keep it general.  

If your class is having trouble at lunch, use this to start the discussion about what works and doesn't work in cafeteria.  Sometimes it can be very informative if you have the students write their own reflections before the class discussion.  Students' insights are often spot on!

Click HERE to download these freebies.

Do you have a tip to share?

Fern has a few tips to share with you, too.  Be sure to hop over to her blog!

Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too!  Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips.  We hope you will share your ideas, too.  

An InLinkz Link-up

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

Detail: Reflect: Learning from Mistakes

0 Service Projects at School

The holidays are upon us and you know what that means, right?  Get ready for the  "gimmes" and "wannas" .  I want this for Christmas and I hope Santa gives me that for Christmas.  This is the perfect time to do a service project with your class.  It is a reminder that there are people who need our help.

I like to do service projects in which my students are helping other children.  My favorite service project is to collect gently used or new books, toys, or art supplies for the local children's shelter.  Contact the shelter about their rules.  Some shelters have you drop off supplies at another place because of security concerns.  

It is never fun to be sick.  Being sick at the holidays is especially hard because you are missing out on so many fun holiday activities.  Collecting books, toys, and art supplies for a Children's Hospital is good way to let these children know that your students are thinking about them during the holidays. Don't forget about your local Ronald McDonald's House, too.  Kids helping kids is the best service project to me.

Looking for more tips?  Check out my November Pinterest board.  Click on the picture below.

Fern has a few tips to share with you, too.  Be sure to hop over to her blog!

Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too!  Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips.  We hope you will share your ideas, too.  

Each week we will choose one person who shared a tip on our blog who will get a $10 shopping trip.  We will announce the winner on the following Tuesday's post.  

Do you have a Service Project tip to share?  Be sure to include your email so I can contact you if you're the winner of the $10 shopping trip. You must leave your email address in order to win.

Looking for more ideas?  Click on the pictures below.

An InLinkz Link-up

  


Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

Detail: Service Projects at School

0 Having fun when you can't celebrate Halloween at school!

Do you teach at a school that has a policy against using Halloween activities?  I've taught in a variety of schools with a wide variety of policy about this holiday. At some schools we could use Halloween activities as long as we didn't include anything scary like witches.  Other schools we could use about any type of activity except for students wearing costumes.  At one of my former schools, Halloween was a big event.  Students went home at lunch and changed into their costume.  Many parents took the day off of work.  When students returned after lunch, it was time to get ready for our school-wide parade.  Students paraded down the hall of the school and around the block of the school.  When we returned to our classroom, our room moms had the room decorated for a Halloween party.

At one of my schools, we were not allowed to incorporate any holiday into our lessons.  The district felt like this was the most sensitive thing to do when you teach students from a variety of cultures. We could use seasonal topics like scarecrows or pumpkins but the pumpkins couldn't be a jack 'o lantern.  I had mixed feelings about this policy. 

This policy sounds good when you read the policy as it is written on paper.  But, when you are in the trenches teaching little people, it doesn't work quite as simple as that.  Children, even those from cultures and faiths that may not celebrate Halloween, hear holiday music when they are at stores, see their neighbor's house that is decorated, and hear their friends talking about what they are going to be for Halloween at recess.  I found most of my students were excited about Halloween.

After a little brainstorming, I found a compromise that seemed to make everyone happy.  Listed below are topics that I've taught in October that followed the policy, and aren't Halloween-ish, yet allowed my students to have fun.

Social Studies:  Community Helpers Unit - Let your students dress up as their favorite community helper. Be very clear with your students that you do not consider a ghost, witch, or vampire as a future career for them.

Science:  

Animal families:

• Mammal:  bats
• Arachnids:  spiders
• Birds:  owl

Nocturnal animals

Phases of the moon

Life cycles of:

• Pumpkins
• Bats
• Spiders
• 
  

Math:  

Pumpkin measurement unit

Reading:

Author study - dress up as your favorite book character.

Do you have any ideas to share of how you incorporate non-Halloween activities?  I would love to hear them!

I made a FREEBIE for you.  Click HERE to download it.

Looking for more tips?  Check out my October Pinterest board.  Click on the picture below.

Fern has a few tips to share with you, too.  Be sure to hop over to her blog!

Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too!  Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips.  We hope you will share your ideas, too.  

Each week we will choose one person who shared a tip on our blog who will get a $10 shopping trip.  We will announce the winner on the following Tuesday's post.  

Do you have a non-Halloween lesson tip to share?  Be sure to include your email so I can contact you if you're the winner of the $10 shopping trip. You must leave your email address in order to win.

Looking for more ideas?  Click on the pictures below.

An InLinkz Link-up

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

Detail: Having fun when you can't celebrate Halloween at school!

0 Columbus - FREEBIE - Tuesday Teacher Tip

Celebrate Columbus Day with a science experiment and a freebie!  My students always enjoy our ship experiment.

Send home this note asking parents for supplies.

First, students will carve the shape of the ship out of the soap with a plastic knife. Just remind them that they can not touch their eyes when they are doing this.  I gave my students a plastic knife and paper plate so cleanup would be easier.  

Next, it is time to make a sail.  Hopefully, you have read several books about Columbus so they know how important the sail was for the ship.

I had different supplies that they could use to make the sail.  Materials included:  construction paper, card stock, tinfoil, tissue paper, and fabric.  They designed their sail and then glue it on a toothpick(s).  The toothpick was stuck into the bar of soap. Remind your students to write their name on their sail.

On sailing day, it is helpful if you have parent helpers because this can be a messy experiment.  Put ships in a ziplock bag when you finish sailing.  Make sure students wash hands thoroughly so they get all of the soap off of their hands when you are done.

I sailed my ships in a small child's wading pool like this one:

Click on picture for the link.

We went outside for the experiment.  My custodian was nice enough to fill the pool with water for me.  

If you don't have a parent volunteer that can fill a pool or a really nice custodian, you could use a baby bath tub.  There are traditional tubs or portable tubs like this one:

Click on picture for link.

It is small enough that you could use it in your classroom.  With the portable one, you could fold it up and use it every year.

The first time I did this experiment, I let my students, one table at at time, sail their ships.  Students quickly noticed whose ship sailed better than others and wanted to make changes to their ship.  After everyone had a turn to sail their ship, we went "back to the drawing board" to improve upon our design.  Isn't that what a good scientists does, observes experiments and makes changes based on observation?  We sailed a second time after we made improvements.  Then we recorded our results.

Click HERE to download this freebie

Looking for more tips?  Check out my Morning Messages Pinterest board.  Click on the picture below.

Fern has a few tips to share with you, too.  Be sure to hop over to her blog!

Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too!  Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips.  We hope you will share your ideas, too.  

Each week we will choose one person who shared a tip on our blog who will get a $10 shopping trip.  We will announce the winner on the following Tuesday's post.  

Do you have a tip to share?  Be sure to include your email so I can contact you if you're the winner of the $10 shopping trip. You must leave your email address in order to win.

Looking for more ideas?  Click on the pictures below.

An InLinkz Link-up

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

Detail: Columbus - FREEBIE - Tuesday Teacher Tip

0 Classroom Pull-outs: Tips and a FREEBIE - Tuesday Teacher Tip

It is hard enough to keep up with all the things in a busy teacher's life, and when you add all of the extra pull-outs to a teacher's schedule, it is very easy to feel overwhelmed.  Of course, you want your students to receive all of the extra support that they can get, but it is also very easy to forget to send your students to the correct place at the correct time.  What is a busy teacher who is well-intentioned to do?

How do you keep up when you are juggling so many different schedules?    Are you familiar with the expression many hands make light work?  This is the perfect time to apply that philosophy.  Make a reminder note for each of your student that receive support through a pull-out program.  Click HERE to download a free reminder.

`

You can color code this reminders.  Color code them by the day, if it is a one day per week pull-out.  Example:  Students that go to the counselor once a week could have a blue reminder. Or you can color code them by the type of pull-out.  Example:  all of the students that go to speech could have a green reminder.  All of the students that go to the reading specialist could have a yellow reminder.  

There are also reminders for students who receive more than one support service.

Are you a techie!  Click on the links below to use technology reminders.

Tech tip #1

Tech tip #2

Tech tip #3

Tech tip #4

Looking for more tips?  Check out my Morning Messages Pinterest board.  Click on the picture below.

Fern has a few tips to share with you, too.  Be sure to hop over to her blog!

Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too!  Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips.  We hope you will share your ideas, too.  

Each week we will choose one person who shared a tip on our blog who will get a $10 shopping trip.  We will announce the winner on the following Tuesday's post.  

Do you have a tip to share?  Be sure to include your email so I can contact you if you're the winner of the $10 shopping trip. You must leave your email address in order to win.

Looking for more ideas?  Click on the pictures below.

An InLinkz Link-up

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

Detail: Classroom Pull-outs: Tips and a FREEBIE - Tuesday Teacher Tip

0 Team building: What does team mean to you?

Have you heard some version of one of the the following statements in the teachers lounge or work room?

• "I wished I worked on a team that worked together more."
• "My team doesn't know the meaning of the word collaborate."
• "I wouldn't have so much to do if so-and-so on my team wasn't so ____ (you fill in the adjective)."

The common theme from these statements is team.  If working as a team, is the answer to so many of our job stresses, why is it that a functional, cohesive team is as elusive as spying a unicorn?

OK, that might be a slight exaggeration.  In my 20 years of teaching, I've been on quite a few different teams.  Out of all of those teams, there were only a handful that I would classify as good examples of a functional team.  Now when I say functional, I am defining this much like you would define a functional family.  There are functional families and dysfunctional families.  The functional teams that I am referring to, had squabbles and irritations just like any family does.  Guess what?  That is normal and it is healthy.  What sets apart a functional team and a dysfunctional team is how you communicate, deal with your differences, irritations while working towards the common goal of educating the students at your grade level.

The functional teams had common characteristics.

These teams were composed of members with various years of experience, personality, and philosophy.  Diversity is key to a happy team!

• Members of the team were different.  THIS IS KEY!  Please notice that I am yelling here!  I can't stress this enough.  I have sat on hiring committees where I watched teachers blackball candidates who were different than themselves.  The candidates had a different teaching style, classroom management style, personality, and all of the other things that are discussed and observed in an interview.  Because the teacher being interviewed was DIFFERENT, the teachers doing the interview thought this candidate wouldn't fit in with the team. They couldn't have been more wrong!  Let me give you a glimpse of a team where they hired a teacher much like another teacher already on the team.
• Current team member Ms. White has always been known as the Queen of Fairy Tales.  She does a major production every year with Cinderella complete with castle and moat with live frogs.  Along comes new member, Ms. Jones who also loves fairy tales.  Everyone thought these two would hit it off because they have so much in common.  Little did they know that Ms. Jones is equally talented at putting on a big production, although hers is with Little Red Riding Hood.  You've heard the saying "too many cooks spoil the broth" well the same holds true with the Queens of Curriculum.  Other team members were getting pulled this way and that.  Some were tired of doing Cinderella and ready for a change.  Other team members felt they should be loyal to Ms. White.  It eventually created a schism on the team and needed administrative intervention.  Not a pretty picture!

Planning had a different definition that what most people think of when they think of team planning.

Our team planning consisted of:

• Our district provided an overall framework as far as when we were supposed to teach skills.  So, we were all teaching the same skills, but not necessarily presenting it using the same methods.
• We brought a copy of one thing we were excited about that was in our plans for the following week for each member of our team to our weekly meetings. Sometimes I used it, other times I filed it and used it another year.  This took up the first 5 minutes.  Just long enough for everyone to pass out a copy.  
• If someone had questions about a handout, it was asked and discussed during non-team meeting times.
• Then we discussed any upcoming team events like field trips. This took  10-15 minutes.  
• When I was team leader, I typed up and emailed my notes to my team ahead of the meeting.  Team members read the information before the meeting so we didn't waste value time with me disseminating the information.  Our meeting was a time to ask questions and discuss the information I gave them.
• The majority of our time was spent brainstorming ways to help our behavior and academically struggling students.  You had to email the team leader your name(s) of student(s) before the meeting.  She planned it so we would have enough time to give helpful information.  Sometimes you had to wait for another week's meeting.  This also ensured that an outspoken team member didn't monopolize all of the team's time.  This is where I saw real team work.  We all had different personalities, experiences, and philosophies.  We all respected each other for our differences.  So, we were open to try new things when they were suggested.  On these teams, I felt support, as a team we sent fewer students to the office which our principal appreciated, and we were less stressed because we each knew each other's students through these meetings.  When we saw a team member having a particularly bad day, one of us would tell that team member to go take a break, and we'll take her recess duty that day.  That is what a functional family does and that is what a functional team of teachers do because you know they will do the same for you.
• As a side note, I think this brainstorming also helped in an unexpected way.  When I have been on teams that didn't have this structure in place, there are usually at least one or two teachers who freely share all the stresses of their class at meetings.  It's not that the other team members don't have equal challenges in their class, but for whatever reason they do not speak up about them.  When this happens: 
• #1 - It shows that all classes have challenges:   Without the structure, the teachers who speak freely about their challenges feel like they are the only ones who have such a challenging class this year.  They might even begin to feel like they are "dumped" on year after year.  When in reality, other classes after challenges, too.  
• #2  - Colleague maintain respect for each other:  Without the structure, the teachers who are not speaking up may lose respect for their colleague who are vent-a-holics.  A little venting is normal, but going too far can make it seem like they don't have the skills needed to do their job.  Moderation is key.  
• #3 - Meetings are helpful:  Without the structure, team meetings become toxic rather than productive ways to solve problems.

There are different philosophies about team building.  I opened two new schools which brings about a different set of dynamics.  The best analogy I can give is the old t.v. show Dallas.  When these new schools opened, the principals were allowed to bring 10% of the staff from his or her former school which made up the leadership team of the new school.  After a while, I got the feeling that I was living on the set of Dallas.  The principal was the parent, the team leader was the biological child and the team members were the in-laws.  When we would try to plan something like a field trip, we would hear from the team leader how it was done at her former school. Then the rest of the team members would chime in "at their former school they did it this way."  It felt like my first year of marriage when my husband and I were trying to figure out how to celebrate different holidays.  His family did it this way, mine did it this way, and eventually we figured out that we needed to do it "our way".  It came down to traditions.  Each person felt like their school (family) traditions for field trips were the best.  My family quickly figured out what day my team planning day was by my moods on those days.  My husband, who is in management, told me about the stages of team building.  You can read more about it HERE which helped.  If you are going through something similar, you might want to bookmark it.  It does help when you can define what you are going through.

Would you like a copy of the team sign?  Click HERE.

Looking for more tips?  Check out my Reading Pinterest board.  Click on the picture below.

Fern has a few tips to share with you, too.  Be sure to hop over to her blog!

Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too!  Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips.  We hope you will share your ideas, too.  

Each week we will choose one person who shared a tip on our blog who will get a $10 shopping trip.  We will announce the winner on the following Tuesday's post.  

Do you have a team idea to share?  Be sure to include your email so I can contact you if you're the winner of the $10 shopping trip. You must leave your email address in order to win.

Looking for more ideas?  Click on the pictures below.

An InLinkz Link-up

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

Detail: Team building: What does team mean to you?

0 Teacher Work Room Tips

Your school's work room can be a source of help but also a source of frustration.  One of the benefits of working at different schools, is seeing what type of procedures the administrators set up for the work room.  I was lucky enough to work at some schools that had happy, functional work rooms.

Parents are often an untapped resource.  Back to School Night is the perfect time to ask for volunteers to help you with all of your time consuming tasks.  I've had the best luck when I had 4 volunteers.  When I ask for volunteers I explain that I am asking for someone who can commit to one day a week per month for a couple of hours plus a training session. Most parents who have time to volunteer can commit to coming in one day per month for an hour or two to help. 

I like to have one volunteer a week come in on a Thursday to do the tasks I organize for them in a tub.  I found Thursday is the best day for me because school is not in session on some Fridays.  I meet with the four volunteers before or after school for a training session. At the training session:

•  I show them how to use the copier, laminator, and other equipment in the work room.  
• I show them where I keep the tub of work that I organize for them.
• I ask them to let teachers have first priority on the copier or laminator.  If they run out of time that they can volunteer and a teacher was using the copier, to leave me a note showing me what needs to be done.  I assure them that it is more important to keep faculty harmony, than for them to finish the work I have left for them to do.  I can finish the incomplete tasks on Friday.

Copier can be a hot button issue at schools.  If they are managed properly, copiers can be valuable tools.  I have been blessed to have worked at schools that had procedures in place that made the copier a tool rather than a big lump of metal that everyone cursed or cursed those who were using it without common sense.  These are the procedures that I felt helped keep faculty harmony:

• There was an assigned "go to" person who ordered, checked, and changed the toner.  This person was also the contact person for the repairman.  She knew the copier's history which helped get it fixed quickly and correctly.  We were told who the "go to" person was at our inservice meeting the week before school.  Everyone being on the same page was key.
• Priorities were given for who got "first dibs" on the copier during school hours.  When school was in session, the teachers who were on their prep period had first priority.  Teachers (not on prep period) had second priority.  Volunteers had third priority.  Teachers who had volunteers making copies for them were responsible for the volunteer understanding the procedures.
• (Peak times) The 15 minutes before school and the 15 minutes after school any teacher could use the copier, but he or she was limited to making one class set. This was NOT the time to copy what you needed for the week.  This is a high stress time when teachers are coming in needing to make last minute copies.  One teacher should not dominate the copier.
• Before or after school (non-peak times) if there is more than one copier at your school, one grade level should not be using multiple copiers to make copies/packets for the grade level.  This is a common problem during test prep season.  Administrators usually reminded us of this after winter break.

It is hard to work in the work room without supplies.  If you have a volunteer help you, put some supplies in your tub in case the work room runs out of what your volunteer needs.

Many times your PTA will ask your teacher representative what the faculty needs. Stocking the work room with supplies should be one of the first things that goes on your faculty's wish list.  Suggested supplies:

• Large paper clips
• Binder clips
• Rubberbands
• Scissors
• Staplers
• Staples
• Highlighter
• Sharpie markers
• Paper hole punch
• Tape

I found that forms like the ones below save time when I am prepping my materials for my volunteers.  You can also use these forms if your PTA staffs your work room with volunteers.  

Click HERE to download this freebie.

Looking for more tips?  Check out my Beginning of the Year Pinterest board.  Click on the picture below.

Fern has some tips to share with you, too.  Be sure to hop over to her blog!

Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for Tuesday Teacher Tips.  We hope you will share your ideas, too. Each week we will choose one person who shared a tip on our blog who will get a $10 shopping trip.  We will announce the winner in the following Tuesday's post.  The winner of this post will be announced on next week's post.

Click HERE to read the tip that Melinda shared on last week's post.

Do you have a work room tip to share?  Be sure to include your email so I can contact you if you're the winner of the $10 shopping trip.

An InLinkz Link-up

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

Detail: Teacher Work Room Tips