#MTBoSBlaugust - Day 13 - Reflection Grid

Today was the first official day back from summer and I must tell you, I am *tired*!! :)  We had the time to work in our classrooms this morning, but I spent most of it running around helping others with technology.

However, one thing I did get finished today was the MC Monday sheet.  If you recall, a few posts ago, I asked for your opinion on how to handle the reflection piece on the back.  After some great feedback and such, I decided to use a modified Reflection Grid, similar to those that @pamjwilson uses in her classes.

This is now the back page of my MC Mondays:

Thank you to everyone that shared their ideas!  I really appreciate it :)

#MTBoSBlaugust - Day 12 - Last Day of Summer

I didn't blog yesterday.  I thought it about several times, but it just didn't happen.  I'm going to consider that making it 10 days in a row, after only having 8 posts in the previous 7 months, is pretty darn good!

Today was the last day of summer.  After a 9:30am presentation to some of our new teachers, I headed home to enjoy the gorgeous weather (89 degrees in August in Oklahoma is unheard of!)... rocking chair, sunlight, breeze, good book... it was a glorious afternoon... well, until I got sunburnt LOL!  :)  When hubby got home, his response was "well, you wanted some color on your legs!" :)

Tomorrow starts my 18th year in the classroom.  That's so scary to me.  My students this year will have been born during my 1st year of teaching.  I find that crazy because I do NOT feel that old! :) 


As a shout-out to the new teachers I worked with today, here are 18 tips, one for each year I've been in the classroom!  (These are in no particular order!)

1. The most valuable person at your school is your site secretary.  Get to know him/her really well!  This is the person that knows where everything is stored and can answer 99.99999% of your questions.  Always be nice to him/her and show them respect.
2. The second most valuable person is the custodian.  Go out of your way to find out their name, ask about their family, and treat them well.  My custodian is a lovely lady who was a math teacher in Columbia before moving to the States.  
3. Your classroom is your home away from home.  Make sure it is a place that you enjoy, because you will be spending many hours there!
4. Take time to write and reflect on a regular basis.  Some people journal daily, others jot down thoughts on a post-it, but whatever works for you, just make sure you do it!
5. Take advantage of the resources of the MTBoS!  There is no need to reinvent the wheel, nor do you  have time for it!  When lesson planning, I always have a tab open with Tweetdeck so that my PLN is just a click away.
6. Take time for you.  It is really easy to let this profession overwhelm you.  Each week, find time to do something fun... go for a hike, go to a movie, get a pedicure, whatever it is that helps you relax!
7. Relax!  You can be the biggest perfectionist in the world, but no one is perfect the first time (or the first ten times!)  It's okay to make mistakes, to learn from them, to learn to do better next time.  Your administrator knows that you didn't walk out of college 3 months ago and have it all figured out already.. heck, 20 year veterans don't have it all figured out!  Give yourself permission to fail, to pick yourself up and try again.
8. Spend quality time in lesson planning.  Think through how a lesson flows, plan out the questions you will ask, determine the formative assessment strategies that fit best.  Put yourself in the student chair... would you be engaged with this lesson?  If not, what can you do to fix it?
9. Find a mentor.  Chances are, there is a veteran teacher nearby that would love to help you.  If not, MTBoS to the rescue!  We have a ton of people from every walk of life that are passionate about teaching and learning and will help you out.
10. Develop routines.  Think about all the little details... what if a kid needs to use the restroom?  What about absent students?  When can they sharpen their pencils?  How do you want to structure your class period?  It's better to think through how you want to handle things before kids arrive.
11. Be a "bell-to-bell" teacher.  Some of the most valuable (and wasted) time in the class period is the first and last 5 minutes of the day.  I highly encourage you to develop a warmup and exit ticket routine.  If you use that time wisely, it can add up to 50 minutes per week... that's an entire class period!
12. Find your "people".  A lot of advice columns will tell you to avoid the teacher's lounge and for good reason!  Often, the lounge is filled with Grumpy Gus and Negative Nancy.  However, it is vital for you to have adult conversation at least once a day!  Find the people that you identify with and I guarantee you will find some of your dearest friends.
13. Sometimes you have to prioritize and that's okay!  While I'm not advocating for letting papers pile up for days on end (guilty!), remember that your health and well-being is important.  When it comes down to grading Friday's test or attending Grandma's 85th birthday, please choose Grandma every time!  Those tests will still be there tomorrow, but your time with Grandma is limited.  
14. Speaking of health and well-being, take time to exercise and eat right.  I've struggled with my weight for years and years, but daily exercise is really important.  Beyond the obvious reason for exercise, there is also research about how the oxygen and movement is important to brain function, particularly creativity.  I'd also recommend putting a pair of comfy shoes in your classroom so you can go on an afternoon stroll with a colleague.  It's a great way to get some exercise in while chatting!
15. Other things to have in your classroom:  house-shoes for those days when your dress shoes are giving you a blister; bandaids for those pesky papercuts (or the blisters!); needle and thread because you never know when they might be handy for sewing on a button (safety pins are handy too!); jacket or lap blanket for those cranky heat/air systems
16. Never underestimate the value of a good pen!  I love pens, like really love pens!  I have container after container of pens.  However, when I'm grading, I can't stand pens that bleed, skip, or are "scratchy".  For grading, my go-to is the Papermate Flair.  They may be pricey, but they are SO worth it!
17. Collaboration is important.  Find the teachers that teach your subject and work with them.  Share assessments and lessons.  You do NOT have to do this alone!  If no one at your school teaches your subject, then ask the MTBoS for help!   
18. Don't be afraid to ask for help!  I have known too many new teachers that ended up leaving the profession because they were overwhelmed but didn't want to be a bother to the veteran teachers.  You are NOT a bother!  We want to help, but don't want to seem too pushy.  Sometimes we all get wrapped up in our own lives and forget how it feels to be a new teacher.  Please do not let that stop you.  I promise that we love helping people or we wouldn't be a teacher! :)

Whew!  I wondered if I would be able to come up with 18 tips, but there you go!  Now go out and conquer the world.  You can do it!!

:)

#MTBoSBlaugust - Day 10 - Unique Jewelry

So this is a huge deviation from my normal posting tendencies, but one that really made my day!

My birthday was last week.  Between running errands, I came home to find a package on the doorstep.  I wasn't expecting a package, but hubby orders a lot from Amazon, so it really didn't shock me until I saw that the package had my name on it!

When I opened the package, I found a card (or two!) from one of my dearest friends plus lots of back-to-school goodies!  I finally got the chance to wear one of the gifts today...

Check out that awesome "Oklahoma" bracelet made from an old license plate!  My dear friend, @pamjwilson, found it at a boutique and decided that it needed to find its way back to Oklahoma and sent it to me.  I've really been into bracelets this summer, and I can't wait to style it this year!  I received a ton of compliments today on my unique accessory and I loved that it had a fun story behind it, and I especially love the looks I get from people who don't really "get" Twitter or my "friends who live in the computer". :)

(On a side note.. we are 1/3 of the way through August... stay strong my #MTBoSBlaugust friends!)

#MTBoSBlaugust - Day 9 - Sunday Summary

My Sunday 3-2-1 Summary

3 things I will miss about summer:

• Each morning, after hubby gets ready for work, he makes our coffee, then brings my cup in to my bedside table.  *puffy heart*
• After waking up with my coffee, I get dressed and head out for a 45 minute walk.  This is my quiet time and I treasure it greatly.  Sadly, when school starts, I leave the house at 6:30am, so it would be too dark to walk in the mornings at that point.
• Living life on my own schedule versus a school bell.  Eating when I get hungry, using the restroom as needed, all the little things that most adults take for granted. :)

2 awesome things that happened this week:

• My birthday was on Wednesday and it was one of the best birthdays I've had in years!  I received an awesome package from a dear dear friend (who know who you are!) and we had a birthday party at church, complete with the yummiest cake!  I had no idea that Sam's Club did cakes until this summer and I will definitely use them in the future!
• On Friday night, a friend and I went to a gospel signing here in town.  It's been years since I have been to one and it was just restorative to my soul.  It definitely put me in a good frame of mind for the weekend and upcoming week!

1 thing I'm looking forward to this week:

• Tomorrow is Senior Schedule Pick-Up Day.  I'm excited to meet some of my new students for this year!

#MTBoSBlaugust - Day 8 - Busy Day!

It has been a crazy busy day around here, although I will say that I have very little to show for all my hard work!  It's "tax-free weekend" in my state, so I knew I didn't want to go out shopping today, so I worked in my office on my school to-do list.  :)  I didn't get much crossed off, but I'm pleased with my progress so far!

Thinking about my notebook:

Title Page

I started the morning thinking about changes I wanted to make to the INB.  I knew that I wanted to move the Table of Contents to page 2 because as the notebook gets thicker through the semester, it gets harder and harder to write in the table of contents when the ToC is opened to the inside.  As a result, I needed something for the first page!  I know!  A Title Page!!  I do not understand why it is so difficult for seniors in high school to write their names on their notebooks, but hopefully this title page solves the issue.  After some looking at Pinterest, I decided to use the "Who I Am" that was inspired by the MTBoS several years ago.  

To download the file, click HERE.  Note:  This is a view only file, so you'll need to save it to your computer to edit!

These will be on the student tables when the kids enter the room.  They will work on completing this as I go around the room meeting the students.  When we set up our notebooks, this will be on page 1.  I hope students will enjoy reading back over their day 1 thoughts at the end of the year.

TI84 Page

While browsing Pinterest looking for Title Page ideas, I ran across an idea from MissCalcul8's blog that used a TI84 template to remind students of their calculator functions.  I'm excited about this idea and can't wait to add it to our stat notebooks!  Here's the prototype I did today and I would also include page numbers for the student to reference:

Thinking about Assessment:

MC Mondays

One of my other goals today was to think through how MC Mondays would work.  Here is my current thinking:

The front would have 5 Multiple Choice questions.  At the beginning of the year, it will include questions from our previous End of Course exams regarding stat/prob questions.  The back is a blank template that will be used each week.  On Monday, the kids will answer the 5 questions on the front and turn that in.  On Tuesday, we will do the Analysis and Reflection as our warmup.  

The back is adapted from the TPS Review Guide written by Jason Molesky and Michael Legacy.  I did change their "Simple Mistake" column to "Type of Mistake?" after being inspired by MathEqualsLove's blog post this morning.  The Reflection part I'm thinking will probably change to a 3-2-1 structure:

• 3 things that I need to remember for future assessments (could be anything from content details to distractors to computation, etc)
• 2 ____________________ (I'm stuck on this one... ideas?)
• 1 concept that I need to review and my review plan

I'm not tied to any of these, so if you have ideas, please pass them along!

Thinking about Day 1:

Kristen Gilbert

After a lot of tossing back and forth ideas for a new Day 1 activity, I decided to stick with my beloved Kristen.  I did find a great article written by George Cobb and Steven Gehlbach about Nurse Gilbert for any of you thinking of using this activity in your classes.  For Day 1's homework, I've decided to do the AP 2000#1 because it also ties into the idea of "Make a Picture" and it's very accessible for kids right away.  I want to set the tone from Day 1 that this is going to be a class where you have to read, think, and write.

So much left to do... but I'm happy with the progress I made! :)

#MTBoSBlaugust - Day 7 - My Favorite Friday

I had so many moments this week that would definitely qualify for a "My Favorite".  From a birthday party at church (complete with a ladybug cake!) to a great time tonight with a dear friend, it was definitely tough to determine a "My Favorite" for this week! 

This week has been busy with setting up my room and preparing for kids in 1.5 weeks.  (EEEK!)  Definitely one of my favorite classroom supplies and one that I could *not* do without is my trusty little laminator!  I have a slightly larger one at home, but the one I have at school is an Amazon Basics and I even purchased one as a graduation gift for my student teacher last year. 

As for all of the words... well, that will have to wait until next week's "Show Off Your Classroom" post! :)

#MTBoSBlaugust - Day 6 - My Yearly Mantra

Prompt #19 from the mega-list of prompts says:  What is your focus/theme/mantra for the year and why? Create and share a notecard for your desk as a reminder.

Every year, I really spend a lot of time thinking about my teaching mantra for the year.  Two years ago, it was "It's not supposed to be easy, it's supposed to be worth it."  Last year, it was "The best way to learn is to do, the worst way to teach is to talk."  I love my yearly mantra because it gives me focus for the year and I need all of the focus I can get!  I knew that I really wanted to work on better relationships this year, so I narrowed down my choices and ended up with two strong contenders:

 First off, I totally love (with puffy heart loves) the leopard background! :)  However, both of these quotes really resonate with me as a teacher, so it was really difficult to decide on which one would be the final choice.  

But, after lots of thinking, here's the winner:

I love having my yearly mantra where I have to see it multiple times a day!  

The thing that really tipped the scale was that I have felt very convicted personally this summer to try to "Be the Change" by showing love and serving others in their time of need.  I want to work on building better relationships with my students, colleagues, and administrators.  I want to remember that every journey begins with a single step and that the Butterfly Effect is real and that I have the power to create great change by taking one small step each day towards making my classroom a place of positive energy and self-affirmation.

What is your mantra for the year?