Today was the first day of school in my district. I was nervous, excited, overwhelmed, and exhausted. Last week we had five days of pre-planning which simultaneously managed to feel like both too much and not enough time. Too much time sitting in meetings, and yet not enough time to get my classroom ready. Too much time to stress about getting everything perfect, and not enough time to make perfection happen.
This year as part of my blogging project, I am planning to keep track of how much time I actually work. Last week was supposed to be 8:30 - 4:30, at least on paper. After seeing how much time I had in my classroom, I chose to work the week before for about 4 hours to get a head start. Usually by the time the summer ends, I'm eager to get back in my classroom, and the peace of mind that getting a head start provides is worth it. I was not alone, either! Many teachers were there, in their rooms, getting a head start.
Most days I did arrive at about 8:30 - I'm not a morning person, so that's the best I can do. I did arrive 30 minutes early for our staff development day - not only was I presenting, but we were warned that parking would be bad - I didn't need that stress prior to presenting to my peers (the presentation was on games and gamification - you can check out some of the resources HERE).
Most days I managed to leave at 4:30 - even though I probably could've stayed another hour or two. Tuesday I worked for about an hour at home, and Friday I stayed til 5:30. I planned on working a little over the weekend to get ready for the week, but I left a folder on my desk with some of the things I wanted to work on! Worst part was that I left it after putting it together to take it home...I blame exhaustion! I did spend about an hour putting the final touches on my introductory PowerPoint (I was actually having fun finding funny school-related memes to put a humorous spin on my class rules).
All in all I worked about 46 - 47 hours...minus lunch, which is a glorious hour to hour and fifteen minutes during pre-planning - a luxury when compared to our 25 minutes of lunch WITH the students during the year.
So the big day came, and we had a good time, getting to know each other, drawing crazy pictures of scientists, and laughing at my school memes. My husband always remarks about how odd it must be, going from 0 to 60 as teachers do. It is a strange way to work, to be sure, but I'm not sure how you would do something different.
Monday, August 01, 2016
Wednesday, July 06, 2016
What's New Wednesday - July 6, 2016
What's new this Wednesday? I have two new products in my Teachers Pay Teachers store (click HERE).
First, I have an activity for students learning about the path light takes as it passes through the eye to make an image in the brain. It has two parts, a Cloze paragraph and a scramble activity. I love Cloze paragraphs because the students really have to read and use their context clues to complete the activity. The scrambled activity has the steps that light takes out of order. Students can either cut them out, order them correctly, and paste into their notebooks, or teachers can laminate and use over and over. It's create for interactive notebooks! See it HERE.
The second activity is a set of worksheets to accompany the movie Apollo 13. I love showing that movie to my science classes, but my school requires that any movies are part of a developed lesson plan. In addition to the worksheet to accompany the movie, there is a warm-up, exit ticket, and a Cloze paragraph (I told you I love those, haha). See it HERE.
I also have a couple of FREE products - Heat Transfer and Crafting a Scientific Argument - Density. The Heat Transfer activity will only be free until the end of July - get it now! The Crafting a Scientific Argument activity is designed to helped scaffold the use of the "claim/evidence/reason" framework for developing a scientific argument.
I hope you enjoy the new products!
First, I have an activity for students learning about the path light takes as it passes through the eye to make an image in the brain. It has two parts, a Cloze paragraph and a scramble activity. I love Cloze paragraphs because the students really have to read and use their context clues to complete the activity. The scrambled activity has the steps that light takes out of order. Students can either cut them out, order them correctly, and paste into their notebooks, or teachers can laminate and use over and over. It's create for interactive notebooks! See it HERE.
The second activity is a set of worksheets to accompany the movie Apollo 13. I love showing that movie to my science classes, but my school requires that any movies are part of a developed lesson plan. In addition to the worksheet to accompany the movie, there is a warm-up, exit ticket, and a Cloze paragraph (I told you I love those, haha). See it HERE.
I also have a couple of FREE products - Heat Transfer and Crafting a Scientific Argument - Density. The Heat Transfer activity will only be free until the end of July - get it now! The Crafting a Scientific Argument activity is designed to helped scaffold the use of the "claim/evidence/reason" framework for developing a scientific argument.
I hope you enjoy the new products!
Tuesday, July 05, 2016
Tuesday Tech Tool - July 5, 2016
In an attempt to get my blog back up and running, I thought about the different things I could share from my classroom. One of my areas of interest (which can act as both a blessing and a curse) is my interest in educational technology. I say it's a blessing, because I always score high marks on evaluations when it comes to incorporating technology, and students enjoy the amount of tech we use in class. However, it's a curse in that I am always drawn to new apps and websites like a moth to the flame. I'm always on the look-out for the Goldilocks app - the one that's "just right."
I figured I could put that interest to work, and I came up with the idea of "Tuesday Tech Tool" - a weekly (fingers crossed) feature of my blog where I talk about a tech tool that I have used in class. This week, for my inaugural launch of this, I am going to be talking about Remind (formerly Remind 101).
Remind is a messaging service that allows you to text your students and parents safely and privately - everyone's phone numbers are kept private. It is free to use for teachers, parents, and students. It can work through the app (Apple and Android friendly), through text messaging, or through email, which makes it very versatile for teachers, parents, and students.
Once you create an account, then from either the app or the website, you set up your classes, and this creates your class code. I have a separate code for each subject I teach, however you could have a code for each class period if you wanted. It's very easy to combine classes to send out messages to all your students at once. You can also send a message to a single student or small group. I found this feature very useful when individual students needed to return something such as a book or permission slip.
Originally the messages went one way, from me to my students. However, they now have a chat feature which allows two way communication. Everything is recorded for safety purposes, and this feature can be shut off or the hours limited (no midnight messages). This turned out to be a great way for students to ask questions if something came up while they were home doing their homework or studying for a test.
One of my favorite features that Remind offers is the ability to schedule messages ahead of time. I schedule my week's messages when I write my weekly lesson plans. I am also able to embed this feed into my blog so my students can check it.
I also teach at a very diverse school, and many of my parents have a first language other than English. If you use Remind through the app on a phone set in another language, it will offer to translate messages for you.
I have been using Remind for about 3 years now, and the design team is always working to improve the app and add new features. You can now send pictures, PDFs, files, and even voice clips with the messages.
Remind is one of my go-to apps, and one I happily recommend. If you are interested, you can check out their website HERE or read their teacher's overview HERE.
I figured I could put that interest to work, and I came up with the idea of "Tuesday Tech Tool" - a weekly (fingers crossed) feature of my blog where I talk about a tech tool that I have used in class. This week, for my inaugural launch of this, I am going to be talking about Remind (formerly Remind 101).
Remind is a messaging service that allows you to text your students and parents safely and privately - everyone's phone numbers are kept private. It is free to use for teachers, parents, and students. It can work through the app (Apple and Android friendly), through text messaging, or through email, which makes it very versatile for teachers, parents, and students.
Once you create an account, then from either the app or the website, you set up your classes, and this creates your class code. I have a separate code for each subject I teach, however you could have a code for each class period if you wanted. It's very easy to combine classes to send out messages to all your students at once. You can also send a message to a single student or small group. I found this feature very useful when individual students needed to return something such as a book or permission slip.
Originally the messages went one way, from me to my students. However, they now have a chat feature which allows two way communication. Everything is recorded for safety purposes, and this feature can be shut off or the hours limited (no midnight messages). This turned out to be a great way for students to ask questions if something came up while they were home doing their homework or studying for a test.
One of my favorite features that Remind offers is the ability to schedule messages ahead of time. I schedule my week's messages when I write my weekly lesson plans. I am also able to embed this feed into my blog so my students can check it.
I also teach at a very diverse school, and many of my parents have a first language other than English. If you use Remind through the app on a phone set in another language, it will offer to translate messages for you.
I have been using Remind for about 3 years now, and the design team is always working to improve the app and add new features. You can now send pictures, PDFs, files, and even voice clips with the messages.
Remind is one of my go-to apps, and one I happily recommend. If you are interested, you can check out their website HERE or read their teacher's overview HERE.
Wednesday, June 22, 2016
The Blog is Back!!
So here's the story: About 10 years ago (!!!) I started a blog for my advanced science class. I was one of the first teachers in my school to use the blog as part of my teaching. At the time, I mostly used it for current events - I would post articles for the students to read and discuss. Occasionally I would use it to group a collection of web links that I wanted the students to use in class or for homework.
Fast forward ten years, and now blogs are a requirement at my school (you can check out my current blog HERE). However the purpose has changed - most teachers use the blog as a home-school communication tool, posting homework, class events, etc. When I started, I chose BlogSpot as a host - my options were rather limited at the time. Now, my district has provided us with a blogging platform...ah, how times change!
So this blog lay idle for quite some time (an embarrassingly long time, especially considering that I've had this linked to my Twitter account for years). This year however, I've decided to blog again, but this time for myself. The new purpose isn't to write for my students, but rather to share strategies I've tried in class, promote my (NEW!) Teacher Pay Teachers store, and discuss trends in education.
I hope you'll join me on this journey!
Fast forward ten years, and now blogs are a requirement at my school (you can check out my current blog HERE). However the purpose has changed - most teachers use the blog as a home-school communication tool, posting homework, class events, etc. When I started, I chose BlogSpot as a host - my options were rather limited at the time. Now, my district has provided us with a blogging platform...ah, how times change!
So this blog lay idle for quite some time (an embarrassingly long time, especially considering that I've had this linked to my Twitter account for years). This year however, I've decided to blog again, but this time for myself. The new purpose isn't to write for my students, but rather to share strategies I've tried in class, promote my (NEW!) Teacher Pay Teachers store, and discuss trends in education.
I hope you'll join me on this journey!
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