Guys, I'm Killing It

I don't know exactly what gave me my teacher mojo back but I definitely know that last year was my seven year slump.

I've had good things that I've wanted to blog every day but my internet has been lame at home and I'm still so tired every day that I've gotten behind.

Day 1 and I already knew everyone's names.

My biggest class is 18 and my smallest is 5.

I've tried so many new things already: number talks, Google classroom, Google forms, a clothesline activity, asking students to notice things before we start working, introducing growth mindset, using my Plickers multiple times, and my questioning skills have greatly improved.

Here are some highlights from the past two weeks:

Using a beach ball every Monday at the beginning of class- we hit it while we talk about our weekends and we stop when no one else has anything to share. This has been a GREAT way to get energy flowing on a Monday and to get more students talking and for longer amounts of time. And almost every class will ask me about my weekend too- maybe to just keep hitting the ball longer.

I asked our tech person about the possibility of sharing some Chrome books with the two teachers who have classroom sets and she showed up at my door the next day with six that are mine to keep, one per table group. I literally teared up at her kindness.

During my growth mindset discussion with my seniors I kindddddddd of went off on a tangent about being a confident woman and how important it is to make being with yourself a safe place and being successful in the future and etc.....when I finally finished a student said, "Wow, you should be like a coach or something." {I've always wanted to write a book and I think I might have just stumbled on the topic}.

I tweeted about my favorite problem of all time and in my freshman class, the first person to get the correct answer was the student who spent the first week of school telling me how math was not her subject and to please not call on her when she doesn't know the answer. I said "I thought math wasn't your thing and yet you were the first one done." She said, "Well I thought it wasn't!" She worked really hard the rest of the class period.

I was talking to a group of students when one almost let a cuss word slip; she cut herself off and said "This is why you shouldn't make me like you so much- then I talk normal around you." Lol

Number talks have been going well but they really prefer dot talks to anything else so far. Some students are purposely counting them in an unusual order just so they can share their thinking. I've had multiple hands go up to share their thinking and it feels like everyone is comfortable with that.

I feel like it was so easy to just jump right into how I want my classes to run- I already feel like I've known my freshman students for a long time and it's such a testament to how being consistent and building routines and procedures can enhance your classroom culture.

I taught the same piecewise functions lesson that I always teach but I started by asking them to notice things about the function and then notice things about the graph. It seemed like the lesson went so much smoother because they made connections all the way through.

It's only week three I know but I haven't really had to beg people to work; I feel like I have a good mixture of students that helped make this happen.

A few students have made real efforts since last year to change their attitude and effort and it's so cool to see them grow.

I feel so blessed to get to be in their lives year after year and to know them so well that I can see change and growth over time. Also after reading tweets and blog posts, I also feel blessed to be in a school that provides me with all the colored paper {and most school supplies} that I want and that my biggest class size is smaller than most people's small class size.

I still love when students come in and love the way my room smells- I didn't it was so odd for a teacher to buy air fresheners. ;)

A student asked me how much I spend on all of this stuff and I just appreciated that she noticed the extra that I put in.

This was the first year I didn't dread back to school time, the first year I had no school nightmares, and the first year {that I can remember} that I don't have that one class that I'm just dreading.

I can't really explain how my questioning skills have improved but it's like I am self-editing in real time- I'll have my next question on the tip of my tongue and it's like my brain says 'Here's a better idea!" and a more interesting question comes out.

Three lessons that I already had resources for meant I could think deeper about how to present them in a more conceptual way- this is another area I see improvement in myself over time.

I still maintain that Jesus gives me supernatural patience and I can feel the moment I enter into it- helping students one on one I always reach a point where I want to walk away and it's like this supernatural patience washes over me and I just continue like nothing happened.

I don't know why but I think it is so cute when students tell me bye as they leave. It's not every student but it's just endearing.

I've started almost every paragraph with 'I' so far but as hard as we are on ourselves, I think we can all stand to brag on ourselves. One of my gifts is making connections with people and I love seeing that come to fruition- this year feels just like a continuation of last year rather than a new start. Maybe it's not the best thing but I felt like starting school as a tee again- I loved hearing the updates of what all my friends did over the summer and what was going on in their lives.

I feel like finally all of my experience and ups and downs and talents and strengths and weaknesses are coming together and I'm approaching the ever elusive peak of 'actually knowing what I'm doing'.

My career is on an uphill swing and that is definitely ONE GOOD THING.

Plan With Me...Infinite and No Solutions

So I'm planning this lesson for the upcoming week and I have 3 slides that I feel like are a good start. I'm just about to tweet them out and ask what I can add to them when I decide to check the MTBoS search engine first. I land on this great blog post about using Desmos to check answers after combining like terms by graphing.

And instantly my lesson just got better. I get to use Desmos for the first time with my freshman and we are just beginning!

Here's a general outline and my thought process.

I will ask students to share out some answers and I will write them on the board. I will have one chrome book per group of three students and ask them to each take turns typing in an expression from the board (I'm thinking 6 so each student types in 2 and purposely include wrong ones).  But what if I don't get very many answers?

I will ask them what they notice as they type in each equation.

We will discuss the connection between the expression and the line.

Next:

I will ask students to prove me right or wrong. I'm thinking I'll have to explain that they either need to solve for x or plug in random values and see what happens. Some kind of work will happen which will lead us to graphing it in Desmos and seeing if it is the same line or not.

Third:

Some kind of work happening, either with Algebra or Desmos leading up to the fact that they graph two parallel lines which have no intersecting solution and how they simplify to the same slope with different y-intercepts.

Is that it? Now we just practice?

What are some good questions I can ask? What needs to go in their notes?

Ups and Downs

This August, I'm participating in a monthly blog challenge called Blaugust. To see the list of participating blogs, click on the logo below. Please cheer on our participants with either a tweet or a comment on their blog. It can be hard to blog on a daily (or even regular) schedule! :)

Ups and Downs

This was the first full week of school with kids and it was definitely full of ups and downs.  I knew throughout the week that I needed to blog but I'm already falling into a habit of typing and erasing because I don't want to be a downer.  Then as I was scrolling on Facebook, I ran across Rebecka Peterson's "One Good Thing" posts and it just made me smile.

It was a challenging week.  I have almost 200 students this year, the most I've ever had in my career.  I'm no where close to knowing names.  I have 3 preps, with 1.5 being new this year.  We have a new gradebook program that is creating a lot of chaos.  Our campus is undergoing some massive construction and other technology changes.  And to top it off, the a/c in my building is dead.  As in 83 degree air temperature plus 35 sweaty bodies equals 90 degree heat index type of dead.

But through it all, we are persevering.  Through it all, there were positive moments to be had.  Lots of laughter with my colleagues as we enjoyed being together again.  Ice cream from our admin team to end a hot and sweaty Friday.  Light bulb moments with my students as we built the unit circle in Pre-Calc, talked about eyewitness reports in Forensics, or talked about sampling methods in Stat.  Kids that made my day with positive comments, thoughtful questions, and overall great attitudes.  Opportunities to connect with students as we visited between classes.  Correspondence from previous students that said "My brother/sister has you this year and loves you already!".  The first "High Five Friday" of the year.  Kids from last year coming by and saying they miss my class.  Those moments are the ones that make it all worth it.

Thank you to Sam, and Rachel, and Elissa, and Rebecka, and all of the others that post on the One Good Thing blog.  Thank you for reminding us that "Not every day is a good day, but there is one good thing in every day!"  Thank you for being willing to share those tidbits of positivity with all of us.  Thank you for putting yourselves out there, being honest and raw and emotional, and truly showing how awesome this job can be.  

In the words of our morning announcements... Make it a great day or not, the choice is yours!

Individual/Group/Class Norms Revised

In my previous post, I wrote about my updated group norms. But then, I got some great feedback in the form of comments, a few Twitter conversations, and a post by Sarah on her updated groupwork norms... damn you, MTBoS with your feedback, always making me want to change stuff to make it better.

I decided to break up my groupwork norms into three components:

1. Individual accountability
2. Group accountability
3. Class accountability

Here is the poster for each set of norms.

Individual Norms

Group Norms

Class Norms

Finally, I made a poster for the green/yellow/red cup strategy Avery uses in his middle school classes. I went back and forth a bunch of times to see if this was perhaps not going to work in high school, especially if students are usually working on whiteboards around the room rather than sitting at a desk, and if there was maybe a way to do this electronically, but eventually, decided to just do it the same way that Avery does it and then make changes, if needed.

The idea is that each group starts with a stack of three cups, with green on top, yellow in the middle, and red on the bottom.

If the group feels stuck or confused, they should move the green cup to the bottom of the stack. The yellow cup is a sign to the group to discuss their confusion together and try to get themselves unstuck using the various strategies we've discussed or by checking in with other groups. 

If they have discussed and tried to get themselves unstuck, but were not successful, then they come up with a single group question that every member of the group needs to be able to articulate, and can switch their cups so that the red one is on top, at which point a teacher will come over and ask a random member of the group what their question is.

Avery's selling points for me were:

• The yellow cup is an important step to prompt students to reflect on their confusion as a team and get better at the "unsticking" process that is such an important part of productive struggle.
• There is a clear visual for the teacher in scanning the room where groups are at and which might need attention soon (currently at yellow).
• You can hear cups switching so without even looking, have a sense of group need.
• The proportion of the time that various cups are on top gives you valuable information regarding the challenge level of the task you've given students that day. Ideally, cups are changing back and forth between green and yellow as groups become puzzled and then figure things out on their own.

Here's a poster summarizing this for students:

Cups

As always, feedback and suggestions for improvement are welcome!

A Week in Review

This August, I'm participating in a monthly blog challenge called Blaugust. To see the list of participating blogs, click on the logo below. Please cheer on our participants with either a tweet or a comment on their blog. It can be hard to blog on a daily (or even regular) schedule! :)

A Week In Review - Sunday Summary

Oh my, what a whirlwind week!!!  We had "Teacher Days" on Monday-Thursday and kids came on Friday.  We had a lot of time in our rooms, which was great, especially since about 40 teachers were coming back to brand new renovated rooms with brand new technology! :)

My goal this year is to blog at least my Sunday Summary with a look back over the week.  :)

Where I Was:

This past week was a bit crazy.  We have a new principal, lots of new technology, and construction on campus.  Change is one of those things that most people struggle with and I'm no exception!  However, we made it through.  We were all grateful for 2 days (Wed / Thurs) with no meetings and time to just work in our rooms.  Friday was the first day with kids and to be honest, when I originally saw that on the calendar, I had my doubts about starting on a Friday, but it turns out that I loved it!  We all wore our spirit wear, including our new THRIVE theme t-shirts and it was a great day to meet the kids, tell them what school supplies to purchase, and start out our year with some learning!

In Pre-Calc, we start with trig, so we decided to see what they remembered about SOHCAHTOA.  I had found this activity earlier in the summer and adapted it for the INB.  It really was awesome to hear the conversations about "Now which one is the opposite side?" 

In Stat, we started with my favorite Kristen Gilbert story, but this time when we got to the graph of deaths, I had them complete a poster about their Noticings and Wonderings.  I meant to snap a photo of them, but forgot! :(  Again, great conversations were had all around!  My favorite comment was "This is like a Serial podcast!"

Where I Am:

I left on Friday night around 7pm totally exhausted.  Three preps plus new shoes that rubbed a blister made for a rough day.  I had a to-do list with 22 items on it, so I decided to go up this weekend to work on it.  I was there from 10am - 6pm and knocked out most of the items!  Go me!  I have the next week mostly mapped out with copies already made.  Today's goal is to run to the store to pick up a few items, but spend most of the day on the patio enjoying the beautiful weather and hopefully get in some fun reading time.  All in all, I'm feeling pretty good about where I am!

Where I'm Going:

This next week will be a challenge.  Five whole days of kids will zap the energy! :)  On block day, we'll see our Advisory classes and I will get to meet about 12 new Advisory kiddos.  One of those days will be our Welcome Back Assembly, but I'm not sure which one yet.  In Pre-Calc, we'll be building the Unit Circle.  That class is the toughest for me because I have to practice my lessons the night before since it's the first time I've taught it.  I've not had a trig class since 1992-93, so I'm a bit rusty! :)  In Stat, we'll jump on into sample surveys and sampling methods.  Thankfully, this is year 17 for teaching that, so little prep is required!  In Forensics, we'll be working on observation skills and I do need to spend some time working on my lesson plans in there.  I want to remember to take a photo each day to re-start my 180 blog, so we'll see how that goes! :)

Have a great week, y'all!

First Days 2016-2017

I was not ready. I spent my last few days getting my classroom ready and not preparing actual activities. This should have been an 'easy' week for me since it's the only time I can get away with doing the same thing every hour. Instead I didn't go to bed earlier than midnight all week. =( Definitely making a check list so this doesn't happen next year.

Monday
Today we did Mental Math Monday and got our binders ready: dividers, tabs, names on the spine, pencil bags, new pencils, and dry erase markers. We folded our name tents; I loved having students write to me every day. The name tent part was not really necessary since we are so small and everybody knows everybody. Next year I might not use an actual name tent. It also took me up to an hour and a half each night too respond. I would say it is worth it but I definitely couldn'tdo it all year.We did our first number talk!

Tuesday

I used Google Classroom for the first time today and I think I was successful. Students used an ipad to sign in to their account add my class by code. I posted a question asking them they're favorite animated movie. Then I posted a google form for estimation180. They commented and opened the form. I showed a picture on the board and they gave me a too low, too high, and estimate. We looked at the answers on the spreadsheet and then I showed the correct answer. I had 4-5 students guess correctly throughout the day and that has never happened. Google Forms FTW? Next, we did Amy Zimmer's icebreaker to set up groups and group roles. I noticed that the designated time keeper kept time for the rest of the period, even after the activity ended. From there we went straight to Sara's
1-100 task making groups work. The kids LOVED it!! In between rounds we discussed strategies for working together and improving their times.

Wednesday
We started with our Work It Wednesday problem, how can you arrange 8 8's to add up to 1000? From there I showed them pictures from the previous day's 1-100 task.

They could not believe that I took pictures! Not a single student in any class noticed I was taking pictures. Not even in a class of 5! They have already asked to do it again. My best group made it all the way to 91 and two groups made it to the 80's. We reviewed the group work strategies and from there we went to Sarah's Broken Circle task. This only took 2-3 minutes since my students were in groups of 3. We finished the day by setting up our INBs.

Thursday
Thursday are my designated day for number talks and it started out rough. Read more here. We again used Google Classroom to open a pdf of my syllabus. I tried Brigid's idea of doodle notes using this doodle syllabus. I still have mixed feelings about this. My artistic students really appreciated it. The students did agree that taking notes from the pdf was better than listening to me talk the whole time. But most of these students have had me for years and know my policies and procedures. More than one person asked why we were doing this and most people didn't even get it finished in a class period because they spent so much time doing what I asked...doodling! I can see it working much better in a lecture heavy class but thankfully, I am heading in the opposite direction of that.

Friday
We ended the week by taking our end of course exam which will be given again in December and May. I spent my time making answer keys and updating my spreadsheet data.

Comparing the first administration last year to this year

Algebra I 15% to 24%
Geometry 18% to 20%
Algebra II 16.5% to 24%
Trig 30% to 19%

I'm using new exams except for Trig so those numbers basically mean nothing but I like that they are moving up. Except what the heck happened in trig?

I'm so glad that thanks to my blog, I have a record of everything I've tried during the first days of school. If you teach in a small school, you know you can't repeat activities until four years have passed. Check out my first days tag if you need more ideas!

My First Number Talk

I was inspired by Sara Van Der Werf's post to finally start doing number talks. I haven't read any of the books yet so forgive me if I'm screwing this up.

It took me three days of number talks before I realized I should start saving these pictures.

They are pretty terrible but I'd like to have a starting point to look back at.

The first two days were counting items in a picture so when I threw this one at them, I realized maybe a fraction problem was not the best one to use first.

We had a rough start but there was about one interesting answer per period so all was not lost.

A lot of them chose 5/8 because they said they learned that the smaller fractions are bigger pieces.

I'm really trying to put the emphasis on how we are thinking about things over right answers.

I also used Sara's name tent idea and more than one student wrote that they liked how we were learning about different ways to think and that they appreciate me letting them be creative.

Be still my heart.

It was much easier to get them to talk about counting dots and footballs but I'm not giving up!

Suggestions appreciated.

Pharaohs

Things I want to instill in my students or that I hope they 'inherit' from me and my classroom!

P-persistence. Let's get it right and get it done!

H- happiness. I'm really working on two things: to operate out of love and to let life be on my lips. How can I speak life, love, and happiness each day to my 90 students?

A- assertive. Learn the difference between aggressive and assertive. Know how and when to stand up for yourself and others. Learn how to not back down graciously.

R- resilient. You wouldn't believe the things that four of my students in particular are facing this early in the school year. I hope they see in me the 'fighting spirit' to show up every day and do hard work well.

A- attitude. As we learn together about growth mindset, I want to teach them the importance of their attitude and how it sets the tone of each day and the future.

O- original. I think I am pretty good at standing out and being unique. Hopefully my students take away that it is okay to have strong passions and interests and to put them on display.

H- honor. I'm trying my best to start off honoring the different ways of thinking my students have, honoring their identity by asking them to share it, and honoring the important of our relationship by building it.

S- spirit. Take pride in who you are and where you are from. If it's not the best place, then try making it better. Give back. Be successful and share how you got there.

Pharaoh Pride!

Ready for a New Year!!

This August, I'm participating in a monthly blog challenge called Blaugust. To see the list of participating blogs, click on the logo below. Please cheer on our participants with either a tweet or a comment on their blog. It can be hard to blog on a daily (or even regular) schedule! :)

If you want to join in the blogging fun, it's not too late!  Go HERE to sign up! :)

Ready for a New Year!!

The room is done, the lessons are planned, and kids are coming tomorrow whether I'm ready or not!

A few things to remind myself when I'm trying to remember later :)

• I love the "What should my answer look like" from @mathequalslove
• Table Folders rock!!!  (This is how I pass out papers)
• The posters for the student feedback ask the following questions:
• What are qualities of a good student?
• What are qualities of a good teacher?
• How do you learn best?  (Specifics please!)
• What are you excited about this year?
• What are you worried about this year?
• Be Joyful Always!

Sorry for a short post, but I got home around 8:30 and kids come tomorrow!!!  EEKKKKKK!

What does it take to Thrive?

This August, I'm participating in a monthly blog challenge called Blaugust. To see the list of participating blogs, click on the logo below. Please cheer on our participants with either a tweet or a comment on their blog. It can be hard to blog on a daily (or even regular) schedule! :)

If you want to join in the blogging fun, it's not too late!  Go HERE to sign up! :)

What does it take to Thrive?

I have been blessed to teach at an amazing school for the past 16 years.  Yesterday, as I started another year at this school, we were introduced to our theme for the year.  Starting back in the early 2000s, our administrative team would come up with a school wide theme.  For example, one year the theme was Mission:Possible and during our back to school assembly, the principals all rappelled down from the PAC ceiling while the Mission Impossible theme song played.  Often our theme played off of a current movie or some other pop culture idea, such as the Incredibles or the Olympics.  During the Olympics year, the theme was "Go for the Gold" and we all were given gold medals as we came in for our all-staff meeting. :)

This year, the theme is Thrive.

Today, we met with our evaluating principal and to start off our meeting, he asked us what it takes for us to Thrive personally, professionally, and for others in our lives.

Oh man... that's a tough question!

Personally
For me to thrive as a person, I need to do the following:

• Find balance between work and home.  This is hard.
• Take care of me.  This is hard too.  I need to set aside quiet devotional time, time with family and friends, time to laugh and be joyful, time to relax.  I need to take the time to exercise and eat right.  

Professionally

For me to thrive as a professional, I need to do the following:

• Commit to being involved in the #MTBoS.  This involves blogging on a regular basis, spending time on twitter, and participating in the #EduRead book studies.  I grow professionally because of the amazing people of the #MTBoS and I need that in my life.
• Learn to say "no".  I'm getting better than I've been in the past, but I need to say "no" and focus on the #BigRocks.

Students/Colleagues/Family

For me to help those around me thrive, I need to do the following:

• Be Joyful Always.  It's hard to always have a positive attitude, especially when you aren't feeling very positive.  But, I know that attitudes are contagious, so I need to work on having an attitude worth catching!  I need to look for the bright side and find ways to build up the people around me.
• Be present.  In a world of technology, it is easy for the screens to take away from our in-person time.  When I'm with others, I need to put away the screen and focus on being present in the moment.  

What does it take for you to Thrive?

Special Right Triangles

This August, I'm participating in a monthly blog challenge called Blaugust. To see the list of participating blogs, click on the logo below. Please cheer on our participants with either a tweet or a comment on their blog. It can be hard to blog on a daily (or even regular) schedule! :)

If you want to join in the blogging fun, it's not too late!  Go HERE to sign up! :)

Special Right Triangles

Today was the first day back for the teachers and I'm exhausted!  It's not like I wasted away my summer, but being on my feet just about wore me plum out! :)

Anyway, last week, I was working on lesson plans for Pre-Calc and I created a foldable for Special Right Triangles  Of course, after I made it, I found all sorts of better stuff from the MTBoS, so it's not great, but it's what I have to share today given how tired I am! :)

This is one of my favorite foldable templates because you print them two to a page.  Here's what the Word document looks like:

My thought was to connect the dots from the square / equilateral triangle and try to make connections that we will use with the unit circle as well.  However, after working through it and then looking at some of the awesome stuff out there (like Sarah Carter's poof booklet), I realize how lackluster this one is.   However, it's what I've already sent to the copy shop, so I learn to deal with it and make it better next year!  :) :)

Here's the file if you want it.  You will need the font KG What does the Fox Say?

Is it bed time yet? :)

Analysis Paralysis

This August, I'm participating in a monthly blog challenge called Blaugust. To see the list of participating blogs, click on the logo below. Please cheer on our participants with either a tweet or a comment on their blog. It can be hard to blog on a daily (or even regular) schedule! :)

If you want to join in the blogging fun, it's not too late!  Go HERE to sign up! :)

Analysis Paralysis

Does anyone else suffer from this?  When you have so much to do or so many options to choose from, that absolutely nothing gets done or accomplished?

I suffer from Analysis Paralysis on a regular basis, but back to school time seems to be the worst.  The to-do list is always growing and my time is always shrinking.  Instead of actually getting things done, I sit and stare at the wall for hours on end.  Yesterday is a prime example of this.  I had plans of all the things I would accomplish and then zero ended up getting done.  Of course, part of that is hubby and I ran errands and had some bad Chinese for lunch, so that pretty much ruined the rest of the day, but I should have - could have - gotten a lot done in the morning hours and I didn't.

So now it's the Sunday before school starts and there's that last minute rush of what all can I accomplish???  Thankfully the kids don't come until Friday and we'll have some time to work in our rooms, which is good because I still don't know where I'm going to fit in 2 more desks! :)

Honestly, my to-do list is shorter than in previous years but a lot of the items are details such as "decide which activity to use for Day 1".  There are so many great ideas out there from the #MTBoS that my Analysis Paralysis goes into overdrive.  What if I pick the wrong one?  What if I don't give enough time?  What supplies do I need?  Which one fits my style best?  UGH!

The time has come for decisions to be made.  Even more than that, once the decisions are made, stick with them.

In the words of Dr. Seuss:
"Today is YOUR day!  Your mountain is waiting, so get on your way!"

It's time for me to face the reality of the 2016-17 school year.  Let's go move that mountain!!!

#DITL Back to School! Year 8

I don't count today as our first day because I only saw my kids for five minutes per period. But this was one of the best starts we've had and an all around positive day so you know I have to share.

The day started with the Principal giving updates to the students for about 20 minutes. Then students were released to their classes for 5 minutes each.

This was enough time for me to have students write down their birthdays and favorite candy. I gave them an address label with my Remind number and code. I asked them to get composition notebooks and then I said good-bye!

I asked my freshman class how many of them liked math and none of them raised their hand. I !asked them how many were good at math but didn't like it. No one. I asked them if we could all agree to think positive and that this is going to be a good year of math class. All smiles and head nods. So now it is my personal mission to ask that question at the end of the year and have a majority of the hands go up.

We rotated through all of our classes and then around 9:30 we went to the gym. A student group had some cute games planned but it wasn't super organized. Middle school students had a blast and most of the high school sat on the bleachers and talked. We were there until lunch at 11:30 which was a little long considering we are having air conditioner problems but I made my way around talking to students.

It just felt so nice to be reminded of relationships I've been building for years and the comfort of being surrounded by students I know and I like. I have no classes I'm dreading this year. I spent most of the day smiling and chatting with students and that was just enjoyable!

We had a 12:00 dismissal and then a Google training from 12:30-2:30 which means we also had an hour lunch.

I really love having Back to School night on Thursday and an early dismissal Friday.

Have a great weekend!

Goodbye Summer!

This August, I'm participating in a monthly blog challenge called Blaugust. To see the list of participating blogs, click on the logo below. Please cheer on our participants with either a tweet or a comment on their blog. It can be hard to blog on a daily (or even regular) schedule! :)

If you want to join in the blogging fun, it's not too late!  Go HERE to sign up! :)

Five Things I'll Miss About Summer

Summer is officially over.  Today was my last day of freedom.  Well, technically I'm free the next two days, but since that's the weekend, I don't think it counts.  Today was the last weekday of summer.  I report bright and early Monday morning to start my 19th year of teaching.  I didn't get all of my to-do list done, but all in all, it was a good summer.

1)  Morning Walks - I am proud to say that this summer, I succeeded in not screwing up my sleep patterns, so that will hopefully make getting up next week easier.  But one thing I'll miss is my morning walk.  With a few exceptions, I would get up around 6am and go for a 30 minute walk.  I loved the peace and quiet and during most walks, I was able to listen to the Truth for Teachers podcast.  I really love her positive spirit!  Once school starts, I value every moment of sleep plus I don't like the idea of getting up at 5am in order to walk, so I'll have to start doing that in the evening time.

2)  Coffee in Bed - My hubby is amazing.  After his alarm goes off, he goes to the kitchen and turns on the Keurig.  After his shower, he makes coffee and brings it to me in bed.  Such a great way to start my day!

3)  My Patio - After my walk, I would spend the next few hours on the patio, reading, doing my bible study, relaxing, and just generally enjoying nature.  The 100+ heat the past few days have killed most of my flowers, but this photo was taken last week:

4)  Naptime - As a kid, I wasn't a fan of napping.  As an adult, I could win the gold medal!  There is nothing better than a 2 hour nap on a lazy day. :)

5)  A Clean House - During the school year, I'm rather busy but during the summer, I like to have a picked up house and a bed that is made.  My house will never be a showplace, but at least in the summer, I do mop, vacuum, and dust on a regular basis! :)  Often, after my walk, I would do about an hour of cleaning before heading to the patio.  There's just something about that burst of productivity that lets you sit down at relax by 8am that feels so good!

And a bonus thing I'll miss... (mainly, I couldn't decide which one to leave off, so here's a bonus #6!)

6)  Quiet Alone Time - I am extremely introverted.  I love teaching, but I'll be honest in that it takes everything I have to put on my "energetic extroverted teacher face" and be in front of people all day.  During the summer, I can go days without seeing or talking to anyone other than hubby and that's a-ok with me!


What will you miss about summer?

Formalizing Routines

In my last post, I blogged about #TMC16 and how excited I was to take what I learned in @davidwees's workshop on instructional routines and apply it to what I do most in my class, which is guided investigations (aka problem sets that scaffold instruction) and open investigations, which are more focused on exploring connections and representations of student thinking. I've taken a first stab at writing out the steps and teacher moves involved in both types of investigations (links below), including writing prompts for students and class norms. The class norms were especially tricky to nail down because I've been thinking all summer about how to marry the norms that I learned in Complex Instruction, which are all about valuing different types of participation and making the group a cohesive and supportive unit, with what I'm seeing as emerging from the research on Visibly Random Groupings, which values flow and makes the entire class a unit of idea exchange and interdependence. Complex instruction often has assigned roles within the group and clear instructions on establishing a "group question" before a teacher can be called over for help. By contrast, in a VRG class structure, students are encouraged to share ideas with and ask for help from anyone in the class. Groups change daily and roles are eschewed in favor of flow of ideas and vertical whiteboards that encourage easy participation and engagement.

My attempt to merge these two cooperative structures (as well as my other goals for students) has resulted in the following group norms:

Group Norms

I am going to continue randomly assigning students to groups when working on problem sets or open investigations and avoid assigning roles. There will probably be one day every week or two when students are grouped homogeneously based on their self-assessment of their needs (more structure/support/direct instruction, same level (stay with guided inquiry), explore independently). I have to think about tweaks to the group norms that need to happen on those days.

I also wrote out the protocol for when a group can ask me for help. They need to first attempt the strategies posted in the classroom for getting unstuck (listed below), look around to see what other groups are doing and send a representative to another group to discuss and share ideas, and if they're still stuck, to formulate a single question to ask me... aka a group question. I should be able to ask anyone in the group what their question is and be assured that it was indeed a group decision to get help.

If your group is stuck:

I will try to remember to write another post discussing the various reflection prompts and closing questions that I've adapted, but here are the links to the two routines, which have all of the prompts I've thought of so far.

Guided Inquiry Routine

Open Investigation Routine

Feedback is super appreciated! These are still very much in the planning stages, but it's been immensely helpful to write out and formalize the routines that I normally use in my classes. My goal is to work on making these better this year, both in my classes and in those of my colleagues, through lesson study focused specifically on routines.

#DITL Back to School Night

My day did not start out very positive. Nobody likes their Teacher Institute to start with the principal reading a 22 point packet out loud word for word of new rules and expectations.

But that is not what I came to write about.

We revamped our Back to School Night and I really enjoyed it so I wanted to share with you. It started at 5:00 where students get their schedules in the lobby and sign up for door prizes. Then they travel around to each classroom and have their teachers sign their schedule. Showing your schedule with all the teacher signatures earned you ice cream in the cafeteria.

Students were in the gym doing face painting and hosting sign up sheets for clubs. This was also the time for students to find their locker, test the lock, etc.

In the library there were videos from last school year playing on a loop.

At 6:30, everyone returns to the gym where the Principal speaks about announcements and updates.

Then names were pulled for door prizes and that wrapped up the night!

If only the air conditioning worked correctly...

I was surprised to see a large group of people in the lobby at 5:00 on the dot.

Only one student I talked to today told me they didn't like math!

Our community 4H group donated Back to School baskets for us- so thoughtful!

I went home feeling energized which is a lot better than the day began.

I can't explain the growth I've experienced since January...or why. But there has definitely been a shift. I have a lot of things to do and get ready still but I'm not overwhelmed. I'm going to take it a day at a time- and it's going to be fine! I'm doing good work. I'm also doing good work to sustain my energy levels. My students deserve the best Ms. Miller I can be right now- not the best Ms. Miller I will ever be.

My motto for the year is 'Add good things to the pile- no more starting over!"

Hodgepodge of Productivity

This August, I'm participating in a monthly blog challenge called Blaugust. To see the list of participating blogs, click on the logo below. Please cheer on our participants with either a tweet or a comment on their blog. It can be hard to blog on a daily (or even regular) schedule! :)

If you want to join in the blogging fun, it's not too late!  Go HERE to sign up! :)

It was a Productive Day!!

I took a day off yesterday, both from blogging and the back-to-school madness.  I worked in my classroom on Monday and Tuesday and had planned to work up there yesterday as well, but when push came to shove, it just wasn't happening.  I woke up at 5:30 and dragged myself out of bed and outside for an early morning walk, but when I only made it through half of my walk and I was yawning every few steps, I had an inkling that Wednesday would not work out as planned.  So instead, I grabbed my notepad and sat on the patio enjoying nature and making a list of things as they crossed my mind.   Around 10, I met up with a friend for a pedi and lunch and that was just what the doctor ordered!

Before meeting up with my friend, I had some time to kill, so I spent the time browsing my Pinterest boards for motivation.  I have a large set of doors in my classroom that lead into the science lab next door.  Right now, those doors house a "Parking Lot" poster and a formative assessment "Traffic Light" poster.  However, I have never used those posters as intended because I don't usually have post-it notes out and about.  (Side note.. if you have an idea of what to put there, let me know!)  While browsing Pinterest, I found my theme/mantra for the year, which turned out to be neither of the two that I had already blogged about on Tuesday...

On one of my boards, I had pinned a post from Sarah (@mathequalslove) from back in 2013, where she referenced some posters called Truth Signs from the book Inspiring Active Learning.  The quote I pinned really resonated with me, so here is my yearly theme/mantra:

What a great reminder for me when lesson planning, especially with my goal this year of "Never Skip the Close!"  It's also a good reminder when I'm sitting at my desk staring into space that it's okay to allow myself time to process and think!  Thank you Sarah! :)

Now let's fast forward to this morning.  It starts out the same way, but my walk today was much better (and less yawning!).  After coming home, I still had about an hour to kill before heading to school, so I started knocking out things on my to-do list.  One of the things I had listed was to do a planning calendar because right now I have it scribbled in a notebook where I met with one of the other teachers.  I don't want to put it into my lesson plan book yet because it's not very set in stone.  I decided to make it double sided and here's the end result:

Can I just say that I love the KG Payphone font?  It looks so clean!  I decided that I needed a to-do list because sometimes when planning, I need to create a foldable or an assignment, etc. :)  I've already used this in conjunction with Sarah's INB planning page

My friend went to school with me today to tackle some of the other to-do's like cutting things out, etc.  One of the things on her to-do list was to make a little gift for the math teachers.  I had found these notepads at the Target Dollar Spot that I thought would be awesome for under the ELMO.  A gift tag and some curly ribbon to finish it off and we have cute gifts...

As I was working away this afternoon, I realized that I couldn't remember what I had already sent to the copy shop and what I hadn't.  I know most schools don't have a copy shop, but in our district, they encourage us to send everything we can to the copy shop.  They will bind, staple, duplex, booklet, etc, but you need to give them 3-4 working days to get it done because it has to be picked up from each site, taken to the copy shop, ran, packaged, and sent back to the site.  They only make deliveries to each building once a day or you can take it over to the copy shop yourself if you miss the delivery driver.  Anyway, our copy shop orders are duplicates, so I have a stack of yellow carbon copies of what I've sent, but I had to dig through that stack each time.  I decided that for Back to School, a master list might be a good idea...

We got several other things done as well, but I forgot to take pictures of those. :)  All in all, it was a great day and I feel so much more prepared for Monday than if I hadn't gone in today.  I still have lesson planning to do, but thankfully most of the other things can be done at home!  Tomorrow is my last official day of summer because I don't count the weekends... where did summer go????

:)

#DITL August 10th, 2016

9:00 AM Woke up....second to last day to sleep in. =(

10:15 AM Got to school to finish decorating my classroom. Tomorrow is a half day teacher institute from 1-5 and then Back to School Night from 5-7.

Things I accomplished today:

• Cleaned all 6 carts and drawers and put new labels on each drawer (120 drawers)
• Attached new labels inside plastic bins to put in the cart
• Took my pentaminoes, tangrams, and counters into ziplock bags for each cart
• Refilled the cart with supplies
• Finished my Instagram/Milligram bulletin board
• Decorated my door with my lovely chevron stickers
• Rehung my chevron borders around each whiteboard (I'm never taking them down again!)
• Cut out balloon and star shapes on our die cut machine for student birthdays
• Printed out my Plicker cards
• Took the chairs down
• Printed new number placards for each group of desks
• Took down streamers and paper lanterns that I didn't want anymore
• Finished hanging my 'custom' wall clock
• Changed three bags of trash
• Swept the floor

5:15 PM Got home and made dinner; changed clothes and went shopping

Shopping included MORE classroom stuff:

• Wal-Mart: (plastic unit tubs, washi tape, air fresheners, and groceries)
• Aldi (sugar and biscuits lol)
• Walgreens (pictures for my bulletin board)
• Hobby Lobby (light switch covers, silver hanging decorations, foam letters, scrapbook paper, poster board)
• Dollar Tree (plastic bins and baby washcloths for dry erase markers)
• Target (washi tape for binders)
• Staples (my fave green Staedtler pencils)
• Chinese food for a celebratory lunch tomorrow
• Half price shakes at Sonic since I never ate lunch

10:15 Then because I'm a crazy person I went BACK to school to finish some things so I won't be rushed tomorrow

• Rehung my diploma frame that fell and broke
• Hung up my pictures from Walgreens
• Added the baby washcloths to their labeled white bins
• Added scissors labels to their bins
• Hung up the silver hanging decorations 
• Set up the air fresheners
• Switched out the light switch cover
• Put out my pencils in my pencil holder

11:30 Finally home. Unload my crap and pick out my outfit for tomorrow. I always like to dress up more for Back to School Night since I look younger. Got everything ready for tomorrow because I hate mornings- even though I don't have to be at school until 1:00, I don't want to get up any earlier than 9:00 and I don't want to be rushed.

And that's a normal day for me- I do crazy things at crazy times all in the name of creating!

I got 12,354 steps today and walked 5.48 miles. I also drank 64 ounces of water.

 

How To...Teacher Assessment

In my own personal effort to #ExpandMTBoS, I'm starting a new category of blog posts called 'How To' so I can share the strategies behind the resource. I hope new and veteran teachers alike can find something useful. Click on the tag to the right for more posts!

Again, let me just say that assessment is not something I claim to be any type of expert at. I steal most of my assessments/questions, I don't feel great about the way I grade, etc etc.

But the least I can do is try new things and talk about them.

So here goes!

• Class Discussion: This doesn't happen often or well in my classes, tbh. Mostly students asking me questions and me asking them questions- not much 'discussing'. I really like the idea of using controversial words like always, sometimes, never, best, and worst to spark debate among students. That feels like something I can try.
• Desmos: So far I've only used activity builder for some investigations but it's great for formative assessment because I can see all student responses at the same time or individually.
• Feedback Quiz: link here 
• Kahoot: Students LOVE Kahoot but unfortunately iPads don't. I've only used them for formative assessment, more like practice but they definitely inspire the kids to try harder. Time limits are the only drawback for me but I like that there are so many public Kahoots that I can use and that creating my own is easy. 
• Participation Quiz: link here 
• Plickers: The students also LOVE plickers and they always point out to me that we didn't used them enough...like once or twice a year. But behold, thanks to Jonathan Schoolcraft, we will now use them EVERY Friday for Which One Doesn't Belong. Hooray!
• Quiz: Just your standard quiz. I quiz over every concept but considering combining 2-3 concepts per quiz. Although I always have less grades in the gradebook than anyone else considering I only grade quizzes and tests. Hmm...
• Self-Check Quiz: link here; I read about this years ago and it seems to fit feek with self-quizzing concepts mentioned in Make It Stick.
• Unit Test: enough said
• Whiteboard Practice: I mostly use this in my smaller classes which is not awesome but there is something magical about it; students just automatically teach each other or self-correct which is great formative assessment

Yearly Theme - Take 1

This August, I'm participating in a monthly blog challenge called Blaugust. To see the list of participating blogs, click on the logo below. Please cheer on our participants with either a tweet or a comment on their blog. It can be hard to blog on a daily (or even regular) schedule! :)

If you want to join in the blogging fun, it's not too late!  Go HERE to sign up! :)

Yearly Theme

Every year, I try to come up to a theme that will be my focus for the year.  It sits beside my computer where I can see it every day.  Here's last year's theme:

I will admit that I love the quote above, but it wasn't a very good theme for me.  It wasn't specific enough to really push me while planning lessons or grading papers.  As a result, I really wanted something different this year.  There are 2 that are the current top contenders.

The first one was sent to me via Pinterest by a good friend.  She knew I was on the hunt for a theme, so this was one of her suggestions.  The actual quote was phrased a smidge differently and had an attribution, but I couldn't verify that author, so I left it as "author unknown"...

I really like this one because it reminds me that the status quo isn't quite where I want to be.  I want to change my 10% (a la #TMC16).  This quote applies to lessons, to grading, to relationships, and so much more.

The second quote is based from the Choosing Joy devotional that @pamjwilson and I have started.  It is a 52 week word study on the word "Joy".  

This theme has popped up several times this summer in the books I've read, the bible studies I've done, and while I'm not always the best listener, if I hear something over and over, I know that it's something to be taken seriously! :)  This verse reminds me that it's MY choice on how to react and it's MY choice to be joyful (or not).  Our daily announcements end with this quote:  Make it a great day or not - the choice is yours!  I need to choose joy!

Many thanks to Sadie for the following tweet that prompted this post:

Isn't that the coolest?  Why wouldn't we want to choose joy?  Why wouldn't we want to make progress?  We have the most powerful, most influential profession out there behind parenthood... wow! That's just awesome!  Thank you Sadie for reminding me to focus on the kids!  Thank you for your enthusiasm for teaching, no matter what!

(And if you have any other ideas for my mantra, please feel free to leave it in the comments below!)