Get Your Teach On Orlando

I attended one of the best teacher conferences ever!  The Get Your Teach On conference in Orlando, Florida was motivating, encouraging, and filled with ideas on how to set the stage to engage my students!!

First I have to give a big shout out to my class that helped me win the registration to the conference by submitting a video about why I should receive a scholarship to the conference. 

Thank You to my Awesome First Grade Class!

Get Your Teach On Video

I want to share my 10 takeaways with you!

10  Engagement Enhances

We all know that everything can’t be a bucket of fun when it comes to the content that we have to teach, however, there are little things we can change that will bring excitement to each lesson.  You may not want to undertake a large room transformation but you are willing to bring in extra props to help engage the students.  Any of that EXTRA is definitely going to help the kids remember the content just because you have created a happy or funny memory. 

 

 9  There is a difference between a

       worksheet and a recording sheet.

  I really enjoyed Deanna Jump discussing the differences between the two.  A recording sheet is meant to log the students’ ideas and conclusions.  A worksheet is truly meant to fill time.  There is a time for both so don’t beat yourself up!  It depends on what you want your students to do.    

 8   Do you!

If you want to change your room to look like an excavation site because you think it would tie in with a lesson you’re teaching on fossils, then do it!  Don’t let other teachers try to dissuade you because it’s something they wouldn’t do.  That’s okay.  Everyone has their own style of teaching and you should not feel bad either way.

7   Laugh at your mistakes

I hate to say it but I’m a horrible speller!  Sometimes I will get caught up in creating a word bank on the dry erase board and forget to check my spelling.  There are times when I have lined my students up to go to specials and we walk to specials and then I remember there are no specials that day, so I just tell the kids we went for a leisurely stroll.  I flash a big smile and keep it moving.  I truly believe that my students like the fact that I laugh at things so much.  Or maybe they just think I’m crazy.

 6   Become an expert in your field

I don’t think you have to go back to college and get a higher degree to do this.  I believe conferences and good professional development will help with this.  You can also read books by authors who have completed the research or have used a certain strategy in their own classrooms.   I think we need to be constantly learning and improving.  You will never know it all!  However, try to stay abreast of trends and techniques that are changing in education. Keep learning what works!

5   Connect everything

We have a lot of standards!   On the positive side, it’s a great way to integrate the subject areas.   That’s one thing that I like when I see teachers use room transformations and the activities assess about 15 different standards from various subjects.  That’s some major learning going on.  Connecting the learning is not only efficient but it just makes sense.  We always want to get more bang for our buck!

4   Know the why

There are days or maybe weeks when you think to yourself, “What else can I do with this degree?”  Go back to that moment when you wanted to save the world by educating children.   Remember the reason why you wanted to become an educator.  We know it wasn’t for the fame or fortune.  Find that passion again!

3   Approximations are accepted and celebrated

      Deanna gave an example of how a parent responded when her child’s writing was not fully corrected.  I’ve had this happen to me as well.  I know from experience that my students will shut down and their writing will come to a halt if they get held up on spelling a word.  Let them get absorbed in the story!

2   Don’t hide behind I can’t

This is another big one because I know I have complained about too many standards that are taught too soon to kids that are too young.  I have not met a teacher yet who just loves scripted curriculum or curriculum where one size fits all.   I always tell my students to solve the problem!  What can we change?  How can I take this boxed program and make it more engaging for my students?  It can be done!  Your superpower is your creativity!!

1 Choose joy

I know this almost sounds cliché, but it’s so true.  Wake up every morning and make the decision that you will choose joy.  Put a smile on your face going into the day knowing you have bus duty, no planning, and three parent teacher conferences when you know only one will show up.  Count it all joy.

I learned so much at the conference.  It was also the motivation that was needed and right on time.  I want to go back and attend the 2-3 sessions.  I didn’t know I was being moved to second at the time of the conference so I attended the K-1 session.   I’m almost sure that the 2-3 sessions will be just as wonderful as the K-1 sessions. 

If you get the opportunity to go, check it out. 

What conference or PD have you attended that motivated and renewed your passion for teaching?

Word Family Project

Who Doesn’t Love a Project?

Especially when it’s quick and the family can help out!  I’m blessed in the sense that my class LOVES anything deemed a project!  They ask for projects!!  So I decided to give them one, but not labor intensive because we have our Landform unit coming up and I know that project will be a little time consuming. 

 Each student was given a different list of spelling words from our basal to use for their book.  You could use any list of words. 

 

The instructions were simple and I always tell my kids to be as creative as possible.  I think this is why they love the projects so much because their uniqueness shines through! 

I was given a rubric by a partner teacher last year so I just tweaked it to fit this project.  Check it out if you want to give it a try!

Instructions and Rubric

The best part is when they get to present their books.  We went to another first grade class to share our books.  

They take such pride in what they do. 

Reflections

Black History Month

 Reflections
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Using Ruby Bridges to teach about Empathy

I remember taking an African-American studies class in college.  You know you have to take one multicultural class and I believe they offered three at the time.  I remember my instructor was a young, bi-racial woman and I vaguely remember her name, but I remember everything she ‘taught’ me with great certainty.  She gave us background knowledge, but the class was all about “Why”. 

  I always saw my mother reading and my uncle had an intensive collection of Afrocentric literature. However, it was this adjunct professor who introduced me to Lisa Delpit, Henry Louis, Gates, bell hooks, Nikki Giovanni, Angela Davis, Michael Eric Dyson, and so many others. 

It was like a light turned on in my mind! I was inspired, engaged, but also enraged that I had not known this feeling in my youth.  Why didn’t my K-12 teachers share this material?

I thought that I missed out on this information because I went to a predominantly white, Christian high school; however, many of my friends were also without this knowledge.  So, it didn’t matter if you went to a private or public school, certain things simply weren’t being taught.

 I think about the education of my own children and I’m disheartened when I remember what books were required readings or just the lack of diversity throughout the curriculum.  I didn’t need to ask why this lack of information existed. I knew why and, in a way, I just accepted it.  You start to internalize the things that you hear so often. 

As an African American, there is a sense of pride when you learn about where you are from and what you are capable of doing. Especially, when all you see is negativity concerning the color of your skin.  Eventually, you will begin to believe the lies that are shown to you in your lifetime. They will become embedded in your psyche and imprinted as truth.  All disenfranchised groups need to know that they count, they matter, and they are important to society as a whole!

I hope that during Black History Month, you were able to dig deeper with your students.  Yes, teaching about the first black____ is good, but that’s just the beginning.  I hope you were able to explore a truth or a falsehood that has permeated society as it relates to African-Americans. I hope that you built a strong foundation of background knowledge so that our children can understand why certain ideals were accepted.   Did you ask WHY is it important that we celebrate the Firsts…what’s the significance? 

You may have gotten responses that made you squirm and feel uncomfortable, but there is growth in that feeling. 

Embrace it and learn.   

Black History Month

Build the house on a strong foundation…

Carter G. Woodson is known as the father of Black History month with the initial event being held in February 1926 and was called Negro History Week. The week in February included the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809) and Frederick Douglass (born in February 1818).  In 1976, President Gerald R. Ford asked Americans to "…honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.”  

It’s a beautiful thing to learn about the many different contributions that African Americans gave to our country and the world.  However, it’s time to take that learning up a level and really delve into more complex issues that are addressing our nation.  I know it can difficult to do this with younger students but it can be done.  It helps if black history is incorporated throughout the year and not just one month.  This helps students realize that Black History is American History and it’s important to more than one group of people.

 Make sure to teach leaders as they relate to the time period in which they struggled.  It’s great to teach who Ruby Bridges is but you must also address the issue of Jim Crow and the era of segregation in which she lived.  It’s getting away from the “holidays and heroes” teaching.  Absorb students in seeing people along with concepts, issues, and themes.

Black history is not all about oppression and the fight for rights.   We don’t want to focus solely on racism and discrimination during Black History Month, however, these are important aspects of the black experience and it is critical to address.  It is an opportunity to celebrate those moments in which we overcame obstacles in order to succeed. 

So where do you start….

It starts with a good book! 

 Fill your classroom with a variety of African American literature that you have access to throughout the school year.   Books are excellent teaching tools that embrace our students’ diversity.  Make sure your selection doesn’t reinforce negative stereotypes.  Students want and need to see themselves in the literature we present in class.  It is a celebration of our culture and heritage. 

I hope you agree that black history should be taught throughout the curriculum, year round.  It’s how we can build racial and cultural understanding and that’s necessary if we are to survive and thrive as a nation. 

How do you teach Black History?

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Acts of Kindness!

I know that the holiday season is over and we have started the quest for a NEW everything!  A new body, a new mind, a new job, you name it, we want it!  Let's not leave the message of caring for others in this month of ME.  I'm going to give out this calendar and challenge my students to complete the task for the day.  I'm blessed in the fact that the majority of my students are kindhearted anyway.  However, I want them to keep that spirit of kindness and become aware of the feeling they get when they do something nice for someone else.  Try it with your class and let me know how these small acts of kindness transformed your students!!

January Acts of Kindness Calendar

Happy New Year!

New beginnings and a fresh start!  

I always want to rebuild, rethink, refresh, and reinvent myself!  Actually, I don’t even wait until a new year to switch things up!  I’m constantly rearranging things in my life.  March is just as good as January to make changes.  However, the listiness (is that a word) in me would never pass up an opportunity to create a new To Do work of art.  Okay, maybe I’m being a bit dramatic but it’s true.  I stopped creating a yearly Vision Board and now I have a Vison Wall!  I add and move things around as the year goes by.  It’s a beautiful feeling to see ideas and goals come to fruition.  

Here are my top 5 to start off 2017.

      Complete the Daniel Fast   

This fast is great to jump start healthy eating habits.  It’s also great because the focus is not just about the food but renewing my relationship with God. 

The Daniel Fast Cheat Sheet

       Read a book a month 

I came across a 52 Week Book challenge and it was pretty cool, but I know I would not be able to keep up with that schedule.  I’ll just pick out one book a month to read.  I notice that I don’t read e-books as much as a hardcover book.  There is something about the feel of a book and the turning of pages that excites me.  I will continue to use my Kindle, but I think I will go back to paper books this year.

The Alchemist

Real Heroes 

Creative Schools

        
         Count it all joy

I ended out the year looking for the positive in every situation.  Sometimes it was a struggle but I tried to find the silver lining in everything that happened.  I want to continue that this year.  It sounds cliché when you hear it’s not what happens to you but how you react, but it’s really true.  It helps to know that there is a bigger picture and things happen to grow my faith.  So I started saying, “Count it all joy”, when situations made me angry or when things did not go as planned. 

My happy place

      Pamper and Invest in self

We tend to confuse the two.  I want to be pampered but I need to invest in myself.  So this is the year of learning a new language (or maybe some phrases), learning more about blogging and creating digital products, examining my retirement options and savings plan.  I also want to take time to relax and enjoy myself this year.  Take in a movie, get a mani/pedi, indulge in a massage, or have my tresses twisted by a licensed hairdresser!!

        Make a monthly ‘What did I accomplish?’ list

I guess this would be the To Do list’s fraternal twin.  Sometimes I beat myself up because I feel like I didn’t accomplish the items on my To Do list.  I have to realize that there are steps to be taken in reaching the larger goals and many times I don’t itemize each action.  So when I complete a stroke to finishing the big picture, it gets lost.  Does that make sense?  I want to celebrate the baby steps and moves it takes to reach that higher goal. 

I Did It!!

This is just a sample of my changes for 2017.  Now, let me get back to making lesson plans…winter break is coming to an end. 

What are your plans for this New Year?