Saturday, July 26, 2014

Not Slacking, I Swear

I have not been slacking.  I swear it.  So far this summer, I have accomplished nothing for school that I'd planned.  Except for this:
And I did get to read a few pages of "Teach Like A Champion" (which I have been working on for almost two years now).

But I promise that I have a very good reason.  I'm kind of going through a big life change right now.  Last week I got married.
Now that the wedding, wedding planning, and honeymoon is over, I'm in the process of condensing two apartments into one.  I anticipate this taking one more week.  In August, I am one hundred percent focusing on back to school stuff.  So instead of slowly turning out a few blog posts here and there, I will be posting a whole slew of them in the next month.

Monday, July 14, 2014

Class Competition

This past year, I introduced a competition to my Geometry classes.  I don't remember exactly what prompted me to do so.  I know that toward the beginning of the year, things were not going as I'd hoped.  This is largely because I need to work on my classroom management.  My big goal for this summer is to read up about classroom management and be prepared to use some new techniques and have definite procedures in mind.  (I had these things ready to go when I began teaching two years ago, but what I planned didn't work out.  The students are different from ones I had in the past, and the school's discipline structure works differently than how I'd planned.  I just never went back and updated my plan.)

I set up a new poster above the computers so that students would not interfere with it.  When they did something good, they earned a point.  I showed that they'd earned a point by placing a stamp on the poster for that particular class period.  I defined the "good" things they could do to earn points, and I adjusted them throughout the year.  At the end of the year, they could earn points for the whole class completing their homework from the previous night, for me not having to stop the class to address misbehavior, and for a perfect clean-up.  Some days I did better keeping track of these than others.  In the third quarter, I made up a grid to help me keep track of points throughout an entire week, and I posted the points earned at the end of the week.  This grid served as a much needed to reminder to reflect on whether or not my classes had achieved these things.

The coveted prize for the winning class was one homework pass for each student.  Homework passes are not easily earned.  I only give homework passes to students that complete all of their homework for an entire quarter, and this year I also gave out homework passes to students that earned a 100% on a test (because it did not happen frequently this year).  By the fourth quarter though, the competition ended because I would then be handing out homework passes that couldn't be used.  The students were disappointed.  I should have found another reward, but I had so much else on my mind that I just didn't.  Now that it's summer and I'm slightly refreshed, I suppose I could have just gone through my grades and made-up an old missing homework, and gave some other reward to the students that had perfect homework. 

Next year I will implement the class competition again.  I will do a better job of reminding students about the competition.  I will make a "How do we earn points?" poster.  I will carry the competition through to the end.  I will ask students reflective questions about their performance.  In this new year, I hope to use the competition effectively.

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Routines

Note:  I began this post in May 2014.  

I'm a creature of not only habit, but of organization and routine.  My routines keep me sane.  My goal each day is have less to worry about tomorrow.  The problem is that no day is ever routine.  Sure there are designated class periods to teach and prep, but there is always something that pops up to completely derail the plans I had.  This typically happens every morning.

I get to work one hour before the students are released to class.  I always have grand plans in that time to do something, like actually plan.  (I think my ultimate goal is to actually be able to plan during my planning periods.)  This hour before school is the ONLY time the entire day that I am the only inhabitant of my classroom.  This is the ONLY time all day that my room is quiet.  This is the ONLY time all day that I can work at maximum productivity, and yet there is ALWAYS something that keeps me from doing just that.

I am so extremely tired of this happening that I have devised a plan to combat this.   It's very simple, but I am going to try it for a few weeks to see if it works.  I've created a list of all the things that need to get done on a daily basis.  I will check my list each day to make sure that I've completed everything on the list.  Hopefully if I have, there will be no more surprises in the morning.  Or at the very least, minimal surprises in the morning.  (See my list here.)

First:  I do not know how teachers taught without SMART Boards.  (I'm also afraid to ask.  Never mind that I didn't see a SMART Board until my senior year of high school.)  Every morning after A period, I do two things.  One - I print out 6-8 copies of the SMART Notebook notes for absent students.  Two - I export a copy of the SMART Notebook file to a pdf format and upload the notes to my website.  I usually forget the latter, so it has made my routines list.

Second:  For each absent student in my Geometry class, I staple the notes and any worksheets passed out together and write the students' names on the packet.  I place the packet in the designated period folder.  Students that are routinely absent know to check this folder when they return.  I'm lucky that most students that aren't routinely absent ask me for the work that they missed and I can direct them to the class folder.  I'm even luckier that I have awesome students that will not only retrieve their work after they've been absent, but will pass out work to the other students that have been absent.  In my Contemporary Math class, each student has their own folder to keep their work that stays in a bin in the classroom.  I simply place the work that these students missed in their folder.  I try to keep up with these tasks at the end of each class period.  When I'm really on top of it, I will set aside extra copies of the handouts for each absent student and all I have to do is staple and file.  

Third:  At the end of my last period teaching Geometry, I place the extra homework worksheets in the folder system I created last summer.  If students lose their worksheet, I direct them here to find an extra copy. 

Fourth:  Usually by G period the list of students placed in ISS for the next day is emailed.  Since this is my study hall period, I put the ISS work together during this period.  I run it down either at the end of the day or the next morning after I sign in.

Fifth:  I always save the notebook files I need for the next day to my desktop.  I keep EVERYTHING on my flash drive.  I have everything backed up on my laptop.  I do not have a hard drive, and I know that I need to get one eventually.  I am terrified that one day I will forget my flash drive at home because I have to transport it back and forth to get work done.  There was a morning where I had to stop driving and pull over because I thought I left my flash drive at home and needed to check.  If the notebook files are on my work desktop and I do not have my flash drive, it will not be the end of the world, and I will be able to deal with it.

Sixth:  After my last class, I take out the worksheets that I will need for the next day and keep them in the "Today" folder of my desk organizer.  This prevents me from fighting to pull everything together the next morning when I have to stop and think about what I'm doing for the day. 

Seventh:  I update my homework board and the objective for the next day.  This never comes out neat when I rush through it in the morning. 

Eighth:  I update my missing quizzes board.  I keep a small dry erase board on my chalk board that lists the students that missed the last quiz and counts how many days they have to make it up.  (Our school policy is 5.)

Ninth:  I erase anything left on the chalkboard.  It's not necessary, but I'm sure the custodian appreciates it when they come in to wash the board.

Tenth:  I make sure that my desk is de-cluttered.  I hate having a messy desk.  The other plus side is that if there something major that I have to take care of in the morning, I leave it right on my desk so it gets my immediate attention.

Then I have a separate to do list for Fridays for the things that need to be done weekly.

First:  Make copies.  I prefer to do this Thursdays after school, but they definitely need to be done Friday afternoon at the latest.  We all know what the copy room is like Monday morning.

Second:  Update Instruction Planner.  We use an online unit planning program.  I try to update it weekly.  I definitely fell behind after spring break this year, but before that I was doing great at keeping up.

Third:  I update grades every Friday.  Our school uses SchoolTool.  It's our online grade brook, and it grants student and parent access to grades.  I update it every Friday to keep the grades current.  My students and their parents greatly appreciate the regular updates.

Fourth:  I put together all of the work for the following week for students in OSS and on extended leaves of absence.

Fifth:  I file any papers that have accumulated during the week.

Sixth:  I organize the extra worksheets that have accumulated during the week.  (This past year I held onto everything.  Next year I am only keeping the extra worksheets that I intend to use again the following year.)

Seventh:   Every other Friday I print and put together rosters for every class from SchoolTool.  At the end of the two week period, I hole punch the rosters that have all of the grades on them, and put them in my grades binder.

Eighth:  I add stamps to the board for the classes that earned them.  (I will post about this at another time.  This past year I started a class competition.)

Ninth:  I clean my own marker board.  I'm just worried about the painter's tape that I so carefully placed on the board being disturbed.  Plus, I write out the homework assignment and objectives for the next Monday. 


Currently:  Now that it is July, I can say with absolute certainty that this had made my life so much easier.  Establishing definite routines and keeping a list of them has been a lifesaver at the end of the year when things got hectic.  Anytime I had a pocket of time to get small tasks done, I pulled out my to do list and checked it for anything that I could get done in the amount of time that I had.  I will definitely be using this to do list again next year.  (I actually laminated it so if I wanted to I could check off items as I completed them.)    

Interactive Notebook Survey

Throughout my first marking period, I faced so much resistance to interactive notebooks from students and parents.  I felt as though I was making a big mistake.  I reached out to Jessica (@algebrainiac1) and Sarah (@msrubinteach) on Twitter for advice.  (Twitter is awesome like that.)  They both gave me some truly awesome advice.  (View the conversation here.)

From talking to Jessica and Sarah, I learned that (especially at the beginning of the year - when interactive notebooks are new for my students) I have to (a) reference the content of our notebooks frequently and (b) use the notebooks more often for quizzes.  By constantly referencing where to find information in the notebook I am showing students the immediate value of their notebooks.  Anytime they need some kind of information, they have it at their fingertips.  I can do this verbally during class, on homework, and on worksheets.  Allowing students to use their notes on quizzes is a huge help, for me and for them.  Students realize quickly the importance of keeping their notebooks up to date.  If their notebook is not up to date, they are missing information that could help them on the quiz. 

The best piece of advice they gave me was to give students a survey.  At the end of the first quarter, I gave my students a survey with statements about the interactive notebooks. (See the survey I used here.)  Results varied.  Overall, I saw that students were warming up to the interactive notebooks.  The best part was reading the comments.  I gave students the prompt "I would like using interactive notebooks better if..."
And they answered:
  • "we used more colors and if the open notebook quizzes were based more on the book, like if we could find the answers in it."  I need to find a way to give students regular access to highlighters and colored pencils.  I didn't this year because I was so worried about my limited supplies being diminished. 
  • "I write the notes first and then you teach the lesson it would be helpful.  But copying the notes and listening at the same time doesn't help me." Unfortunately my classes start talking the moment I stop.  It seriously makes everything more difficult.  I'm working on this over the summer.
  • "they were more colorful and more gluing and 3D things."  Note:  buy colored paper because they like the foldables.
  • "we have more examples."  Something to consider with the limited space.  Perhaps adding flaps just for extra examples.  Also, I condensed as much as I could to one page or to one two-page spread.  I was so scared of running out of pages, we ended up with plenty of extra pages at the end of the year.  I need to not be so worried about space this year.
  • "there were more 3D or hands on things to put in the book, whether it spins, slides, or opens."  It was very encouraging to hear that they were excited about the non-traditional note-taking things we did.
  • "we had more time working on it."  I'm not sure how I can help here.  If only I could create more time.
  • "it was neater."  Perhaps I need to give students more guidance for how to put their pages together.
  • "I came on the first day of it."  I still have no perfect solution for new students.
  • "the notes were easier to understand."  The eternal struggle of Geometry!
  • "had more notes and detail."  I was actually trying to escape the lengthy notes and extra details.  I wanted simplified notes because the students view the textbook as being written in a foreign language.
  • "we didn't write so much."  That one came up twice actually.  There are teachers in my school that hand out note packets and the students just fill the notes in.  I do this for lessons with excessive writing or diagrams.  I think it's too passive for learning. 
  • "it was for History class."  I welcome other teachers in my school using INBs!
  • "we didn't have to waste time writing, cutting, and gluing."  I'm at a loss for what we do instead.
  • "it were digital."  We are far from digitizing INBs.  Our school is in a high poverty BYOD district. 
  • "it was less messy with the glue."  I told them over and over to just use small dots with the glue.  They simply would not listen.  This was very frustrating for me this year. 
  • "we had more time to review."  This sounds more like a class procedure issue than an INB issue.
  • "they were on an iPod for the whole period and every class."  What I think this student is getting at is how I projected a photo of my INB page at the beginning of each class when we added to our book.  Many times throughout the period I'd be asked to refer back to it to give more guidance about the layout of the page.  Perhaps I could email students the picture of the page so that they could look at it throughout the period.  Although I'm cracking down on phones this year, I'm not sure how this would work.
Overall I received phenomenal feedback.  Ideally, I wanted to give the same survey again at the end of the year.  Once we got to review, though, I forgot all about the notebooks.  The biggest success I found this year was that students were much better about making up the notes they missed in class this year.  I am definitely using Interactive Notebooks again this year.   

Tuesday, July 8, 2014

New & Improved Student Resource Center

Between the last day of class and the Regents exam I had two days of downtime.  I decided to take advantage of the opportunity to start cleaning things out and organizing for the new year.  While doing so I had an idea to improve my student resource center.

Before:


Throughout the year I noticed a few issues with my system.  Firstly, the folders for absent work are great, but they're not all visible to students, and when they are full of papers, the folders flop over.  Secondly, I had the trays organized with papers that students routinely need, but they had a hard time finding them.  Lastly, the folder organization system I had was not visible enough to students in the corner.

The first thing I changed was getting rid of the trays.  I needed a way to label the three sections so that students could find what they were looking for.  My solution was to purchase another set of Sterilite drawers for paper.  I labeled each drawer so that students could easily find the paper they are looking for.

The next thing I did was create a new DIY Bulletin Board.  I wanted to display all three folders at the same time.  I also wanted to get rid of the dry erase calendar, and display the procedure for completing absent work in a neater presentation.  I thought the best way to do all of these at once was on a new bulletin board.

I covered the board in construction paper and wrapped the edges with Duckings Duck Tape.  I used permanent foam tape to secure the folders to the board.  (I wish I could simply use some push pins, but my students will take them from the board, rearrange them, etc.  It's not worth the headache for me.)

I had to cut down the paper used to the absent work procedure and the calendar.  The procedure is laminated.  The calendar needs to be switched every month, so I attached a sheet protector the bulletin board using more permanent foam tape.  (I use the calendar to write down all of the homework assignments for the month so students know what homework assignment they are missing.)The sheet protector had to be folded to fit the slightly smaller paper, but the sheet protect did not agree with this.  I found a thin piece of cardboard to place behind the calendar page that helped to flatten out the sheet protector. 

To finish the board I added an Absent Work banner at the top of the bulletin board and fixed it to the wall.  I am very happy with the finished results.  I just hope that they don't change my schedule because then I will have to make some changes to the board.

The last thing I did was move the folder organization for extra papers to the front of the cabinet.

After:

I already love the changes.  My students liked them too.  When they came in the next day for review.  I got the ever popular question, "Why didn't you do that for us?" 

Thank you!

Thank you for being patient as I got my new blog set up.  I am slowly releasing updated versions of old posts while I add new content.  Plea...