Back to the Archive - 7/23/13 - Advice for New Teachers

I'm popping in from the past again with another Back to the Archive post! This one is from last year! I'm giving out some sage advice to all the new teachers out there! ;)

So...let's go BACK!

I'm tripling up and linking up with the "Loving Wisdom for New Teachers" Linky from Fabulously First, the Let's Get Acquainted - Teacher Advice Linky from Flying into First Grade, and this linky from Miss Kindergarten:

To do a little linky alchemy, my ten things are in the form of advice, gleaned from my observations and personal experiences + mistakes + successes over the years. (Also, I've thrown in some photos to break up my wordiness.)

Me as a fresh-faced first year
teacher! Bwahaha! Look at that
cool guy...

Well, this next year will be my lucky 13th year of teaching and I have definitely noticed some trends, and learned quite a bit in that time. I'm going to try to not repeat too many of the great ideas I've already read in these linkies. If I do repeat a bit, sorry! I'm afraid some of these will come off as preachy or know-it-allish, please know that that's not my intention! I've definitely even been guilty of a couple of these. But that leads me to my first one...

#1 - Don't ever think you've mastered it. I once worked with a guy who told me that he was planning to move into a principal position because he had "completely mastered" teaching. He'd been teaching for all of 5 years. I refrained from punching his lights out, but I did imagine doing it. If there's one thing I've learned from teaching, it is that one can never master it. You should always be striving to become a better educator.

#2 - Don't let people or "things" steal your passion. Less than desirable trends, admin, parent interactions, curriculum programs, NCLB, etc will come and go. Close your door and do what's best for your kids. Easier said than done sometimes, I know!

#3 - Love what you teach, and if you don't...pretend or at least still love how you teach it. Like our friend Dave Burgess will attest, enthusiasm is key. If you have to teach American History up to the Civil War to 5th graders and couldn't care less about history... pretend. If asked, my students would say I'm crazy about history. In reality I didn't have any interest in it...until I started to act like I did and used full fledged, in depth simulations to teach it. Now it's actually interesting to me!

#4 - Share. Seems simple, but I've found that it's not. If you do something cool in your room, share it! I want to believe that the reason teachers don't share is because they are shy about their ideas. (But I know that some just don't like to share the limelight of a good idea. :(  ) The students always benefit when teachers share. So don't be shy, and don't wait for a colleague to ask you! If your colleagues don't like your ideas they won't use them. Afraid you'll look too proud of your own ideas? Who cares? You SHOULD be proud. The end.

Don't fall into the trap of
being a screamer.

#5 - Keep control. We've all had kids with behaviors that are...less than perfect. We've all known teachers who are screamers. (Or maybe you're lucky and haven't!) Don't be that teacher. If you're screaming, you've lost control...don't blame it on your kids. 

#6 - Have high expectations for learning and behavior...AND enforce them. If you don't back up your expectations then they're meaningless. I think a lot of teachers who struggle with classroom management tell their kids that they have high expectations but then when the kids don't meet them they just let it go. 

#7 - Plan. I know that many of you will read that and think, "duh!" But in my opinion planning is not just smart, it's our duty. Kids deserve their days/lessons to be well thought out and planned with them specifically in mind. Taught it 12 times before? Not to these kids you haven't. "But I want to be flexible in my teaching." Great! But being flexible is not NOT having a plan...I've heard that from teachers across my career and it's a pet peeve of mine.

Freebie!

#8 - Fair is not the same as equal. Our society stresses that everyone should be treated equally. And in many cases that is true. But I think when it comes to education it's more important that people are treated fairly. Everyone should have the equal opportunity to reach their full potential. Click my poster over there to download one for yourself for free! Check out my band-aid lesson post for more on this topic.

#9 - Remember your real job. I almost think the hidden curriculum is more important than the actual academic curriculum. Public education was created to make people into better citizens. If I help make my kids into good people, give them good life experiences, provide them with a place that they feel safe and loved, plan exciting and engaging lessons, and get to know them as people...the test scores and all that will work itself out.

I met Killer B when she was a resource teacher
and taught in the classroom next to mine. I
eventually tricked her into marrying me!

#10 - Keep an open mind. Whether you've heard rumors about a kid on your roster, think you can't learn anything from a professional development meeting, think your methods are already good enough, etc...chances are, you're wrong. Sometimes it's easy to go into something with a fixed mindset rather than a growth mindset. And when you do that, you're bound to miss out on some wonderful opportunities. 

My contribution to Let's Get Acquainted!

So I hope that didn't come off as too soapboxy. A lot of those served as great reminders to myself! Hopefully there are some new teachers and veterans out there that at least can read this and think, "Right on!" 

Didn't win? It's just $5! Click the image to get one!

So, Killer B picked a winner at random (she didn't even know what I was asking her about!) for my pin it to win it for the Book of Awesome Tasks, and it was Joanne M.! I've already e-mailed your prize to you, and I hope you love it as much as I do!

Don't forget to link up this summer!

An InLinkz Link-up

Back to the Archive! - 7/3/13 - Modified Cafe Menu

So, I'm bringing a post back to the future from exactly a year ago! This one was originally posted on July 3rd, 2013! I chose it because it's a good example of how I've set up my Reader's Workshop, and includes a freebie! 

So, without further ado...let's go BACK TO THE ARCHIVE!

I'm linking up with Workshop Wednesday from Ideas by Jivey for her July Workshop topic - setting up, before the kids arrive.

I'll be sharing a bit (and a couple freebies!) about how I do my Reader's Workshop this time because if you like it you'd need to prep before the kids arrive. I have a relatively non-traditional (but becoming more popular!) way of teaching reading, but I think it really works. I've heard a lot of good things from others about it too, so I feel like I'm on the right track.

It'd be crazy to talk about everything I do in this post, but I think a lot of the backbone to what I do stems from how I group, and my modified Daily 5/CAFE Menu.

Me with a mixed ability reading group -
from footage taken for an instructional video on teaching
using a reader's workshop! I'm famous! ;)

I do a combination of strategy groups (2-5 kids) that change consistently, mini-lessons, and one-on-one conferences. I do not have static leveled reading groups. The kids in my groups can be "high" or "low" or whatever...the common factor isn't their reading ability or the book they're reading. It's the skill/strategy they need to work on. When a kiddo masters a skill/strategy they move into a different group or I start a new one for them. Some kids are in two groups. Some groups I see once a week, some I see every day. Some kids move groups quickly, some don't. Sometimes we use a passage for "close reading," sometimes the kids have their good fit books.

It all goes back to the age-old Band-aid lesson. (Maybe you've seen a pin on pinterest about it!) The first week of school I "cut my finger" accidentally and then procede to hand out band-aids to the whole class and insist that the kids put them on their fingers. They think it's silly that everyone should get one. This leads to a discussion about how I want my classroom to be based on equity, not equality. Everyone gets what they NEED, not everyone is treated the same. Some kids need me to be more hands-on than others when it comes to mastering reading strategies. The kids get it, and I never hear a complaint about "how come you met with Austin 3 times and me just once?"

Whole group mini-lesson (keyword mini) on figurative
language, using Wonder by RJ Palacio.

In order to help facilitate the madness, I give every kiddo a CAFE menu and we highlight all over it as the year goes by. I also keep pretty crazy charts in my pensieve about who is in what group, and when I last conferenced with each kid. Every student is usually working on at least 3 strategies - the one that the whole class is doing as part of my whole group mini-lesson, the one they are working on that I identify during their one-on-ones, and the one their strategy group is working on. Occasionally these will overlap.

My intern conferring with a student one-on-one. So nice to
have another adult to double up on these. Sadly, I don't
think I'll have one next year.

Because I was new to 5th grade two years ago I basically scoured the internet for everything I could find about using D5/CAFE in the upper grades. In the end I discovered a couple 5th grade CAFE menus that were almost what I was looking for. (I honestly have no idea where I found those original ones.) Over the last two years I've made a lot of adaptations to the merged menu I made, and I think it is in a good place now for me.

DISCLAIMER: It is not formatted identically to the "sisters' menu." I made some executive decisions. I went with the A for Awareness instead of Accuracy (I think accuracy is part of fluency anyway.) I also added/expanded on several strategies to the menu that were missing(imho), and removed some of the ones that I thought were too young for older kids. 

Please check it out (freebie of course!) to see if you think you could use it or any aspect of it! 

I'm moving to a 3/4 multi-age next year and I think that even though I made this with 5th in mind I am going to definitely use it with my 4th graders, and maybe tone it down a smidge for my 3rd graders. (Any 3rd grade experts out there want to chime in on that?! I'd appreciate it!)

Anyway, even though this is more work, I would find it incredibly difficult to go back to the way I was teaching reading 4 years ago at this point. (Four 20-minute rotating leveled guided reading groups, all kids had the same book, etc.) And I think a big part of that is the value I see in my one-on-one conferences and the fluid grouping. I feel like I know my kids' needs much more deeply now. I am in no way saying that what other teachers are doing is not just as effective or valuable, btw! I just finally found a good fit for my style and my particular kids' needs!

I use a pensieve like the sisters recommend. I have conferring pages in the notebook for every student, but I often find it more convenient to take my conference notes on a sticky label and then put them into the notebook later. Here is a link to the document I use to print them out on the 14 per page Avery brand labels! It's just like the D5 provided sheets, just printed on labels. It beats hauling my pensieve around the classroom.

A brand spankin' new linky this week is Win, Loss, & Cost from Third Grade Galore and Digital: Divide and Conquer!

Win :)
My recent win would have to be our delightful vacation to Savannah and Tybee Island. Check out recent posts (or join me on instagram, people!) for more info on that.

Loss :(
I've been neglecting my TpT store a bit to focus on other teachery things and now I've got a bunch of half finished projects going on and I'm getting overwhelmed by it all! I need to sit down and finish one soon!

A Thing of Cost $
To tie in with the Workshop stuff. Here is an example of something I might have my kids do at the teacher and independent stations to practice some of the CAFE skills! Check it out!

That's it for now! I'm looking forward to seeing all of the other workshop ideas! I'm always looking to improve how I do things, and I know I'll need to make some adjustments for 3rd/4th next year. I do a reading, math, and writing workshop in my room, so this linky was made for me!

And don't you think Win, Loss, & Cost is pretty fun too? Looking forward to seeing everyone else's!


I hope you enjoyed that blast from the past! And I hope you'll link up this summer too!

An InLinkz Link-up

Favorite Forgotten Series From Childhood?

Anyone else read every. single. one. of these bad boys when you were a kid? Last year I wrote a donorschoose.org proposal to get a huge set of these books for my class library! My kiddos love them as much as I used to. 

What is a long forgotten series of books you've revived (or want to revive) for your own class library?

And, don't forget to link up sometime this summer with my Back to the Archive Linky! Just grab my sweet linky button here and then link up any time!

An InLinkz Link-up

Back to the Archive Linky!

Aaah, summer is in full effect here in Central PA! The Netflix binging and home improvement projects have officially begun! I've also been spending some time working on wrapping up some new products, and revisiting some old ones!

In the spirit of a stress-free summer, I've decided to pull some old posts out of the closet, dust them off, and put them out there for all my new readers to see! For most of you it'll likely be the first time!

I'm calling it "Back to the Archive!" And if you have your own blog, I hope you'll link up with your own flashback! You don't even need 1.21 gigawatts of power...Just grab the image above and link up!

So, without further ado, here's a post from way back in March of 2013! It only got a measly 57 views back then! At the time those were amazing numbers for me, but hopefully more people will tune in this time around.

I've been waiting for a good time to share a few cool websites I recently stumbled across! The Techie Tuesday Link Up from Technology Tailgate is perfect for that! I'll be back tomorrow with a Workshop Wednesday Linky for literacy!

These three sites all branch off of the same main site, which belongs to the University of South Florida

http://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/genres/

This is an awesome collection of public domain stories that have been converted to audio and pdf files. Includes favorites like Aesop's Fables, Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Sherlock Holmes, Tom Sawyer, etc. Great way to implement a listening center into an upper grades classroom. 

http://etc.usf.edu/clipart/

This link leads to a great collection of black and white clipart for non-commerical use. It's kind of amazing how many images are on here. All free to use for educational purposes. 

http://etc.usf.edu/presentations/

This one is a link to a great collection of things to use for sprucing up powerpoint and keynote presentations. I imagine the frames, borders and buttons might have other uses as well. Again, all of the items are free for educational purposes. 

The last site is one that I'm super intrigued with, but haven't put to use in my classroom yet. I'd love any ideas or suggestions on how it might be used with students. It used to be called Wallwisher, but has changed its name relatively recently to Padlet.com.

Padlet allows you to have a virtual shared "wall" that people can post things on, kind of graffiti style. You can post text, images, files, etc. It's pretty cool. Check out the wall I made just for this post. It took literally 2 minutes.

Created with Padlet

Now, I hope you'll come back to link up or visit some of the links that others leave for you! The linky will be open all summer long!

An InLinkz Link-up