#ReflectiveTeacher Link Party

I've been enjoying te@ch thought's 30-Day Blog challenge. I've been encouraged to reflect and look back on my practice and it's only been two weeks of school.

But what's been even more amazing has been seeing others' reflections on the same prompts that I've been assessing. I've even been able to get a bunch of others in my building/district to play along. They've got some incredible insight and perspective, so I hope you check them out.

Mrs. Perricone
Ms. Morrison
Mrs. Robinson
Ms. Urfer

Day 7: Influencers

Day 7: Who was or is your most inspirational colleague, and why?

At this point in my teaching journey, I am lucky to have worked with many influential teachers. They are next door. They are down the hall. They are outside in the air conditioned cottages. They are here and they are on my team.

I am constantly learning from them and benefitting from their expertise and experience. We all make each other better.

But for my most influential colleague, I have been blessed to have worked alongside someone who has pushed me so much. Leading me to reflect and re-evaluate on my own practice. She is a master teacher, inspiring leader and passionate about everything.

I no longer work in the same building as her, but I still am inspired to be better and not settle for anything less. For myself or for my students.

We are all influencers, though. We all have the opportunity to lead change, introduce better ideas and make things happen. It's cyclical. We influence each other and I need to be surrounded by those that push me in different ways than I push myself.

Day 6: Mentor

Day 6: Explain: What does a good mentor “do”?

men·tor
'menˌtôr,-tər/

noun
noun: mentor; plural noun: mentors

1. an experienced and trusted adviser.

The mentor prepares the student for the unpredictability of the future with an attitude of excitement and an array of tools to overcome the obstacles and challenges that they may face. It's a quest with twists and turns that no one could possibly anticipate, so the mentor equips the student with grounded confidence, strategic encouragement and purposeful knowledge.

The mentor will also provide support when it is vital to the party's survival. It may not come immediately or in the form that is expected, but aid will arrive just in time. And it will be just enough. The student may not completely understand the reasoning behind this, but the experience collected will be put to good use in the future.

Sometimes the mentor does not reveal his entire plans for the student. While this may cause frustration and confusion, pieces of the larger puzzle are uncovered as they are needed, allowing the student to focus on the task at hand.

Mentors look forward to the day when their protégé stands alone, decorated in all of their achievements and begins training up their own.

Day 5: Bare

Day 5: Post a picture of your classroom, and describe what you see–and what you don’t see that you’d like to.

[image coming soon]

I switched classrooms. They were waxing the floors. I had a summer job. The building was too hot. I was out of town for three weeks. The classroom wasn't empty yet. I was on vacation...

I have a lot of excuses as to why I didn't have my room set up before the first day of school. Sure, I started summer with some grand plans to shake things up I knew that learning environments were something I wanted to tackled for this upcoming school year. It was in everything we read for NextGen. And it made sense. I like being at places that are nice. I don't like being at places that are ugly.

In June, I had researched this really cool time consuming project that would cover my floors in fake wood panels and give the ground a nice comfy tone. It was a paper-paint project that would update the standard school-floor tiles to be a little more modern.

Yeah. That did not happen.

And then around July I started looking for colors to paint the walls of my room. I called Sherwin-Williams once a week to see what colors were mis-matched (they give them away for free) and if they'd work for the class. I bought some supplies and even enlisted some friends to help me paint when I had it scheduled.

Nope. No time.

I miss the blue with gray specks carpet of my elementary classroom. I miss the nasty purple rug that always got caught on tables and chairs. The horribly colored mauve cabinets and counters that lined two sides of the room. The awkward corner where the ancient TV from the 90s was mounted and the volume buttons didn't work.

But I'm not there. I'm here. In my new room. I've got a door. And a window. Two things I didn't have for the past two years in middle school.

I still have a Promethean Board and tables for students. I had the option to go for individual student desks, and I was almost persuaded to go that route, but after some affirmation from good friends, I made sure I kept my tables from my previous room.

The walls are pretty bare, but it's slowly filling up with charts that we've made with students. The Math Practice Standards were printed out in full-color and put up the first week of school, but since then, the mounting tape has melted slightly, and yesterday the last standard fell to the floor. I need better tape.

I've always started off with the walls being pretty empty. I like making charts and posters with my classes and having those decorate the room. I like that every year, my walls are different and not cluttered with the same store-bought "Math" posters. Last year, I did have a sweet Batman "WORD!" poster from my friend, Tim, but during the last month of school, an eighth grader who has no respect for retro Bruce Wayne decided to give him a mustache. So I must wait until I can get it reprinted for my word wall.

Also, I need to invest in 3M Sticky Paper. The Office Depot ones don't stick to these walls, so all the posters we've made so far (The One Rule, Living Above the Line, etc.) have fallen off. #sadface

Anyway, over the next two weeks, I'm having my student aides do all the summer classroom projects I never got to:

• Mount nails to hang clipboards on the inside of my cabinets (done!)
• Mount sticky hooks to the walls to hang emergency clipboards and backpacks (halfway done!) 
• Paint cabinets over with chalkboard paint
• Paint whiteboards over with chalkboard paint

And eventually, before October, I really hope to get some paint on the walls. Fingers crossed.

Day 4: Kids

Day 4: What do you love the most about teaching?

We are finishing up the second full week of school with students. Today we also passed out 100s of iPads to eager 7th & 8th graders who have been missing their tablets since May. As crazy as the start of a new year is, I'm reminded of what I love most about teaching.

I love the drive, passion and energy of my teacher mates. I love when they drop by my classroom to share their latest idea they want to try with their kids. I love that I can drop by their room and do the same, but in a less comprehensible fashion.

I love that we take care of each other, cover classes when it's needed and pick up italian beef sandwiches just because it's Friday. I love that even after teachers aren't in the same building, we still push each other to be better at our jobs and life.

I love the madness of passing period, with students still struggling to open their lockers in the middle of February. The flood of 8th graders who try to squeeze in precious social time with their friends, while grabbing their things and trying to get to their next class in 180 seconds or less.

I love the hard work, the determination and the desire students have to do great things. The creativity, the insight and the curiosity. The puzzled faces when new concepts are tricky. The frustration when things get complicated. The smiles when ideas make sense.

But really, what I truly really love is working with students. Being able to create connections that will outlive middle school. It's the long-graduated student who drops by the school, years after he's left, to tell me about his track PRs. The student who moved three states away five years ago and still comes to visit every summer when he's back. The student who finally has found the courage to join her high school choir after discovering her voice in our class.

Yeah. Teaching is pretty sweet.

Day 3: Being Better

This one sat in the drafts folder a little longer than I had planned. Either way, here it is.

Day 3: Discuss one “observation” area that you would like to improve on for your teacher evaluation.

My teacher evaluation doesn't fill my mind as much as I think it would. I hear other educators constantly referencing the eval and making it out to be this big, looming inconvenience. This may be the dork in me, but I think about it as a test. A test that I am going to do my best in and I'll find out where I stand. Not much else to say there. It's a chance to see what I can do.

Of course I'd like to improve in every single area of my eval, but I won't do the KJ cop-out and say "all of them, because blah blah blah....."

I want to craft better learning experiences for my students. I want everything we do to be purposeful. And better. I want it to always be better. No matter what.

Day 2: FreshGrade in the Classroom

Thanks to everyone who read my first post of the 30-Day blog challenge! It's been super encouraging. Encouraging enough that I've already written my Day 2 post.

I'm also super pumped that I've got some of my school mates to play along with me. I'll be sharing their links, too, so everyone else can check those out.

Day 2: Write about one piece of technology that you would like to try this year, and why. You might also write about what you’re hoping to see out of this edtech integration.

I have a million things on my "To Try" list for the classroom, so to pick one thing will be quite tough.

The first thing that comes to mind is this thing called FreshGrade. FreshGrade is an assessment and communication tool that I've played around with towards the end of last year with one of my math classes.

One of the things I liked most was being able to use my iPhone to capture student work (picture, video, audio, text) and attach it to their profile. It saved it there in a chronological timeline that can be shared with the students and their families. All users can interact with artifacts and items can also be given scores for assessment.

I'd like to spend more time with this tool to bridge the gap between parents and the classroom.

Reflective Teaching: A 30-Day Blog Challenge for Teachers (Day 1)

I saw this on my Twitter feed a few days ago and favorited it, hoping to find time during the three-day weekend to check out the challenges and see if I would consider adding it to my already cluttered To Do List for September.

It's a 30-Day Blog Challenge for Teachers from te@chthought and man, I needed something to kick me in the pants and get me blogging again. For the sake of starting fresh, I've hidden all of my previous posts on my blog until I've had time to review them. I'm sure if I keep at this blog for more than a month, I will start republishing some of my old posts.

But for now, here's the first installment of the blog challenge:

Day 1: Write your goals for the school year. Be as specific or abstract as you’d like to be!

1. Lead well. I've joined a new grade level this year and simultaneously stepped into the role of one of two chairs for the team. I'm a little nervous of being the new guy on the show while also being the team lead. I know I would not have been given the spot if I was not capable of doing a good job, but that does not make it any less intimidating.

2. Develop my student teacher. Six full years of teaching. Two semesters of student teaching. Eight weeks of classroom observations and tutoring sessions. It's finally come full circle and I have my first  student teacher. I want to be able to be a great coach and mentor. I want them to be a better teacher than I was in my first year. And I want them to have fun.

3. Maintain high expectations. I always struggle with this. There always comes a time (usually a few weeks after state testing... around late April) where one of my classes starts getting the best of me and I don't hold my ground. I let them slip. I give them a few more chances than before. I am not as consistent as I had been. Things just fall apart. I set high expectations for all of my students at the start of the year, but I want to keep them high them for all of my kids until the very end of the school year.

Let's start with those three goals. This entry wasn't so bad. You should give it a go. Only took me fifteen or so minutes. Or if you're participating in the challenge, I'd appreciate it if you left your link to your Day 1. I'd like to see what others have selected for their goals.

No Opt Out

Getting this new class halfway through the year is forcing me to revisit some of my "back to school" routines and plans. A large part of that comes from the book, "Teach Like a Champion". It's full of great and manageable techniques to use in the classroom.

I'm going to spend the next few weeks looking back through the book to see if there are any that would work well with this new group of students.

Technique 1 - No Opt OutA sequence that begins with a student unable to answer a question should end with the student answering that question giving the right answer.

I could have used this today for sure. We were reviewing some math concepts and there were a handful of students who replied with, "I don't know" or "Umm..." that would have benefitted from this technique. By using this strategy, the class will soon understand that they do not have any other choice but to try.

Doing this tomorrow!

The class switch

I got a new class this semester. It's a year course and another teacher started with them back in the fall. For reasons that I'm not going to explain here, I've been switched to be their teacher for the rest of the year. Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal.

It's an 8th grade class.

I've never taught 8th graders before. I've hung out with them at youth group and taken them on mission trips, but in all of those situations, I wasn't expected to teach them stuff.

My teaching experience spans 4th, 5th and 6th grade. And that's where it stops.

I'm pretty nervous about it, but I'm also really excited about the new challenges it will present me. I am looking forward to seeing what works with them and what does not. What motivates them and what bores them. I'm also interested to see if my management techniques, which I had originally developed for 8 & 9 year-olds, will translate to 12 & 13 year-olds.