1. Readers Workshop. I don't think that our basal readers really give a good representation of what students need to know in order to be good readers. We study one skill a week, but the skill isn't very clear in the text and more often, our work becomes more about memorizing the story than actually practicing those techniques.
2. Writers Workshop. I barely taught writing for the past two years, mainly because I don't know how. I bought a book on the 6+1 traits of writing, and I'm going to use that in a way that one of my coworkers suggested: to focus on one trait at a time, in depth, and have the kids publish something where my only grading focus is that particular skill. Once they're good at that skill, we'll move on and build on it from there.
3. A classroom economy. I want this to be part of my classroom management system as well. I'm going to use Becky Bucks (my boyfriend came up with the name) as an incentive to do various things throughout the day/week... things like turning in homework, etc. I don't want to encourage the idea that you should be paid to do homework, but I think that if it's approached in the right way (like a real economy - you get paid for doing work, and at this point, school is their job), then it'll be beneficial.
4. Better organization! I'm going to be grade level leader, as well as membership director of one of our local organizations this year, and I want this to be the year that everything sort of comes together. The past couple of years I've felt sort of like a fraud... as if I'm really not prepared to do what I'm doing - and I want that to change. I think that if I'm more organized, I'll be able to work more efficiently, get more done, etc.
5. Hang posters from the board when I need them, rather than putting them on the wall. I know this sounds silly and unimportant, but I have some little posters that have good information on them, and I know that the kids don't read them when they're eight feet in the air. I want to just pull them out when I need them, magnet them to the chalkboard, and file them when I'm done.
6. Keep a blog of what goes on at school daily. Right here! Good progress so far.
7. Create a more Earth-friendly classroom. I want my kids to start a compost pile with daily waste from lunch and the classroom, then use that compost to create a garden somewhere on the school grounds. The school needs to look better, and the kids will learn about nature as well as giving back to the planet. I'm excited about this one.
8. Bring in a guest speaker. I don't know whom, I don't know when, but I think that it'll help the kids relate our class to the real world.
9. Use the SmartBoard more effectively. The first year, I used it to show the kids pictures of cool stuff. Last year, I created a few science and math powerpoints, and had the kids play around with it some. We played social studies Jeopardy on there. I need to use it now to give the kids notes, let them explore different websites, and organize files a little better.
10. Make some changes at our school. I was elected to the School Improvement Council for the next two years, and I don't know how much power we'll be given, but there are some things that just need to be improved: the school grounds, our website, etc., and I want to help initiate some of those changes.
11. Develop material that I can use year after year. Ask me what I did last year for chapter 13 in math, and I can't begin to tell you. I want to start organizing and categorizing the things that I do so that I have a ready reference the following year. Suggestions on how to do this? Please??
12. Document a lot of things more efficiently. For example, I don't really have a set plan for calling parents. If something bad happens, I call. Otherwise, I don't, because that's probably my least favorite part of my job. My plan for this year is to be more consistent and frequent with parent communication, and part of that is documenting everything that happens with each child. I also want to document how I address our SC standards. I might steal an idea from another teacher. She prints out the standards, and at the bottom of each standard, creates a little grid. In this grid, she simply notes the dates that she address each standard. It sounds time consuming, but it also seems like a pretty cushy safety net just in case.
13. Be more professional. I think that in the past, my students have felt too comfortable with me. I want to make sure that my students know that while they can talk to me about anything, and I encourage that, there's also a line that has to be drawn so they're not thinking of me as just another friend that they can joke around with and don't have to listen to.
5 comments:
Hey! It's great to see another teacher wanting to do reading/writing workshop. I've been "trying" to do them for a few years now, so if you have any questions, or want any resources--feel free to email or post a comment to my blog. I really liked your TT--I might steal the idea for mine next week!
(Oh, and I'm in my year 6 of teaching and still striving to get organized, so if you find out some magic way of having it all happen please let me know!) Have a great summer!
Oh, to be a nerd and add on to my previous comment:
I totally envy you your smart board--I dream of the day when I have one of my own.
Sigh.
Hi Becky!
If you post here:
http://thursdaythirteen.com/
in the comments next Wednesday night or Thursday morning, you'll get tons of visitors!
Not to be lengthy and comment on each of the things, but I can't help it!
1) and 2) I'm highly supportive of reading and writing workshops - they're great and so much fun. There are lots of things you can do with them to strengthen these common (and essential skills) from Reader's Theater to class stories to book groups and more! In an instance like this, Google is your BFF, trust me.
3) I don't remember if you mentioned the grade you teach, but any activity designed to give children an idea about what money is/it's value, is great. I'm hoping to do a class store type thing at some point and we often do reinforcement with coins when discussing the number of days we've been in school.
I'm on the fence still as to how I feel about using things like no homework or extra points on a test as incentives. When implementing a management plan last year, I discovered students cared more about achieving the promised reward than improving their actions. If you do try it, let me know how it goes.
4) & 5) Oh sweet Jesus, organization is key. I'm a neat freak, so I know it won't be a problem for me, but yes, I agree. Even having bins for homework, containers for markers, glue, paper, etc., makes all the difference, and definitely helps with management.
As for posters, I think taping ones that will be used constantly throughout the year, like punctuation, reading, etc., that reinforce things discussed in class is a good idea and hang those that may only be utilized at specific times. Clutter is not your friend.
6) It proved invaluable to me as a reflective tool this year, and as you can see by the abundance of edublogs, is rightly so, along with a great way to collaborate with fellow teachers.
7) As many of us don't recycle at home as much as we should(I know I'm guilty of this), having a more structured, comprehensive system in place in an environment where they spend the majority of their time is wonderful - plus, a great way to integrate lessons/discussion.
8) May I suggest getting parents more actively involved? Again, not sure of the age range, but I had my parents come in as Mystery Readers and also to discuss their careers (we had many fire/policemen and they were a hit!)
9) Is that like Powerpoint? Regardless, any technology in the classroom is great for enhancing lessons and a child's understanding of concepts/skills at hand. Plus, many opportunities to encourage creativity, which I'm a big proponent of.
10) Definitely won't take this on my first year, but I believe in becoming actively involved in one's school, at whatever level you desire. I think it's a great way to be connected - and assist in change - to your community.
11) Yes, yes, definitely yes. Many of the teachers I met last year, including my cooperating teacher, constantly recycled lessons/units, putting a new spin on them/modifying them for each year. Saves a lot of headaches in planning, I'd imagine. I'll be doing this, also.
12) If there's one thing I'll remember from student teaching (and grad school), it was the encouragement to document EVERYTHING in writing. If recycling lessons saved a lot of headaches, this saves double that. And a great record of student progress, helpful with conferences, report cards, etc.
13) Professionalism is key. I struggled with being too friendly with my kids, but as long as they know who's the boss, and you act with authority, being firm when necessary, I see absolutely no reason to have a friendly rapport with your students. I think it only helps when you have to be authoritative.
I found I had fewer behavior issues once the kids and I got to know one another because they knew what I expected and wanted to please me, knowing that I was there to help them and support them no matter what.
And with that, my novel is complete ;)
Loved your TT. . . gave me some ideas . . .
#11 You can start doing this now while you are on vacation. A teach friend of mine did this finally this year. She's a 20 yr veteran and had tons of stuff.
To get started you must take a "mission organization" approach to organizing your stuff. Here what she did with the help of about 3 students:
1. Set up chapter stations in on desks in her classroom. Each desk collects the materials for each chapter/subject/topic. Most of the stuff you have has chapter notations on it. Put the appropriate stuff on the appropriate desk. Have one desk as the "unknown" desk. It's your job to sort through these things, while the kids sort through other things
2. Put the appropriate things on the appropriate desk. When the large mixture of stuff has been sorted through, begin your mini sort.
3. When everything has been sorted through, begin your mini sort. Pick up one chapter/topic at a time and go through it. Delete stuff that you know you are not going to do again. organize the stuff you are going to keep. You'll find most of your lesson plans/strategies with this process.
4. The things you decide to keep put them in to binders or you may use file folders for your organization system. I like using binders b/c they get full and you can keep an entire term's work in one binder. Make sure that you separate the different topics by tabs.
Now you are all set up for the year.
Things to keep in mind about this process.
~When you are finish with a particular days materials: PUT THEM BACK.
~Add new materials to the appropriate sections b/c these lessons will always be a work in progress.
~You will need to spend some time at the end of the year purifying your binders. I think this important b/c it will become apart of your reflection process. You can evaluate what worked, what didn't work, etc. Don't be afraid to throw things away.
~You might want to start a "Mishmash" binder. This is stuff you don't necessarily want to get rid of but you don't want it in with your regular stuff. Be careful to limit this pile of stuff to ONE BINDER!!! ONE ONLY!!!
Okay, so now I've written a blog post in comments. I guess I'll post it on my own blog in few days. LOL.
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