The end of summer vacation is here. There are those of us teachers who are rested and ready to go. There are those of us teachers who are not so rested, and ready to go. Sadly, there are those of us teachers, rested or not, who are not ready to go. In whichever group you find yourself, the year begins anyway, and I am going to begin it with a smile.
Smiling is so important. I am, in general, a fairly happy person. I think I smile, a lot. I have, unfortunately, had a few students ask why I do NOT smile. That always makes me take a step back and think. It always makes me wonder what is going on in my head and heart that is begin reflected in my face. And it always makes me a bit sad.
I started this post in AUGUST, and never finished. Funny how time gets away from me like that. I do believe I started this year with a smile, and kept it going. I made it a point to have fun at the beginning of every class and carry that fun throughout the day. I told students and coworkers, "You matter!", and watched both blossom. I faced major changes in my job, and while I admit, I complained for a bit, I used the CHRISTMAS break to wrap my head around it and be positive again. I did not have ANY student ask me why I was not smiling! I feel like my students learned. I am in a good place.
My ONE WORD for this year is CREATE. The opposite of consume, to CREATE means I will put myself out there as a teacher, a colleague, a support, a poet, a learner. CREATE means I will share my experience, not just absorb from others. CREATE means that when I learn something, I will not only use it, I will make it my own, and CREATE a way to share it.
I work in Alternative Education, Discipline to be exact. I do not have my students for very long. But I have shared with them my one word. I have explained that my goal is to CREATE in my classroom a community of learners. It may be transient, but my hope is that my students will take the feeling of community and CREATE community within their own experiences.
I have read some fabulous books this past semester: DITCH THAT TEXTBOOK (Matt Miller), DITCH THAT HOMEWORK (Matt Miller and Alice Keeler), TEACH LIKE A PIRATE (Dave Burgess), and I have more great books on my wish list. I love what I have read. It all meshes so perfectly with Quantum Learning and my own inner knowing of what works with students. I am taking all of what I have read and using it to CREATE better learning experiences for my students. This is going to be a great second semester!
I started this semester off with more students, but fewer subject areas. I was nervous. We spent the first week playing with robots (an Ozobot), and coding (CSFirst from Google). There were complaints, "How is this math?" But there was thinking: What will the Ozobot do if we change colors? If we give it multiple branches? (observation and probability) Can I change this background that was GIVEN and make it fit my likes (Basketball)? Can I add my voice? Can I have fun? (Yes, Yes, and YES!!)
This week coming up will be the first week this semester that I will be dedicating most of my class time to content, to the math. I will still be using Monday as Motivation Monday, reasons to use math in real life. I will still be dedicating the first 15 min of class to STEM, Coding, or creative projects, so we can TALK about math. And now I have more resources to use to CREATE even more dynamic lessons.
I am pumped. Second semester, bring it on!
Smiling is so important. I am, in general, a fairly happy person. I think I smile, a lot. I have, unfortunately, had a few students ask why I do NOT smile. That always makes me take a step back and think. It always makes me wonder what is going on in my head and heart that is begin reflected in my face. And it always makes me a bit sad.
I started this post in AUGUST, and never finished. Funny how time gets away from me like that. I do believe I started this year with a smile, and kept it going. I made it a point to have fun at the beginning of every class and carry that fun throughout the day. I told students and coworkers, "You matter!", and watched both blossom. I faced major changes in my job, and while I admit, I complained for a bit, I used the CHRISTMAS break to wrap my head around it and be positive again. I did not have ANY student ask me why I was not smiling! I feel like my students learned. I am in a good place.
My ONE WORD for this year is CREATE. The opposite of consume, to CREATE means I will put myself out there as a teacher, a colleague, a support, a poet, a learner. CREATE means I will share my experience, not just absorb from others. CREATE means that when I learn something, I will not only use it, I will make it my own, and CREATE a way to share it.
I work in Alternative Education, Discipline to be exact. I do not have my students for very long. But I have shared with them my one word. I have explained that my goal is to CREATE in my classroom a community of learners. It may be transient, but my hope is that my students will take the feeling of community and CREATE community within their own experiences.
I have read some fabulous books this past semester: DITCH THAT TEXTBOOK (Matt Miller), DITCH THAT HOMEWORK (Matt Miller and Alice Keeler), TEACH LIKE A PIRATE (Dave Burgess), and I have more great books on my wish list. I love what I have read. It all meshes so perfectly with Quantum Learning and my own inner knowing of what works with students. I am taking all of what I have read and using it to CREATE better learning experiences for my students. This is going to be a great second semester!
I started this semester off with more students, but fewer subject areas. I was nervous. We spent the first week playing with robots (an Ozobot), and coding (CSFirst from Google). There were complaints, "How is this math?" But there was thinking: What will the Ozobot do if we change colors? If we give it multiple branches? (observation and probability) Can I change this background that was GIVEN and make it fit my likes (Basketball)? Can I add my voice? Can I have fun? (Yes, Yes, and YES!!)
This week coming up will be the first week this semester that I will be dedicating most of my class time to content, to the math. I will still be using Monday as Motivation Monday, reasons to use math in real life. I will still be dedicating the first 15 min of class to STEM, Coding, or creative projects, so we can TALK about math. And now I have more resources to use to CREATE even more dynamic lessons.
I am pumped. Second semester, bring it on!
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