my version of transparent, collaborative leadership...with a Teamann twist

Bouncy Behavior…

by Leave a Comment

Perspective: Which of these define your mindset this Monday morning?
18 more days left until summer vacation.
Only 18 days left of instruction.
I won’t put you on the spot and make you answer that, 🙂 but I will write this blog suggesting some ways to make BOTH of those thoughts more tolerable for ya!
Teachers are les likely to have classroom managemnt problems when their students are on task and engaged. Students are more likely to remain on task and engaged if they are interested and challenged. Common sense, right? Why then, do ofice referrals spike in the month of May? A combination of factors….your patience is worn thin. You’re less likely to “want” to deal with disruptive students post TAKS. Students get a sense of “finality” from the tone that is set once we are post TAKS. (That darn test really affects our day to day, doesn’t it?)
A few tips to make these 18 days productive and easier to handle:
  • Use technology. Dancemats, flip cams, digital cameras, Macbook, extra websites, your 5 Speedgeeking sites/tools…you’re surrounded! Jump in!
  • Change activities frequently. Our students are used to getting information instantly. They are text messageRs, web consumeRs, instant gratification-ally designed. (Kinda like me! heh!) We cannot expect to maintain their interest or control when we drone on and on about exciting things, such as subject-verb agreement. Yawn. I got bored just typing it! Vary your lessons, and break them into 20-30 minute segments.
  • Provide extra help for those who need it. A frustrated student may the ignition switch to losing control in your classroom. Save yourself the trouble down the road and step in before they have the opportunity to act on on their frustration.
  • Keep your assignments challenging. This is not the time of year to go back and finish all those worksheets that you ran but didn’t have time to get to! If your assignments are too simple, you’ll lose attention as well.
  • Use group instruction. Divide your students, maximize your space, and material coverage. Take a page from your primary counterparts and use small group instruction, based on the needs of your class.

wrapN up,

Amber

Those people…

by Leave a Comment

The field of education can be a trying one. The news attacks us, the students don’t seem to listen, we don’t get paid enough. yada yada. Not that we’re those people. (Remember that. I’ll come back to it in a minute, so put it in your pocket and save it for later.) Many times “jobs’ can be just that, a job. The daily grind. The do I have to get out of bed in the rain grind. The how come he can’t listen grind. The if only these parents cared grind. Each day there is a version that can be added to that “grind” list.
One of the things I love most about my LL’s is the absolute commitment to our profession that we share. The innovation, the passion, and the energy that permeates these halls, is different than other campuses. (trust me.) The smiles, the late nights, the dancing through hoops to get a test finished is different than other campuses. (trust me.) The I can’t sleep b/c I don’t know what is happening to one of my kiddos is different. It makes me proud to be here. It makes me proud of what I choose to do each day, and allows, for me, to be the reason that I don’t think of this a daily grind, but as what I GET to do. You make my day. See above paragraph where the LL’s aren’t those negative people. Pull it out. Have a treat.
Want an example? I happen to have one. Ms. Griffin was bitten by the grant writing bug. She wrote MULTIPLE donor’s choose grants and went way above and beyond to get them funded. She involved us, her friends, her class’s family, etc. She got them funded, doubling her class library and introducing a tag reader system for her students. Was that enough for her? Nope. Mrs. Ryenolds, another rockstar, got ahold of some Leapfrog program that sent her FREE books, so of course, Samanth needed hers too!

Fabulousness personified. That’s what my LL’s are to me!

Since you’d read this far, you get a treat! A heads up on your teacher appreciation gift for next week. We racked our brains trying to think of something themed, something cutesy, something that wouldn’t elicit eye rolls. For your BIG gift, on next Tuesday or Wednesday, we’re going to have….drum roll please….your car detailed! Washed, vacuumed, sparklefied. Whatcha think about that? 🙂
Luna Lion LuvR ,
Amber

Speedgeeking SD

by Leave a Comment

Tomorrow will be the first speedgeeking event here at Luna. The concept, similar to “speed dating” is going to introduce you to five different technology integration pieces. This is meant to give you a lil’taste of FIVE different easy and fun ways that you can add these tools into your lesson plans. We will be asking to see ONE of these used by your class for the final grading period. I repeat, one of these tools will need to be seen in your lesson plans this final grading period.
Technology presented this late in the year can be confusing. It’s past TAKS when I’ve seen teachers feel as if they have time to add in a technology piece. Anything that you see tomorrow will actually have a HUGE impact on your students, even before TAKS. We talk so much about student engagement and keeping students on task and motivated. Guys, these kinda activities are PERFECT for that. You have an extra computer in your room now!! There is NO reason why one of your kids couldn’t complete all of these activities during the course of a lesson. We know you have students who are busting out 100’s on your daily class assignments. Do they really need to do the multiple practices and same activities that your lowest students are struggling with? Me thinks not. I’ve offered before, and this time I mean it, I can have a 5th grader who is FABULOUS come into your room and teach one of your students what to do…
Watch it spread like wildfire.
Trust me. I know this will work. Go into this training with an open ALL YEAR MIND, not just an after TAKS mindset. Pleaseandthankyou.
supportingly,
Amber

Being Social

by Leave a Comment

If you haven’t noticed, twitter and other social networking sites (BeBo, Plurk, FB, etc) are making their presence known in ALL ages and walks of life. Take advantage of the opportunity to A: discuss the appropriate and inappropriate cyber behaviors and B: turn a boring review assignment into something they will be more engaged in while still accomplishing a complex TEK!
**Example: Let two students pick a mathematician, an artist, a scientist, a woman (hello march & womans history month), or a character in a story, and have a conversation about what all the different facets of the page mean. Have them fill it out “in character”.
3.8 Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. Students are expected to:
(B) describe the interaction of characters including their relationships and the changes they undergo; and
(C) identify whether the narrator or speaker of a story is first or third person.
4.6 Students understand, make inferences and draw conclusions about the structure and elements of fiction and provide evidence from text to support their understanding. Students are expected to:
(A) sequence and summarize the plot’s main events and explain their influence on future events;
(B) describe the interaction of characters including their relationships and the changes they undergo; and
(C) identify whether the narrator or speaker of a story is first or third person.
TAKS Objective 2: The student will apply knowledge of literary elements to understand culturally diverse written texts)
Create a space for them to hang it up and encourage students who get finished top create their own when you/they have time.
I’ve attached a facebook template and here is a twitter template site, 🙂
socially,
Amber

Math Musts!

by Leave a Comment

We know that a district focus and emphasis has been directed towards math, most pointedly in problem solving and measurement. I want to give you several options today that I have once discovered from my PLN on Twitter. (8Amber8).
Not feeling successful with the extra computer in your room? iPlay has a collection of printable math games for all our Luna levels of learners. You can search games by concept, skill and grade. Group your students by ability level and let them, play in groups. You know, grouping students with similar learner needs is HUGELY beneficial. It allows students to practice in a zone where they are aren’t intimidated. Become math maniacs and spend the last 15 minutes of class focusing on isolated skills. The iXl site can also be utilized for some “down time” math playing.
Are you the competitive type? Arcademic Skill builders is a collection of fun arcade-like games that help students practice their math facts. Students can play games for addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fraction, and ratios. The games are research based and standard aligned. Games can be played with partners (think high low grouping) or by themselves. If you have even an extra five minutes, pull this up on your projector and let a student who needs a kick of motivation be the one that gets to play with help from their classmates. Make it even trickier by letting them use their classpads.
Last, a gem of mathtabulous…I think if you’ve read this far down you deserve a treat! 🙂 As a classroom teacher, I loved the Math Playground site. In fact, I use to email regularly with the young lady who developed it, telling her JUST what I thought it needed, or what we needed extra practice on, etc etc etc, I am sure she enjoyed that. (heh.) Well, since leaving the classroom, she has added some math story problem VIDEOS. Each math problem comes with step by step video solution, follow up problems, an online calculator, and a sketch pad. Explore this site, there are so many differentiating ways to make it work in your classroom. From a whole group lesson where your students are calling out answers, to tutorials where you are working in a small group, to individual at home practice….it can ft your needs!

I know that many of are still struggling with the what and how of integrating that extra computer in your classroom. Losing Monday as a staff development days put a kink my grandiose plans of PLN’ing some ideas for integration. I’m thinking a series of blog entries on tips and tricks…stay tuned! 🙂
mathmatically,
Amber