Forget the Lesson Plan

We are headed back!  I woke up this morning thinking one more sleep till I get to see the kids.  You know that you are ready, when that is what you are thinking.  I've been doing some reading about social emotional learning and its impact on your classroom.  It is definitely one of the things that I want to cultivate more in my classroom.  We are all aware that for many students, school is the most stable place they have and one of the only places where they feel that they add value.  I work hard to build relationships with my students, but some days when you only see them for 48 minutes and they are gone, it becomes a little more challenging.  Through some of my reading, I have seen how humor can be a great cornerstone for building helping children build the social emotional skills they need to navigate their path in life.  I found this quote in an article at thelaughterremedy.com

This laughter is a reflection of the joy and happiness that humor and play provide, but we now know that laughter can also help generate a joyous and happy state in children where there was none before.  So nurturing children’s sense of humor helps them gain a measure of control of their daily mood.  (And you know that when they’re in a good mood, it’s easier for you to sustain a good mood.)Good humor skills during childhood help build a solid sense of self-esteem.  Since humor and shared laughter help the child receive a lot of positive feedback from other kids (and adults), this gradually builds a strong sense of good feeling about oneself.
Perhaps the most important long-range emotional benefit of humor resulting from the development of good humor skills during childhood is the coping skill known to be associated with humor.  There is a large body of research documenting humor’s power in helping adults and adolescents cope with life stress.  Kids who build this skill early on are able to benefit from this coping advantage throughout their life.

While this article was directly focused on early learners, it hit me that if we can start with some humor, it might just be what our students need.  If it also helps them to maintain a positive mood throughout the day, then it will be an even bigger win.  I know that I feel better and more positive if I've laughed.  Since I teach middle school kids, I also want them to know that I am glad to see them.  This is like walking on a tight rope...you have to do it just right or they will not take it seriously.  So tomorrow, my students will find this sign in random places in our hall.  I smile thinking of the groans and can hear some of their comments already, but I also know that it will be a start in letting them know that they were missed and I'm glad they are here.  After all, don't we all want to feel like we belong?!?!   So here is to the high fives, fist bumps, smiles, and laughter from the students.  I know I'll be focused on taking a few moments to set aside the lesson plan and just let the kids know that I'm glad they are here with me.

Connect Four and Engage Learning

I'm constantly looking for ways to engage students in the content we are learning.  Today as I worked on a lesson for solving addition and subtraction equations, I wanted a game that students could play that helped them practice.  My primary objective was for students to work problems, but not on a worksheet.  I also wanted them to take a break from technology and actually have a chance to talk with each other about the problems while they played. My usual first step is to go online and see what others have available and today I didn't find what I was looking for.   I decided to create my own with Google slides.

Now keep in mind I haven't used this with my class yet, so there may be a few kinks to work out.  My plan is to have the kids play connect four and in order for them to place a marker on the game board they would need to answer a question card correctly (my students will need to show their work on a white board).  At times, playing a game won't work into our schedule so the question cards can be used as task cards as well.  As a timesaver for myself, I created a blank template as well.  It has endless possibilities.  Enjoy!!

Addition and Subtraction Equations

Blank Connect Four Game Board and Task Cards

Meme Win

As I navigate the one to one classroom, I've hit a few snags that make me feel like I'm hitting my head against a brick wall.  None of these are big by any means, but they sure can make things a little more difficult.  One of those snags is ear buds.  We use them almost daily, but many students don't have them.  I realize that for some students it is beyond their control, but for many of my students that is not the case.  They just don't bring them! (insert crazy teacher face here!!!)   I post announcements in Google Classroom, hang signs in my doorway that the kids had to duck around, and send out mass emails to remind them to bring their earbuds.  While this got a few more, it wasn't enough.  I think out of pure frustration and absolute defeat I decided to do something different to see if that caught their attention.  I mean, maybe the students needed to see the misery I was going through trying to get them to comply to a pretty simple thing.  I hopped on the computer and found a meme generator ((I used this site to make mine! ) and the rest is history.  Every few days I would make a new one and place them in random spots in our hall and bathrooms.  It didn't take long and the students were commenting on them and even looking for them when they arrived every morning.  The staff seemed to enjoy them as well and I would catch them laughing after reading them.  I even had a parent stop me in the grocery store and say that their student had sent them a picture of one of my memes to remind them to buy them a pair....WIN!!!!  Like any good thing, you don't want to over use it, but it did lighten things up and put some smiles on faces that wouldn't be their if I was nagging them.

Welcome.  I can't believe that I am officially blogging.  I'm probably a little more excited about this than I should be.  Over the last several years it seems life every PD has talked about the importance of blogging.  I'm not sure why it finally clicked with me but it did, and I'm here now.  In my head I have grand visions for what I want this to evolve into, but I'm going to take it slow. 

Over the holiday break I've had the opportunity to do a lot of reading and catching up on things that I seem to let slide.  Two things really made an impact on me and brought me to starting this blog.   The first thing was watching the Ditch Summit led my Matt Miller (seriously he is one cool educator and you should follow him, read his books, and basically stalk him on social media).  I picked up so many exciting new ideas, but the biggest message I took away was about being happy.  Kim Strobel, another great you should totally stalk, talked about the Science of Happiness and it really hit home with me.  People who are operating in the positive brain are 31% more productive than someone operating in a negative, neutral, or stressed brain.  While I'm seriously a pretty happy person, I let the stress brain have residence in my head way to often.  Another interesting fact was that 50% of our happiness is determined by genetics, 40% from what we do ourselves, and 10% comes from the events going on in our life.  So if that is the case, I really need to focus on the 40% and make taking care of myself a priority.

The second thing that impacted me was choosing my word for 2018.  I've done this for a few years and it usually takes me awhile to come up with my one word.  This year I knew right away what word I wanted...AWAKEN.  I feel like I've become numb to so much around me and I need to awaken my excitement, my love for learning, my love for life, and just be present in every moment.  Don't get me wrong, I am passionate about kids, teaching, learning, and coffee, but somewhere along the line I've been focusing on the wrong parts and it has diminished the joy I had for them.  I want that back and somehow choosing that word made me realize it's still there, I just need to awaken it.  If you are on twitter, I highly recommend searching  #oneword2018.  It is really inspiring to see what words others are choosing.

So here I am excited, happy, and awakening to everything around me.  Keeping checking in and watch my growth.  2018 is going to be an amazing year!