I know I'm a bit late - but every summer my family and I begin our time off with a trip to the beach to decompress and then we're off to Gator football camp for my son!
During that time, I do have a lot running around in my brain from school. So I can relax, I write all these things down in lists. That way, I don't have to keep thinking about it to remember it, it's safely stored in my notebook. :)
Now my thoughts can also be safely stored here which is why
We are getting a new principal this fall. We don't yet know who that person will be either. Since I teach both Special Needs and ELA, I do not know what the new principal will want me to teach. That makes it hard for me to do any real planning but I still think about it and lay out my ideas for whatever may come.
Communication:
- I did well with the weekly e-mail newsletters. I need to remember to keep them short and simple.
- Edmodo and Remind: I need to make these a bigger part of my classes. In fact, I think I'll devote a class day to taking all my classes to the computers and getting them all to sign up right then and there!
Organization:
- Organization is my nemesis but this year, using a drawer for each day's materials helped - well.... as long as I used the drawers.
- I had one place for all papers for each class to be turned in and one place for all papers that I had graded. This helped A LOT. I will definitely be keeping this system.
- Tickets: this is what I used for my behavior/reward system. It took me all year, but I finally got it down to a science!
I give out tickets to students for correct answers, 100% on work (2 tickets), 90% or better (1 ticket), good behavior and other positive actions. Students put their name on the tickets and then placed them in their class' bucket.
Then on Friday, I do a drawing. The students can take the "sure thing" - a piece of candy from my jar - or they can try their luck with one of my 3 boxes.
2 boxes had "good" prizes like a bag of chips or a full-size candy bar, but 1 box always had a "zonker" - a school supply like a pencil or eraser.
How many tickets do I draw, you ask? That's the beauty part that took me all year to tweak! What I do is keep a tally for each class. As a class, if they are cooperative, I add a tally mark. If they are uncooperative, I put one on "my" side.
On Friday, I calculate the difference between the sides and that is the number of tickets I draw! So in the picture above, Period 1 will get one ticket draw.
The kids love this system and love seeing who gets "zonked"! Definitely a great strategy for me!
Content:
- We use the SpringBoard curriculum with all our Language Arts classes. I have definitely learned a lot about it and want to see if I can build on it with writing centers - which is also my Big Summer Project...
There are so many writing skills that I teach with INB and I thought, "Why not try making centers to practice these skills for Middle School?" So that's what I am going to do! That should keep me busy, eh? :)
Thanks for stopping by!