Goals for 2017-2018

At the start of every year I always set some sort of goal for myself and this year I find my goal area needs to be on mistakes.  As teachers we always say "It's okay to make mistakes", "Mistakes mean we are trying" and "Mistakes are how we learn" but for me that's about as far as it went.  So are we really saying mistakes are ok?  Does this really encourage students to take more risks and to make mistakes?

This past school year I cam across the video below on how this teacher grades her tests.  It is worth watching but if you don't have time here is a quick but "does no justice" recap: She highlights the mistakes that students make on their tests, no grade is put on the test, grades are put in their online grade book the day AFTER they have received the test back, and she celebrates her favorite mistakes.  Students work together to recognize where they have made mistakes and work to correct them.  

          

I just love the idea of only highlighting the mistakes made on the test.  This way students are more focused on the learning and content rather than what grade they received.   She said it perfectly when she talks about how students get their test back, look at the grade, and then throw it away never to look at it again.  When this happens I feel we are saying that the material we taught really wasn't that important, and that the grade they received is acceptable, even when it may not be.

My most favorite part is how she celebrates mistakes.  She displays a photocopy of a mistake that a student or many students made, and calls them her favorite mistakes.  The class works in their groups and then together as a whole to identify the mistake that was made and then how to correct it.  She also brings to the students attention parts that may be wrong by highlighting them, but she doesn't necessarily take points off for it.

I've been teaching for 10 years, this will be my 11th year, and this past year when students only focused on their grades it really started to get to me.  I knew I needed to change something about how I was running my class.  Standards Based Grading was something I brought into my room about 5 years ago and it helped get the kids to focus more on the learning but the level put at the top of the paper was still sparking the conversations I was hoping to eliminate.

So my goal for the 2017-2018 school year is to highlight mistakes, enter grades in the following day, celebrate my favorite mistakes, and hopefully get my students to focus more on the math and less on their grades.  Wish me luck and we will see how this year goes!

Assigned Seating Problems and Groupings

When it comes to seating arrangements in my classroom I'm a groups/pods/tables/etc. kind of teacher.  I try to instill in my students a sense of collaboration and teamwork.  I love when they work together to solve problems and enjoy seeing students helping and supporting one another.  The only issue I find with groups is that I tend to only have the students work with those in their group.  I hate deciding who is going to work with who and I needed to find a different way to do things.

A fellow coworker of mine numbers her desks, this way when it is time to assign students to a seat she gives them a number and they find their desk rather than trying to give them directions to their desk which they inevitably never locate correctly.  So I decided to do that this year, but being the teacher that I am I had to make it different and my own (not that there was anything wrong with her method, but she's an English teacher so she didn't see the Math possibilities behind this genius idea).  

Here is what I did…

                 

I have 24 desks in my room and I put them into 6 groups of 4 desks.  Each desk is numbered 1-24 using a blue, green, red, purple pattern (repeated for all 6 groups).  I then created a seating chart like I normally would but put their number and color in each box.  I made sure that for each of my classes I had the same number of kids sitting in each color seat.  

On the 1st day of school, I always greet the students in the hallway making sure they are in the right class and helping others find their way around.  HERE IS THE MATH BEHIND THIS GENIUS IDEA!! This year I will be giving each of my students an index card that has a math problem on it with their name.  The answer to their problem lets them know what number desk they are assigned to.  I'm excited about starting with math as soon as they walk in the door!  I differentiated the problems on the cards based on the ability level of my students (the ones I've had before) I focused on solving linear equations but for my freshmen I gave them Order of Operation problems since this is a skill I know their former teacher was working on with them.  Some of my other ideas to shake up my groups is to have them work with their same color peers, maybe do even and odds, greens with purples and reds with blues, etc.  Can't wait to see how this goes on Wednesday for our 1st day of school!

Liebster Nomination #2

I'm happy to say this is the second time I've been nominated for a Liebster Award but this time it's by Samantha from Special Little Learners. 

Now for the questions:

1. Why and how long ago did you begin blogging?
   I've been blogging since August of 2012, and I started blogging as a way for me to share the fun new things I'm doing in my classroom with other teachers.  I am the only person in my district (one school district) that teaches the classes that I do so I have no one to collaborate with.  I naturally turned to online to find professionals who were willing to share ideas. 
2. What one word sums up the heart of your blog and why? Creativity. I'm constantly trying to find new creative ways to engage my students and keep them on their toes about what we will do next.
3. Is there something you learned late in your blog journey you wished you knew before? IT TAKES SO MUCH TIME!  As much as I love to blog and find it very reflective, it just takes more time than I have now a day.
4. What is your favorite past time other than blogging? I love to spend time with my family and friends.  I like shopping, but come on...What girl doesn't?  I love to travel but don't do it nearly as much as I would like.
5. How many hours per week do you dedicate to your blog? Umm...Lately...NONE!  I haven't blogged in so long and I've been doing a lot of new things this year that I'm just dying to share with everyone.  I'm working on my time management skills now that I have a baby, so I'll be getting back into it more very soon. 
6. What category of blog posts do you enjoy the most? I love blogs on cooking, and educational ones (of course!).  
7. Where does your blog inspiration come from? It comes from my students and hilarious things they do and say every day.  The things I blog about were designed for them, so naturally they inspire me every day. 
8. Which post that you've written are you most proud of? I'm pretty proud of just about everything I've written, because if you know me you know I'm a Math and Science person.  So writing and English "stuff" are the things I'm horrible at.
9. Is there anything that you've been planning to do but have been postponing it for a while now? I've been planning to take a relaxing vacation for years now but that clearly hasn't happened :)
10. What is your favorite aspect of blogging?I love the reflective part.  It has made me grow as a teacher and it has also helped me connect with teachers I would not have necessarily ever connected with.

The Rules:

Now that you've been nominated, here are the official rules for accepting:

1. In your post, link back to the blogger who nominated you as a thank you and "shout out".
2. Answer the 10 questions given to you (the ones I answered above).
3. Nominate 5-11 blogs that have less than 200 followers each. Provide them with 10 questions or have them answer the questions above.
4. Let your nominees know that they've been nominated and provide them with a link back to your post so they can accept.
5. Send your nominator a link to your post so s/he can learn more about you as well. (You can just put your post link in the comments below).

Nominees:

1. Jessica at Algebrainiac
2. Miss Rudolph at The Secondary Classroom
3. Stacy at What's New in Room 202
4. Stephanie at Eat.Write.Teach
5. Sarah at Everybody is a Genius

Mentoring, Meetings, and Student Teachers...OH MY!

I usually don't do posts that don't involve something I have done in my classroom but this post just had to happen.  It's venting/reflecting time...My absence from blogging makes me upset, but with everything going on this school year I just haven't found the time to sit down and write a post.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who has been having a CRAZY school year this year? Any one?

I started this school year off taking on WAY, WAY to many responsibilities.  I had agreed to take on a student teacher this year, mentor one of my buildings new teachers, present at conferences (Raising Student Achievement was yesterday and it was so much fun!!), be the technical director for our theatre program, be a technology/differentiation coach for my building, and be a part of my Districts Improvement Team.  I think I have also attended what has felt like 500+ meetings in the past two months.

To put the cherry on the cake, pie, or sundae (which ever you may prefer) I found out in September I will be expecting my first child in May! Clearly this was a surprise, but never the less has been an exiting journey so far.

Do I feel over worked? YES... Do I feel like I never have a free moment to myself? YES... Do I always feel weeks behind with work? YES... Do I still enjoy what I do?  YES!

Why as teachers do we take on so many extra responsibilities? Why is it so hard for us to let some of them go?

I have come to the decision that I am going to let some of my extra responsibilities go next year and focus on my classes, students, new baby, blogging, and life.  Did it really take me getting pregnant to realize that at times I feel like a hamster running in a wheel and that for the past 7 years I haven't had much of a life other than work?   Yes it did, and I'm going to welcome the change next year with open arms :)

I'm interested in hearing how your year is going.  Please make me feel like I'm not the only one this is happening too!