Week 1 Down

First Day of School Selfie! Cameo from the new principal (bottom left)!!

We started school Aug 3rd. I totally planned on blogging this weekend about my first week of school. Oops! Real life got in the way! Pretty common for me as I will make any excuse to not have to write... Which basically means I will choose not to write if given an option.

One of the things I really want to work on this year is to use my planning period more efficiently and effectively. So far I'm doing alright this year. The only hard thing is that we have odd block day on Wednesdays and even block day's on Thursdays. I only have planning 2nd and 6th period so that means I don't get planning on Wednesdays. Last Thursday I felt like I was scrambling to do everything that popped up that I couldn't do Wednesday. But it also means I have 3 hours of planning on Thursday. Hopefully I will get better and better about using that planning like I want.

This year I am co-teaching 2 Advanced Algebra classes, the junior level math here in GA. I am co-teaching 2 Chemistry classes, a sophomore class. Lastly, I am teaching 1 resource (small group) Chemistry class. So far I am loving teaching chemistry! The teacher I co-teach with is someone that I coach lacrosse with so our classes run really smoothly. So far the advanced algebra curriculum has been fun!

I honestly didn't really believe everyone when they said that year 1 is so hard. But so far I feel like this year has been much easier. Not because I have less work or the work is easier. I just feel like I have a better idea of how to handle the majority of stuff that comes my way. You waste a lot less time figuring those things out so you can spend more time doing the stuff you need to do.

For all my other teachers who've started back in the last couple weeks I wish you good luck and hope you all have a great year.

Come back and read again for my very first blog about my chemistry interactive notebook!!!!!!!!!

Summer Homework

Our principal asked us to write a reflection of our classrooms last year, here are the questions he gave us to focus our responses:

1. What do you think the motivational level in your classes was last year?

Last year in the majority of the classes I taught or co-taught the motivation level was on the low side. I do not believe that it was zero- however; it most certainly could have been higher. Of course there were students in every class who were individually motivated to succeed regardless of the opinions of their peers.

2. Was there a value problem? An expectancy problem?

I think that the biggest problem had to do with the students not seeing enough value in the subject and class time. This is something I experienced in study skills, if the students do not value their core subjects then they typically don’t value the extra time in study skills to work on their core subjects. This leads to a motivation problem in study skills. I think that our school does a good job mediating expectancy problems because we are so willing to offer help to students who need it. However, there will always be students who don’t believe they can complete work and thus their motivation is low- I don’t believe I experienced this type of problem as much as a value problem.

3. If you considered apathy to be an issue, what was your role in that?

I think that a teacher’s role with apathy starts from the very first day of school. Students can tell when they have worn you down to the point of you not caring either.

4. What was already working?

I think that I had consistent and high expectations for my students. I think when I conveyed them well they helped my students know how to be successful and succeed in my classroom.

5. What will you do differently?

One area I know I need to improve is communicating my expectations. I really liked how the CHAMPS book says to have guidelines for success which are separate from classroom rules. I am looking forward to having some good class discussions using the CHAMPS model for each activity and transition (Conversation, Help, Activity, Movement, Participation).

6. How will you monitor and assess the effectiveness of your new strategies?

Well for most of my students I will already be keeping track of behavioral data that can be compared to last year to see if the guidelines for success and classroom rules I use are effective. Part of making sure they are effective is using consistent consequences. These can also be tracked by a data collection method to ensure that I am fairly and consistently enforcing all the rules and their specified consequences.  Also if implementing the CHAMPS method is effective it will maximize instructional time which will lead to expected growth or higher than expected growth on the Student Learning Objective test.

Has anyone out there used the CHAMPS model in their classroom? Esp in the high school level?

Any suggestions on guidelines for success or classroom rules that you have used before that you liked?

Please feel free to post comments with any of your suggestions and ideas!

Teaching Supplies!!

My grandparents moved into a smaller house so they had an estate sale at their old place. So what was the first thing I went looking for? Things I could use in my classroom. First thing I found were these heavyweight sheet protectors. I figured I could put some graph paper in their or just white paper and students can use them like white boards! Totally awesome!

Next things were these magazine holders. Now either I'll just use them to keep my self organized or I thought maybe my students can keep their interactive notebooks in here (I'll most likely have less than 12 students). Also shown below i found some red card stock! Gotta start stock piling colored paper- esp colors that my school doesn't provide! Just like Math = Love. 

Erin Condren Teacher Planners!

I have always been someone who loves planners. I love color coding them, highlighting, and covering each page with sticky notes. I knew I was gonna need something awesome for when I became a teacher. My little sister, who is also a teacher, recommended the Erin Condren Teacher Planner.  Now, they are a splurge- but I think it was worth it. I took it everywhere and used it all the time.  Keep reading to see a pictorial review of my Erin Condren Teacher Planner. 

2014-2015 Planner

Above is my planner from last year. There are so many great covers to choose from that you can most definitely find one that fits your style and personality. I love color so I went with rainbow! Also you can customize it to say your name and school on the front. 

Pages I didn't really use :(

Above are some of the pages at the beginning of the planner that I didn't use. The first "all about me" page I did fill in with my info- just in case. But the "classroom events and volunteers" and "substitute" pages felt like they were designed for an elementary class room. I am not planning anything for those pages next year- they will just remain blank. The "year at a glance" pages seem like they could be really useful, but as a first year teacher not knowing what subjects I would be teaching- I didn't fill it in. I plan on trying to fill it in this year for my resource chemistry class.

Another page I didn't use- But I will!

Above is another page that I think was designed for an elementary class room where you only have 25-30 kids ever. This would be useful to track what the kids missed. However when you have 20-30 kids in each of your 5 periods- it makes using this section a little more difficult. SO my big plan for re-purposing this section for next year is to use it as a parent/student contact log. This will be very beneficial to me because while I was good about contacting parents I was really bad about logging it on our online system for parent contacts. This is important for special education because there are laws specifying how many times you need to attempt to contact parents and such. Also since I always have my planner with me, I can write it in the section and then log it the online system later! Great Idea! (well I hope it is anyway-

Not pictured: there is a section full of graph paper. I mostly used it just for notes and lists and things. But you could use it for seating arrangements. I imagine it would be useful for all sorts of other things too.

Monthly View

These were great because after each month are 3 pages for notes for that month. I also used this both as a calendar for school and personal. It was nice to be able to see when all the home football and basketball games were. Also I coach lacrosse so practice and game times were kept here too.

Lesson Planning pages! 

Above are the lesson planning pages! I love these. Even though we have to turn in electronic lesson plans, I really benefit from mapping it out on paper first. Although I do suggest writing in pencil otherwise you'll use lots of white out or sticky notes. Across the top are 7 slots, which works well if your are on a 7 period day- I guess. But luckily not all of us have 7 preps so we can combine blocks and have more space to write. Now it took me a while to figure out what my optimal set up was for my classes across the top. But one thing that I found VERY helpful was to have a section for my planning period where I could make to-do lists for everything that needed to get done. Also you can see in the picture where I've "X"-ed out some days for some classes. My high school is on a modified block so Mon, Tue, and Fri are 7 period days. Wed is Odd block day and Thur is even block day. So this planner is definitely customizable to your schedule- you will just have to play around with it.

Stickers! 

Who doesn't love stickers?!

Grade book- I think?

I think these pages were designed to be used as a grade book. For me this year I didn't think that would be useful because our grades are done online. However, there are some glitches with that and it is possible for students grades from all year to be lost (YIKES!). So next year I think I will try to keep a grade book, at least for the Chem resource class that I will be teaching. For my co-taught classes I don't think I'll be keeping track of all that. Above you can see 2 things I tried to use these pages for. The left was me trying to keep track of my students IEP goals. The right was me marking tardies. Tardies are a big problem at our school- not really sure why. I think it has to do with the fact that the building was designed to hold like 800 max students and we've got like 1100 students in. We are growing too fast!

2015-2016 Planner!

Lastly, above is my planner for next year! I decided to go with a positive quote on the outside to always remind me that I can do anything I put my mind to! Also in the package this year was another positive quote- so I stuck it inside the front cover!

Overall I would totally recommend the Teacher Planner to anyone. My middle sister and I loved the teacher planner so much that our youngest sister, who is a college student, got the life planner. She loves that thing too! Basically Erin Condren knows what she is doing! Check her out at her website!

First year Reflections

I was really bad this past year at reflecting on my practice as a whole. I was good at planning a lesson and then reflecting on it's efficacy. However, that is a small snapshot of what teachers do, especially special education teachers. I'm hoping that by having this blog it will force me to reflect on all facets of being a teacher.

Below are some things I learned in my first year of teaching:

1. Ask for HELP! This is something I had to learn fast. I have no background or education (other than one masters level class) in special education. I had to learn fast because I had to write an IEP, which is a legally binding document, within the first week of school. I couldn't have done that without help. Luckily I have the most awesomest colleagues around and they were very willing to walk me through whatever it was I needed to learn to be a special education teacher. 
2. Nothing is ever 100% perfect. As a bit of a self proclaimed perfectionist, this one was hard for me to learn. However, agonizing over worksheets, lesson plans, journal prompts, etc for too long can lead to diminishing returns. What I mean is losing sleep because your journal prompts aren't 100% perfect and pretty and thought provoking is silly cause your students need you at your best. At some point, the effort you put into something to try to make it 100% perfect isn't worth the marginal gain.
3. Start out hard. Just like everyone told me it would be, it was much harder to start out nice and then try to batten down the hatches later in the year. One of my professors in grad school told me that she didn't smile at her students till after Christmas break. I still think that's a little on the extreme side but her sentiment is correct. If you give the students and inch they will take a mile or 10. This bullet could also have been called "It's ok to be a little scary". This was something my lacrosse girls taught me- sometimes your have to lose your mind a bit to be taken seriously- especially if you didn't start out hard. (this is where the comprehensive classroom management plan will come into play).
4. Small changes can equal big results.  As a special education teacher I got to see some of the smallest changes make the biggest difference for students. One example I can think of is we had a student who was struggling to finish her tests, even in her extended time. She also wasn't performing as well on her exams as we thought she should. We started only giving her 1 page of the tests at a time- what a difference it made! She was much less anxious and was able to decrease the amount of time and perform better! I always will refer back to this when I think there is no hope or I am frustrated with lack of progress- sometimes it's just a little change!
5. Plan during your planning periods. This one seems so self-explanatory; however, it is something that I continued to struggle with on a daily basis. It so much easier to give in to the temptation of socializing during your planning periods. Also I shared a room with 4 other teacher, making it a social hub. Also my school is growing so much that all classrooms need to be used- so most likely during your planning periods you have other classes in your classroom. It's harder to plan and get other teacher related work done if that is that case than you think. I will hopefully be better about this next year.
6. Fake it till you make it! Your students will know if you are having an off day. Your colleagues will know if you are having an off day. There will be times where you want to sit in the dark and cry- those are the times that you just have to Fake it till you make it. 
7. What you say matters. Students are always listening- ALWAYS! This is hard for me to remember all the time because I can be a tad sarcastic. You always have to be intentional with what you say because you can really hurt a students feelings. Or a colleague for that matter. But also keep this in mind because when you give out praise, everyone is listening too. You can really make someones day by being genuinely kind and praising them. 
8. Be organized- somehow. It doesn't how but find a way that works for you! I used the Erin Condren Teacher Planner last year and bought another one for next year. I am the type of person who has to write EVERYTHING down or I won't remember it. 
9. Don't create everything from scratch. To be honest this is just such a waste of time, there are so many awesome resources out there for teachers. But this ties back into the perfectionist tendencies- I want it the way I want it. 

Please let me know what you think!

Nightmare!

I had a nightmare earlier this week. It really was more of an anxiety dream than a nightmare. I dreamed that it was time for pre-planning to start and I hadn't checked anything off my summer to-do list!! I know, sounds TERRIFYING! Below is most of my summer to-do list (this a living list that changes often):

• Review Chemistry subjects to be prepared to teach it 
• Plan some INB pages for chemistry
• Read CHAMPS classroom management book provided by my school
• Read The First Days of School by Harry Wong
• Make as comprehensive of a classroom management plan as I can
• Write more blog posts
• Read for fun
• Find a work-out plan that I can stick to
• Start an Essential Oils journal
• Read a couple of the other teacher books I have acquired
• Figure out my savings plan (never too early to plan for retirement?)
• Work at my part time summer job

The problem with most of these items is that they aren't just easily checked off- they are on going projects. 

The first 5 items are really important to me because I want to start this year feeling ahead of the game. This past year I always felt behind, which is a hard way to teach. It can be exhausting. I want next year to be different!  Wish me luck!

End of the First Year

It's strange to think that this time last year I had already accepted my job as a Special Education Math teacher and was embarking on my last semester of grad school. I was so excited to actually start teaching in my own classroom- well co-teaching with another teacher! I loved the idea of co-teaching and collaborating with teachers who would make me a better teacher.

Selfie on the last day of school!

Friday was my last day of school as a first year teacher. Now I am starting my first week of post-planning ever tomorrow. Grades are due tomorrow- for once I feel on top of my stuff because I am already done with grades! We have all day tomorrow to pack up our classrooms and clean everything up. Either packing because you are moving classrooms or to allow your room to be deep cleaned over the summer. I can't tell you how excited I am to clean up, pack up, and get everything organized (just look at the state of my desk in the above selfie). Then on Tuesday we have an all day professional learning on classroom management. This is an area I most certainly need help with. Any and all information I can learn I will use! I am totally the nerd who is looking forward to spending 6 hours learning about something I need help with!

I have been trying to reflect on this past year and haven't really been able to put my experience into words yet. Soon I will post about things I have learned about about things I want to work on or focus on next year. Like I said in my first post- I will be teaching a new subject next year: Chemistry! While I am super excited about it because I LOVE chemistry. I am nervous though and feel like it will be a first year teaching experience again- hopefully the classroom management will be easier this year.

First Post

Hi all!

I just renamed this blog to Math, Science, and Everything Nice because I am going to be teaching both math and science, specifically chemistry, next year!

This past year was my first year teaching ever! This year I taught Special Education Math in high school. I co-taught 3 study skills classes, taught a functional level math class, and split a period between 2 different senior level math classes. I am super excited about transitioning to teaching both chemistry and math!

First Day of School 2014-2015

This is a throw back to the first day of school this year. My little sister and I both teach in the same school district!