Value in Observations: Student Teachers and Veterans

Many first year teachers, are surprised at the number of details their cooperating teacher had taken care of, without their knowledge, while they were a student teacher. These details make themselves known during the first year on the job. New teachers usually find out about these forgotten details at the most inconvenient times their first year.

Teacher preparation programs vary from college to college and state to state. First year teachers will never feel completely prepared for all of the duties and details that a teaching job includes, but I do think there are some lessons that should be included with all teacher preparation programs.

OBSERVE - OBSERVE - OBSERVE


Future teachers need to have hours in the trenches - real classrooms - every semester of college. Don't wait to observe classrooms a semester or two before student teaching. Students interested in becoming teachers should take an introduction to education class their freshman year. This class should include at least 10 hours of observation in a classroom. It would be helpful if the observation were divided into 5 hours in a primary class and 5 hours in an intermediate grade classroom for elementary majors. Having field based experiences each semester has many benefits:

Students will get a first hand view of what the job of a teacher is like on a day-to-day basis. Is this something they want to do? It is much better to decide this is not the job for them instead of after investing three years of program. Students may feel pressured to complete a program that isn't right for them if the observations occur later in the program. Teaching is hard enough when you have a passion for the job.
Many teachers will give college students copies of the lesson that they observe. This is a great way to begin their teacher files.
Future teachers never know what grade they will teach some day.
Teachers often switch grade levels during the first few years of their career. Having materials that include a wide range of grade levels will be very helpful.
These activities will be useful to help students in their future class who are working below or above grade level.

Other countries support their teachers by giving them time to observe their colleagues. These countries realize there is value in seeing work in action. To watch a teacher at your school or in your district teach the curriculum that you're teaching has real valuable.

I was fortunate to work for an administrator who believed in this. We had recently adopted new curriculum and was a little stressed about it. He arranged substitutes for us and spoke to another administrator so we could observe a team at another school. Each of us observed a different teacher for half a day. The colleagues were nice enough to answer our questions during their prep periods. Then we went back to our school and met for half a day to discuss what we observed.

Guess what all of us were looking for in these observations? We wanted to see the organization and classroom management of the new curriculum.

• How did the teachers organize the materials? 
• How did the teacher distribute materials? 
• How did they decide what to take a grade on? 

We were all veteran teachers yet gained so much from observing our colleagues. Doesn't it make sense that future teachers would gain just as much if not more from doing similar observations?

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Teacher Tip: Paperwork, Grading, Organization

Do you feel like your stacks of papers keep growing? Paperwork can add stress to an already stressful job. Just like you have a system for your discipline, you need a system for managing your paperwork. Once you find a system that works for you, you will still have too much paperwork, but it feel more manageable and little less stressful.

Keeping up with who turned in their assignments and who didn't was one of my biggest headaches when I began teaching. Then I figured out a system that worked for me.

Put your students in alphabetical order and assign each one a number.
Students will write name and number on every assignment.
Make a class chart with 2 columns. You can get a copy HERE.
Print a stack of these and keep them near the student turn-in spot.
After I give an assignment, I tape one of the class charts by the turn-in spot. I write the name of the assignment at the top, date, and points possible.
Students will highlight their name when they turn in their assignment.
COLOR CODE: I love to color code everything. You can choose the colors that work for you. Here is an example of how you can do it.
YELLOW: Highlight name with yellow highlighter when assignment is turned in the day it is due.
ORANGE: Highlight name with orange highlighter when assignment is turned in late.
GREEN: Highlight number with green highlighter when student is absent when assignment is given.

At the end of work time or end of the day, collect assignment and put in number order (students each have an assigned number).
Clip the class chart (that students highlighted their name on) on top of the stack of assignments.
The next morning before school, put the stacks of assignments with missing work in a designated spot. Students will turn in their assignments and highlight their name with the late color highlighter (if the next day is considered late).
Continue putting out stacks of assignments each morning until you get 100%.

Save the class charts with highlighted names. These are great documentation for R.T.I., parent teacher conference, and giving work habits grades on report cards.

The color code makes it easy to see patterns with work habits.

Do you have students that rush through their work? Do you have students that turn in assignments that are incomplete because they are in a rush? This is a bad habit that needs to be stopped! How do you do this?

Explain to your class that rushing through your work and missing key details or not doing all of the problems is like driving a car too fast. Ask them what happens if their parents drive over the speed limit? They could get a ticket from the police. The same thing will happen to students who "speed" too fast through their work. They will get a speeding ticket.

I recommend printing the speeding ticket on a bright colored paper like red and then staple it on the assignment. This will get parent's attention and extra support from home.

Having to redo the assignments should encourage students to complete their work the correct way in the future.

Sharing examples of quality work from time-to-time is a great way to motivate your students. Show your class these examples using your document camera or at circle time. It is important that you don't always share the same few students' work - you know those shining stars of the class.

Find something positive in ALL of your students and share different examples. Here are a few ideas:

Journal entry that used correct punctuation
Neat handwriting
Showing work on math assignments
Picture with many details
Show improvement: i.e. share 2 writing samples to show improvement

Let your parents know the good news that you shared their child's work as an example today with happy news note in the picture above. You can either staple it as a bracelet or attach it to students' backpacks.

After sharing an example of quality work, I like to give a little treat. Sometimes I let them get a prize from the bucket.

Another way you can recognize improvement or quality work is you use a shape stamper like the one in the picture above. If students have one of these on their assignment, they can get a little treat. You can decide the treat - computer time, line up first, work beside a friend, or trip to the treasure box.

When I taught at schools that allowed food, I loved to staple little sweet treats like a lifesaver (picture above) on quality work or an assignment that showed big improvement. The important thing with this rewarding system is that you do it intermittently.

Show off top quality work with this easy to set up system. I bought this cord with clothes pins at Target. They are supposed to be for hanging Christmas cards. Teachers can repurpose them for displaying students' work.

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE.
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Classroom Pull-outs: Tips and a FREEBIE - Tuesday Teacher Tip

It is hard enough to keep up with all the things in a busy teacher's life, and when you add all of the extra pull-outs to a teacher's schedule, it is very easy to feel overwhelmed.  Of course, you want your students to receive all of the extra support that they can get, but it is also very easy to forget to send your students to the correct place at the correct time.  What is a busy teacher who is well-intentioned to do?

How do you keep up when you are juggling so many different schedules?    Are you familiar with the expression many hands make light work?  This is the perfect time to apply that philosophy.  Make a reminder note for each of your student that receive support through a pull-out program.  Click HERE to download a free reminder.

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You can color code this reminders.  Color code them by the day, if it is a one day per week pull-out.  Example:  Students that go to the counselor once a week could have a blue reminder. Or you can color code them by the type of pull-out.  Example:  all of the students that go to speech could have a green reminder.  All of the students that go to the reading specialist could have a yellow reminder.  

There are also reminders for students who receive more than one support service.

Are you a techie!  Click on the links below to use technology reminders.

Tech tip #1

Tech tip #2

Tech tip #3

Tech tip #4

Looking for more tips?  Check out my Morning Messages Pinterest board.  Click on the picture below.

Fern has a few tips to share with you, too.  Be sure to hop over to her blog!

Each week, Fern and I will share a teacher tip. We love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books and hope you do, too!  Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for our latest tips.  We hope you will share your ideas, too.  

Each week we will choose one person who shared a tip on our blog who will get a $10 shopping trip.  We will announce the winner on the following Tuesday's post.  

Do you have a tip to share?  Be sure to include your email so I can contact you if you're the winner of the $10 shopping trip. You must leave your email address in order to win.

Looking for more ideas?  Click on the pictures below.

An InLinkz Link-up

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE. Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

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Organization Tips: Hook Rack

Have you heard of a hook rack?  I bought this one at the Dollar Tree.  If you watched t.v. shows in the 70's, you might have spotted this hanging in the kitchen above the counter.  Moms hung coffee mugs on it to save cabinet space. This hook rack is just as useful in the classroom as it is in the kitchen.

Hang it near your computer center.  It is a great way to keep your headphones organized.

Use it to organize your restroom passes or keep your ID handy.

Hang it near the door.  Put a class list, dry erase marker, in a dry erase pocket.  I bought this one at the Target Dollar Spot.  You can use this to take attendance at fire drills.  If you have a challenging class this year, take it to specials and lunch.  It is an easy way for the teachers to document who had a hard time following rules.  All they need to do is put a tally mark on the chart with the marker.  At the end of the week, you can add the tally marks to your documentation folders and then erase it so you're ready to go for the next week.

Do you have an organization tip to share?

Sources to make my blog post graphics can be found HERE.

 Click HERE to read my blog's disclosure statement.

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Classroom management: Pencils

Pencils are one of those things that are not taught in your undergraduate classes.  Sad, because they can cause so much frustration in your day-to-day life as a teacher.  I thought I would share a few of the things I learned - many times - the hard way!

It was my second year of teaching and I was very nervous.  I had a year under my belt so I knew there was a lot about teaching that I had yet to learn and I knew I didn't know everything.  I was at a new school so I wanted to make a good impression.  I had worked hours on my room and I THOUGHT I had everything ready for my students.  I had just found out that I was going to be the teacher with the oversized class.  I was supposed to have up to 30 first grade students that year with an teacher's assistant. The T.A. wouldn't be hired until weeks later after the final numbers were in so I was on my own for now.  And I started out the year with 32 first graders.  Yes, I was 2 over, but the district assumed a couple of students would move in the first few weeks.  I didn't even have enough desks for all my students at this point.

After the parents left and I took roll, I gave my students an assignment to fill out.  My students began digging through their brand new supplies but very, very, very few of the pencils were sharpened.  And no one had told me that I should have a class set of pencils sharpened and ready to go the first day.  

So, I did what any 2nd year of teaching teacher would do.  I told my students to line up at the pencil sharpener.  This was in the olden days when you had to sharpen your own pencils, not use an electric sharpener.  There were probably 25 kids in line at the sharpener.  You can imagine what that was like!  So, then I took over the cranking of the sharpener, thinking it would speed things along.  And guess who walked in?  It was my principal AND the Superintendent of the district.  Not the best way to make a good impression.

So, my teacher tip is, buy a class set of pencils plus a few extras.  Sharpen them before the first day so you won't make the same mistake that I did.

I have a free parent note for you.  Click on the picture to download it.

Looking for more tips?  Check out my Classroom Management Pinterest board.  Click on the picture below.

Fern has a few tips about pencils to share with you, too.  Be sure to hop over to her blog!

Fern and I are adding something new this summer.  Summer is a great time to catch up on your reading.  I love to read teacher blogs and the latest teacher idea books.  Stop by Fern's blog and my blog each week for Tuesday Teacher Tips.  We hope you will share your ideas, too.  

Each week we will choose one person who shared a tip on our blog who will get a $10 shopping trip.  We will announce the winner in the following Tuesday's post.  The winner for June 3rd post will be announced on June 10th's post.

Do you have a pencil tip to share?  Be sure to include your email so I can contact you if you're the winner of the $10 shopping trip.

Looking for more ideas?  Check out these!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Organizational Tip: Pencils, Glue sticks, and other small things

How many times have you had this scenario play out in your classroom this year?  You begin a lesson and tell your students that you need them to get out a pencil, crayons, or other supplies when two or three students raise their hands.  It is usually the same two or three students.  You know why they are raising their hands before you even call on them.  These are your students that rarely have the supplies to complete their assignments.  It is kind of like your sock mystery at home.  You know how your washer magically eats 10% of the socks it washes.  There are usually 10% of your students that magically lose their supplies.  Their parents have sent in many boxes of crayons, packages of pencils, and glue sticks but somehow they always seem to disappear when it is time to use them.  It is frustrating to you and their parents!

I found something new that you might want to try with your ten percenters.  These students need a spot that has easy access when it is time for lessons and won't get lost in their no-man's-land desk.  It is called Hand-e-Sack Stick & Store.  Have you seen these?

(Click on picture)

It is like a pocket for your desk.  How great is that?!!!!  Now instead of rummaging through their desk and wasting valuable class time, your students will have their pencils, crayons, and other needed supplies at their fingertips.

These can be used in so many different ways.  

Do your students use lockers?  These are small enough to fit inside a locker.  The velcro is sturdy and will easily attach to the side of the locker.

Is your grade level departmentalized?  Do your students take their supplies with them?  With these handy little helpers, your students are ready to go in a jiffy.  No more nagging and waiting for students to find what they need.

Attach these to the back of the chairs at your reading group table.  You can store flashcards, pointers, or other supplies that your students need for your lessons.

Does your P.T.A. have class grants?  I have served on P.T.A. committees before.  We wanted to fund activities or resources that could benefit a large group of children.  A class set of these would be a perfect thing to write a P.T.A. grant for or apply to Donor's Choose. 

I do have a special surprise for my followers!  Michelle @ SeatSack.Com has donated a class set of these for me to giveaway.  To enter, go like SeatSack's Facebook page and follow me on Bloglovin'.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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Do you ever feel like the Verizon guy?

Can you hear me now?  Do you ever feel like you are talking, but you're not sure if all of your students are listening to you? Some days it seems like you need to do a sound check.

 After numerous conversations with parents of my non-listeners, I discovered a pattern.  These students had frequent ear infections when they were toddlers.  Toddlers years are important developmental years when it comes to skill development for listening and following directions. This is the stage when children learn to follow one and two step directions such as "go get your socks and shoes so we can go see Grandma."  When you have an ear infection, your hearing is similar to your head being underwater.  You hear sound, but not the actual words.  My own personal theory is, children with frequent ear infections during these developmental stages, don't learn to tune into the meaning of words.  Parents only have a few children so they can repeat directions several times. As a parent, it's irritating, but not alarming.  But, in a classroom with 20+ students, repeating directions more than 2 or 3 times is not a luxury most teachers have.  It is an issue that teachers will bring to parent's attention.  What is a parent and teacher to do when they have a child or student who doesn't attend to the meaning of words?  Parents and the teacher need to get on the same page, double team the child.  Make the child look at you when you give directions so you know they are tuned into what you are getting ready to say.When you or the parent give directions, ask the child to repeat what you just said.  Visuals can also help, too.  I am a big fan of the L-shaped acrylic picture frames that you can buy for a few dollars at Wal-Mart or Target.  These make great sign holders for all the routine procedures in your classroom.  Here's a picture of my sign next to my homework tub.  If a student ask you a question about one of your routine activities, point to the sign.  You are teaching your students to use visual cues.

Here are homework labels you can download.

I used BD Cartoon Shout font.  You can download

it for free by clicking here.

These labels are inside the homework folder.

You can download them, too.

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