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Showing posts from July, 2014

3 Weeks Out, Panic Sets In

First off, I want to apologize for missing comments on previous blog posts. I used to get e-mail notifications, and just noticed last night as I was perusing my junk mail that they are all being redirected there. I will be responding today! So yesterday I posted on the FB page, a bit  stressed. :/ Our show ended on Sunday, and I really didn't work on much while that was going on because it was all consuming and amazing. Here are some pics - I cropped other people out of them because I didn't want to post them on here without permission, but you can get an idea of the 70's flair. It was a lot of hairspray, polyester, eyeshadow, and fun. It takes a lot of work to poof the hair If you haven't seen "9 to 5", there is a hilarious puppet scene. This is my partner, Flower, covering his eyes because it was the last show :( I played Dr. Becker and Joan the Secretary If you enjoy musicals, I highly recommend doing this during the summertim

"Genius Hour"

I've been spending the last few days developing materials to use in the new class I'm teaching this year, based off of the " Genius Hour " made famous by Google's 20% time idea. This is part of our new Content Area Extension classes, and is for students who can work independently and are intrinsically motivated and curious to learn about a variety of subjects. Students will be working alone to learn about any topic that is interesting to them, and I'm so excited to take this journey during the school year with them! I've been doing research on this since the idea was introduced to me last year, and I'm so excited about implementing it in my classroom! Here's a quick breakdown on how it will work in my classroom: Every quarter (9 weeks) students will go through the following process: Brainstorming  At the end of the project window, students will produce a completed product. It could be an event or service to help others in the school or

My Monday Made It, four days late

Hi everyone! My Monday Made It took me a little bit longer than just Monday, mostly because I was being lazy while the hubster was out of town. 1. I uploaded five new items to Teachers Pay Teachers: my Writer's Workshop package, Teacher Binder/Planner, Four Corners Signs, 5 W's of Characterization Handout, and some cute Owls for classroom decorations. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/2014-2015-Teacher-Binder-and-Planner-1326118 I'm so excited about my teacher binder/planner. I use it in conjunction with my Erin Condren Teacher Planner because if you are one of those people that loves writing down your plans, you can never have enough places to do it. I justify it because my EC planner goes everywhere with me, and this one will stay at school. It is also something I will use for data collection so to know it's always at school and ready to go with me for a meeting, or there for a sub, is great! I've thought about possibly packaging

Organizing Resources Part 1

Ok, back to organizing resources! I don't know about all of you, but we have so many resources with our Pearson textbook series that it is kind of overwhelming. Plus, we all use supplementary resources and teacher created resources, plus assessment tools, and it just becomes ridiculous! I have always used a binder system, since I started teaching. It works well, and everything is in one place, but there is one problem... Throw a binder or two or three in a bag with a laptop, teacher edition book, and papers to grade, and it's ridiculously heavy! Plus, the binding breaks or cracks, and eventually the binder itself stops opening and closing, and papers start falling out. Plus, I find myself starting to shove things into the binder halfway through a unit because I am honest to goodness too busy to open the ring and put it back in the right place. Here's how a typical binder is organized on the inside: I put any DVD's, models, and notes in the pocket for easy