A new twist on my welcome letter! As part of the Summer Learning Series I've been exposed to a lot of information about the You Matter message. This week's challenge even included writing a letter to our future students. I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to do the challenge properly because I feared coming across inauthentic. I'm glad I tried anyway. I confess, I did look at Arin's letter for ideas and it helped me. I liked her idea about telling her students that she had been thinking about them a lot over the summer even before she met them and that she had been preparing for them. That made sense to me. I actually have been thinking about my future students with everything I've been learning and preparing over the summer so that's not just a fanciful thing to say. That shift in thinking really changed the tone of my normal welcome letter. It's a small shift, but a powerful one. I usually tell them a little bit about me and I hope they have a great year, but by telling them I've been thinking about them and that I know they are going to be different and fun and interesting and that I've been preparing things just for them adds a more personal connection to start our relationship. I usually say I love my job, but this time I say YOU are the reason I love my job!
Who knows if they'll notice or read it any differently than any other ordinary welcome letter, but I hope that it starts a whole year of little ways that I show them that they matter.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/hs5lxp3c4x6vlqu/Bienvenidos.docx
Friday, July 25, 2014
Saturday, July 19, 2014
Can an Introvert be a Pirate?
I can't believe how little time is left until the start of the school year. My summer has been filled with thinking about school. I've been participating in the Summer Learning Series and have been listening to podcasts and participating in Twitter chats and been on Twitter in general quite a bit. A huge theme in the chats is relationships and student choice and crazy activities to engage students. I'm a huge fan of Teach like a Pirate and of the Ron Clark Academy. Kim Bearden's new book reminded me of how much I loved my time at RCA and the possibilities and hope available to us as educators.
As an introvert, I'm a big thinker and reflector. A huge thing for me is perception, attitude and mindset. The way I look at things has a tremendous effect on the way I act and the results I get in my classroom. Several years ago, I made up my mind not to yell at students. Just that decision made a huge difference to me in the way I handled everything. I had to talk to myself differently whenever anything happened. It didn't matter how frustrated I got, I had to talk calmly and figure out the best way to handle the situation. I told myself that if I were a nurse and a patient frustrated me, I wouldn't yell at the patient, I would have to figure out how to handle it somehow without yelling. Last year, I had one class that was a little loud and unruly after lunch. I worked with them and they were okay most of the time, But after reading Pernille Ripp, I know I need to make even more connections with those students and get behind the why. I know there are girls that say, that's just the way I talk. But there's more to it. Those students really liked me, but I have to do something different to create even better relationships with them and maybe I need to create something different in my routines for the afternoon classes because they are more restless after lunch.
So I've also been reflecting about my room and what it says about me and what everyone says I should do and not do. I think I have to stick with my gut and decorate the room the way I want to decorate. I can't give that up yet. I teach high school and most of the high school rooms are really depressing. I understand the reasoning of having the students contribute to the room decor, but we don't do that many things that would need to be displayed. I put up Spanish expressions that the students use and bright colors. I keep it very simple, but happy. I think that the message I send is that I care about my students enough to make the room happy and organized for us. I also take the time to always make games and activities have happy details like using decorated cards instead of plain index cards, etc. I know that my pairs of desks face the front of the room and that's a seemingly no-no thing to do...not collaborative enough. But I am an introvert and I want people to work in pairs for many activities especially at the beginning of the year and not feel overwhelmed by too many people. I do move the desks into small groups and big circles and other configurations for different days and different activities.
Lastly, I've been wondering how I've been able to have many students over the years who seem to like me when I don't have a wild, extroverted personality. I think maybe the answer is this...Because I'm an introvert, I listen well. Students can talk to me and I listen. I smile a lot. I make eye contact. Because I don't like a lot of spotlight, I design activities that don't involve me talking for the whole period or revolve around me. I explain things as many times as students need. I never tell students that I "just explained that" or "they weren't listening". I lend pencils! So I guess without realizing it, I have been making things student centered. I can certainly make things more student centered and I definitely need to add more choice into the activities. I'm always looking for and thinking about exciting activities I can plan that still allow me to have my own personality.
So, I hope the answer is YES! An introvert can be a pirate. She just might not dress up like one.
As an introvert, I'm a big thinker and reflector. A huge thing for me is perception, attitude and mindset. The way I look at things has a tremendous effect on the way I act and the results I get in my classroom. Several years ago, I made up my mind not to yell at students. Just that decision made a huge difference to me in the way I handled everything. I had to talk to myself differently whenever anything happened. It didn't matter how frustrated I got, I had to talk calmly and figure out the best way to handle the situation. I told myself that if I were a nurse and a patient frustrated me, I wouldn't yell at the patient, I would have to figure out how to handle it somehow without yelling. Last year, I had one class that was a little loud and unruly after lunch. I worked with them and they were okay most of the time, But after reading Pernille Ripp, I know I need to make even more connections with those students and get behind the why. I know there are girls that say, that's just the way I talk. But there's more to it. Those students really liked me, but I have to do something different to create even better relationships with them and maybe I need to create something different in my routines for the afternoon classes because they are more restless after lunch.
So I've also been reflecting about my room and what it says about me and what everyone says I should do and not do. I think I have to stick with my gut and decorate the room the way I want to decorate. I can't give that up yet. I teach high school and most of the high school rooms are really depressing. I understand the reasoning of having the students contribute to the room decor, but we don't do that many things that would need to be displayed. I put up Spanish expressions that the students use and bright colors. I keep it very simple, but happy. I think that the message I send is that I care about my students enough to make the room happy and organized for us. I also take the time to always make games and activities have happy details like using decorated cards instead of plain index cards, etc. I know that my pairs of desks face the front of the room and that's a seemingly no-no thing to do...not collaborative enough. But I am an introvert and I want people to work in pairs for many activities especially at the beginning of the year and not feel overwhelmed by too many people. I do move the desks into small groups and big circles and other configurations for different days and different activities.
Lastly, I've been wondering how I've been able to have many students over the years who seem to like me when I don't have a wild, extroverted personality. I think maybe the answer is this...Because I'm an introvert, I listen well. Students can talk to me and I listen. I smile a lot. I make eye contact. Because I don't like a lot of spotlight, I design activities that don't involve me talking for the whole period or revolve around me. I explain things as many times as students need. I never tell students that I "just explained that" or "they weren't listening". I lend pencils! So I guess without realizing it, I have been making things student centered. I can certainly make things more student centered and I definitely need to add more choice into the activities. I'm always looking for and thinking about exciting activities I can plan that still allow me to have my own personality.
So, I hope the answer is YES! An introvert can be a pirate. She just might not dress up like one.
Friday, July 18, 2014
Cellphones?
I'm looking for advice from my PLN about cellphones in the classroom. I know I've seen tweets making fun of schools that don't allow cellphones, etc. I have activities that use cellphones in my classroom. But I'm talking about the daily lessons and students having cellphones out and playing games on them or looking for music, etc. Do you ever ask students to put away their cellphones? Are your lessons so engaging that they are never tempted to play Clash of Clans while your activities are in progress? I want to handle cellphones in the best way possible this year. I teach freshmen and the cellphones aren't usually a problem until about January when they get comfortable/cocky and start using them all the time no matter what is going on in class. Some have even asked me to be stricter about them so they won't be tempted. I notice that they think they are great multi-taskers and it takes away from the group dynamics of even a fun group game when they say things like, "I was only looking at my phone while I was waiting for my turn." Well, you could have been learning from the other students' turns and just being respectful and having fun attending to the game is my thought.
I plan on using phones on the first day of school with Kahoot! and signing up for my Facebook page and Remind. I was considering having a discussion with the students about respectful use of cellphones and why you don't use them during a game or an activity, etc. I don't know how to handle the cellphone issue, to be honest. I want to be 21st Century, but I also want to do what's best for their learning and for my sanity. I'm not interested in "punishing" them for their cellphones. I want more creative solutions. Please let me know how cellphones are handled in the progressive classroom!
I plan on using phones on the first day of school with Kahoot! and signing up for my Facebook page and Remind. I was considering having a discussion with the students about respectful use of cellphones and why you don't use them during a game or an activity, etc. I don't know how to handle the cellphone issue, to be honest. I want to be 21st Century, but I also want to do what's best for their learning and for my sanity. I'm not interested in "punishing" them for their cellphones. I want more creative solutions. Please let me know how cellphones are handled in the progressive classroom!
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Balance
I just finished a week of working with my colleagues on some curriculum work. There is one teacher whom I'm always giving "pep talks" because she is routinely in tears and so self-critical about her inadequacy with technology. Her constant negative self-talk is paralyzing. Any time any teacher shares anything, she is always comparing herself and coming up short. She is actually the reason I started this blog in the first place. My first post was just for her. Instead of taking the great ideas and making them her own, she just makes herself feel bad in some way. Anyway, back to balance. When I am at work, I feel pretty great about my own use of technology. When I am on Twitter, I can feel inadequate. I saw a tweet again recently about focusing on strengths. This time it was from Dave Burgess and #tlap...make a conscious effort to focus on what empowers you. When I was talking with my colleague last week I tried to help her see that she needed to focus on her strengths because if she is always trying to do what the other teachers are doing and she doesn't like it or is not good at it and is just doing it because she thinks she must or she'll get fired if she doesn't, it will make her life miserable and that will translate to the students and show through during the activity and the activity won't succeed. There are some things she likes about technology and she should start there. Start where she feels empowered not where she feels beaten down.
I have to take that advice for myself when I'm on Twitter. I need to focus on the great ideas that I think I can make my own and that empower me so that they will succeed and I will feel good about them and that will translate to my students. But I also want to take the Twitter advice of not being afraid to fail and dreaming big. But I want those dreams to be my dreams, not someone else's dreams. If I try to do what someone else thinks is cool, it won't be authentic and my passion won't be behind it.
I need to stretch myself, but I need to give myself credit for stretching myself in ways that I don't realize I'm stretching myself. Just blogging and putting myself out there for others to read is a huge step for me. I know I need to get out of my comfort zone more often. But I can't expect myself to be delivering Keynote speeches at ISTE tomorrow. LOL. I have been participating in lots of chats this summer. I have expanded my PLN tremendously. I am participating in the Summer Learning Series. I am learning and growing. I am working on implementing TLAP ideas to my lessons. So I am getting out of my comfort zone in many ways.
Balance. I need to stretch and grow and not be afraid to fail. But I need to focus on what empowers ME and what I find fun and what I'm passionate about and that will give me the push to get out there.
I have to take that advice for myself when I'm on Twitter. I need to focus on the great ideas that I think I can make my own and that empower me so that they will succeed and I will feel good about them and that will translate to my students. But I also want to take the Twitter advice of not being afraid to fail and dreaming big. But I want those dreams to be my dreams, not someone else's dreams. If I try to do what someone else thinks is cool, it won't be authentic and my passion won't be behind it.
I need to stretch myself, but I need to give myself credit for stretching myself in ways that I don't realize I'm stretching myself. Just blogging and putting myself out there for others to read is a huge step for me. I know I need to get out of my comfort zone more often. But I can't expect myself to be delivering Keynote speeches at ISTE tomorrow. LOL. I have been participating in lots of chats this summer. I have expanded my PLN tremendously. I am participating in the Summer Learning Series. I am learning and growing. I am working on implementing TLAP ideas to my lessons. So I am getting out of my comfort zone in many ways.
Balance. I need to stretch and grow and not be afraid to fail. But I need to focus on what empowers ME and what I find fun and what I'm passionate about and that will give me the push to get out there.
Friday, July 4, 2014
Do it anyway!
The signs are all around me. Everything that I'm encountering this summer is telling me to take a chance and do it anyway! I had a tough year last year with energy and my pain with Fibromyalgia. I still did some fun lessons and still established good relationships with my students, but I couldn't wait for the year to end. Ironically, ever since the year ended, I haven't stopped thinking about next year. In addition to #tlap, I've joined #SummerLS, which has brought me to new levels of Twitterdom. I've found podcasts and articles and tweets that have all been leading me to want to do something dramatic and special for the first days of school. I've always tried to make the first days special, but I just read an article by AJ Juliani that used the word "epic" in relation to experiences in school. My "epic" experiences in my classroom have always been things like making hot chocolate for Polar Express and making paper flowers, making churros, etc. These are things the kids always remember and talk about in addition to certain fun games and songs. I've been worrying that if I do something too spectacular on the first day that the day to day lessons won't "live up" to the first day. But they aren't supposed to. The first day is a special day. Especially for freshmen. It's their first day of high school! So I'm going to do it anyway! I'm going to think of something to make their first day of high school in Spanish class memorable. There's always the second day and third day to get into the procedures. I don't want to spend any time at all going over consequences for behavior, I've decided to go over those individually with students if and when they need them.
So these are the things I'm considering when making my first day plans:
So these are the things I'm considering when making my first day plans:
- Dave Burgess mentioned that it's important to "make" something. So I've got to figure out what that will be. Considering paper flowers in school colors.
- Make my seating chart with the numbers on the desks and numbers on the chart as always. That's something that's worked for me for years. Students are in their seats and ready to go when the bell rings. They know I'm ready for them and organized.
- Have something fun about Spanish for them to learn and play with and use music.
- Have the whole period full.
- Make it memorable.
- Have pictures of students from last year playing on looping Power Point during passing period while I'm in the hallway greeting them on their way in the room.
- Have Facebook page info and Remind sign-up info on back of seating chart. Send a text at end of school day.
The Ron Clark Academy always has a party or celebration on the first day of school before going into the classrooms for actual school. I don't have that luxury so I'm going to make the first day a celebration. I think if I do it right, I can send the message that the first day of school is a celebration without sending the message that my class isn't going to be any work at all. I can still show that I'm organized and mean business. At least that's my plan. Even if it's not the conventional advice for the first day of school, I'm going to DO IT ANYWAY!
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