Teaching Tip of the Day - Nix the Rules

Of course, none of us have ever heard a student say "F the rules!" As a preventative measure, students will no longer have any rules to say this about, therefore making this obscene phrase null and void.  They will instead have a "Recipe for Success." How cute. "F the Recipe for success" doesn't quite have the same ring as "F the rules."

I got the idea from a teacher of the second grade at A Love For Teaching. I added my own flair to the recipe card spin off of classroom rules.

Teaching Tip of the Day- Giveaway

Katie from http://sparkingthemind.blogspot.com/ is having a giveaway.  Check out her blog to see what is up for grabs! Many teachers collaborated on this giveaway from K-12!  So many chances to win!

Teaching Tip of the Day: Freebies!

Just for following my blog, you can get this FREE Plot Structure Worksheet.

In more complicated texts, there are multiple plot lines. Even in TV shows, movies, etc. there are multiple plot lines. For example, in The Walking Dead TV show, the outer story is connected to survival and not becoming a "walker." The inner story is connected to whatever that episode is about. For example, Lori is pregnant, Merle is on the loose, etc. 

You can use this graphic organizer for a prior knowledge activity; you can use it to assess student learning while reading a group text; or you can use it to track individual student learning in stations. 

Teaching Tip of the Day - Survey for the End of the Year

At the end of every school year, I have students answer a survey from surveymonkey.com.  The survey has questions that pertain to their opinion of my teaching style.  I also throw in fun questions like "What was your first impression of Ms. Carew and was your first impression right?"  

Example of Responses to "What was your first impression of Ms. Carew and was your first impression right?"

"My first impression of ms.carew a young teacher filling in who may of not had a plan on how to teach us but i impression was dead wrong"

"i thought she was too young to teach,thought she was a student herself"

At the end of the survey, I tell students they can write me a note with or without their name giving me suggestions, words of gratitude, comments, or anything.  Not everyone responds to this question (the other questions are mandatory), but the responses I received were very nice to read.  

Touching Responses:

"thank you for all you have done you have been a great teacher this year and im going to miss you <3 you have inspired me in so many ways"

"Ms. Carew You teach me many things that seemed hard. hard I learns to be a better reader and got me ore interested in reading books. I enjoy reading Romeo and Juliet. The best part of the year was the part about Greek mythology. It was the best and still is. Thank you so much for being.my teacher this year."

"Thank you for the knowlege, you made it really easy to learn"

Groupie Responses :) lol

"YOU ARE THE BEST MS. CAREW! I HOPE I GET YOU NEXT YEAR FOR MY TEACHER. I actually learn in your class and enjoy coming to your class every day. I love the way you teach!"

"You are the best teacher ever!!!! i loveeeeeee being in your class and i wish i could have you next year. i dont know if i am going to be but i hope i am. i learn a lot in your class and i actually understand what i am learning!!!! you are very pretty and you wear the BEST! clothes."

Teaching Tip of the Day- Free Rewards for High School Students

As many of us wrap up this school year, it's hard not to think of next year. I have been thinking of a reward system for good/model behavior. In the past I have bought trinkets from the dollar store and had students collect two good reward tickets in order to redeem them for a prize. One of their favorite prizes was the "tattoo sleeve". Here is a link to some more reward ideas I had last year.

I have so many things in my personal life to spend money on that I don't want to have student rewards come out of my pocket. In a way, it would be like I would be paying students to behave, when in actuality, students SHOULD be behaved anyway.

Project of the Day- DIY Silhouette Artwork

This post is once again inspired by: LIVELOVEDIY. My idea to use deer silhouettes came from LIVELOVEDIY, but my delivery is different than hers. Check out her post too!

Materials needed:

• Construction Paper/Scrapbook Paper
• Scissors
• Glue Sticks
• Mirror (Mine is from the Dollar Store)
• Doodle Buddy app (not required)
• Pencil

Directions:

1. Find an image you want to replicate.
2. Animals (birds) and plants (things from nature) are all good ideas.
3. Put that image in doodle buddy and create a grid, by eye, over it.
4. Create a grid on your scrapbook paper.
5. Freehand the image following the grid.
6. Cut the image out carefully. (Could even use an exacto knife)
7. Glue the entire back of the paper.
8. Place on mirror.
9. Voila'

This is part of a larger project so I don't have a picture yet to show of it placed on the wall.

Teaching Tip of the Day - Sign up for Teachers Pay Teachers

I have already posted about Teachers pay Teachers.com before in this post.  But I just found a new tool in there that I would like to implement.  If you sign up by using my link, I will receive part of your commission on products you sell.  It's a win/win.  If you make a sale, you still get the percentage that you would normally get, except Teachers pay Teachers have to pay me a percentage of their share.

Benefits of an account:

• It's free to join.
• There are free products everywhere to download... yes for Free.
• There are for sale items for you to buy whole units if you'd like.
• You can get inspiration for your own classroom activity.
• You're staying technology savvy. 
• You can make money on YOUR assignments/PowerPoints/worksheets/etc.
• It will make me money too :)

If you are interested, please use this link below:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Signup/referral:Misscarew

Here is a sample of a product I have on the site:

A SMART Board Notebook file with Greek Mythology Prompts