Teaching Tip of the Day - Book Shelf Organization

I've talked plenty of times about the AR program my school uses for tracking reading progress.  And I've also talked about plenty of ways I get cheap or free books for my classroom library.

Last school year, I used labeled post-its to identify the sections of the book shelf.  Unfortunately, they curled and fell off eventually.  What I did like about them is that they were bright, neon, and visual.  This year I plan on printing business card sized section labels onto neon paper and then having the paper laminated and then the labels cut out and double sided taped to the book shelf.

Teaching Tip of the Day - Prezi Help

How much do you love me? Ok... how much do you like me? Well even if the answer to that question is "you're ok" then take a moment to sign up for the new and engaging presentation format: Prezi. If only 3! people sign up using my referral link, my account gets upgraded for free! Help the youth of today receive awesome Prezi Presentations by muah.

Use this online presentation site as a teacher or as a student.  It's an upgrade (in some ways) from PowerPoint and is very eye catching.  I think this is where the new wave of presentations is going.  Check out my previous blog post on Prezi to see what Pros and Cons it has.

Also check out Secondary Solutions to see how you can make a presentation in less than 15 minutes!

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.