Class List from Pinterest

I have been wanting to do this since I first saw this on Pinterest. I finally did it! I am hoping it will help with everyday "housekeeping" duties! My thoughts are: keeping up with returned progress reports, transportation forms, report cards, daily stuff in general. I would love to know your ideas! My plan is to use Visa-a-vie wet erase markers on it. I hope everyone has a safe and wonderful New Year's Eve!!!!

The Together Teacher - Chapter 5

First...I am soooo sorry for taking so long to get back to my book talk! Shame on me! I have been very caught up in back-to-school preparations and crafty projects that my mind has drifted from this awesome book!
Without further ado....

• Chapter 5 - A Week's Worth of Readiness...How to Look Ahead

In this chapter, Maia goes through the steps of creating a Weekly or Daily Worksheet.  She begins by making a connection that I bet we can all relate to: the totebag that comes home Friday evening and sits in one place until sometime Sunday when we go in to panic mode! It sure rings true to me! I have such good intentions. But life tends to get in the way and my tote full of "good intentions" sits patiently in the corner until I can put it off no more! This chapter's worksheet helps us schedule our time and is more of an hour to hour schedule of our day. This list needs to be portable and constantly reviewed. It is not a to-do list but rather a schedule of your time.
The weekly or daily worksheet should allow you to do:

1. Capture incoming to-do's and thoughts...
2. Do the work that needs to be done...
3. Look ahead and review what still needs to be done...
4. Plan how you will spend your upcoming time...

Maia gives several very cool examples of worksheets on her accompanying CD...I will try my hand at showing you in PDF form one of her examples...   o.k.  so I can't figure out how to attach ANYTHING but a picture to my blog! I tried....give me brownie points for trying please :P  If anyone out there would care to teach me how to add PDFs or Word Document to my blog...I would follow you forever!!! LOL Seriously...I could use some help from one of you awesome blogging buddies!


Basically you need to make sure you cover: Priorities, Deadlines, Upcoming to-dos, Phone calls/e-mails, personal duties, copies to make, and next week. (These are only a few examples).

You can check Maia's website for more examples:  The Together Teacher

 

"To-Do" Linky :)

This should be an ongoing linky! LOL Thanks to Mrs. B's Best for hosting this! I ALWAYS have a to-do list going and most times there's more school "to-do"s on it than anything else! I will make this brief, though. I have tried to work on a bit at a time...minus the fact between blogging and Pinterest I am over-extended :)  ...I have already begun more than I can possibly complete before school begins! I have gotten quite crafty this summer and I'm in over my head! LOL  O.K....

Here's my top 10:

1. Finish "Mod Podging" my new treasure box project (Check back with me because it is almost finished and I can't wait for feedback on it!!!)
2. Organize my "Back-to-School" first week activities! What a mess! I have some new things to spice it up a bit this year! :)
3. Get my hands on 3 more beanbags so that I have a class set!
4. Weed-eat at my mom's house for her...it is starting to look like a Honduran Jungle over there!!
5. Work on Promethean lessons....something I have been putting off for some time now!
6. Continue to organize my computer files...a bit worse looking than my mom's yard!!
7. Have lunch with friends before the craziness starts back!
8. Read up on successful grouping...sorry for the language but...I suck/stink at it! I hate doing it and feel like a failure when I try. I need to observe someone who does it well!
9. Read something for pleasure...preferably a J.D. Robb novel...(I'm secretly in love with Roarke...please don't tell my hubby! LOL)
10. Go swimming....as many times as I can!

O.K....I could have easily kept going...but you get the idea! I can't wait to read everyone else's list!

A Quick Late-Night Post

I worked a bit at school today and as I was roaming around the room....trying to put off the inevitable...I had an idea. This is probably something that everyone in the free world is already doing....but...here goes:

We are required to display and refer to our objectives for each lesson. I decided to use a pocket chart with my "I can" statement at the tops and then write my objectives on sentence strips for each subject. I did that last year and went through a "butt ton" of sentence strips that were sloppily scrawled out and eventually thrown away because they didn't fit again or I couldn't stand their sloppiness. Well....today I had an epiphany! Like I said, everyone in the free world is probably doing this already....but why not laminate the sentence strips, write the daily objectives on each one with an Expo (a separate color per subject), and reuse the same ones????? You are free to let me know how far behind in the game I am :) Let me know what you think...either way :)

By the way...I changed the Ï Can..."statement to "We can...."It is important to me to let the kids know we are all in this together!!

Chapter 4 - Thought Catchers

Heaven knows we need to catch and organize our thoughts! Maia describes "thought catchers" as basically a simple note-taking system where you divide a paper into 4 squares (like a 4-square writing model). You reserve each of these squares for a different person/topic/to-do. She describes situations where you may hurriedly launch e-mails to someone and forget half of what you wanted to tell them and have to spend even more time re-emailing them....dividing your thoughts and time. Makes sense to me! I have done that wayyyy more than once! She suggests that you keep one of these note-taking papers with you and jot notes to yourself down during the day, give yourself time to process those thoughts, and organize them into 1 e-mail or meeting. Thus saving many trips back and forth or many e-mails. She also suggests that this type of note-taking can be very helpful in PD or faculty meetings. Sort of a way to follow up on ideas that many times get lost in a paperwork mess or trashed. "Thought Catchers" can also be helpful for jotting down future ideas or ideas to adjust for the next time you teach that lesson.  Again, there are many ways to capture these thoughts...

1. Paper notes...like I described before. This would be a simple sheet of paper divided into 4 sections. You could make a template on MS Word (Maia has several examples on her accompanying CD).
2. Electronic Notes...Programs such as Outlook or Tasks....which sync easily to Smartphones/Computers.
3. Web-Based...programs on your computer such as Sticky Notes.

A few general tips for making "Thought Catchers" work for you:

• Thought Catchers should NOT be time sensitive.  Time sensitive things should go straight to your Comprehensive Calendar or your Up-coming To-Do List.
• They need a trigger.  This means that you should make it so that when you re-read the thought catcher you are immediately reminded of the task.
• Thought catchers should occur before an e-mail.  Gather all your thoughts together and give yourself time to review before sending that e-mail. (Rather than having to ammend the original one or sending a totally new one).
• Take advantage of any extra minutes in your day. (I personally don't know who has these...) I try to make the most of my time, but I do realize there are ways I could streamline things I do.  This book is really helping me identify those!....Thanks, Maia!

Maia ends this chapter by saying "Thought catchers can free up brain space"! An who doesn't need that?????  I look forward to getting into the next chapter with you guys!

More Classroom Pics....

I went to school today to get some things done (mostly to get those things out of my living room floor and off my dresser!). While I was there I decided to take a few photos of the current mess I am in! I am working on de-cluttering and organizing and anyone who has had this idea knows you end up with a bigger mess before you complete this task! Certain areas are looking better while others....not so much yet! So....those are my excuses....and I am sticking to them! LOL

This is the state of my library area...the box to the right is full of books to add....but where??? I did get the new rug down! 

I still need to make new labels for my turn-in subject boxes....but its looking better!

I thought I better show some of my hippie spirit! (It's actually allllll over the room!)

The boxes below are full of Reader's Theater scripts and props.

 

 

This new sign actually looks better in person than this pic....I worked hard on it! LOL I looked everywhere for an arrow and finally found an arrow bookmark at Books-a-Million....Mod Podged "we are here" on it and covered it with sparkly silver/glittery fingernail polish....the arrow is a clip that can be moved :)

This is a gift from a student :) They know me oh-so-well! I stuck him down in a cinnamon apple candle :) He is sitting on my DVD player :)

O.K....enough for now! Comments/suggestions welcome!

 

3-6 Free Resources Linky :)

O.k.....gonna try my hand at this linky...not sure I know what I am doing....but gonna try!

Pics of my class, huh? Let's see what I can find :)

 My New Front-of-the-Room Teaching Chair :)

Still looking for ideas for these :) Had them 2 yrs now and still haven't had success with them :(

Side view when you first walk in the room. Desks and chairs piled in the middle of the room.

One of my 2 student computers (covered by my peace fabric) and my temp storage of my beanbags!

(I am 4 away from having enough for each student!!!!)

I basically have a combo theme of peace and the National Park....I know....weird!

My room is nowhere near ready and i'm still forming thoughts on what to do!

Suggestions/comments are MORE than welcome!

Come on over to 3-6 Free Resources to share and join us!