Teaching Is Not For The Faint Of Heart

Teachers at 8am

Teachers at 3pm

"WHAT was I thinking to become a teacher??"

It happens to all of us. You sit in your chair at the end of the day. You look at your room and the chaos that is left from a day of teaching and you think that perhaps a job as a cat wrangler might be a bit easier.
I think this often especially after certain fifth grade classes come through my door.


When things get their worst you get that little boost that you need to keep on truckin.
A couple of years ago I had reached the end of my rope. It was just before Christmas break and the kids were out of control. I decided that I couldn't do it anymore. I started looking for jobs and preparing my resignation letter. I figured that I could use Christmas break to get another job.
A darling little kindergarten child came into my room. She handed me a paper from her teacher. I read it, responded to the question and handed the paper back to her.
She said something that I couldn't understand so I leaned close and asked her again. In the sweetest voice she looked at me and said, "Merry Christmas teacher."
I hugged her and as she left I looked heavenward and said, "OK Lord. I'll stay."
I truly believe He sent that little one to keep me where I am because there is something that I have yet to do.
So the next time you feel like giving up take a step back, grab a soda or some chocolate and evaluate just how important you are in the lives of the kids you teach.

Music While You Work

Teaching technology has its perks. No longer do I have to grade stacks of papers and for that I am eternally grateful. Teaching technology does require time and effort creating lessons, writing lesson plans and surfing to find the correct information for a given topic. 

While I work I enjoy listening to music. I am known to go to Youtube to listen to my favorite groups but with the annoying advertisements that now precede every song I started looking for an alternative.

iHeart Radio was the first one I tried.
I have to say that their format is not what I like. You cannot choose a genre. You have to choose a musician and it puts together music. If you want to change you have to create whole new stations.
All in all I found it a pain.

If you try it and you like it you can get an app for it.

I tried Pandora and fell in LOVE! They have a free version and I used it for a while but I liked the format so much that I paid for a year subscription. It is $36 a year and worth EVERY penny!
I can listen to just what I want and the station learns as you use it.. When you choose a like it brings up more songs like that one. If you don't like a song it makes a note of that too.

My current music of choice is The Piano Guys, Two Cellos and music of that genre. It is contemporary music done in a classical style. Very soothing but still upbeat.

Spotify is my newest love... Thanks HUBBY!
It has all of the features of Pandora but can be customized more.
The cost is $9.99 per month. That is a bit steep for a poor school teacher.

Can You Smell That Freedom?

Knowledge is Power 

and  

Learning is a Lifelong Journey. 

This is true for students and teachers.
We can't teach what we don't know and even if we do feel that we know something there is always room for improvement.

Lately I have been working to improve my grasp of the workings of our government so that I can be an effective teacher and leader to the next generation.
I have looked to men and women like Tom Woods , Judge Andrew P. Napolitano and KrisAnne Hall
I have been reading sites like Mises dot org  and Wake Up and Smell the Freedom.
The learning is never ending and I am glad for that! : )

There are many excellent sites out there! What are some of your favorite ones?

Simple Ways to Keep the Kids in Line Part 1

Classroom management......we have all been to the workshops. They give you all kinds of suggestions and statistics as to why this or that works but we all know that the real issue is the chemical make up of a class.
Add one kid and the room goes nuts.
Take away a particular kid and the room goes nuts.
In the end it is up to the teacher to figure out what makes her class tick and what they value.

In this little series are some suggestions that I have used, I have seen used and that just looked good to me. You can try one or all of them until you find out what works with your group of kids.
When I taught in the regular classroom I was always given "those kids" because I could handle them. One year I had a class that was out of control! I tried everything that I could think of. This particular class was very street smart and the stickers and other little goodies I had just weren't cutting it. I thought and thought and thought until it occurred to me that these kids weren't soft. They needed the cold hard facts and the cold hard cash to back it up.
Since I teach at Caldwood Elementary I created "Caldwood Cash" that the kids could earn. The idea was that just like their folks worked for a paycheck they would too. They could earn cash for any job they were assigned. Everyone was eligible unless they decided that they didn't want the cash by not doing the job or not following the directions.
The beauty of the system was that I was NEVER the bad guy! I was always there with the cash ready to give it to them if they did their job.
Friday was shopping day. Last period I would set out my store and they would count up their money. The kids with the most money would shop first.
My store consisted of little items from the dollar store, garage sales and any give aways that I could get. The prices were high. A pencil might cost five dollars but the beauty was that if they followed even the simplest directions and did the simplest jobs they could make lots of money!
I treated the cash as real money. If they lost it or destroyed it there was no replacing it. This also instilled some responsibility.
It was always interesting to see how the children handled their money. Some of the children would buy for themselves, their friends and family. Others would buy it all for themselves and still others would spend only a small amount and save the rest of it. I had one child save about $150 in a year and that is with spending some each week.

The amazing thing is that the kids who were in this particular class are in college now and when I come across them they STILL remember the Caldwood Cash! : )

Xtramath.org

Xtra Math (xtramath.org)
From their website: XtraMath is a Seattle-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to math achievement for all. Our goal is to develop effective, efficient, adaptive and intrinsically rewarding supplemental math activities and make them available for free.

This is a self paced program that my students enjoy. They can work on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. The program can be used at home or at school. If a teacher is using the program parents receive a flyer from the teacher with instructions on signing up at home.If a teacher is not using it parents can still sign their children up.

This is a very quick overview of the program.

When the program begins students take a placement quiz that sets their level.

Here you see Mr. C as he speaks to the kids.

Once their level is set they practice the rote math facts that are so important in building a solid math foundation. One session lasts about 10 minutes. The problems appear on the screen and a count down begins.

If a student does not get the answer correct or they do not answer in the allotted time the correct answer will appear on the screen so they will know it the next time it comes up.

At the end of the lesson students can quickly see how they did. 

Students can also "Race the Teacher" to see if they can beat his score which they love!

Students have the option of using the keypad on the screen or the keypad on their keyboard.

 

I believe that Xtra Math is a great program. It helps with the rote learning that is missing in today's classrooms. With the standards set higher oftentimes the most basic things are overlooked.

TCEA 2014

The theme of this year's event is "Get Inspired" and as always, I WAS and still AM!
I love going to TCEA. It is the highlight of my year because it is a time to see what is out there to help prepare the kids for the future. Now I would be lying if I said that there wasn't fun for the teachers too but we don't talk about that when the administrators are around! ; )

Click HERE to go to the official TCEA site.

So what is TCEA?
From their website:
TCEA is a member-based organization devoted to the use of technology in education. Our primary focus is on integrating technology into the PreK-12 environment and providing our members with state-of-the-art information through conferences, workshops, newsletters, the Internet, and collaborations with higher education and business

I am always lucky enough to go for the week. I get to see all of the events unfold and take part in as many as my time and wallet will allow.

WORKSHOPS!

TCEA Workshops
I love the way TCEA sets up their schedule. The events are color coded so you know if you need to pay or can just see the session for free with your entrance fee. They even have it set up so that they will send you your schedule each day so you can keep yourself on track and never miss a workshop. This can be very helpful especially if you are in the vendor's area. You can easily lose track of time.
After the event there is a section on the website that allows you to view and download some of the information from the workshops. You can see the TCEA 2014 Handouts here. You might want to go and take a look because I don't know how long they will be there.

If you are the type who likes to volunteer they are always in need of people to help. The volunteer section is not open yet but it will be so keep checking back!

You can also present. My cousin was chosen as one of this year's presenters (nah, I'm not proud!) I figure if he can do it then maybe I can too! I am going to give it a shot for next year. If you think you might want to present you can find that information HERE.

Photo from the TCEA website.

There is an exhibit hall that takes an entire day or two to view. There are vendors of every kind and lots of goodies, give aways and chances to win things like iPads. You can get a feel for the vendors HERE.

All in all TCEA is absolutely worth every penny and every minute. I would suggest it to anyone! : )