The Bow Tie Teacher

Treats hold the Tricks, please

Starting teaching weight and measure today. This should be a good opp for the kids to learn new material and solidify skills in area of multiplication and division. They're sweet kids that just require a little more Mr. Hyde than Dr. Jekyll. Be the end of the month I'll put Mr. Hyde away. (Hahahaha Halloween joke...ok, never mind)

Anyone have any really interesting weigh and measure activities that you've seen? What I did was, broke the room into centers so 5-6 kids will work on estimating the weight of some objects, learning the vocab of the subject, and practicing using a scale. Since today is Halloween I hope there's more Treats than Tricks in this lesson. I was going to use candy as the unit of uncommon measure, but if my pencils were any indication that could go wrong real quick. 

Long division problems video

Here's a video courtesy of Khan Academy. Parents use this to refresh on long division. You're little learner will think you're a math genius. 

Pencil gate continues

I started a new policy regarding the pencil sharpener. The kids were eating up SO much time going back and forth sharpening. I have shut down all sharpening. I sharpen a batch in the morning and trade my new sharps for their dull pencils through out the day. I pray this helps keep them in their seats. Besides going through just about 20 pencils it worked ok.

Today was an assessment. All I can do is pray they did what they needed to. I set the class timer and let them know that I wouldn't collect the tests until time was up. Since time was up almost 8 mins before class ended, I think I won.

Next week we do some fun stuff with measurement. Should keep the engagement factor high since I have tons of activities for them to do. Overall they can learn a lot. Just got to keep the pedal to the metal.
I've called nearly 15 parents in the last 2 days. I've met with 2 face to face, spoke directly with 8 or so and left messages with the rest. Praying to see a change this coming week. Also going to get a hold of every kids # to have on my desk at readied availability. Right now I get the # from the kid and save it to my phone. There's no surprise in that. :-( Can't wait to see the look when I hang a kid the phone and say "your dad would like to talk to you."
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A great week is just about to close. Had some crazy run ins, but even better is I was able to be an example to a group of kids that certainly could use it. #NotmissingtheBizWorldatall!

Teaching vs. Engaging

I am being challenged to make sure that I'm always engaging and not just teaching to the few children in my class who will always keep in step with me. Let me give you an example:

25 kids. 19 are hanging on every word I saw. They are following along with the examples and being on task. 6 are in whereever land. Not listening, maybe drawing or just being off task. I'm not engaging the entire class. Most teachers don't do it on purpose, but they don't engage everyone when they teach. 

So what I'm going to do is a lot more projects and whole lot less talking. We're going to be cranking out small group projects in class like Tupac be cranking out "lost music". Since math can honestly touch every area of the ciriculum, we're going to get our writing on as well as engage more science.

The program APS uses, Project Grad has some good points, while a few of them have stumped me. I'm going to have to work within their framework, but still get a lot more micro on my engage part. It's already tough keeping everyone's attention, but when you realize that your lesson might be the reason, you got to crank up the juice.  

I have my lesson plans done for next week. So I'm going to use my other planning times to develop 15 really kicking projects with some super rubrics. Going to drop them on the kiddies Monday and watch the magic happen. Since math can honestly be incorporated into every part of the curriculum I'm going to see if I can add some writing as well as more science. There's a science fair in a few weeks I am sure I can add some help to. 

Let's get at it! 

Sad heart

As my 4 year old reminds me that she has homework, my mind drifts to my 4th graders who leave their's on their desks in the class. #Gottodobetter

Gonna rack up a lot of cell phone minutes

Slowly, but surely I'm winning over this class. I have a ton who'll do exactly what they're asked to do with little fuss. I have a few who won't do right if the Lord God told them to. (I have a set up for those students. When my weekly update comes out showing what each child is missing and that I don't accept backdated work. I'm sure we'll see a change.) But for the handful that can be "strongly persuaded" I've started calling parents on the spot. 

I get the class on automatic, take the offending student out into the hall and call him/her mom/dad/guardian immediately. I saw it really change one little boy today. I'm going to just keep calling and if I have to increase the daily calls until something breaks. Since we're all stuck in class together I figure the offending attitude/behavior is going to have to change. It's a pain to have to do so and to document what the kid is doing, but I have to wrangle these folk in. The only way they're going to reach the high standards the school/system has for them is for me to really crank it up a notch. After this works I'll start requiring parents to come visit me and volunteer in class. 

As a side note. Parents, please play a role in your child's learning. Don't assume they're doing fine because you ask them. Check and double check with their teachers. Set up a meeting with the teacher. If it's possible volunteer in their school. Especially if you have other children in the building. What a surprise to see mom/dad stroll in one child's room because they were in the other child's classroom to volunteer. We have some HARD working teachers in our building and they do their best to make the most of every situation. It's refreshing to see/hear/know that the parents are working with us to make that happen. 

Had a fantastic lesson today. Going to see if it was a fluke tomorrow. Friday we have our first assessment. I'm certainly learning the APS way and getting the system down. Hopefully by April I'll have them figured out. 

Striving for Co-Worker of the Week award

Got to help my people help the children.
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Any thoughts on the new blog? Thanks for all the love on my career venture. Week 1 has been incredible.

What a trip in the desert will do for you

When I left teaching I thought I was leaving for better pastures. Only later did I realize I was going through a major desert. It took me a long time to admit that I had made a mistake and that I should return. 

Now I tell you that because I'm faced with the EXACT same issues now as I was back then. I'll even venture to say that some of the issues in a particular community are even more dire than 7 years ago. But this is the kicker, I'm really different. My perspective has changed so much that the yuck that I see doesn't affect me as much as it makes me want to be better to deal with it. That's a major change for me. The younger Jason would never have asked "What can I do to make this situation better for this kid that doesn't care one bit about what I'm saying?" 

What? Am I saying that I can make a difference by my approach to a problem? That's just to much for even me to grasp. And I'm the one who said it. I'm starting to see that I can really change the way an issue blossoms by having the right attitude and perspective. It's sad that I've heard that 99 x 98 times (got to put it in 4th grade math format), but I never understood it until recently. 

This week has been fantastic. I've had time to see the kids with their current teacher and get an idea just how they'll treat me when I start running the ship. I have my classroom just about where I need it and I start running the class on Monday. This is going to be a real, fun adventure.