The Bow Tie Teacher

A fidget solution

If you teach boys you know they have an extra battery that allows them to just do to much. Not sure why, but God chose this and it's just the way it is. 

 

I saw this somewhere and thought I'd give it a shot. 

I used some stretching bands from the gym. Shout to my coach at Crossfit South Cobb. I tied it up as a rope around the bottom of the chair and bang! It worked excellently. The Energizer Bunny has been tamed. I only did this to 1 chair and so far the kid was on point. Actually he was only off task when he wasn't in his chair. Hahahaha. 

 

I'm thinking I'll attempt it with another real mover and shaker. This one sadly, I think, will try to break the band more than anything else. I have two others that could use it so I'll fix their chairs in the AM. What I will do is make it a reward to those who get better at classdojo and the 7 habits. 

My other classroom fix the Anchor chart hanger has been outstanding. I just scored a few more hangers so I think I can hang every chart I have right now. I won't mention that I've made 4 charts since I did this video Tuesday!

 

This week has been good. We have some lofty goals, but we're ready for the challenge. How was your week of teaching and learning? 

Flash cards and recycled photo albums

 

This worked better than I thought. The kids loved it. I'll certainly be adding  a subtraction and maybe some phonics cards as soon as I get some more photo books.

Kids are LOVING the actions and movements that go along with 7 habits. We practice the movements in our AM meeting. I was able to order some of the books and materials for the program and we're reading them in class. 

   

This week we set goals (Habit #2) for ClassDojo points each wanted to have by the end of the day. Everyone just about hit their goal. We'll start planning other academic goals today. 

I have a good sense about our progress so far. I know the mountain is high, but they do want to do right. I've been able to roll out a lot of modifications that have helped me with my class management as well as over all stress. I don't feel my class is the BEST it could be, but it's certainly functional. That was my goal for this year. 

I coulda been a contender, kid

 

I don't want any of my students living with regrets about their past. I secretly wish I had been a lot bolder when I was a kid/younger. I got my "Woulda Coulda Shoulda" list like most of us do. I have forgiven myself and I am over it. Now I have another chance. Another bite at the apple so to speak. I want every student in my class to wring the last drop out of life.  No regrets.

Now, how do I inspire them to go for everything and accept nothing less? Words don't move this group.  They need to SEE it. What they see inspires and moves them. How do I get them to see (naturally or spiritually)?

This week has some good material planned. I certainly won't regret getting in there and laying the smack down on some mindsets. Challenging everyone (myself included) to stop settling for less when more is your reward,will be fun, too.

What about you? How are you inspiring great things this week? 

The bowtie teacher's week in review

The 1st full week has been great! Again, I won't count my chickens before they're hatched. But this group of students are going to be something special. I feel good. I'm on my schedule and I feel super rested. I have my plan and I'm working it. 

Oh yeah, I've had some snazzy ties, too. 

Strengths

•     The students are getting the routines. Those that don't want to are getting pulled in by those who do. 
•     I'm not remotely as stressed as I was last year. Good school leadership goes REAL far. 
•     The 7 Habits are useful. 
  
•     I really feel like I understand the 2nd grade curriculum. Nothing like knowing what you know. 
• This game is almost 72.3% mental. If you play the "man" and not the game, you win a lot more. I'm on a winning stream. 

Weaknesses

•     We have a LONG row to plow. A lot to get done in what seems like a little bit of time. 
•     There are some mountains that need scaling. It's not just a cake walk mind you. Got to create somethings while I'm scaling said mountain. 
  
•     I hate paperwork! 
• Oh yeah, I'm not a huge fan of meetings, either.     

Opportunities

•     Nothing is impossible. 
•     We have so much to do this year, I have a lot of room to show off.
•     As the kids get better, they'll do better. This could make for a great 3rd grade class. 
  
• Nothing about this year has to be hard. Proper planning prevents poor performance. 

Threats

•  If I don't remain on "10" with my procedures I'll have a really rough year. Maybe an 8. If I don't remain at least an "8" I'm in for a bumpy ride.
• If I let my paperwork get out of control this could be a really long and stressful year.   
• If I ease of the throttle on behavior and getting Home involved, I'm done. If home doesn't work neither does class. 

Year has started off just like I planned. I certainly see how I want the year to end. Now I just need to keep this ship on course for the next 170 days or so. 3,2,1... Go!

 

How was your week? Did you tackle or get tackled? 

    

    

The Pencil demon has been excised

In years past I just couldn't find a solution to the pencil drama in my class. 

1. Let kids sharpen pencils at all. -13 bow ties!

2. Sharpen pencils only at key times. A little better idea, but still only 2 bow ties. 

3. I sharpen a glut of pencils and kids swap them out as needed. This worked, but it still resulted in a lot of pencils being used and kids destroying them. 4.5 bow ties. 

4. Let students use their own personal pencil sharpeners. Back to -4 bow ties. Plus the floor was a MESS!

This year I started the year off with a caddy on each table with all the supplies the kids might need for the day. In there are 5 good sharp pencils. So far this has been a great idea. The kids don't feel like they have to horde the pencils, becuase I gave them to them. No one sharpens pencils. No mess on the floor and most all all zero down time for pencil disputes. I have one little one ask to sharpen her pencil. I asked her why when there are 3 right in front of her. 

 

At the end of the day the Table Manager brings me all pencils and I swap them out for new ones. So far I've only had to do a mass pencil sharpening 1 time. That was mainly because I'm used to sharpening at the end of the day. I keep the dull ones in a cup for sharpening later. My table managers are reliable enough I may just let them do the swapping out at the end of the day themselves.  We'll see. 

A lot of credit has to go to going over the routines with the kids. They know what to do and usually they want to do right. So far, thankfully I've not lost much time with the pencil demon. Now if I could figure out how to improve the handwriting! I call it foot writing cause it looks like they write with their toes. What do you do to fix this problem? 

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I may have fixed a HUGE problem in my classroom

If you know me or follow my blog you know I'm not very organized. I want to be. However, BEING has alluded me to years. Last year I was buried in paper work. I honestly can't say I know what happened to it all, but I can tell you my inner tree hugger is silently crying. 

In order to save a tree or two and to keep my sanity I did something different this year. To my surprise so far it's been a 10 bow tie idea! I have the students keep the "Red Number Journal" for all class work and the "Blue Number Journal" for all their homework assignments that require them to write or what not.

• I'm not sure, but I certainly feel I've used a lot less paper. 
• I was able to check homework today in less than 3 minutes where as before I'd have to hunt down papers and the such. 
• The kids have a great note system whenever we go back over their journals and put a sticky for key info. 
• The kids can get to work quickly in the morning. No searching for paper or writing sheets. Just go to the next empty page, date and start. 
• Whenever I have parent conferences I know I can quickly put my hands on ALL the kids class and homework in less than a minute. 
• I feel as if the class moves better and flows easily. Translation...less stress. 

 

 Most teachers waste these composition books. During pre-planning I sent my helpers to find as many partially used comp books as they could. We neatly tore out the used pages and slapped a sticker over the name. I'm pretty sure I have almost 50+ recycled journals ready for duty. 

Not sure where I got this idea. I don't think it qualifies as a true interactive notebook,but I will give Pinterest credit either way. The teachers on my hall used to have 3 journals. 1 for Reading, Math, Social Studies and Science. That made me even crazier, cause I know most of the students didn't use them fully. Plus the kids didn't have a good place in my room to put their stuff so instant insanity. This year, thankfully I have a much better system and I see it working. 

One day I will report that I've found a great way to do my lessons in advance. Yeah, right. Anyone have any good suggestions on what to do with lesson planning so not to have to do them Sunday night? 

Tomorrow I must talk about what I did to defeat the ugly "Mr. Whitaker can I sharpen my pencil" monster. 

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The Bow Tie Teacher

This could be the start of something special

It's entirely to early in the 1st quarter to call it a victory. It would be pretty silly to do so. However, this year could be a winning season for sure. All the pieces are in places. Now I have to make them work as a unit.

 
My procedures and routines have been on the money. The kiddos get it and most want to do right. The 7 habits have been fantastic! It's kid friendly and they like it. A lot of the new things in doing in class are going much better than I expected. I give it an overall 4 bow tie rating.

Now the tough part is getting these precious ones to care enough about the content. I have to make a significant change in their thinking about learning. It's all on me. I certainly take responsibility for my teaching. So far I give myself 3 bow ties. I have to keep the fire lit. 

I wish I had sent a letter home thru the mail before school started. I feel that would have started us on a good foot. No one said I can't send one next week to help solidify the rules and procedures. Bingo!

What do you do to communicate with your class outside of school? Post cards? Letters? What?

 

Open house bow tie kick off

Starting the year off with an open house. Have to say I was hyped up and I was let down like a lead balloon. No one came to my room to visit. They missed out.

I had some 2nd, 3rd thoughts about my 7 Habits trees I put up last week. So with the help of my niece and nephew I redid them and they look a lot better. I'll post pictures this week. I really feel that the "7H" will be helpful in my class. I thank God I was introduced to this book. 

Tomorrow I'm going to refresh my Opening Day PowerPoint (sure wish I had taken the time to learn how to do a Prezi!) as well as lay out my plans for the 1st week. This year I'm going to be a 10 at preparing and planning.

Wednesday will be here soon. I'm ready.

What has your 1st week of teaching or pre planning looked like? How are you preparing for the kiddos?

A quick update

I'm not one of those people who come across as if their vacation wasn't as long as others. I have had a fantastic Summer.  The girls and I got a lot done on our 101 things to do list. The most important is, we were able to relax and chill. There is a high value to being able to do nothing when you want.

Now it's time to start shifting gears back into school mode. All I'm doing in this vein is working on my classroom theme and decorations. I got a big vision for my students this year. Let's see if we call can live up to what we're supposed to be in life. Been going in on the Cricut and having a blast. I might need to set up a meet up with some other teachers and scrapbookers just to get some more ideas, tips and tricks. Not sure why specialty stores like Michaels, Hobby Lobby and the such don't host meet ups. Just leaving $ on the table. 

Theme: 7 Habits of Happy Kids. Rather than just a fun classroom, this year I'm aiming to drive the 7 habits home and help my class become school leaders. I have a road map and I'm plugging away at getting my room pre organized so when I step on campus next week I just have to wake up, put up and set up a functional learning environment. 

I've run across some great blogs using this theme and I'll be posting what I'm doing by close of business someday. Has anyone successfully used Sean Covey's book in their class/school? If you can give me some pointers I'll certainly be appreciative. 

One more thing. My blog is going to get a re-fresh sometime in the next week. I'm not sure if the change will break links that you've saved for my page in your readers or feeds. I do promise this, This new blog's going to be pretty snazzy! 

 

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