Failure

Can i just say, I LOVE MY JOB! Here is the question that is constantly tugging at me..."Am I helpful enough?" I truly hope I am helpful to my staff. I have these words that have been rolling around in my head  this year... "You have permission to fail." It's pretty freeing to give my self that kind of permission. Here's why:

Its okay! If you are afraid of failure you will never take a chance. Yes, I may fall flat on my face, I may be the worst instructional coach in history and help no one. But probably not. Without giving my self permission to look like a dork and fail (which I do a lot) I will never grow, gain new knowledge and be better. This may all sound cheesy but it's been a serious help to me in beginning this journey. This is also something that our students need to take to heart. When it comes to the classroom, and learning and life....ITS OKAY TO FAIL. The key is that you learn and move on.

I have encountered this in mathematics quite often. Perseverance in problem solving. It's not an exaggeration to say I have had to coax children out from underneath tables during math due to their fear of failure at a math exercise. I want our students to know, IT'S OKAY TO FAIL! Just try something! I stumbled on a TED talk today that addressed this today. His words on inspiring a love of inquiry really hit home with me and it is really worth a watch.

Ted Talk

On another note, I have finished a new writing project for TPT. The thing about this project is that it's a HYBRID TEXT. It's something I have been reading a lot about that has inspired something I like to call a "duh moment." That is something you realize that should have been so obvious! Some texts \fall into more than one genre, making them a hybrid...WHAT?! That makes total sense! How have I not realized that before. All of those afternoons sitting on the floor trying to sort my classroom library into genres thinking, "What the heck this fits into more than one genre, where do I put it!?" I have created a writing project that may reflect some of that complexity by combining the structure of a non-fiction text with the fantasy of a non-fiction. It is called, The Coolest School Ever!

                                              http://datax.teacherspayteachers.com/thumbitem/The-Coolest-School-Ever-A-hybrid-writing-project-1422437-1409460599/original-1422437-1.jpg

 Check it out! Well, I'm off to begin another week of loving my staff and my students....man I'm one lucky lady. 

Changes

We just finished our first week, (well three days) back at school and as I told you earlier, I have taken a new position as the instructional coach. To be honest it has been a little strange to have a different role as the school year is gearing up to go. There is a feeling of excitement, anticipation, and yes, stress in the building. I am feeling all of those right along with my teachers just not with the same intensity as I did when I had my own classroom, and it not good or bad, just strange.

I think I noticed the biggest different on our Meet the Teacher night. I was able to give hugs to all of those returning faces but I have to admit to being slightly jealous of those who were meeting their new students, their new parents. I finally settled  on the fact that rather than only having one group of students this year, they were all mine, including the teachers, and that was pretty amazing. So, I hope to do my best and be a big help to all my students and all of the teachers who are counting on me to be someone in their corner.

On another note entirely, before I learned of my job change I turned one of my most successful writing lessons into a packet for TPT! I hope to continue creating packets because it's something I LOVE to do.

When I came up with this project my 4th grade students were in serious need of some inspiration in the nonfiction writing department. They were sick of the “pick your favorite animal” and “teach me how to do something,” prompts. I noticed they were seriously wearing out all of my nonfiction books that were about various disasters. I told them to think of a disaster or dangerous situation: volcanoes, earthquakes, bears, sharks, lightning, snakes, tarantulas, the more exciting, the better. The only stipulation was that it had to be real. That was so we wouldn't have trouble making sure our facts were accurate.

Click Here

They had a lot of fun doing their research because they were reading about something that was exciting to them. It was some of the best writing I got out of them all year. We printed out our final copies and made big posters with them. You could do anything with it, but I usually got writing out of my kids more easily if there was an art component when they finished the writing and it is something for my early finishers to do. 

Well, I'm off to get my "Sunday chores" done. Good luck to everyone this week!

Sale time!

Stock up and get ready for school! (After the panic attack subsides.) TPT is having a sale just in time to get everything you need to get ready!

If you teach 4th grade I have a great student portfolio for students to track their own progress on the common core standards!

TPT Store

I'm Back!

Last year I began this adventure they call blogging. Last year during Thanksgiving break. You know that time of year when you are settling into the holiday season, stuffing yourself with food, enjoying time off, anticipating Christmas break and generally beginning what I am going to call, "The Holiday High." Anything was possible and I was going to blog the heck out of this thing!

Enter January ...February.....March....and I turned into this:

So , with teaching and family and blogging. The blogging took a back seat. A really far back seat that may even be considered the trunk. In that time however, I finished strong with a class that tested and grew my classroom management skills, I was the best mama I could be and I got a new position at my school as the INSTRUCTIONAL COACH! So all in all I consider that:

  

I am ready to make another run at this blogging thing and I am so excited about what's on the horizon! I hope to share this journey anyone that wants to come along! Here's to summer time optimism!

Simple Technology in Your Classroom

It was the first week back. I must admit it was one of those weeks where I just felt completely disorganized and under prepared. My husband badly rolled his ankle so my partner in crime at home was out of commission, leaving me to feel disorganized at home too! Luckily there is a new week right behind this one where I can try and get back into the swing of things!

I switched up my math routine this week and I feel so much better about it. I was teaching math in the afternoon and let me tell you this was not working. I was fighting hard for their attention for some very important information.  I moved the actual lesson to very first thing in the morning and I think I heard angels singing at one point. It was glorious!

We were building models of equivalent fractions in groups. I had a light bulb moment. I took my cell phone and took a picture of one of the group's models, and then emailed it to myself. Then I opened the picture and put it up on the projector for everyone to see.

I realize I am probably the last person on the planet to finally think of this, but just in case I'm not, I wanted to share. It was awesome to be able to share our models immediately. It was also awesome that one of the examples was wrong, so that we could discuss that. It was much easier than trying to get them to reconstruct them under the document camera.

Victims and Villians

I hope everyone is having a relaxing winter break! I know I am! We go with my in-laws to Hawaii every Christmas. It is WONDERFUL! My son may be relaxing a little too much!

When I get back from break we have to complete our winter testing. The curriculum we use is called, Mondo, and it has 3-4 tests per student that have to be completed in fall, winter and spring. The information is great, but it is quite time consuming to gather all of that data. I have been looking for activities that my students can work on somewhat independently while still doing something valuable. 

I came up with a deep look at the Big Bad Wolf. Students will explore two sides to the infamous character

with the traditional story and this one by John Scieszka.

Students will take a look at the wolf in its natural habitat and ponder why american culture tends to cast the wolf as the antagonist. They will compare the stories and decide which version of the wolf they believe with a persuasive writing "craftivity."  If this goes well I'd like to do a whole series of Villian or Victim featuring different characters.

It offers practice on:

Story Comparisons - CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.9 Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g., opposition of good and evil) and patterns of events (e.g., the quest) in stories, myths, and traditional literature from different cultures.

Character Analysis - CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.3 Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions).

Persuasive Writing - CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.4.1 Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information

Check it out in my TPT store. It would also be a great activity to leave for a sub! 

Now I am going to get back to vacation!

Great Book!

Well because of a 5.5 hour plane ride, I finished the book! It was a great, easy read and it had a lot of practical suggestions on how to nurture a strong willed child. This book is written by a christian author and has some biblical references, which is fine for me because as I said earlier I also read this book for my 3 year old son. If a christian  book is not for you, it still has some very practical and loving ways to bring out the best in your strong willed child, or student. I'd like to give you some highlights of the book:

The main idea:

A strong willed child is not against authority. They can however have an issue with how authority is communicated. If you tell a strong willed child, "Do it or else!" They will choose or else. Strong willed children want to maintain some sort of control over their lives and they will go to their figurative death to uphold that control. 

Through provoking quotes:

" I often remind parents of SWCs that their children may change the world-after all, it's not likely that the world is going to change them."  

Practical Advice:

1. Choose you battles. Don't make everything non-negotiable.

2. Lighten up-don't let up.

3. Ask more questions; issue fewer orders. 

4. Hand out more tickets; issue fewer warnings. (This may require reading the book to understand.)

5. Make sure your SWC knows your love is unconditional. 

It's a great quick read and I think it is very applicable to the classroom as well as your home if you have your own strong willed kiddo like I do. It gave me a fresh perspective on how their minds work and how I can help them realize their potential. 

I give it a thumbs up!

Now, I'm going to enjoy my view.