Tips for Staying Energized

I love teaching! I believe it is my calling, and I love what I get to do each day! 

With that being said, teaching can also be a very stressful and demanding job. I think it is important we find ways that help us keep our lights burning for our students and colleagues. 

Here a few tips for you that help me stay energized as a teacher;

1. Learn and Try New Things- #lifelonglearner

I always want to learn new ways to improve my teaching and strategies that will help keep my students be engaged and successful. Don't be afraid to try new things in your classroom, it's great for students to see us try, fail, make adjustments, and try again. Trying new things put a pep in my step and helps me from getting stuck in a rut! Where do I learn new things? Professional development books, podcasts, colleagues, EdCamps, FRESHthoughtEDU and a lot of other new things I'm trying these days stem from Twitter! Which leads right into tip number 2!

2. Participating in a Twitter chat-

Twitter is such a simple and easy tool for following great educators that share amazing ideas and resources. Take that a step farther and participate in a Twitter chat. I have been apart of many Twitter chats, and I always leave feeling reenergized, reminded of my why and full of new ideas I want to try. (Remember tip #1 :)  It's amazing what surrounding yourself with other passionate educators will do for you! Here are two great chats to start with- #cfisdchat on Mondays, #txed on Wednesdays! Let me know if you want a reminder. :)

3. Remembering Kids Deserve It-

Remember WHY you teach, for me it's the students and I want to make a difference in their lives! I want to help them know and believe they are important and can do anything they put their mind to. I love having fun with them and making learning come alive. Whether it be wearing a costume, planning a theme day, baking elephant poop muffins, taking a small group selfie; all these actions make my students smile and that makes me fill with joy! Stop and remind yourself of all you have accomplished with your students and celebrate even the small things!

4. Make time for YOU-

In order to stay energized and give it your all in teaching, you must take care of yourself. I feel better if I work out before school each day, have quiet time to read my Bible and pray, and get a massage once a month. It helps me relax, unwind, and reset. I make time to spend time with my family and friends and do things I love that do not involve school. Everyone needs a break. You do what you need to for yourself, so that you are able to put your #hartandsoul into all you do at school!

Please share with me, what helps you stay energized throughout the year?

Celebrating Students' Writing

This has been my first year to teach 4th grade writing, and I knew I wanted to keep writing engaging and fresh for my students all year! I don't want them leaving 4th grade saying all we did was practice for writing STAAR but rather talking about all the fun things we did. While I do celebrate student success in writing throughout our units, I like to have a big celebration at the end of the unit and highlight out students' work! Even if you don't teach writing, I think you can tweak a few of the ideas for your content and at least try out the tech features.

Here are a few examples of the way we have CELEBRATED writing together:

1. Author Headshots and Bios

Every author needs their own headshot and biography! So to celebrate our launching unit, students had their photograph taken and then created an Author Bio page with their headshot. This page is something we have used over and over this year. It can easily be printed and attached to any writing they complete. Finally, they shared their Author Bio page on Flipgrid for classmates to hear. This was also a great relationship builder as it helped us get to know each other better at the beginning of the year.

(Click the photo to grab your own copy.)

2. Roll out the Red Carpet

Always a class favorite is walking the red carpet! Simply roll out some red butcher paper and put some yellow stars on top and you have yourself a runway. Students walk the red carpet, stop in front of the flashing sign, and share their stories on stage with the microphone. What's better than celebrating your writing feeling like a STAR?!

(Click the photo for the flashing sign)

3. "Espresso" Yourself with a Sip and See

At one of my Model Teacher Meetings this year, a teacher from Swenke shared their hot chocolate celebration. I loved it and tweaked it a little bit. We had a hot chocolate bar complete with yummy hot cocoa, whipped cream, marshmallows, and sprinkles!

While students were "sipping" their hot cocoa, they were also "seeing" others writing. I would play music and students would read and leave specific compliments on the Sip and See page. We rotated 5-6 times and then ended back at their seats to enjoy comments from their peer. So delicious and engagement was at an all time high and not just a sugar high:)!!

(Click both photos to make a copy)

4. Listening Ears

I found the website Vocaroo and loved that you could record anything and then create a QR code with it. How cool it is for students to be able to share their writing in their OWN voice with anyone! All students recorded their writing on Vocaroo, created their own QR code, printed one and embedded one on their cover. We placed our QR codes around the room and enjoyed our peers reading to us! 

(Click the photo to make a copy)

5. Virtual Bookshelf

I learned about WriteReader from Traci Piltz on Twitter and once I checked it out I knew we needed to use it for publishing. I love how students can sign in with Google Classroom, and they loved all the features of the website. Once students complete a book, it gets added to the classroom bookshelf. 

After scanning the bookshelf and reading at least 5 books, students headed to DotStorming to leave their reflections and to collaborate with each other. 

(Click the photo to grab a copy)

A look at our virtual bookshelf for literary essays!

How do you CELEBRATE student writing in your classroom? I'd love to add more ideas to my repertoire! Happy Writing! 

Pot of Gold- A March Incentive

I love to let students know how much they mean to me! So, I was going to put up the following slide and give them a shamrock with why they make me feel so lucky to be their teacher.

But, I decided to take it a step further and add some fun to our classroom this week. I thought we could all use it coming back from Spring break.

 Students will be able to earn shamrocks for outstanding effort, following our campus LEAD matrix, being LEADer of the day, any positive behavior, and our specific goal for the day. Once a student earns four shamrocks(because that means LUCK right?:), they will be able to scan a QR code on a "Pot of Gold" of their choosing that will be posted around the room! You could let them scan after earning one shamrock or skip the shamrocks and just scan when you see the behavior you are encouraging.

Click on the picture below to grab your own editable template of my slideshow with the Pot of Gold. 

I used this free QR code generator to create the codes with text. Feel free to change the codes to the things your students love. 

Let's focus on the positive and remember how LUCKY we truly are to get to make a difference in our students' lives every day!

#potofgold #luckyteacher

Inspiring and Motivating Students

I feel our job as educators is to INSPIRE and MOTIVATE our students!! 

This is not always an easy task, but one that I take seriously and challenge myself to do each day. 

So, I thought I would share a few ways and resources I use to help INSPIRE and MOTIVATE my students academically, socially, and behaviorally. I could go on and on with this topic, but I'll just share my top 4 for right now!

1. Relationships, Relationships, Relationships!

First and foremost, we must have a positive attitude everyday. Students buy in to what you are teaching when you share your excitement and do so with a smile! Build those relationships, they are KEY!! Get to know your students, have lunch with them, go to a sporting event, have a conversation, be their biggest cheerleader.

2. Student Certificates

 LEADer of the Day- 

I highlight one student each day that is exemplifying our PBIS matrix of LEAD. It is a quick, simple way to reinforce our LEAD behavior throughout the day and highlight positive behavior. Students get their picture taken in front of our LEAD background with their certificate. Click the picture to grab a copy. You can easily edit it to your campus' acronym or a GRIT award. 

 Golden H Awards- 

It may not be the Caldecott Award, but it's even better!  

This is specifically for writing! Now I celebrate student writing all the time in many different ways (another post for another day:), but this is a way to highlight outstanding effort in writing. Students receive a Golden H award, sign the golden H sign, and share their writing with the class!! Click the photo to grab a copy you can edit for your class!

Strategy King and Queen- 

I love to shout out students who are showing strategies on check points and DPMs. You can use this for any subject and personalize your note to them. I love to staple it to their assessment for them to see when we go over them! Click on the photo again for a copy to edit. 

**I have heard from parents how much these certificates mean to students and how they often still have them on their cork boards on desks years later. Of course, I make sure all students have a chance to earn a certificate throughout the year.**

3. Book Raffles-

My students LOVE book raffles! When I order new books from Scholastic, I set some out to be raffled off to see who gets to read them first. Students earn tickets for exhibiting positive behavior. After a few days, I choose the winner! Once they read the book it goes back into the classroom library for everyone to read it! Win-win for great behavior and growing readers!

4. Keep the Quote-

Each week our class focuses on one quote. We discuss what it means and how we can apply it to our lives. At the end of the week, students vote on who gets to "Keep the Quote" based on who is a great example of the meaning. I love how it helps build positive character traits in the students and gives them ideas for their essays. :) 

Focusing on teamwork and cooperation

What are some ways you INSPIRE and MOTIVATE your students?