The First Day of School 2014-2015

DAY ONE

After greeting the students outside the classroom door and working to memorize their names, we went inside to start the day. I told the students to find their name on the tables/desks and put their materials there. They have no idea yet that these will not be their spots for long! Their next direction was to silently line up in order by their birthdays (Responsive Classroom). This is a great time to observe the students. Which students take the lead and which are willing to follow. Who creates a new, innovative way to silently communicate their birth date? Do they help each other, support each other, etc. 

Playing throughout this activity was Safe and Sound by Capital Cities and Pompeii by Bastille. The music helped the students to have fun and loosen up while doing the challenging, silent activity.  Dave Burgess, Teach Like a Pirate author, stresses music as a powerful hook. It worked perfectly for this activity. On my IPhone, I have a playlist for quiet work times and a playlist for dance breaks and transitions. I bought a small, but powerful Bluetooth speaker for under $30 at Best Buy, so that I can control the music from my IPhone no matter where I am in the room.

The other purpose for this lineup is to form groups for cubbies. There are four sections of cubbies in the hallway and each group had to come up with a name for their group and design a poster to be put up in their cubby area. They had a lot of unique ideas and worked well together. Their posters are getting laminated and will be up on Tuesday.

Before we started the cubby poster work, we had a ceremony of sorts. They sat at the spot where their desk tag was and I had them pull off the tag and rip it up while playing a heavy metal version of Over the Rainbow by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes. Later, a parent shared that tearing up the name tag was the first thing their child talked about when they walked out of the classroom at the end of the day. Funny! It was a symbol of no assigned seats.

The next activity, after making the cubby posters, was making play doh creations that reflect an interest or show something about them. We then circled up and shared. 

FYI: comedy/tragedy symbol :-)

After sharing their creations in a circle, we put the room back together and started the process of getting materials and supplies organized. This year, the goal is a place for everything and everything in its place. Students do not have their own desks, so I bought some bins and cleared some shelves!

Social Studies binders

Writing Binders and pencil pouches underneath. Only need pouches when traveling to Science and Social Studies. When in homeroom, there are caddies at each table/group of desks with communal supplies in them.

A bin for each student. These hold folders, spirals, math workbook, mini composition book (gratitude journal) and still room for a book to read!

I framed this as our classroom, and they need to contribute ideas of how to make the organization piece work for them. They came up with putting the board games elsewhere so that the pouches could be near the binders. Smart!!

We did grab some carpet time to read You're Finally Here. Tomorrow we will read Ish. Ish is probably the most important read aloud all year!

Dismissal was at 12:45, so with lunch in the schedule, that was pretty much all we fit in. Had to pass out a ridiculous amount of notices as well. :-) 

Going to be a great year and working hard to keep my commitment to at least one post a week! 

Teach Like a Pirate Part Two

So my first post about Dave Burgess' book, Teach Like a Pirate, was a reflection on the first part of the book only. Now that I have finished reading it, once again, I am inspired to share about how it is going to improve my teaching! 

In order to start incorporating the hook questions into my lesson planning, I took notes while I read all the great ideas. I will refer to them consistently while planning. There are some that I already do naturally, but plenty that I had never even thought of doing. So invigorating to my teaching!

So these notes are in a small spiral with my other notes and to do lists. In addition, I bought three spirals, one for each subject I teach: Reading Workshop, Math Workshop and Writing Workshop. Found cute ones at Ocean State Job Lot! I will brainstorm in these notebooks for each lesson I do. 

Part Three of the book was very motivational and it is so true that you can get started right away. All your ducks do not have to be in a row to try some of these ideas! It is also helpful to read the section on criticism. 

As the school year goes on, I will share my successes and failures here and on Twitter. Best PD ever!!

Teach Like a Pirate

Dave Burgess' book Teach Like a Pirate, is a game changer for sure. Confession, I am reading another book at the same time, so I am only halfway through Pirate, but I couldn't wait to reflect about it. 

One of the powerful messages in this book is that anyone can be creative with some hard work. I have always been a very creative teacher, but I definitely have to ask the right questions about my objectives for lessons in order to start the creativity process. Zooming in on real life connections to your lessons is really addicting! 

My theatre background means I am able to entertain, but I don't think that is the most important part of being creative. Even the most reserved teacher can plan engaging lessons that get students jazzed about learning. Burgess explains in detail how to ask questions that lead to  dynamic ideas. 

I read this Marlon Brando quote on Facebook last night and I felt it was very fitting to what Burgess believes:

Your figurative language unit has begun. You are driving in the car and you hear a new, popular Katy Perry song filled with metaphors. Pull over and write it down or tell it to Siri! Burgess emphasizes the importance of having a simple way of capturing ideas when they come to you. He uses a Mac Air. I use my IPhone and small spirals. The small spirals are my old way of capturing my ideas for writing and teaching, and old habits die hard. I have one on the coffee table in the living room, one on my desk at home, one in my car and one in my purse. Now, I also use the notes app on my IPhone. I have the other apps that are out there, Evernote, Everythink, etc. However, for me, this process is a stream of consciousness and simply starting a new note within my notes app works best for me. I do use My Writing Spot for my screenplay/story ideas. Great app!

I also loved the metaphor that Burgess used about not being a lifeguard, be a swimmer. I will admit that when it is a busy time of year, I sometimes sit at my desk and correct an essay or two while kids are working on their writing, for example. I always felt guilty doing it too. Kids knew they could come to me at any time to ask questions, etc., but I was not fully engaged. My pledge from now on is to always be a swimmer, in the pool with my students, not a lifeguard watching from a far. Getting rid of my desk is a great start!

Thanks Dave Burgess for your book. I can't wait to read the rest of it.