Chocolate for the Teach

   My first year teaching, I came to the conclusion that if I got ONE cool thing accomplished for the kids in relation to the winter holidays, that would suffice. Of course I saw the other more seasoned teachers around me practically busting at the seams with cute ideas, crafts and fun activities. But I gave myself permission to be low-key because it was my first year.     My second year (now), I have so much more ideas, but I need to keep expectations realistic. There are some tried-and-true holiday classroom traditions that I’ve done both this year and last year, and I am here to share them with you! Every teacher and every class is different, so don’t worry about doing it ALL. Find the things you are most passionate about or that you think your group would enjoy the most. 1.                           1. Holidays around the world. This is a common social studies extension done in elementary...

It's the most wonderful time of the year! The kids are making ornaments, getting glitter everywhere, and covering everything in chocolate, but it's okay because a mere three weeks stand between the first day after Thanksgiving break and a glorious winter break! It is around this time of year that I jovially reflect on the strange assortment of gifts I've received from students. I've only been a real teacher for a year, but these are some of the quirky takeaways:                                   Yes, that's right: a fashionable nutcracker and a grandma mug! Let me offer up a memory of when I was a student. My mother gave me a package of Ferrero Rocher chocolates to give my first-grade teacher for Christmas. When the glorious moment of me giving them to her arrived, she opened them and exclaimed, "Chocolates!? Now I really won't be able to fit in the door!" As a child-- and, admittedly...

If teaching were a mere transaction of knowledge from the teacher to the student, then the job of teaching would be easy and business-like. But it’s not that way. The vast majority of teachers that I have grown up knowing and have come to know as colleagues care about the whole development of the children they teach. We care about whether the student had breakfast that morning or if she has any books at home. We care about who the students are as people and the character they’re developing. It’s a very personal job. During the school year, children spend about half their waking hours with teachers. Teachers are helping raise these children. A struggle since I began teaching has been relationships with parents. I have had parents that serve and give so much, I don’t even know how I would go about repaying them. I just am in awe of the incredible hearts they have to help not only their child, but the others in the class. And then there are a few—maybe one or two out the ...

If you are a parent, you probably already know this.  I, however, am not a parent. Granted, I knew that children just don't come wrapped in packages wielding magnificent promises such as, "Simple" and "Stress-Free." And yet, I had hope as a new teacher. After my first year of teaching, I discovered that no amount of streamlining and planning on my part could account for the vast array of surprises and sometimes challenges that present themselves throughout the day. This was because of the very unpredictable factor known as children. Here are some examples:  Have you ever had to make a quick beeline for some supply across the room? You've charted your exact steps and mentally accounted for the approximate time it will take you to obtain said supply, but unknown factors occur! A child suddenly hops into your path out of what seems like nowhere! What are they thinking?! Do the children not consider the teacher's ease and conven...

My first year teaching, I knew it was important to keep data on my students, but I didn’t know exact quantities and qualities. The logistics of the data keeping were a bit frightening. If you teach at a data-heavy school, the process can be intimidating. Luckily, my school was adamant that data-driven instruction was very important, but the higher-ups never kept exact tabs on the data I was keeping. I liked it that way. If your school allows for a certain degree of freedom on this matter, the next step is for you to decide what kinds of data to take, how often, etc. Here is what I learned:             My favorite data from teaching first-grade reading:                         -Word reading fluency once a month                 ...

If you get hired for a teaching position at the last minute, the tasks ahead of you will seem daunting and impossible to get done before the students arrive. You will have to think of everything from getting your room ready to what procedures you will have. Time may not allow you to get every detail taken care of, however. Learn to be okay with that! I got hired a week before school started last year, so I know the feeling. I honestly felt like I rushing and fighting to keep my head above water from that point until Christmas. After going through that, here’s what I would prioritize, especially if you’re pinched for time:         1.       Get the basics of your room set up. This doesn’t mean you have to “choose a theme.” Sure, themes are cute! But not a top priority. New teacher, this year, your theme may be “learning,” and it will be a great year! Ignore frivolous decorations for now and just set up the materials that will be easil...

Happy 4 th of July! When you’re a new teacher, you’ll find you won’t have the expenses to get all of those quality picture book read-alouds you desire. Instead, you’ll slowly acquire them. The question is, what is worth getting right away for your first year? What are the staple, go-to books? Every teacher is different, but I’ll give you a list of books I would buy right off the bat: I typically like at least one read-aloud for each holiday. But because there are a lot of holidays, buy half of what you need this year and borrow the rest from other teachers! Buy this year:              Borrow this year and buy next year: -Halloween                  -Thanksgiving -Christmas                   -St. Patrick’s Day -Valentines ...

Before my first year of teaching started, I looked up dozens of articles and websites that gave advice about the first year of teaching. I figured that by now, newbie teacher, you have also scoured these websites. The following list is my attempt to offer some advice that would supplement the already sound advice out there:       Libraries: Proceed with caution. Libraries can be a great free resource for some teachers, but for me, it was a headache. Returning library materials was the last thing on my mind most days, so I racked up some pretty hefty fines. After a while, it was probably cheaper to buy the book. And you have to factor in the risk that one of your students damages the item (accidents happen). Then you are held responsible for paying for it. So, in conclusion, libraries are my useful-but-dangerous classroom friends.       You will often not be aware of what you don’t know. You won’t know what kind of questions to ask. So many teache...

If you’re hired last-minute, you won’t have time to study, but try to squeeze in a little time to research the habits and behaviors of the little people you’ll be teaching. I didn’t do any developmental research at all before I started teaching first grade. I thought I knew that age group because I had worked with second graders in my internship the year before. But for children, there can be differences in behaviors based on even one year of age! Here is a great resource to get you started.  Also, here are some personal findings [unscientific] about 6- and 7-year-olds that I experienced last year:             -6/7s are not too cool for stuffed animals, which is great. I let my students read with reading buddies (aka donated Beanie Babies) sometimes, and they loved it!             -6/7s lose a lot of teeth. The other teachers had cute teeth holde...

Teachers are formed out of a constellation of imprints from other teachers. We learn our ways by watching and doing what better teachers have done before us. You probably have mentor teachers and professors who have shaped you into this newbie teacher, this teacher you are going to be. I will not take up the space here to attribute all of those who have had influence over my teaching craft, but trust me, they are numerous, and I am so grateful for them! In this post, then, I wanted to share my favorite wise-teacher-owls that can be shareable. You don't have to go to a specific school to glean the wisdom or humor in their methods. You can check them out right here on the Web. 1. Mr. Smith. His humor and creative ideas reminded me of why I got into teaching. I have watched every one of his videos. I've also implemented a lot of his great ideas into my classroom! 2. Michael Linsin from smartclassroommanagement.com. Have you ever read a book and thought, this is the...

You probably received enough quality advice about getting hired in your teacher education program-- stand-out resumes, portfolios, interview tips, etc. In this post, I'm not going to attempt to give you information about that.  Yes, I got hired, but I don't know why specifically. Did my resume font really make a difference? Did they call each one of my references? Did I make a great impression at my interview? Was it all just a happy accident? I may never know. But I am here to give you two main points to help you in your quest: 1. Don't take it personally. If you don't get hired right away, if you seem to be shuffling yourself from interview to interview with no successes, just know, new teacher, that it probably isn't personal. It's just that it is a high-risk endeavor for a school to take on a brand-new teacher. Even if you had an amazing internship experience (the more/longer, the better), schools treat new teachers like a wild roll of the dice. ...

As I was frantically trying to gather advice for my first year of teaching on the best tool available to me-- the Internet-- I noticed a few things: 1. There are a LOT of teacher blogs out there. Really cute, chevron-or-owl-themed blogs but an information overload for me. 2. There was no resource I could find (whether blog, book or random Facebook rambling) that gave me any insight into the actual experiences of a first-year teacher. The reason for the latter point became pretty obvious: What first-year teacher has time to create a thriving teaching blog? I mentally clung to the idea of making a blog once the summer after my first year hit, to offer whatever small amount of advice I could to those who found themselves in the unfortunate yet also exciting group known as new teachers . I realize my experiences could differ vastly from yours. But, dear reader, I believe we will overlap in our undertakings more than any other slice of the profession. As new teachers, we have unique ch...