Teacher-Student Connectedness

 More quick ideas to stay connected with students

Five Facts

• Students write five facts on an index card. Make sure the five facts are not something I can get from looking at the student or get from their school records.
• Save these facts to read at various times during the year. For instance, when kiddos are getting antsy or seem to be dozing off. Randomly pull out the stack of cards, read a fact and see if students can guess who it is.

Dialogue Journals

• The teacher writes the first entry in the dialogue journal based on one of the five facts the student has shared.
• It suggested that students write one "letter" a week a their journals. Ask students to update what is happening. What are they reading, listening to, playing, or watching? What are they excited, happy, sad, or worried about? 
• As a middle school teacher with approximately 100 students, I think this might be too much for me to handle. I am thinking of having students do a Five Minute Write every month or so. Good timing might be before or after a long-weekend, a vacation, holiday, etc.

Clock Buddies

 Look what I found...

A Clock Buddy Generator

This generator is genius!  All you need to do is enter student names and it creates a Clock Buddy for each student. All you need to do is then print out the clocks for students. Actually, to save paper you could just share the clocks with students via Google Classroom.

Another aspect that I really like about this generator is you can name each group, rather than using the common numbers found on a clock. You could even use vocabulary from the current unit as the group names.

AND...on top of making a clock buddy per student, you can generate group layouts of up to five students per group.

Teacher Notebooks

 

Notebooks

Teacher Resource and Tool

For Classroom Management

• Class out of control? Don't say a word. Just simply open your personal teacher notebook and just write. Don't say a word. Look up every once and a while. No dirty looks or reactions. Just look around and then continue to write.

Student Character Notebook

• Write the name of each student at the start of the year (or have kiddos sign their own name).
• Students are starting the year with a fresh, blank page.
• As the year goes on you will be writing about the student as the year goes on. Good, bad or just even neutral. For instance, each time a student comes late to class.
• The pages are their character. Don't promise that won't share with the principal, parent, etc.
• Resource for records and writing letters of recommendation.
• Use a coding system such as T for tardiness.

 

First Week Activities

I am overwhelmed with ideas to start this year. So far I am thinking about Investigating the Teacher Challenge, Personality Tests, Getting to Know You activities, A Million Words, a Student Survey, Speed Dating, One Word creative activity and then the typical "getting set-up" stuff!  Oh boy....

One thing I know for sure is that I like the students to get started with working in groups right away. I have tables in the classroom, rather than traditional school desks. Students are a minimum of sitting with at least one other person during class. This means working in groups and collaborating.

This is an old but goody that I think I will keep.  

I 100% need to use the idea shared by A Grace Filled Classroom by asking students "What Kind of Teacher Do You Want?" 

And using the idea of My Job & Your Job shared by The Hawk Nest where students discuss jobs they might have and the jobs I might have as the teacher. 

And then every time I read about one first-week activity, I find another. Math Equals Love shares an activity to work on group norms that is called Broken Circles. I REALLY want to give this one a go! And I really need to look at all of the Beginning of the Year Activities that Math Equals Love shares because I think there are many activities to use throughout the year...especially when I change up groups.

I think I need to look at LEARNING STATIONS to get this year going!

Learning Stations

What are possible LEARNING STATIONS:

• Getting to Know You - These may be too long to be a station.
• Personality Test or Learning Style - The cut and paste Learning Style might take too long and the reflection activity for each would be too long.
• Student Survey
• One Word creative activity - Students pick one word to define their upcoming year or goal. 
• Review the Syllabus  - Students review the syllabus and find key info.
• Meet the Teacher - Could I coordinate it enough that I could a station?
• A Million Words - Students could preview this assignment and get a copy to bring home.
• Complete the "Sticky Notes" for the class posters.

 On the First Day

Just Breathe

As excited as the first day can be for many, it can also be a stressful and anxiety ridden day. This is for teachers and for students. 

 

Depending on the time and schedule for the first day, I might give Investigate the Teacher Challenge a chance this year. Having student look around my room to do some investigating will make the first day a more engaging, student-centered and kinesthetic experience than going over the classroom rules. This might be a fun way for the students to peruse the classroom. It might be even more interesting to see what they come up with as my bio.

       

 

Grading Quizzes & Tests

Recommendations from a Veteran Teacher

During a conversation with a veteran math teacher (who was preparing to retire), she mentioned ONE thing that she would recommend when grading that was beneficial to those students who focus on the grade rather than the learning.

As she "graded" quizzes and tests, she circled an error and/or left feedback for the student. She did NOT mark the answer with an "X" or show a loss of points. 

In her "old school", lesson planner she would record the fraction score such as 75/80 and then enter the grade into the grading system, which happened to be PowerSchool.

When students got their assessments back, they only got a paper with comments and feedback. No grade. 

Students had to read the feedback to see if an answer was correct or not. They could later go into PowerSchool to see the percentage or letter grade. They never saw the fractional grade.

Tracking Common Misunderstandings

While grading a quiz/test, I have a completed test next to me to correct student work. One thing I never considered was using this same answer sheet (or another blank quiz/test) to track the incorrect answers supplied by students. 

What a GENIUS way to collect data, attend to student misunderstandings, and/or look at material I need to reteach.  

Giving Back Assessments

Before giving back a quiz or test, a strategy is to group students according to common misunderstandings. Place at least one student in the group who got the problem correct but don't tell the student this is the case. Give the group a problem to work through that is very similar. 

Getting to Know You Activities

 

Who Are You?

Relationship Building

A new class is entering the math classroom in just a few weeks. Why I don't stick with the same "getting to know you" activities....I am not sure.  

Here are a few I am contemplating:

Kate from To The Square Inch

• Scaffolded Math shares the idea of a Back to School Math Pennant based on a glyph. I like the idea of then having a colorful classroom banner representing all the students. They can even look at the glyphs to see how many have something in common with themselves. There are 7 different options all available on TPT. Kate from To the Square Inch shared a beautiful display of class pendants.
  
  
  

• Teaching in Room 6 shares a similar activity called All Hands In! 

Teaching in Room 6

 

                        SOME IDEAS

• Assign some classes the pendant and others the hand.

• Offer students a choice of either a pendant or a hand. 

• Kacie Travis has a simple yet effective Back To School All About Me template that works perfectly for those students who just aren't into the coloring activities. 

• 

  Teaching with A Mountain View

• Teaching with A Mountain View created some Back to School Getting to Know You Task Cards that are available on TPT. There are some others by Kacie Travis that would work as well although these bump it up a notch with students meeting one another. Thinking these would be fun to do as part of the stations. Even better is maybe coordinating this with Scoot to practice some of the rules and expectations of working in class. 

• Personality Tests have been around for quite some time. I just have never really thought about using them in the classroom. This year I am considering 16 Personalities (or maybe an alternative since the results include a section on “Romantic Relationships”)and a reflection activity by Write on with Miss G. I like the focus of the personality test being based on the students getting to know themselves more than me getting to know each of them. 

Of course middle schooler want to share (well...most do). Giving them time to compare and share with one another is a perfect way to build class relationships. I really like how Miss G. used Padlet as a visual representation of the class personality types. This is perfect for streamlining the discussion to 1-2 minutes.  

Write on with Miss G.

         A summarizing question "Should we work with people whose personality types         are similar to ours, or people whose types are different?" can then be used to         as a transition into discussing group work for the year. As many already,                middle schoolers want to work with their friends for any task given. This                activity will give us an opportunity to discuss using the strengths of others to         develop as learners. 

        If the personality test doesn't quite work out (the 16 personalities will need to         be approved by my SAU), then there is the Learning Styles Inventory which is         a cut and paste activity.

Rethinking Homework (again)

 The Homework Struggle Is Real

Another school year is about to start and once again I am thinking about homework. Yep...year 20 something and homework is still on my mind.

My Current Practice

Students typically have homework four times a week for math class. This is equivalent to the number of times we meet each week. 

The number of problems varies but averages between 10 and 15 problems. The typical assignment asks students to complete the evens from an assigned practice sheet. 

The expectation is all work is shown for full credit. Failure to show work or complete at least 1/2 of the problems results in a 0. Students either earn a 0 or a 1 from completed homework. 

Students are expected to turn in work at the start of class. As they enter the classroom, students self-grade their homework (answers are shared in Google Classroom). They are expected to correct their work and be sure to record correct answers and steps for any problems they may not have gotten correct or understood at home.

Once the work is self-graded, students move on to the Homework Check (also in Google Classroom). Here students are asked:

• How much of the homework did you complete? If students choose "I skipped problems, they are asked why this was the case. If students choose "I did not complete the homework.", they are then asked to provide a reason as to why this was the case. 
• Did you get all the problems correct? If students choose "No" they are moved to select either "I know my mistake.", "I am still not sure of my mistake." or "I skipped this problem originally but now I know my mistake."
• Lastly, students are asked to rate themselves based on the standards for that specific practice.  This is an image of the rating system I use:

 

• All student results are then viewable in a Google Sheet for me to review.  I can now connect with students individually to review specific struggles or look at common struggles that need to be discussed as a class. This process of checking homework has saved time in the classroom and has helped students to better share struggles (rather than sharing them aloud).
• Homework is not accepted later unless there is a specific reason that has been discussed with me. 

My Homework Struggles

• I am not happy with a 0 or 1 as a grade. If a student does 1/2 of the practice, they don't deserve a 0 nor do they warrant the 1. Giving a 1 gives the perception that the student is completing all practice work. This does not help me if/when I am looking to share updates with parents or look for ways to support a student in improvements. Do I develop a rubric?
• I would like to develop a plan for accepting late work. The challenge is answers are posted. And I like to keep answers posted for those students who may want to complete/correct additional problems. What is a workaround to allow for late credit?  What grade do they deserve?

Supplies for a New Year

I LOVE School Supplies!

This year's new items include...

 

Providing SENSORY STICKERS to all students to provide students with STRESS RELIEF in the classroom. 

Plus adding movement with KICKBANDS for those kiddos that just need a bit of to get them through the class.

 

I'm always making some sort of Card Sort or walk Around which means always using my colored tagboard and laminator. For some reason, I never thought of getting a ROTARY CUTTER or ROTARY CUTTING MAT.  

Considering a PENCIL PARKING LOT  for students to borrow a pencil. Each student will have an assigned student number. Students can borrow the pencil but must return it at the end of class. Not sure about the logistics of this idea yet. BUT I do love the PENCIL UPGRADE PROGRAM. Here is the general guide: A student comes to class without a pencil. The student can borrow from my shelf (of "found" pencils) but if there are none available, I offered any student in the class a PENCIL UPGRADE. If a student volunteers, I exchange the used pencil for a brand-new one. 

For my table grouping, I thought these DRY ERASE DOUBLE-SIDED MAGNETIC WHITEBOARD EASELS would be perfect. Just another tool for collaboration!

And speaking of whiteboards, I had quite a few on the walls that needed an upgrade. After a horrible experience with a vendor who shall not be named, I opted to order the QUARTET MAGNETIC DRY ERASE WHITEBOARDS directly from Amazon. They are even a little bit more modern. Frameless and white glass.

I have my materials stored in all different ways. To make some more accessible (and of course keep my room looking cute), I thought these MULTI-COLORED STORAGE CUBES would hold my new MESH ZIPPER POUCHES perfectly on my bookshelf. And for some of my bigger laminated items, the PORTABLE PROJECT STORAGE CASES are going to be perfect!

More for my student tables are -20 to 20 NUMBER LINES. Can't wait to laminate these!

And lastly, some STIKKI WHITE CLIPS to display student work.