Integer Shoots/Snakes and Ladders Review Game

Shoots and Ladders Review Game

Do you remember that game from your child called Shoots and Ladders? Maybe you called it Snakes and Ladders. Well, I have adapted it into a review game for operations with integers. The link is provided above on Google Drive.  If you like it I have another one for solving equations. Just ask and I will post. Enjoy!

I like using games in the classroom because I feel like there is a little bit of luck involved which evens the playing field a bit...just a bit, but enough that students that struggle are still motivated to try.

Reflection

During my CT/CLT/Team meeting/mandatory weekly meeting with those people that teach the same subject or grade as me, we were asked to reflect on this past year. We were invited to share our peach and our pit. Peach being the good, bit being the bad. I was unable to come up with anything beyond surface level at the time but after more processing time I came to my conclusion. This year was all and all a lot easier then every other year in my history of teaching. This is amazing considering that I moved to a new school, worked with new teammates, taught a new grade level, and had to learn a whole new system of doing stuff...i.e. middle school vs. Elementary.

I say it was easier because there was a lot less work. All of the administrative crap that I had to do in elementary was no longer my responsibility. Plus, I have finally learned to ask for help or delegate work. I am almost always caught up on my work because I am more organized and willing to share the responsibility.

Now this being said, this also leads me to my puts. Behavior was tough. Really tough. I cannot handle these emotional, horomonal, crazy people...and yes I mean my students. I overheard a kid tell a teacher today that she didn't care that the teacher didn't get paid to stay after school, that's what teachers signed up for. I could not believe me ears and was at loss for words.

As in most cases some students think I'm nice, others think I'm tough, and some are convinced that I am Satan's spawn. But I have felt that I did not do a good job with staying patient. There were times when I didn't have the right tools to handle a disrespectful and unwilling student. So I would threaten them with going to the office or calling home...which I soon realized got neither of us anywhere. It always made more work for me because the student never completes their assignment in the office which means I have to give them more time and I nevered remembered to talk to them about the incident.

You expect me to remember what happened two days ago? I don't remember the beginning of class.

This year was filled with a lot more students that would one day tell me I am the best teacher on earth, and the next day call me a biatch.

But this also lends itself to my peach, I was consistent. It got to the point that this one girl...a frequent visitor of the office.. would only follow rules in my class because as she told the administration Ms. Olson is a rule follower and she will write me up. So yep.

I feel like I didn't establish as deep of a connection this year with my students. I didn't get to see them as much, but I also didn't take time each class to do a 5 minute get to know ya. I could have made more of an effort...and I wonder how that would have effected my classroom behaviors.

I could have also been a better teammate. I often judgemental and I sometimes get into this mindset that if someone proves themselves incompetent once, I don't trust them again. My team this year was comprised of a bunch of young teachers that didn't really have a depth of knowledge about the working of our county, data, or school district. But I could have been more open to learning things about this new grade level. It might have saved me some trouble along the way.

My greatest, ultimate peach and pit this year was one student though. Me mentee. Labeled as at risk, crowd follower, and general maven of attitude. We became pretty close. And I feel like she trusts me. But through this trust came the heart breaking realization that she had been mentally and physically suffering all year. And I had no clue. I felt like I had failed her. Now every time I see her, I just want to hug her and tell her how much she has meant to me this year. How she made my year. And how I will never forget her.

This year was a Rollercoaster. But it is one I would ride again.

5th Year

*Deep breadth* I lost it today. Meaning, I started crying and had to leave the room during 5th period. I just couldn't take it. There I was trying to teach surface area and volume to my students, I will spare you from the blow by blow, but it ended with me being unable to keep it together. I went on this rant about the importance of education and how I cannot learn for them....it was bad. Really bad. Luckily I had a co-teacher with me and it was the last 20 minutes of class. I have not cried all year, but there I was losing my cool over a bad day.

I thought by now that I would be able to handle anything. That I knew how to respond to every student and every situation, and for the most part I have handled myself better this year than most of my years...and yet I still found myself having to talk myself out of crying and cooling my face in the bathroom.


When will it ever get easier?

After School Blues

When does enough become enough?

In elementary school we do not have late buses. Therefore, if I child wanted to stay after they would have to arrange a ride with their parents or friend. This meant that while I had to call parents to remind them or ask for their kids to stay, all the of the students that stayed after, wanted to stay after.

In middle school, we have late buses twice a week. The students have to stay if they are missing assignments, or have detention. However, they can also choose to stay after to retake tests, study for upcoming tests, homework help, etc.

It is like pulling teeth. My school recently gave all of the teachers a list of students that failed the state standardized test and that have to stay after for 20 hours. In the beginning, I sat all of the kids down and explained why they needed to stay after. I called parents, had meetings, asked students every day, followed up with them, etc....and now I am tired. I am tired of fighting for them to stay. Sometimes I ask myself what is the point. Staying after is not a paid activity for me. I do it because I want to help my students. If I can raise their self esteem and get them to pass that end of year test it is worth every hour I stay after school.

But what is the point of fighting a student that makes up lies and excuses and argues about why they have to stay. In the end, I become frustrated and resentful. Yet, I don't want to give up on them and their potential.

What do I do?

Cornell Notes with Similar Figures

As one student told me today, she really likes it when we get to color. She went on to explain that middle school students should color more because it helps make things easier. Well, I fulfilled her wish today by using a combination of coloring and guided notes.

The students were each told to select 6 colors. I wanted them to use 3 colors for the 3 corresponding sides, and 3 different colors for the congruent angels. This ended up being a good strategy because the students are starting to request the colors when they work independently or on small groups.

Some students still struggle when the 2nd figure is transformed (flipped, rotated, etc.) But using the colors have made this a smaller percentage.

I will say, next year that I teach this, I need to stay away from words like smaller and larger, or say larger shape/smaller shape. I realized half way through that my students that are setting up the proportion wrong were confused by these words. Instead of knowing that I meant larger shaping, they thought I meant, larger number. Which would then give them the wrong answer.


I have provided a link to the Cornell notes here.

On the back, I included some SOL type questions so the students can see the vocabulary used.

Laughing with children

I am trying to get better about writing everyday...even if it is for just a moment. As you read this, please be aware that I am typing on my cell phone because I just could not bring myself to bring my laptop home. So, I am sorry for any spelling or grammar mistakes that I may make.

Today was an interesting day. It was a day where I wore the wrong shoes. Now, I love my even day classes. They are small, these classes include delightful children that have great comedic timing and always know how to make me smile. I have students in these even day classes that ask amazing questions. They make the connections that every teacher wants. But most of all, these are the classes that do not have any behavior problems. Meaning, my odd day classes are full of behavior intervention plans, and formal behavior plans. Odd day classes are the classes where I am on a first name basis with most of the parents because I call them so much.

Today however, I wore the wrong shoes. I woke up early, came in early, was extremely productive, but it was not the usual even day love. This became so crystal clear for me when I was with my every day class. So if you are on block schedule, you know that you have 1 class every day. It is your shortest class and it tends to feel like it goes on forever. Now this every day class has a ton of behavior children. It is also my biggest class...luckily I have a coteaching that is amazing.

Now, back to the clear part. My Co teacher was up at the board going over the worksheet that the students were working on while I sat next to the king of trouble. Now, this is a kid that every teacher will eventually have. This kid makes it hard to love him, but then will turn around and really amaze you. He is like that sour gummy commercial....first their naughty, then they are sweet. Well this kid looked at me today and said, "it is starting to get stuck in my head. Watch I'm gonna solve it so fast it will make your head spin." When I would I turn to look at his paper, he would cover and say, "I don't need your help. I got it." And he did. He got everyone correct. When I smiled at him he said, "you know why?" And I answered at the same time as him, "because you're a genius."

That right there made my day. A kid that is told in every class and at home every day that he is a failure looked at me and told me he has it. That's a moment I live for.

I can only hope that he remembers this when he is older or the next time he faces adversity. This king of trouble is a genius that gots it.

Things I wish I knew my first year teaching...

I would have titled this as "Things I wish someone had told me.." but I know for a fact I wouldn't have listened. Going in my first year, I thought I knew everything and I did not value or respect my teammates opinions. Looking back, life would have been a lot easier if I had....

1. Let's just get it out of the way. Something I still struggle with.... Don't reinvent the wheel. 
You know...my grad teacher actually wrote that on my paper one time. She said that I spent all this time writing the whole long lesson plan that I thought was creative and was going to revolutionize my classroom. She told me that not only was it not original, but she had seen that same lesson in several classrooms and online but knew I wrote it because it had my idiosyncrasies...whatever that means. This is still really hard for me. But when I figured that out, I suddenly had a lot more time to grade papers. 

2. Speak up but also be prepared to listen...
Besides the fact that my teammates have good ideas, if you listen to them then they in turn will be more likely to listen to you. Not only in collaborative team meetings, but with behavior struggles or just emotional support. There have been several times my first couple years that I was in tears and could not compose myself enough to get my students from their specials. My teammates were so good to me that they stepped up and allowed me as much time as I needed to pull myself together. This relationship with my co-teachers made even my worst days better. 

3. Find an organizational system that works for you.
I grew up with a German mother and a military father. Needless to say, my house (notice how I did not say my room) was always in spotless order. I did not manage to inherit those genes.... It has taken me 4 years to find an organizational system that works. My first year, you could not see my desk. It was covered miles high with stacks of papers. My second year, I got a little better, but often couldn't find things when I needed it. My third year, I went completely digital which was a whole new set of problems.  My fourth year, I discovered gold! MY AMAZING RULE? Tell everyone I work with and all children not to put ANYTHING on my desk. If it ends up on my desk and I do not know what it is, I trash it. Instead I have baskets. LOTS OF BASKETS! When I taught elementary I had baskets for each subject and then an administrative basket. The administrative basket was for all important papers that needed to be addressed immediately. I emptied this basket at the end of every day and either filed, filled out, or processed the papers in it. Now, I have a basket for each period that I teach. Everything that a student wants to give me goes into this basket. This helps me with those students that do not put their name, or do not put their FULL name (you would be surprised with how many Jennifers I have.)

4. Get in good with your office staff and administration. 
I was told my first year to bribe them with sugary items or anything that you know they might like. I even saw my mentor teacher give them Christmas gifts and just because gifts. Needless to say, I did not get it. Well, ladies and gentleman. I figured it out now. These are the front line people. They have to handle hostile parents, clueless parents, stressed out teachers, stressed out administration, and all last minute requests. They can either make your life amazing...or miserable. I will state this: I do not bribe them. I don't feel comfortable doing it. Now, I have brought in some homemade salsa because we talked about how I had too many tomatoes to count, but I have never gone out of my way to buy them gifts. Instead, I take a moment each week to talk to them about their life, my crazy students, anything that might be going on that week. This way they know my face and I can build a decent rapport with them. 

5. Breathe.
People think we do nothing all day. Or worse, that we sit behind our desks while our cherub students sit quietly filling out ditto worksheets....only in my dreams. You have breathe when talking to these people. But you also have to breathe throughout the day. Breathe before you address the INSANE behavior that Johnny is doing AGAIN. Breathe before you call a child's parent. Breathe before you go into the teacher's lounge and talk about today's events. JUST BREATHE. You are going to stress out. That is inevitable, but once spoken you cannot take it back. I still remember something my 4th grade teacher said to me 19 years ago...these kids might remember what I say too....

Although they always seem to forget their homework or that we had a test today...

Proportions with Barbie Dolls

My idea was not an original idea. In fact, I saw it in so many places that I am unsure whom to give credit to. Despite this, I would like to start by saying a BIG THANK YOU to my coworkers that allowed me to borrow their daughter's Barbie Dolls. I used an assortment of Barbies and Ken Dolls. I wanted to make sure my students saw a variety of faces, styles, and type.

Now onto the actual lesson...

As a end activity for our proportions unit, I posed the question: "If Barbie was as tall as you, what would she look like?" I wanted the students to get a couple things out of this activity. I wanted to have them problem solve, apply proportions, tie in art, and I wanted the students to realize that Barbie was an unrealistic expectation for anyone.

In order to have my students brain storm and I asked them to identify what information we would need to enlarge the proportions of barbie. After a couple of minutes and some guided questions, the students were able to determine that we needed Barbie's current measurements and then a measurement of what we wanted them to be. I had the students work in partners to complete the rest of the activity. They had to measure one of their heights (I told them to choose the shortest because they would later have to draw the barbies). From there the students measured all of the parts of Barbie (except for her chest.) The students then calculated proportions using their real height. This proved to be challenging but a really great teachable moment for my students. After they completed the proportion they wanted to check their answers by measuring themselves. We ended up taking a break and having a class discussion about why they were getting different answers through their proportions than what they are in real life. One of my students eventually shouted out that we are not proportionate to Barbie! You should have seen my grin.

After the students completed all of their proportions, I had them trace the person they measured and then draw barbie's picture using their proportion answers over top of them. This proved to be the longest portion of the activity and I think the hardest. In the future I would use this as an extension not a requirement. Some of my students were able to complete the whole activity in the time allotted, but most of them started it, and then grew frustrated because they were rushing and making several mistakes. Those students that were able to complete the picture had some great post activity discussion. I overheard several of my students saying, "That's not possible" or "Look how big her eyes are! No way!"

In the end, the students were able to complete the proportions in a real life way, which was the ultimate goal. :)

GT/AAP vs.Gen. Ed vs. Team-Taught

I don't know about you, but every February/March my school sends out an intention form. The premise of which is to find out who will be returning/leaving/wanting to change positions for the next school year. I have struggled with this for the past five years (typically because I am unhappy in my position) however this year was different. I am in love with my new school (yes...I am at my 3rd school...) and my new team (I now teach math full time in a middle school and I LOVE IT!). The struggle was what type of kids do I ask for? This was the first time that I received a question like this. Typically I get what I get, and that's it. Each "type" of students has its pros and cons. Now, I am generalizing here and I recognize that each group is unique in the challenges that they bring. But come on, lets not kid ourselves here teachers. When walking into a brand new classroom with no prior knowledge to what type of students are in there or what type of class it is, we can typically tell within 10 minutes.

So what do I want to teach?
With the exception of my first year, I have always taught the inclusion classroom. I like this group because I get to really see the most growth. I am able to establish really great relationships because the classroom is smaller, there are two teachers (whether or not I like who I work with is an entirely different post) so one of us can handle behavior while the other teaches, there are more ideas and more energy and you don't feel as alone. Moreover, while data should not be the end all be all, test scores are not that bad. They typically are not stellar, don't get me wrong I still cry in a corner after data dialogue days...but they aren't dismal. There are ALOT MORE behaviors in these classes than Gen. Ed classes. Let's face it, these students act out because they are bored, it is too hard, they are filled with adolescent and pubescent craziness...whatever you want to name it, I spend the majority of my time either teaching with 1 teacher out of the room or myself addressing the behavior while the other teaches.

But what about the GT kids? I taught 1 section of them last year and hold an after school math club which normally has these types of students in it. This group is pretty cool because you are able to have higher-level conversations. Not to mention to are able to do a lot of projects and in-depth research because the students typically make connections in content quicker. However, major drawback: the parents. Do you hear that? Oh yeah, here comes the helicopter or tiger moms or whatever the cliche term is nowadays. I do not like dealing with that. I am sorry, I became an educator because I wanted to work with students...not adults. When I taught that 1 section, I spent the majority of my time, answering parent questions and justifying why their child received a B on the last assignment (thank god for rubrics!) I also occasionally get the GT kid that thinks they know the answer to everything. I don't know why this bothers me so much. Maybe it is my own insecurities coming out to play, but when a kid challenges me on anything (history, science, math, etc.) my feathers automatically get ruffled (can you tell I am on a cliche kick today...or maybe year...). Now hear me out, I am not the type of person that cannot admit when they are wrong. I have proven wrong by many a student/parent/coworker. I just...can't handle the challenge of authority that I hear in those students voices. To me, there is a polite way to confront or to challenge...and I typically do not hear this from those students.

I don't know what I will get next year, I wrote it doesn't matter to me. That I am up for a challenge! But I have coworkers that demand one or the other. I know people put "I don't want to team teach," "I only want AAP students," "I really want to coteach with so and so..." on their intent forms. Does that make me weird? That I don't care what I teach as long as I am teaching math and that I have my own room (I hate sharing my room with traveling teachers).