The Buzz of Teaching

My top 5 StrengthsFinder Themes are... Learner Individualization Strategic Analytical Achiever This week, I decided to aim my Analytical strengths to find a new (and hopefully better) way to conduct Peer Review in my classroom. Both my Language Arts 9 and my Honors Language Arts 10 classes are writing final essays for their respective units. 9th grade is writing a 5 paragraph Persuasive Argument and the 10th graders are writing a 5 page Research Paper. I've been doing Peer Review since my first year of teaching, but I've never felt that I've gotten it quite right.  One big reason why it never quite works out is due to my students - not all of them do the work, so that means it's tough to plan ahead on Peer Review days.  The other big reason why it never quite works out is due to my organization - I just cannot seem to find a strategy, model, or set of questions that has made me go "A-hah! This is how it's done!" Because of that, and be...

I couldn't remember any of the resources we talked about on Saturday, so I'll share one that I've used before. It's a resource I love. Canva is an online graphic design resource that makes synthesizing an easy-to-read, yet still visually stunning poster, handout, flyer, certificate - and anything in between. There are over 40 different categories, and dozens of different templates in each category. Canva is free and easy to use. I highly recommend it. Schoology Profile Image Schoology Profile Image Schoology Profile Image Certificate Awarded to a Student School-Specific Poster Advertising the Luna Creative Arts Gala District-Wide Poster Advertising the Luna Creative Arts Gala

What is Happening in My Classroom? In my head, I feel like my classroom is in complete disarray, but when I step back, calm my anxiety, and clear my head, I can see that my classroom is functioning as usual. I’m so busy right now that every little thing feels like an immense task that’s thrown at me that I need to complete. It’s causing me to lag too far behind in grading, get snippy and negative with coworkers, and feel out of control. It’s even impacting my grad work. I know myself, and I know when I get overly stressed or anxious that I avoid tasks. I’ll push to do them at the last minute, and then I feel a surge of relief knowing I’ve accomplished the task, but then frustration and annoyance with myself immediately after because if it was that simple to complete, I should have done it the first time I was asked. Let’s move away from this topic because I feel like nothing I say here is going to help me get less busy right now. It’s just one of those things where I have to keep t...