The Buzz of Teaching

https://www.powtoon.com/c/cygnI4S2Rwr/1/m 2 - Classroom My leadership scores were tied. I had 8 points in both Creative Assertive and Dynamic Supportive. I think in the classroom my lessons are created from my creative assertive standpoint. I always try to keep things interesting and engaging for my students and I do that my relying on my creativity while creating classroom activities and resources. My dynamic supportive side doesn't come out in my lessons, but it does make an appearance when students talk to me about their lives. I'm a supportive person and my students are drawn to that aspect of me. They trust me and know I have their best interests in mind as they ask for advice. 2 - Department In my department I'd say more of my Dynamic Supportive side comes out, because I've learned to keep some of my more creative ideas to myself because some members of my department don't understand/don't listen/think they can't do the same level of work as me f...

I collected a variety of anecdotal data. I've been interviewing students about their thoughts on our classroom community, I've incorporated specific activities that encourage collaboration, and I've been reflecting on my evaluations to look for patterns in my work. I've found that I definitely seem to prefer partner and small group activities over whole-class community-building. I think the whole-class stuff scares me a bit because I don't have as much control over every student's experience. I've also learned that I subconsciously set the stage for these activities by being more engaging and talkative with my students during passing time. I'll joke around more, ask them weird questions, and make commentary to create a higher energy so my students feel it and buy into the activities. I definitely need to start doing whole-class community-building activities. I think they're ready. Am I? Who knows. I'll just throw myself into it and make it ...

My favorite connections from the fall conference came from my time with the other LA teachers in the program. We had some great discussions (in fact, more in depth discussions than what happens at vertical teaming in my own district!) We discussed two things I was drawn to the most: Conversation Starter Placemats and Diverse Literature. First, we discussed an idea called Conversation Starter Placemats. It's a simple, but effective, concept where you print placemat-sized organizers that include different ways for students to enter a conversation or classroom discussion. I really liked this idea, and thought that all of my students - from my EL learners to my AP students - to help them develop those soft skills. I was happily surprised when I came back from the conference and brought it up with a friend from my department. She walked over to a table and pulled out a giant poster-sized version of the same idea. She was like "I just made this!" It was great. What a coin...

Homework Philosophy & Perfect Classroom I think my homework philosophy fits well with my perfect classroom. I'm all about providing support and scaffolding for all my students, and my homework always fits with that. Like I mentioned in my video, I used to have a problem assigning homework because I thought I needed to. In my experience and research, I've learned when it's appropriate so it's a much more balanced classroom experience. Mis-Aligned Right now my perfect classroom is not 100% supportive of my homework philosophy because I'm missing many of the necessary tools to be successful. I don't have an EQ board because the school has yet to provide any of its teachers (from the fire-impacted areas) with whiteboards. I also do not have an easy way to project information because my projector is on a cart in the middle of the room. It's not accessible during the hour so whatever I project needs to stay there the whole time. Because of these issues, pl...

I'm trying to build a stronger community in my classroom. So far, I've been implementing small one-on-one activities or partner activities to facilitate community. These activities include things like scheduling more partner work, purposefully placing students together who normally don't often interact, performing walk-n-talks, etc. So far, these things seem to be working. While I'm not yet pursuing large, whole-class community-building activities, I know that by starting small I will ensure higher rates of success for myself and my students. I've been trying to remember to record data on my tools, but from what I've recorded so far it appears that I tend to begin these types of activities by talking with a student, casually, before we begin the activity. I think I'm like, easing myself into it? I didn't realize I did that until I starting recording my thoughts and activities. I also bet I do it because I think it could feel weird if I'm discon...