5 More Things I Learned as a First Year Teacher - Part 2

1 - Balance, Balance, Balance

Honest it's not a swear word but it is hard to do - very hard, especially when we are just starting out. 

We so want everything to be perfect, we want to cross all our t's and dot all our i's, perfect lesson plans, perfect classroom and so on and so on.

It is so easy to be at school at the crack of dawn and be the last one to go home, and of course you take your computer home too and work on it until bedtime.  

Of course because you have had no down before we go to bed, your head is spinning, coming up with ideas, thinking how we could have done something better, been a better teacher and so on and so on.

But here is a reality check 

- it doesn't make you a better teacher - 

Actually it makes you a burnt out teacher that catches every illness going around and then some.  It can leave you wondering at the end of 6 months why on earth you became a teacher.

Was I doing it this way - you bet yah - was I any more effective because I was - nope. 

Actually I spent the first 7 months of the year sick (I contracted bacterial tonsillitis that kept coming back and it's hard to teach when it feels like you have no air passage).  

It was at the beginning of term 3 before I came up with a better plan.

I like getting up early (and staying up late - I'm a night owl and early bird kinda gal), so I would be at work about 7am which gave me an hour of prep time before the odd kiddo started to arrive and 2 hours before the start of school.  After school I would stay until around 4-4.30 (staff meeting dependent) and I would go home, but I would go home without my computer - no school work - nothing (except during report writing time).  On Fridays I would stay late if my planning wasn't finished (but normally it was) so that I wasn't taking work home on the weekends either.  This meant I had recharge time, research time, me time, idea thinking time - you get the idea.  If I wanted to work on a concept for school I could but there was no pressure.

By using my time smarter I was getting more things done and actually able to go home and it made term 3 & 4 much better trust me.  It's all about finding what works for you.  Finding systems that work for you and allows you to use your time to it's best.

*Focusing on one job at a time for 20 minutes can produce amazing results and you can get so much done - you'd be surprised.

*Batching tasks together like planning your photocopying for the week and getting it done in one go then file ready to grab, can save you so many trips.

2 - An Emergency Kit

Keep an emergency kit and no I don't mean a first aid kit.  This is a box or a draw or a cupboard in your room (hopefully that the kiddo's cannot get into) that can be your go to place when things go wrong.

You want some snacks (e.g. snack bars, nuts, chocolate what ever makes you happy) for those days you either just don't get to sit down and eat or you run low on energy.  Plasters just for you (you know the ones that don't have the latest Disney character on them).  

Nail clippers, toothbrush and toothpaste in a bag can be a life saver on those days you just know you ate the wrong thing at lunch when you now have to be up close with kiddo's. 

Socks can be handy when you are caught out on a cold day or you ended up in that puddle that has just soaked through your shoes so they are gross to wear.  On that note keeping a spare jacket or warm top is handy too, the whether can change quickly and you don't want to be caught out on duty with no coat or cold and no jacket.  

Then there are the obvious things like a hair brush (I mean after duty hair can be a bit wild), spare hair tie if you have long hair.  I have heard it's even a good idea especially if you are in juniors to have a spare top cause you never know when a child may be sick on you or you get covered in paint (thankfully neither have happened to me......yet).

3 - Sense of Humor 

Honestly you need more than anything a good sense of humor and be able to let things go (which is hard).  There are days when you are sure each and every child in your class has been possessed by a monster (p.s. check for a full moon on those days) and nothing seems to go right.  But it can just be one day, you need to learn to let it go and move on and most importantly treat the next day as a new day.

You also need to learn to laugh, laugh and their antics (not in front of them if they are playing up), at yourself for your mistakes, at the jokes the kids try and do.

Some days both of these things are easier to do than others - some days it seems near impossible.  But you need to find a way to shake those days off and not let them get on top of you.  

Whether you love the gym, a walk, yoga or a glass of wine, find time for yourself and breathe, relax and as Taylor Swift would say "Shake it off".

4 - Talking to Parents

I think this is almost the scariest part of the job (even for more experienced teachers), you just don't know what you are going to get when you talk to a parent - especially if they have requested to see you.

Parents come in all shapes and sizes of attitude and approach when it comes to talking about their child.   

They range from parents who believe with all their heart that their child can do no wrong and therefore it is always someone else's fault, too parents who believe their child can do no right.  

If you are lucky you get the parent in the middle, who knows their little darling can be a fault and is willing to listen and work with you to support encourage and ensure their child is the best they can be.

There is actually no easy answer for this one, you literally just have to suck it up and speak to parents.  What I have found is the more you get to talk to a parent about how well their child is doing, the more they are going to listen to you if something has gone wrong - it removes the 'you've got it in for my child attitude' and you have more chance of getting home help.  It doesn't always work but it can help.

Different schools have different approaches when it comes to this so you do need to establish what your school expects of you in regards to contact with parents.  One approach I read about and started at the end of last year (and will be continuing with) is sending home positive notes. I made up a few templates which I printed on colored paper and keep in a draw, then once or twice a week I make a point of sending a note home that they can show their parents.   Now I would point out I teach 5 & 6 year olds so this does have a lot of currency with them, but older children love being able to experience this too.  If you would like to give the notes a try just click on this link HERE and it will take you to a Dropbox download.  I also ensure that all my kiddo's get a note at some point.

For some children you do need to work harder to find the reason, and sometimes that reason is small, but that's okay as long as you can find a reason, but remember that child is often the child who needs that note more than anyone else in your class....so look hard for a reason.

5 - Discipline

You cannot wing this.  

You must have it clear in your own mind what you are going to do and handle situations. You have been in classrooms, you have seen the sorts of things kids do and the sorts of things you don't like, so be clear in your own mind how you are going to handle it.  Also be transparent with your class, set clear expectations and consequences when it comes to negative behavior, so they know what to expect as well.

Be familiar with your school's expectations when it comes to dealing with bad behavior (and what they consider to be bad behavior), some schools have better plans in place than others, some even have it written down - read it!  

Talk to your team leader, mentor teacher etc about their methods and expectations.  But most importantly, have it clear in your own mind (gee I think I said that already).

You can adjust it, nothing is set in stone - but if you adjust it, let the class know.  

You will come across behavior that you hadn't planned on (there will be those sorts of classes), it's okay to come up with a plan for next time (and hope there isn't a next time). 

But if you are going to have consequences be consistent and be consistent with all the students in your class.  

You maybe used to 'Mary' always doing xyz so she has to have the consequence, but if 'Jan' suddenly does the same behavior out of the blue you can't ignore it, she has to have the same consequences.

I know right now you are reading this and going - well that's obvious, tell me something I don't know.   

But you know what, when you are in that class and you see one of your normally good kids act up it's easy to over look it cause normally they are good, but the 'Mary's' of the world see that and they know it's unfair and it can lead to bigger problems.

They say it takes 20 positive comments to undo one negative comment.  So please, please, please choose your words carefully.  Never say 'you always...' 'you never....'  and before you think teachers don't do that - yes they do.  I observed a teacher last year berating the students on the mat as they were not listening, they were over it, they were tired, but she had a lesson to teach.  So she picked on a few students named them and said "...you are always talking and never listening",  and ".....you are always making the wrong decisions" 

Yup, that's the sorts of things she was saying, I don't think she even realized what she was saying, she was just so frustrated with the class,  and I honestly think if she heard herself she would have been mortified. 

Time out zones are a good idea - they don't have to be horrible sit in the corner, facing the wall, sort of time outs, they can be sitting in a chair with a relaxation/thinker timer or a calm down jar.  Time out can be as much for you as it can be for the child (give you a chance to calm down too).  Don't call it a time out spot, call it a 'Thinking Spot' cause you want the child to think about what they have done.

I tried to always make a time to talk to the child if I sent them to the thinking spot, see if we can find out if something bigger is going on, or simple re-establishing a good relationship and inviting them to join in again.  Some kiddo's will even take themselves to the time out spot cause they need at break from whatever is happening in class - it shows such amazing self management.

Acknowledging the positive behaviors that you want to see in your students.  It's so important to do more praise than telling off, not just for your students but for you as well.


I caught heard myself one day, it was just one after another of correcting behavior, I didn't once acknowledge those who were doing the right thing.  I didn't like what I was hearing and I sure as heck my class wasn't either.  So I stopped, I actually stopped mid sentence, I sat back in my chair, I let out a big breath and just looked at the class and said "Well I certainly have my grumpy face on today, lets see if we can change that" (Our class talk is teacher grumpy face vs happy face and how they can be in control of the face that comes out and how if I am having to have my grumpy face out to tell the class off, I always end it with "okay grumpy face away now").  I then turned around and made a point of complimenting the positive behavior I was seeing.  The reality is, if you are only seeing the negative it gets into your own head, the children aren't the only ones affected - you are as well.


So that's my two cents worth about being a first year teacher.  There is and always will be so much more, it's an amazing journey and it's not easy, but you are in for the time of your life and when you look back you will be amazed at just how much you have learnt in a year compared to all the time you spent studying.   Remember to take time to enjoy something about each and every day.

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Reflections of a First Year Teacher - Part One

You attended your teacher course (wherever that may have been), you've done your papers, been lectured, you've done some time in the classroom during your course, and they have told you you are now ready for your own classroom.......

Next step land your first job.....

Then you are actually the teacher, for real.

You have to be, up the front of the room teacher, you have little faces looking at you expectantly (I mean you know what you are doing....don't you).   But then you find out just how different life is when you have your own classroom, you are in charge, there is no one at the back of the room you can turn too....your it!

Are you going to make mistakes?  You bet!  I sure as heck did, so I thought I would share some of the things I learnt as a First Year Teacher.

1 - Do Sweat the Small Stuff.

Lets face it, we are sitting at the mat with our first ever class, we have heard the message at training "don't smile for the first 3 months' but lets be real here for a moment, are you going to enjoy being a teacher if you constantly have your grumpy/serious face on for 3 months? No! Are the kid's going to enjoy being in your class - NO.

But here's the problem, we sit in front of that class of eager faces that you want to get to know and who want to get to know you so we start of friendly, really friendly, we tell them we are going to have so much fun this year.  We are excited (and nervous/terrified) for this journey to start.  We are determined to be the best teacher ever and our kids are going to love us!

And then we make our first mistake, we ignore the little things happening on the mat, those things that in themselves really don't seem that big a deal (for now) so we don't really want to make a big deal out of it, so you let it go.

I mean you don't want to be THAT teacher after all.

So here's the next big BUT - Not doing so means the little behaviors become big behaviors or a behavior that has you wanting to tear your hair out 3 months later.  Then you have to try and take the class right back to the beginning and try and undo the damage,  which is sssooo much harder!

Oh boy it can feel like your nit picking at first, almost like your a drill sergeant calling them out on every infraction, but trust me you need to.  But only for those first couple of weeks.   Don't get me wrong, you don't have to be mean or sound nasty, but you do need to do a quick friendly reminder of the behavior you expect of them (e.g. we listen when someone else is talking Johnny), and a little firmer if needed.

Wondering what those behaviors are for you - think back to your training and you were in someone else's class, what behaviors annoyed you, what did you see that you didn't like - those are the behaviors that you want to focus on.

For me it was mat manners - oh boy those got me.  Not sitting properly on the mat, thinking you could lie around on the mat during instruction time, talking when someone else was talking instead of listening and calling out answers when I have said hands up don't call out.  They were my biggest bug bears and I didn't get it right at the beginning of the year, I didn't model it correctly and consistently in those first few weeks and I felt like I was chasing my tail trying to correct it further down the track.  Am I going to do it different this year - you bet.

I know it sounds silly to 'model the behaviors you want but (especially for younger students) if you don't actually act out what you don't want to see (and you can have so much fun with this) they often just don't get it or don't understand.  On the flip side you also need to model want you do want to see as well - and you then rope them into modelling it (you will always have some kiddo's keen to do this).  

2 - Being Prepared

Oh my goodness, it doesn't matter how great a lesson plan you have or how long you think an activity will take, there will always be days that things do not go to plan.  Whether it be a school scheduled in activity that eats at most of your lesson time except it leaves you 10 minutes to fill, or what you thought was at least an hour long lesson & follow up activity but they had it finished in record time, there will always be 'what now moments'.  My current school is great in the sense they encourage 'play is learning' within the junior school (as long as the academic side is met of course), but play means stuff being brought out, and stuff being brought out means mess, and mess means time needed for tiding up, and by the time they have gotten stuff out and then tidied up there ain't any real time to play.

So have a plan, have activities or have a book ready to go to fill in that time.

I learnt quickly to have a draw of activities ready for those moments.  Inside was simple activities like sight word/equation coloring sheets which are real win-win as there is academic and fine-motor skill practice happening and most kiddos love to color and I had my fall back of Bump Games that were always a winner and had them practicing both math and phonics (depending on the game).

I also had a prepared book or two each day by my chair so at the very least I could sit and read them a story (and reading to them is gold).  I would even go as far as prepping some questions on a post it note that could lead to some discussions!

A real life saver for me this year was using Go Noodle (click here to find more and sign up), there is two versions, the free one and the paid one.  Trust me if you don't have the funds for the paid one, the free version is wonderful.  There are songs for teaching, songs for movement, songs for silly time and songs to calm and relax.  The songs range from 2 minutes to 5 minutes - but don't worry they always want more than one song as they race to 10 and see what the character will change into (hey by the way, you sneak maths in here too with facts to 10 win-win).

The bonus they are getting movement and getting the wiggles out and double bonus you join in and you are getting movement.  I had a rule everyone had to stand and if you didn't want to dance you had to walk on the spot - everyone had to move somehow.  By the second term all my kiddo's were trying to dance - they just couldn't help themselves 😂

3 - They do not all have to go to the toilet at the same time.

It's true, they do not have synchronized bladders as much as they try and tell you that they do, and yet no sooner does someone raise their hand to say they need to go (or give you the hand signal) then you have at least five others doing the same.

My rule quickly became one girl, one boy at a time, that's it, no exceptions (okay I did make the odd exception but that's when I got to know the body language of a few of them and I would rather break the rule than have an accident on my floor!).

It's amazing how quickly some of them forget that they needed to go when they can't go straight away - it's like magic.

4 - Some days you will feel you suck as a teacher.

There is no other way to put it.  There are days you will feel like you suck, that you don't know what you are doing, that you have stuffed everything up and that you are a fake who hasn't been caught yet.
This is so NORMAL.  I doubt you will find a teacher who has never had this thought, hey reality check here even veteran teachers can feel like this sometimes - if you are in any teacher Facebook groups you will find posts from teachers who have been in the game for years saying that they just don't know what to do with their students this year.

The reality is there will always be challenges to overcome, there will always be students that test us to our limits of understanding and patience and there will always be days that we feel as teachers we didn't live up to our ideals.  Remember to there will always be days when you as the teacher are having a bad day (for whatever reason), you aren't at your best.

I have had a few of them, I have actually stood with my head against the wall for almost all of the morning break wondering just how I was going to manage to get through the rest of the day.  How I got through the rest of the day, I'm not actually sure, but I know there were a few tears on the way home.  Coping with those days can be hard, but they are just that 'days'.  Find someone safe who you can talk to, often just unloading can give you clarity, or unload it all onto paper.

5 - Stop and Give Them Time:

This seems so simple, they come up to you eager to tell you a story or just interact with you, but your in the middle of preparing something for the next lesson, next day, next whatever.  So you keep doing it and sort of pay attention, or worse you tell the child "Sorry I have to finish this we will talk later".

DON'T DO IT!  Stop what you are doing and give that child the 5 minutes they need. 

It's hard, I know it's hard, you have all these things you would rather be doing, but that 5 minutes is gold, it's the connections, its the attention that child may need to stop being the disruptive child 10 minutes after the bell rings cause they needed that bit of attention.   And here's something else to remember, you may have been the first adult to stop and listen and give attention to that child that morning.  Now this doesn't matter if you a in a low or high economic area, with how busy mornings can be at home, some children just don't get the 5 minutes they needed to be heard.

Have I been perfect with this - nope - did it make a difference when I was - yep!  With my most difficult student last year that 5 minutes in the morning of eye contact conversation made a huge difference to his behavior for the rest of the day.  So this is a big one for me to be very aware of as I head into my second year.

Wow that was a long post....problem is I think there is still a little more to say, I think that will have to be a part two.

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Oh Christmas Tree

So this idea started as we had to make a Christmas Tree to go to the local Christmas Grotto....unfortunately we never got it finished in time, I mean it's end of our school year and Christmas...well you know how it goes....things just kinda got away on us, but we did get it finished.

I was inspired by some pins on Pinterest in from some Reggio inspired classrooms of winding wool around sticks as a fine motor skill activity as well as creating a great art piece for the classroom.

Now first of all it's confession time.....for this to be a really worthwhile fine motor skill activity you would need to use fine wool and the students would take their time to do it and come back to it several times in order to complete it.

- BUT,  I had no time for that, I was already on a deadline...

So I got the thick wool with multi colors strands in it that would look like they had spent ages winding different colored wool around (gotta do what yah gotta do).

I purchased a set of bamboo garden stakes which I then cut to size - hint if you think about it when you cut the small pieces become the top of the tree so you are working towards the middle!

I laid them all out against a large thick garden stake an to ensure spacing, size etc before cutting the large stake - Now I can not give you sizes or anything like that cause I just winged it with my fingers crossed that it was gonna work.

As the students drifted in that morning I was working on the largest of the sticks, just slowly winding the wool around, let me tell you that got their interest up and ready and they piled on the questions as to what I was doing, could they try, what was I making etc.

I kept telling them they were just going to have to wait and see.

I hoped I was building the suspense and I would have them hooked.

Turns out I did.


At our morning meeting about the day I showed them what I had been doing, and explained what we were trying to do,  they were hooked and I had lots of volunteers.  Even though I couldn't show them an example of what we were creating (other than a crude drawing on the board) they were still on board with my vision and excited to try this out.

I started each stick off my taping the wool flat against the stick and the child then wound the wool over so you don't see the tape.

It was great to see the different techniques and styles of how to wind the wool around, and the sharing and helping that happened as they worked together.  You will also notice from the photos that the boys were into it just as much as the girls, in actual fact to start with I had more boys that girls working on the project.

When they had completed all the sticks I used zip ties to attach the sticks to the stake and then wound wool around the stake covering the zip ties and forming the trunk of the tree.

For added strength to the wool and help them not to fall off if handled too much I also hot glued the end and then topped that with glitter glue.

I had planned for the class to make mini pompoms as decorations, but remember what I said about time... well that kinda went out the window and we improvised by sticking on glitter pompoms.

One kiddo decided that it made it a math tree as the pompoms had been used during the year as one of our math centers 😆 and proceeded to count the different colors of pompoms.

The class were so happy with the tree, everyone who came into the classroom was dragged over to see it as they pointed out the stick they had done (or helped do).

While it only ended up mounted against our wall this year, I would love to have it in a weighted bucket next time and have it free standing and I would get the battery lights to string over it to make it really pretty.

And yes I did say next time, I think this is going to be my thing for a few years that as a class we are going to make our own Christmas tree and decorate it.   I'm just going to be more organised next year and start this at the end of November.

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Beginning Teacher - Week 18 - Being observed!

I think nothing really unnerves a teacher more - whether they are new or been at this game for years - than having someone in to observe you - especially when you don't know it's happening!!

That was me this last week.  Education Specialist walked into the room to spend an hour or two to observe one of my kiddo's (I will call him M) that has a few issues! M was born premature, one ear is miss-formed meaning he is deaf in that ear and he has hearing lost in the other ear.  He has behavior issues and will do anything for attention regardless of whether or not it is positive or negative and some days it seems like he wants negative attention only.  He has trouble retaining information, to the extent he is about to turn 7 but is still in a first year class, in saying that I have been making some amazing progress lately (if I do say so myself).  He is also has the most amazing mind when it comes to Lego and building and the cutest smile out there.  As much as he drives me up the wall some days and tests every nerve in my body, I have a real soft spot for him.

So having someone in to observe a child and how they act etc is a good thing when you are trying to get help for that child - but the problem is, is that they are observing you to!

After all is it the child that is the problem or is it you the teacher?!?

It was guided reading time, and for a change I had a fairly full class (okay full for me, I only have 18 on my class roll and for the whole year I have only had them all there once - yup you read that right once in 6 months), today I had 12.

So to set the scene - during guided reading at my school we set up centers and the students just rotate through the centers at their own pace and when they have finished and checked with me they are allowed free play.

The first thing that happened as soon as I had explained the centers is that M and another had a gentle fight over who got to sit on the last chair at one of the centers and neither were budging.   Tried to see if one of them would give up the seat - no luck so I took the seat away and they both lost.

Grit teeth and thought good M is going to play up today, and moved on with my reading groups prepared to have to deal with M throughout.

But the rest of the morning went great, M didn't act up, didn't misbehave and worked so well - the little stinker :) Honestly I did want him to act up, I did want him to be the child who drove me to distraction the day before, we are trying to get him additional funding so he can get extra one on one, help and if he is an angel when he is being observed....IT WONT HAPPEN!!!

This was the third observation M had had, two was when he was an angel and one where he just played up something wicked (thankfully).

Today I called into a meeting with the Education Specialist, the principal, a lady from the hearing association, an RTLB (teacher support for difficult children), and the parents of M.  I didn't know it was happening - they forgot to tell me.  I was so nervous about what the outcome was going to be and totally unsure how honest to be.

I decided to go with honest.

I framed that M can be like two different children.  There is M who comes into my class bouncy and ready to learn and has a great day, then there is M who just acts up all day, disturbs everyone else, is destructive of my, school and other students property/work and is hard to deal with.  I told them how M will come up to me and say 'I had a good day today ahy' and that I am honest with him and I will say 'No not today' or 'Yes you have been amazing today'.  His parents told me he comes home and owns up to that (which I thought was cute).

The outcome of the hour long meeting, I am unsure.  Will we get any funding? We find out in a week but I'm not holding my breath.

Will things change with M?  No I don't think so, there is more going on in his head than we know, I just hope he doesn't fall through the cracks.  In the mean time I will keep trying with him and hope for more good days than bad (for both our sake).

There was one personal positive that came out of the meeting was the huge compliment the Education Specialist gave about me and how I run my class, how the students act in class towards each other and me, the environment, everything, she told the parents M was lucky to be in my class!

I needed to hear that.

She said it in various forms throughout the meeting and then came and spoke to me afterwards to re confirm what she said and add a bit more - then she found out I was a BT and was gobsmacked.

I often think I am failing as a teacher - I am so quick to judge myself harshly - and to have someone in the business rave about me like that was so sole affirming.  It will make it easier to get out of bed tomorrow and face the day, regardless of how M acts.  I know I am making a difference, (even his parents said they have seen it in recent months), and maybe just maybe some good will come out of being observed and he will get the extra funding.

Maybe....

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I Survived My First Term....Just

Okay so technically I have almost survived two terms of the school year as we are over half way through term two.

But it has been hard.

It has been a steep learning curve.

It has been amazing.

It has been draining.

It has been rewarding.

It has been frustrating.

It has been overwhelming.

It has been eye opening.


I am working in a school surrounded by families without a lot of anything especially money.  In New Zealand schools don't supply lunches to children, they bring there own.  However in low income areas schools are supplied bread, fruit, breakfast foods and snacks so that we can feed those who need it.  So many of my kiddo's come with nothing or a lunch box with chippies and biscuits, so every day my kiddo's know I will ask who needs a sandwich (and if they have nothing with bread they know to put up their hand) or who needs a top up (in other words they don't have much).  There is no shame in it, no put downs, it just is what it is, and the kids accept it and know they are getting no judgement for it either from me or their classmates (I mean tomorrow it may be their turn so no-one puts down anyone!).

When I got the position (one week out from the school year starting) I was told it was new entrant (5 year olds), this rather scared me as it is so unusual to put a beginning teacher in a new entrant classroom as they as such a whole different teaching requirement in their own right - don't believe me - just ask how many teachers in upper grades want to teach newbies 😅.     The day before I started I found out that in actual fact all my kiddo's had been at school for between 6-8 months (with the exception of 1 who was 3 months and 1 who was 2 years but well behind).  So all my planning went out the window and I thought great I am starting with kids who know a thing or two....

WRONG

For all the building up of how great my kiddo's were and how bright a few of them are, no one really mentioned that all of my class was WAY behind where they should be across the board, and with summer they will have all slipped way back even further (most of our families don't do home follow up talks/learning etc).  Just to give you an idea, in my class of 18 only two could spell their name correctly (but with reversed letters but that's no biggy).

I have a class of amazing kiddo's with fabulous personalities, and quirks, who are in desperate need of positive attention and affirmations, who struggle to learn and retain new information and need so much exposure to new learning to start to retain it, that it sometimes feels like we are making no progress.

It has been an amazing learning curve for me, I have brought lesson plans and ideas on TPT that should have, could have worked, but just didn't and got put away in the hope by the end of the year it just might.  I have brought amazing lesson plans/concepts that should have been able to been taught in a week according to the wonderful teacher who has designed the lessons and had great success with them, but in  a week my kiddo's just aren't getting it.

For a long time I was thinking just how much of a useless teacher I was that they were not getting it.

Thankfully I spoke to my associate teacher who just told me to relax, and understand that this is how it works with these kiddo's, it takes so much repetition (more than the average) for them to retain the information.  She reminded me at the beginning of the year she told me that if I have 5 of my 18 kiddo's knowing all of their alphabet sounds by the end of the year I will have done a great job!  I had thought she was kidding then, turns out she was right (although I am actually at 8 of my kiddo's knowing all of their alphabet sounds now and it's only half way through the year so I'm hoping to blow that stat out of the water).

I still think I can do a better job of meeting the teaching/learning requirements/needs of my class, and I am constantly trying to step up to the 'plate' and re-evaluating my teaching etc.

My idea list of things to create to help them learn is enormous, and more than I can accomplish before the end of the year is out (even if I was creating full time and not teaching), so where I can I am keeping it simple, where I can I am designing things to compliment the amazing lessons I have brought to give my kiddo's more exposure to the knowledge that they need.

And in the meantime....

I am going to celebrate every victory my kiddo's have, and continue on this emotional roller-coaster ride called teaching!

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Taking a Leap

The last few weeks has been about taking a leap of faith in posting a new line of products on TPT!  I have um'ed and ar'ed about this for months.

I finally took the leap and listed my first flip book (or tab book depending on what you like to call them).

I love flip books, I have been using them in the classroom for ages, even as a sub I have created flip books for the students to use, sometimes I do it on the fly (when you have made a few, you get good) other times I have taught the students to do it themselves, and when I know I am going into the classroom for a few days and what they are working on, I have created ones to take in.

I love how they can provide students with such a fabulous way to present their information or learning which they can either paste in their books or with some flair and art work can make great displays for the classroom wall.  They are so great for consolidating learning into an easy reference point (rather like doing an interactive notebook).  What's even better they are easy to find in a book for study.  Whether it's Math or Literacy they can be made to work.

Do you get how much I like them.

I made a few (before my TPT journey even started) that I have used a few times, but I never posted them - to be honest I wasn't sure they stacked up well enough.  Then I was ask by a fellow teacher to make them one, they had seen what I was doing for shapes, loved it, asked for a copy, wanted to know what else I had and asked if I could make one for Christmas (unfortunately I didn't have time).

It's amazing how someone's else validation can make you feel more confident about the stuff you are creating, rather like when you get that cha-ching sound on the TPT app when you make a sale, it lets you know someone else thinks your stuff is good (other than the students who sometimes seem so easy to please).

So I have dusted of two that I have previously made (100th day and New Years), gave them an overhaul and revamp, added a Martin Luther King flip book, bundled them up into a little packages and listed the first one (New Years)!

Then held my breath.

I waited to see what people thought......

I waited to see it would sell....

Apparently a few people liked it, it's become my top selling resource.  I must say I rather proud of it.

So I have taken the plunge and listed the other two.

New Years Goal Setting Flip Book

100th Day Flip Book

Martin Luther King Jr Flip Book

Each pack has 2 or more cover options and different level of response pages to allow teachers to cater to different grade/age levels and differentiate where needed for student operating levels, and of course each pack comes with the all important 'How to Assemble' pages.

If you are interested just click on any of the pages and it will take you to my TPT store. 

In the mean time I am just please to have taken the leap of faith, believed in my work, believed that I do have a different enough take on the flip books that people will be interested and best of all believed in myself.

I think the lesson in here is that I should believe in myself a bit more.

In the mean time I am going to go and take advantage of the rest of this holiday and create a bit more, after all my list is a mile long of ideas after spending time in the classroom, and I have a few more flip books up my sleeve that I want to re do and revamp and finish off ready to post.

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Teaching the Family of Facts

I thought I had this concept down pat, thought I knew how to teach it...

Wrong!

Well to be fair I did not do too bad, I really had them hooked in the concept.  But I'm jumping ahead of myself lets step back a little.

I was able to pick up four days work in the one class (teachers husband had taken sick and had been flown to hospital) but there was no planning what so ever as the teacher had her planning home but had not yet gotten around to it....

So I had four days of teaching a class of 6 year olds with no knowledge of where they were at what levels they were operating at or anything.

I was so excited :), it felt like I was actually going to be a teacher.

So day one I went in armed with heaps of stuff, several maths options and spent the first half hour before the day started going through everything I could find to let me in on just what they were doing.

Reading and writing no problems, knew the age group, knew what I could do (sort of).

Maths I decided on family of facts.

I knew no matter what the level it should work and those at the lower level I would give them additional support.

I introduced the concept, I started with 5, we went through all the ways of making 5 - they did good here including the reversing the addends ( 3+2 and 2+3)

I told them I was going to show them a maths magic trick.... but first I sent them off to go and grab 7 objects (their choosing) they were quite quick and this - they wanted to know the trick.

We worked together with 3 + 4 with everyone showing me with their items.  I loved watching the ones in the lower group get the answer and get it quick and their face light up with delight at getting it.   When I introduced the magic of how we know that 3 + 4 = 7 then we know that 7 - 3 = 4.

They were amazed
They could not believe it
They had to do it themselves
We had to repeat it again and again with different numbers
They were hooked!!!!!

I was able to do this for the week with different numbers,  those who needed extra help sat together (it was a mix of levels) and they had objects to count so they could physically see what we were doing.  They were getting it.  They were rocking it.   They were so impressed with themselves.  I patted myself on the back for good teaching

On day four we were going to do a craft to show our understanding.  I gave each child their own equation to work through (without my help) based on what I had observed through the week, I knew this would help form an assessment of their understanding.

They didn't get it, they were not rocking it,  I was not impressed with myself!

The advantage of subbing you get time to reflect on your teaching, analyze what you did great and what not so great.  What I realized is although I called it the family of facts I never showed them the numbers as a family.

I felt like such a twit, I have even made a pack with all the family of facts up to 20 (although I haven't printed it as yet) and with every card the family of facts is grouped together and the kiddo's are meant to work them into an equation.  Did I introduce it that way to the class - nope.  Will I remember in the future - sure will.  Made the point this school holidays to write up a quick lesson plan so I know what to do in the future - although I doubt I will forget again.

I just need to chalk it up to my inexperience and finding my feet.  While they did not learn it as well as they should they were well on their way and if I had had a few more days we would have gotten there.  But then again that's the role of a teacher, while we teach we learn and as we learn we teach and I have certainly learnt.  I just wish I could go back and start again - if only

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Creating my first resource - maths fact familes

One of the biggest things I have learnt about myself as a teacher over the last three years while studying, is that I have a real passion for teaching maths.

Our school system in New Zealand means you need to be a good all round teacher as we teach all subjects until students are 12 years old.  So while I love literacy and reading and making reading enjoyable for students, for me Maths is where it is at.

I love finding ways that will help students understand and make sense of a concept for themselves so it goes beyond being able to do it to understanding what they are doing and why.

The blogging world and Pinterest has been an amazing source of inspiration and learning, and sometimes I feel like I learn more from them than I have from my lecturers at being able to engage and assist students in their learning journey.

One of the things that has inspired me is the resources that other teachers have created to use within their classrooms (many of which are on my wish list for when I finally have my own classroom) and the fact they put their hard work out their for others to use.

It has lead to me starting to create my own resources.  I already have a list a mile long but have only managed to create one - Fact Families up to 20.   Using clip art from the wonderful MelonHeadz as my base I created 42 slides worth of facts with a cute little girl from Educlips and fonts from KG Fonts.

What surprised me was the amount of work involved to make them and include all the facts from 2 to 20.  This only made me appreciate even more the hard work the wonderful people on TPT have done!!

They are non themed so that it does not matter when I get to teach them with my relieving work.

I wanted to make this first as a lot of the relieving work that I am getting is in the junior classrooms and you can never practice these facts enough.  Helping them understand the multiple ways you can make a number and the commutative property of how if 2 + 3 = 5 then 3 + 2 = 5 and then to switch it around to know the subtraction properties is big in developing their foundation for all their future learning.  It is also one that I keep finding again and again that students do not know as quick knowledge, so I also want to build on this with more stuff for my tool box.

Of course now it requires the expense of printing them and laminating so they can be used again and again.

It makes me silly happy to have been able to do this, even though they are only for me :) as I can not see anyone else being interested in them.

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first rejection

So you have done all the hard work, you have applied yourself and done your absolute best, and you have past - you even have the certificate to prove it.

It's official - you are a teacher.

Yup, they are going to let you in front of a classroom to teach.

At least they will if you can get a job that is.

That's where I'm at at the moment, applying for jobs, and right now is when the jobs are out for the new school year, so I'm applying - along with every other new graduate and experienced teacher looking for a job.

I was excited when the school I want to work at the most advertised two positions that they said was suitable for a beginning teacher.  This is the school my boys go to, and where I have been volunteering at for years.  It's also the school where the staff encouraged me to start my teaching career.

I knew this wouldn't guareentee me a job there, but I did think I would at least get an interview which would be amazing experience as well.

But I didn't.

I just got the standards rejection letter.

I know this will be one of the many rejections when I live in a small area and there are so few jobs and many people wanting the positions, but this rejection hurt more than any other.

 It seems that everything I had done at the school didn't count for anything.

And tomorrow I have to turn up with a smile on my face and work with the kids (who are relying on me) and continue my volunteer work.

It's obvious that a thicker skin is required if I am going to survive this part of trying to become a teacher.....it is hard to think that I have done so much work to finally live my dream of teaching and no one might employ me.....

But then as they say, good things come to those that wait.

So wait I will, I know there is the right job out there for me, and I know I am not alone, there are teachers all over the country and the world who go through this.

Next time maybe.

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Using Blackout Poetry in the Class

I had come across finished examples of Blackout poetry on line and managed to track down one blog post that gave some details about the concept (although I haven't been able to find it again) and I knew it would be a great activity to try with a  class.

It combines the creativeness of making poems with the skills of skim reading (to find words that suit) and course design and art to make a finished piece.

I had tucked examples away in my teaching folder as a possibility to teach but had not created a formal lesson plan to work off.  I did not think I was going to be able to fit it in during my teaching placement anytime soon but new it would be handy.

Thankfully I did as I had a number of students who finished their project quicker than the rest and a sports event that was meant to take up the afternoon get cancelled  - suddenly I had time to fill in!

I did a quick scramble in the class book we were reading 'The Emerald Atlas', which is fill of amazing descriptive language.  I found a page, quickly enlarged and photocopied a class set.  I wanted to see the variety of poems that could be created from the same source.

I had a base idea in my head as to how I would introduce and teach it (thankfully), but was unsure as to how well the students would connect with the ideas or understand the concept.

They were hooked instantly, even my more reluctant students got stuck in with it!!

I explained how they will need to read the text through once to get an idea of the words on the page, then go back and skim the page to find words to link together to make a poem (which will take several re-reads).  As they find words that work for them, circle the words in pencil, re-read what they have circled and see if there are words that they should loose or add to improve the flow of the poem (editing practice, check!).

I did a quick demonstration before sending them off to start.   Using pencil was the best way to go as for a few I did need to suggest a few less words and remind students that with poetry the normal writing rules go out the window - correct sentence structure is not needed.

The students brought me their poems to read through before starting on the art stage and I was blown away by the poems that were created, some of them were very powerful and the students were delighted when I read them out to the class.

Then came out the markers and the felts and their creativity.  There were a couple who failed to understand to leave their words white and block out the rest and coloured in the words as well, but hey they still looked good.  It was amazing to see the art work they created and the variety in the poems.

Lit up lighting flashes,
Hundreds of rock walls was gone
Howls
Path zig zagged
Dancing over
Pointing up
Lightening Forked
Echoed














Lighting flashes
Nothing by sheer rock walls
Cursed their first day
Watching the howls from the face of the cliff
The path was zig zagged
Gusts of wind
Bringing the valley floor into view
The bottom pointing up the cliff
















Hundred feet of sheer rock walls
Plunge howls closer
Face of the cliff was their only hope
Steep, slippery, never more than a couple of feet
Children descended
Valley, hide,
Echo

The students quickly figured out that they could delete the 's' and 'ed' and 'ing' from words to help the flow of their poem, which was not something that I thought to tell them to do.  Great demonstrating of them thinking for themselves.

Would do this lesson again in an heart beat with any class - doesn't always have to be on the A2 size and could easily be standard page size.  However being the large size meant that they made for an impressive art display!

This was completed with 9-11 year-olds, which meant the text was more detailed, but I think you could easily do it with younger children but with a simpler text.

I can not recommend this style of poetry enough as a lesson, if you read this and have any questions just ask and I will do my best to answer :)

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One of Those Teaching Moments

There is a girl (I will call her A) in my class, she is a sweet girl who at 10 is incredibly hard on herself and does not believe she is good at anything.

A has been struggling at maths for awhile now (before me), she has that total attitude that she does not like maths and that she is no good at it.

I have been trying to keep her engaged with the maths lesson and keeping her self believe at a higher level, but it has been a struggle.


Yesterday we did the dreaded speeches, the class only had a week to come up with their speech (my associate had run out of time and had not been able to give them more), it had to be a persuasive argument on whatever topic that they wanted.  A wrote a fabulous speech about the rain forest and why we should save it.

When it came to A's turn to speak she stood in front of the class and spoke so quietly that you could only just hear her, it was such a shame.

My associate and I had a discussion on the class speeches to talk about who we thought should go into round 2 (there are 2 rounds before we send 4 to the judging panel).  We were choosing 8 students which was quite easy to do, I made the suggestion that we put A through as she had actually met the criteria the best as far as content went and I wanted to encourage her to do better. 

My associate jumped on the idea as at the beginning of the year A had been a lot more confident and she felt A needed a bit of a push.  We both approached her to ask if she would try again, she was surprised to say the least and kept saying 'really, me?' but at the same time I swear she grew an inch!!

I talked to A about how her speech ticked all the boxes she just needed to talk louder, I made the suggestion that she picture her Dad (also a teacher in the school) is sitting at the back of the room and he has to hear what she is saying.

It worked!!!  Today she stood in front of the class, her voice was loud and clear and full of emotion.  When she sat down she looked at me with this big smile on her face, she knew she had done well, and I think my smile was as big back, I was so proud of her.

The smile was even bigger when she was one of the final four going through to the judges round, she was so proud of herself - and rightly so.

It was a good teaching day - I made a difference in a child's education journey (even if it was only a moment in her journey), but just as importantly she made a difference in my teaching journey that will live with me forever.

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Learning a lot about myself...

Uni has finished for the semester and I am trying to cram in study before I start my school placement on Tuesday.  Although I still feel I have a lot of work to do on my time unit, I have all my resources in place and an outline of where I will go with the topic depending on where the kiddo's are with their understanding - yahy diagnostic assessments.

I have spent the last two days having to come up with my philosophy of teaching as that is one of the biggy questions that will be in the exam.  Although it was sort of answered in the assignment we did part way through the semester, the purpose of the assignment was not aligning our thinking with any traditions (progressive, critical or liberal) but rather theorist (Vygotsky etc), and now we have to move it more towards the traditions. 

For most of my classmates they can really just work off their assignment, but I got mine rather mixed up and as a result did not achieve to my best and its rather off the mark.  Therefore I sort of feel like I am writing the assignment again from scratch but maybe with a slightly better understanding.

I would have said two days ago that I was a progressive teacher, in that the child is the centre of the learning process and that the knowledge and experiences they bring into the classroom are a valuable resource.  Although as it turns out that rather links to the critical tradition as well. 

What I have learnt is that I am a big mix of both the progressive and critical.

I want my kiddo's to be able to go out into the world knowing who they are, that their opinions matter, that they can make a change, that education empowers them, that they are valued, that their voice was heard and that throughout life you are always learning - it never stops.  I want my teaching to involve them, not be taught to them, I do not want to just be about book work and the all important literacy and maths (more towards liberal thinking) but rather how to work as part of a group, how to get along with others, include the arts and fun, include their lives, their opinions, their views and overall help them grow. 

I want to not only teach them the information, but teach them why the information is valuable to them, whats the relevance to their lives, and hopefully there is more than one way of looking at something and learning something.

I know that perhaps I am hoping for a lot, and maybe more than I can achieve, but hey if I do not give it a go I never will achieve.  I know it will come with heart ache (especially with those kiddo's so beaten down by life already), and there will be some I am just not be able to get through too no matter what I try - but I will keep trying.

The best part about getting this sorted in my head, is I know what sort teacher I want to be and that will grow and evolve even further with time.

Hopefully I'm not to far off the mark.

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