Barely Keeping My Head Above Water! Parent Conference Week!

Can I vent a minute? This has probably been the most stressful school year of my teaching career! My many preps, my daughter being a senior in high school, and trying to remember to write objectives every day every hour are testing my limits. I was in bed before 8 PM last night.

But, it's Parent/Teacher Conference week here at JHS. These early conferences are always a challenge. I have 120 students to remember and unless you are not turning in work, being a discipline problem, or you've struck me as wonderfully genius or polite, I may not really know your work habits (or name... ahem).

So, I like to ask my students to complete a conference form ahead of time. We take about 10 minutes of class time and students have to check their grade, note missing work in my class, respond to questions about their satisfaction with their grades and the course, and then I use this information when I conference with parents. It's much better than that standard... "Oh, who do you belong to? Jared... okay, he's in my second hour. Let me check his grade. 96, A. He's doing pretty well. No concerns. Good kid."

This also gives me feedback while I sit there for 7 hours. I can reflect on how I'm doing and how they like the course so far, so it's good for all of us, right? And parents always say that they like it, so it's good to keep those mommas happy! Occasionally, I change the questions up a bit.

Here's a link to my form (Google Doc). Feel free to File> Make a Copy and edit as your own. Good luck with upcoming conferences!

Jeans day? Casual dress? What do you think?

I bought a romper last week on Amazon. I don't really own "adult onesies" but I wanted to try to be trendy. So, I got one with a reasonable length and paired it with a little black vest thing. It is that "on trend" pattern so I'm cool, right?

Wrong. My 17-year old told me I looked like I was wearing PJs and my 13-year old just laughed at me.

Don't worry, I'm at school wearing it anyway. It's comfy!

So, as I am heading back to school (had ALICE intruder training yesterday) and everyone is still enjoying wearing their yoga pants and shorts to school, I reminded myself of my business teacher training days (bear in mind, I graduated college in 1997). Dr. Linda Wiggs, my business education adviser, told me that you could always find the business teacher in a school. She was always the most professionally dressed person! At that time, it was true. Typing teachers were known for wearing suits and heels (gosh, remember that? and pantyhose?!).

However, when I started my very first year teaching, I did show up that first day dressed to the nines. I was approached by my mentor teacher immediately, telling me that I shouldn't "show up" the other teachers by dressing up so much. I was personally offended. I mean, I'm the business teacher. The kids need to take me seriously, right?

And jeans days? I didn't wear them. I thought it was unprofessional. Honestly, I was kinda fat and they were uncomfortable anyway.

But, I do feel differently now. I still believe you need to dress up the first few days (or maybe even weeks) of school. Casual Friday, though, it's up to you. I wasn't always wearing jeans (moreso because I just didn't have a good comfy pair) but there was something that students liked about seeing you in a school spirit t-shirt on football Friday. And, on spirit days, I now go all out and participate when I can (you should have seen me on Jersey Shore day about 10 years ago!). I might not wear jeans on Fridays all the time, but I typically do wear a school spirit shirt so I'm not the one teacher who is in fancy dress on Friday.

So, going back to school, just remember that you always need to look professional and approachable. And, you need to support students when given that opportunity--wear your school football shirt (don't have one? Shame on you!) or FBLA t-shirt. It's such a simple token.

Don't overthink it. But, be sure you are always seen as in charge of the room. I'm short, so often heels are necessary or people can't even find me when they walk into my room. If you need to dress up to feel more in power, do it.  But don't feel like you can't dress down when given permission.

But, don't wear pajamas.

Easy Google Form Breakout and Some Tools!

I've created "digital breakouts" for a few years now. Some are super complicated and take nearly an hour to complete (and sometimes few students even complete them) and I love the idea of them, but it's just so time consuming. Even the cool "breakout boxes" are just sometimes too much work having to program locks, set up the room, etc.

So, here is my "easy Google Form" breakout method. I created this as a Business Law bellringer activity for this year.  Between the tools I used and the setup, I thought this might be helpful, or if you actually teach Business Law, feel free to use it in your class.

I didn't create this list, but someone shared this resource with lots of tools for using in breakouts (like the Jigsaw Puzzle). Check it out!

My Breakout

My Presentation Mentioned

Google School? Advisory? Read on....

We have Advisory where we get kiddos when they start high school and have them daily until they graduate. When I had a new group coming in last year, I sent them all an email before school started to give them a heads-up (also emailed parents) about my room, where it was, and my profile. Then, they started on their profile. Some did it in advance, others did not, but I gave them time during the first week to add to it as they wanted. Then, I had them update it at Christmas and again at the end of the school year.

I really like having all of this info!

Anyway, watch my video and learn about it...

And here's a copy for you! Feel free to modify as you see fit (click File> Make a Copy).

Making a FUN Syllabus... sorta. :)

I've used numerous online tools to create my course syllabi over the years. Back in the day, we had to print them and send them home (I think we even had to get them signed!) but nowadays, a visual syllabus posted to a course website generally will suffice. But, they sure can be boring!

Over time, I have decided a syllabus should be an overview of the course, not a list of do's and don'ts (some of my college syllabi were 5 pages long!). I don't think it's a place for all the rules or a restatement of school policies. I think it should include some degree of expectations, what is needed for success in the course, and what the learning outcomes are. But, some schools may require specific information that you have to include.

In the past, I used Piktochart, and it's great. But, you are limited to 5 documents (so... I might have two accounts, one with my personal email and one with my school one).

This year, I picked up a new course (Business Law) so I decided to create a syllabus in Google Slides. You can check it out below or view it here (and feel free to File> Make a Copy and edit if you want to use it as a template for your own). I started by downloading a template from Showeet because they had some nice "techy" artwork.



I did use Piktochart to create an About Me page to post in the room and on my Canvas page for the students to learn more about me (I love their infographic options and clipart icon gallery that is built-in). I think it's important to give students some background information so they can better relate to me when school starts. Here it is (their site provides an embed code and I embed it on my class page like this, too):

I hope this is helpful!

Going Fishing at School... icebreaker!

I'm knee deep in curriculum development today and ran across a "fun" little "go fish" activity from We Are Teachers. Go check it out there! You can even download a template and create your own. Here's mine:  (PDF)

I'm gonna go pick up some tree limbs (maybe.. or maybe I'll buy some sticks...lol), grab some string, get some magnets and let the kids get in groups and fish for questions. Students struggle making conversations, so my rule will be that you:

1. Get in groups of 5 (I think that's a good size).
2. Dump the fish in the sea (I had to decide whether I want to put them in something so it's more random or let them see the colors so they can somewhat pick the fish... decided on the latter so my shy people would feel some element of control over the questions). 
3. Take turns fishing. After you fish, you read the question out loud and answer it. Then, at least two people in the group (you could make rules about who... like the person to the left and the right of you, for example) have to ask a follow-up question and you have to respond. 

Looking forward to seeing how this goes over and hoping no one gets "seasick."  :) he he

Why I Work All Summer....

So many people "get on me" about going to school in the summer. First, let me be clear. I don't get up at the crack of dawn to get to work in the summer. I sleep in, roll in to work around 9:30 or 10 AM and stay only a few hours and not every day. But, the building is generally empty with few teachers around when I am here during the summer break.

So, why?

First, I am a technology teacher and keeping up with technology is not something I can "do well" by just managing during the school year. Sure, I can try to catch a random YouTube video or follow the Adobe Twitter feed during the school year and learn about a new feature, but I cannot dive in and really immerse myself in the software during the school year when I am busy trying to teach my "five prep" schedule. It's just not possible. So, summer it is. I must update myself on my technology skills, learn the new things that are happening in the Adobe and Microsoft worlds, and get comfortable with it so I can teach it when school resumes.

Second, curriculum doesn't update itself.  I'm not dissing my Social Studies and Math friends; I know you also do a ton of prep outside of contract time. But, history and math are pretty static. Business and technology are always changing and it's a disservice to my students to just continue to teach content that's a few years old. I have to update articles to match what's happening now. My projects and curriculum must reflect current industry standards and expectations. And, if I don't do it, no one will... unless I can somehow find some little curriculum elves around here (no luck so far).

Third, backwards design requires me to evaluate and update assessments OUTSIDE of school time. I give a pre-test and post-test in each of my classes. Over summer, I review the data to see what questions were low scoring. Then, I either update the assessment to better reflect what I taught OR I update my lesson on that content to better prepare students. I find it is MY FAULT if they cannot score well on my assessments and I have to be responsible to find the solution. I use Zipgrade to review item analysis and consider low scoring questions... clearly, I need to focus more on the "Principles of Design" unit on Web Design for next year:

Finally, being a teacher is part of who I am. I love to teach. I aim to do it well. Though I often feel my efforts are unnoticed or unappreciated, I don't do it for recognition, better pay, or a pat on the back. Whether my students or administration appreciate it or not, I know if I am making my best effort. Anything worth doing is worth doing well.

So, don't feel sorry for me for working during the summer. It's part of who I am. I am devoted to being the best teacher I can be and I don't apologize for it. But, don't worry. I make time for ME and my kiddos, too. I already watched the entire new season of the Flash and am a few seasons in on Heartland right now, I've seen the new Men in Black, Child's Play, and Toy Story, and I've attended a few conferences. All work and no play makes anyone crazy, right?  :)  I hope your summer is moving along beautifully!