Monthly Archives: August 2017

SOS Organization for Teachers

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The topic for next week is “Teacher HACKS”.  Please share the tips and tricks that you have picked up along the way!  If you don’t have teacher hacks, or included them in your organization post, you could post about “Icebreakers” instead.  And if you are feeling really inspired, you could even blog about BOTH!  🙂   Submit your blog post here.

Blog posts appear in the order they were submitted. 

 

MTBoS SunFun Logo

Our topic for next week is, “Teacher Hacks! “

Due: Sunday, August 27th, 6AM

Elissa suggested this fun topic for the week!

Helpful tips:

  • Submit your blog post (below) by Sunday at 6AM to have your post included in the weekly summary.
  • Tweet out your post!  Use the hashtags #MTBoS (Math Twitter Blogosphere)*, and #SundayFunday to get more traffic to your post.  This is especially important if you are new to tweeting because only your followers will see your tweets unless you include a hashtag.
  • Additional Hashtags:  Of course you can always add more hashtags to your Tweet so more people will be exposed to your post!  You can search any keywords to find a hashtag, and here are some of the more popular ones:
    • #ElemMathChat (Elementary Teachers)
    • #MSmathChat (Middle School Teachers)
    • #GeomChat (Geometry)
    • #Alg1Chat (Alg1 Teachers)
    • #Alg2Chat (Alg2 Teachers)
    • #PreCalcChat (PreCalc and Calc)
    • #MathChat
  • JUST  #PushSend!  🙂

Submit your post using the form below by Saturday at midnight! Just #PressSend

You can also click here to submit.

New to Blogging?

If you are like, “Wow!  This sounds like so much fun!  I want to blog but don’t know where to start!” then you must read “Mission 1: The Power of the Blog” on the Explore the MTBoS site.

** The hardest thing to do week after week is come up with great prompts.  Please help us out by telling us what you would like to blog about (or even read about) here!

* The Math Twitters Blogosphere is not an organization.  Rather it refers to ANYONE that is involved in MATH in ANY way!  You do NOT have to Tweet or have a blog!  But, you can find many teachers that do tweet and blog by searching the hashtag #MTBoS on Twitter.  All are welcome, no invitation necessary!  Please join in the conversation!  Just #PushSend!  

Thanks so very much to @DruinOK for getting this all started and Jessica,  @Algebrainiac1, for creating our awesome logo!

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Week One Done! SOS Internal Clock

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Week one is in the books!  It was SO GREAT to be back!  I love starting new each year, and especially meeting an entirely new batch of students.  They are so fresh and truly inspire me the first week of school.  It reinforces how much I love what I do!

I am also EXHAUSTED.  You know, the “I haven’t even worn shoes much or woken up before 9am in two months” exhausted.  I don’t sit down while teaching, unless I am joining a students group, and am not used to standing so long.  The first week is stressful because I have so many things to do to start the year and am afraid I’m going to forget everything.  I wake up almost every morning around 4:30 or 5am, even though the alarm isn’t set until 6, with things running through my mind.  I literally was in bed by 9pm every night this week, but usually didn’t fall asleep until 10 or later.

I was so excited for this weekend!!  My son had a football game over 2 hours away Friday night, so I didn’t get to bed until 1:00 AM.  I had planned on SLEEPING UNTIL NOON today, but my body had other ideas.  Apparently, my internal clock has been totally reset and I awoke at 6AM.  I stayed in bed until 7, desperately trying to fall back to sleep, with no luck.  So, I decided to get up and DO THINGS.

I got up and ran three miles (well, it was definitely more of a walk speed as I’m exhausted and haven’t exercised in toooo long – BUT I DID IT).  Then, because I love to cook and miss it when during the school year (teaching plus 3 boys in sports), I went on a cooking spree and made two quiches, a cobbler, and pasta salad this morning.  I also organized my unit binders and blogged – TWICE now!  I am feeling invincible right now.  BUT, I see a giant nap in my future…

Have a great weekend!  And take care of yourself.

Spinach Gruyère Quiche
FOOD!
Bacon Ham Quiche
Cobbler

Organization – The Struggle is REAL

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I love being organized, but have such a tough time with it.  I move too fast, do too much, and don’t leave enough time to put things away at the end of the day.  But I try.  I love making things organized for my students, so I don’t have to waste class time passing out papers and materials, or getting work for absent students.  Most of my organization tips I found from other people, and am even trying something new after reading the blog posts this week!

IMG_1652

Plastic Grading Folder/Pocket:

I put all assessments that need to be graded in a clear plastic pocket.  There is a hi-lighter and Pilot FriXion Clicker Retractable Erasable Gel Pens in there for grading.  This way I can take my grading with me to all of my children’s activities.  The plastic pocket is durable so the papers don’t get messed up on the soccer field.  🙂

 

IMG_1653Student Math Numbers:

I give every student a number at the beginning of the year.  They put this number on all of their graded work.  It helps me quickly alphabetize the papers so I can enter them into the grade book.

Extra Handouts:

I have two hanging file folders on the wall, one for each prep, that I label for each day of the week.  I put extra handouts in there so if a student loses theirs, they can get another one.  This is also great for tutors as they can see any work we’ve been doing.

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Table/Team Folders:

I got this amazing idea from Sam Shah last year!  I have one folder for each table.

  • I put their handouts for the day in each folder so I don’t have to pass them out.
  • They put work they need to return to me inside the folder.
  • If a student is absent, then the next day any handouts they will need is inside their folder!
  • I have Homework Responsibility sheets in there as well so they can fill out a sheet when they first come into the room if they didn’t do their homework.
  • I also put their name (on a post-it) on the outside of each folder.  This also serves as their seating chart.  When I want to change seating, I just switch the post-its.  It’s great for me bc I’m a very visual person, especially when arranging seating!
  • I keep their folders on the table by the door, so the students get their table folder as they come in.  But, if I want to change where a TEAM sits, I just put their folders on a different table before they come in.

IMG_1647

Supplies:

I keep all supplies that students will need on a big shelf in the back.  This way I don’t have to get them out and distribute each time!

Unit Binders!

I have not done this yet, but after reading Greta’s organization post and a slew of tweets I am going to try to use unit binders.  I am hoping it will keep me more organized.  I bought a box of 12 1 inch binders on Amazon for $27.00!  But now the price has increased to $37.00!?

Screen Shot 2017-08-26 at 10.44.24 AM

Classroom Management Help

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The topic for next week is “Everything Organization”.  Please share you stealth organization, tips, and tricks that make managing everything else a breeze!   Submit your blog post here.

Blog posts appear in the order they were submitted. 

MTBoS SunFun Logo

Our topic for next week is, “Organization “

Due: Sunday, August 27th, 6AM

One of the MOST REQUESTED topics in the Topic Submission Form was organization!  Since it’s still August, there is no better time to tackle this!  Help the organizationally challenged (like me).  Tell us all how you do it!  Tell us all about your organization hacks, classroom layout (photos if you have them!), classroom routines, gradebooks, managing students, dates, emails, paper!  

Helpful tips:

  • Submit your blog post (below) by Sunday at 6AM to have your post included in the weekly summary.
  • Tweet out your post!  Use the hashtags #MTBoS (Math Twitter Blogosphere)*, and #SundayFunday to get more traffic to your post.  This is especially important if you are new to tweeting because only your followers will see your tweets unless you include a hashtag.
  • Additional Hashtags:  Of course you can always add more hashtags to your Tweet so more people will be exposed to your post!  You can search any keywords to find a hashtag, and here are some of the more popular ones:
    • #ElemMathChat (Elementary Teachers)
    • #MSmathChat (Middle School Teachers)
    • #GeomChat (Geometry)
    • #Alg1Chat (Alg1 Teachers)
    • #Alg2Chat (Alg2 Teachers)
    • #PreCalcChat (PreCalc and Calc)
    • #MathChat
  • JUST  #PushSend!  🙂

Submit your post using the form below by Saturday at midnight! Just #PressSend

You can also click here to submit.

New to Blogging?

If you are like, “Wow!  This sounds like so much fun!  I want to blog but don’t know where to start!” then you must read “Mission 1: The Power of the Blog” on the Explore the MTBoS site.

** The hardest thing to do week after week is come up with great prompts.  Please help us out by telling us what you would like to blog about (or even read about) here!

* The Math Twitters Blogosphere is not an organization.  Rather it refers to ANYONE that is involved in MATH in ANY way!  You do NOT have to Tweet or have a blog!  But, you can find many teachers that do tweet and blog by searching the hashtag #MTBoS on Twitter.  All are welcome, no invitation necessary!  Please join in the conversation!  Just #PushSend!  

Thanks so very much to @DruinOK for getting this all started and Jessica,  @Algebrainiac1, for creating our awesome logo!

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First Day Blogs, 2017-18 #MTBoS

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Blog posts appear in the order they were submitted. 

From the archives! Collections of blog posts about first days from past years.

MTBoS SunFun Logo

Our topic for next week is, “Classroom Management”

Due: Sunday, August 20th, 6AM

Recently, Fawn wrote a post on Classroom Management that I really enjoyed.  As Fawn pointed out, Michael is right, we don’t talk enough about this!  Because sometimes, we do pick the right task, and are doing the right things, when something goes wrong.  How do you handle that?  What are your policies that help your class run smoothly?  What are your go-tos?  How do we engage the student that doesn’t like our class, or is disrespectful?  When do we contact parents and what do we say to them?  What resources have helped you that others could turn to?  I’ve been teaching for many years and this is still hard for me.  So, let’s write this week for each other, and especially for the new teachers out there.  Because this is a topic that is not often covered enough, especially in a positive way!

Helpful tips:

  • Submit your blog post (below) by Sunday at 6AM to have your post included in the weekly summary.
  • Tweet out your post!  Use the hashtags #MTBoS (Math Twitter Blogosphere)*, and #SundayFunday to get more traffic to your post.  This is especially important if you are new to tweeting because only your followers will see your tweets unless you include a hashtag.
  • Additional Hashtags:  Of course you can always add more hashtags to your Tweet so more people will be exposed to your post!  You can search any keywords to find a hashtag, and here are some of the more popular ones:
    • #ElemMathChat (Elementary Teachers)
    • #MSmathChat (Middle School Teachers)
    • #GeomChat (Geometry)
    • #Alg1Chat (Alg1 Teachers)
    • #Alg2Chat (Alg2 Teachers)
    • #PreCalcChat (PreCalc and Calc)
    • #MathChat
  • JUST  #PushSend!  🙂

Submit your post using the form below by Saturday at midnight! Just #PressSend

You can also click here to submit.

New to Blogging?

If you are like, “Wow!  This sounds like so much fun!  I want to blog but don’t know where to start!” then you must read “Mission 1: The Power of the Blog” on the Explore the MTBoS site.

** The hardest thing to do week after week is come up with great prompts.  Please help us out by telling us what you would like to blog about (or even read about) here!

* The Math Twitters Blogosphere is not an organization.  Rather it refers to ANYONE that is involved in MATH in ANY way!  You do NOT have to Tweet or have a blog!  But, you can find many teachers that do tweet and blog by searching the hashtag #MTBoS on Twitter.  All are welcome, no invitation necessary!  Please join in the conversation!  Just #PushSend!  

Thanks so very much to @DruinOK for getting this all started and Jessica,  @Algebrainiac1, for creating our awesome logo!

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First Day 2017-18

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The FIRST DAY is SO EXCITING!  Even though I am not ready to go back to school yet (I still have so much I wanted to get done and …. SUMMER), I love thinking about the first day back.  I can’t wait to actually meet and interact with the amazing young learners that I will get to work with this year.  Their enthusiasm for learning is at a high the first days of school and I am excited to harness that and turn it into amazing math!

I do not go over my course guidelines the first day.  I would rather spend that day getting to know my kids, having them get to know each other, and playing with math!  I have found that it is better to go over one guideline every day or so in the first few weeks, as they naturally come up.  I usually say, “Refer to this place in your syllabus.” in response to a student question.  This reminds students that the syllabus taped in their notebooks is a great place to look for important information that they may need.

Sarah Vanderwerf is a thoughtful educator and you should definitely follow her blog if you don’t already.  Basically my entire first day is coming from her!  Last year I did Sarah’s name tents and I loved them!  I think my students liked them as well because later in the year I learned that some students had shared part of their name tent on Snapchat.  I also noticed some of them kept their name tents in their notebooks.  Even though replying to name tents took a lot of work the first week, getting to know each of my students better was worth it, especially if they appreciated it as well.  I also did Sarah’s 100’s Task later in the week last year.  But I loved it so much I am doing it on the first day this year!

Our first day has very short class periods, only 25 minutes long, so I don’t have time for much. We still have almost two weeks until school starts so my first day plans aren’t firmed up completely yet, but this is what I am thinking.

  • Greet students at the door with a Hi-Five and instruct them to look for their seat.
  • I always have a seating chart the first day to help ease student anxiety.  I will have their names on their tables and may even project it.
  • Name tents will be waiting at their tables to give them something to start on before class starts.  I am a die hard “bell to bell” teacher and there is no better time to start this than the first day! I will have an example name tent for them on each table.
  • Display what they need for my class this year and briefly talk about it while they finish their name tents.
  • Have student introduce themselves to the other students at their table.
  • Have each student write down their favorite movie, ice cream, and vacation spot.  Then each table group compares answers to determine the favorite move, ice cream and vacation spot of the group.  After they finish, they will share their group answers with the class.  We did this in our CPM training and it was a fun and low stress ice breaker activity.  (I may not have time for this, and may have to push it to day 2).  I will pass out textbooks during this time.
  • 100’s Task!  I will take pics of the action!
  • Discuss 100’s Task and share the pics I took to show them what great group work looks like! I’m not sure how I will record this yet.  I will either write it on the white board or type their responses into a google doc so I can print it out and share it with them.  (I may do this on day 2 so I have time for the ice breaker above).
  • Closing. I’m terrible at class closure.  I’m going to set a 5 minute timer on my watch so I can remind myself daily to close the lesson.  Not sure what this looks like yet. They will need to clean up their tables and turn in their name tents.  I don’t know if I will have time for an additional closing activity!  This may just be a time for me to say goodbye and have a great day!

Last Year Was ROUGH, But I’m Back #MTBoS

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Over the summer, once school is out and my week of catching up on sleep is over, I get inspired.  Last summer I decided it was finally time to remodel my house.  The planning begin in August, we moved out in November (right before Thanksgiving), orchestrated a whole house remodel throughout the spring, and moved back in June, just one weekend after school ended.  It was insane.  I was also granted the Desmos Fellowship last year and flew to San Fransisco for an amazing long weekend in November.  During my Desmos weekend, one week before we were set to move, the house we were going to rent fell through.  So I spent part of my Desmos weekend in panic mode trying to help my husband pick out a new rental home.

Last year I didn’t tweet much, I blogged even less.  I tried to start up #Alg2Chat in the fall, but could not maintain it.  I merely survived, and barely at that.  I love blogging, and I missed it dearly last year.  But, I simply didn’t have the extra time to give, I didn’t have time for me.

I gave everything I had to my family and supporting my students, but I did not have much left.  I felt terrible about losing so many of my connections last year, about failing.  Thankfully, I was able to attend #TMC17 and reconnect with many of my close, albeit long lost, friends.  I apologized to many of them for my lack of connection this year.  “I’m sorry.” I said to all, “This has been a rough year for me.  I don’t know why, but it just has.”  It was when I said this to Tina Cardone that everything changed.  She reminded me that the election happened this year, and that many of us have had a devastating year, and were having a tough time recovering.  What Tina said rang true for me.  Yes, I had been extra busy this year, but above that, this year was very rough for a singular reason.  The election profoundly affected many of my close friends and students.  I was busy being there for my upset friends and terrified students.  I had a Muslim student who returned to Kuwait in December.  I was obsessed with news stories and got into battles with family and “friends” on social media.  I felt lost, I was confused.  My heart was broken.  I needed time to be there for my students and friends more than ever before.  I needed time to recover.

So if YOU had a really rough time this year, consider all of the extenuating circumstances that we were barraged with this year that we have not ever had to deal with.  Do not let anyone tell you are not good enough, or need to do better because you were too overwhelmed to keep up with some of the things you used to do and still love.  Surround yourself with people who understand this.  People who will TELL you this when you didn’t even realize it.  This year many of us were in survival mode.  Time has given much of my heart back, and I am more determined than ever to help people, and make a difference.  But I needed that time to heal.  And I am glad that I took it.  And I’m glad you did too.  Welcome back.

Start a #Teach180 Blog

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A couple of years ago I had a 180 blog.  If you haven’t heard of this, you should check out #Teach180, because it is fascinating! I really enjoyed doing it and was considering doing it again for the upcoming year.  But I was unsure, because I get busy and sometimes would forget days.  Then I saw this tweet from Sarah, (who actually started this hashtag!):

Screen Shot 2017-08-04 at 6.08.09 PM

“I frequently miss a day.  NO BIGGIE.”  Sarah’s tweet took away the guilt.  If I miss a day, or two or three, it is OK!  No more teacher guilt.  So I have decided that I AM going to do it again this year!

#teach180If you are thinking about it, I would say definitely say, “Go for it!”.  I made it super low maintenance by creating a new blog (see below for how I did it).  Some teachers just tweet a picture or post a picture to Instagram.  Some people use IFFF to post to Twitter, but you are also able to just connect the two if you allow Instagram to connect to your Twitter account.

I loved capturing students doing awesome math every day.  The students loved being photographed and seeing pictures of themselves.  I shared the 180 blog website with my parents at parent night.  The pictures I took everyday were a great reminder of things that I wanted to blog about later.  I also loved having a visual record of my year.  The next year, the blog was a visual reminder of the interesting activities I did not want to forget about (like Kate’s Graphles to Graphles Game).

Screen Shot 2017-08-07 at 5.51.52 PM

This is how I ran my 180 blog.  But there is no perfect way!  Just do it!

  • I just took one pic a day, not per class.  If I took multiple pictures that day, I would picstitch them together so I could make “one” post.  However, this year I am going to be less strict.  If I take multiple pics, I will do multiple posts.
  • I started a NEW WordPress.com site and picked a free photo theme!  That was really fun as the photo themes are so different than my regular blog.
  • I downloaded the WordPress app to my phone so it was truly effortless to post each day.
  • I added the categories #Teach180, #Alg2Chat, and #MTBoS to the blog settings.  So each time I posted to the blog, I could easily click on those catagories.
  • I connected the blog to my Twitter account.  Last time, I included  #Teach180 and #Alg2Chat to the TITLE of each blog post.  Each time I published a post, WordPress would tweet out the title, and my desired hashtags were automatically included.Screen Shot 2017-08-09 at 7.57.27 PM
  • THIS year, I am using IFTTT (If Then Then That) to automatically tweet every blog post and attach the #Teach180 #Alg2Chat and #MTBoS hashtags.  I had to create my own applet.  Here is what it looked like when finished.Screen Shot 2017-08-13 at 12.42.21 PM
  • You may have to get permission from your school / parents.  We have our students sign an extra form each year. 

I would LOVE to see your 180 blogs, or any great ideas that you have.  So please, post the link to your 180 blog in the comments!

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A Collection of Goals from Across the #MTBoS, 2017-18

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Wow! I am blown away by all of the blog posts this week!  We had almost 50 posts!
Blog posts appear in the order they were submitted. 

MTBoS SunFun Logo

Our topic for next week is, “First Day Plans”

Due: Sunday, August 13th, 6AM

Helpful tips:

  • Submit your blog post (below) by Sunday at 6AM to have your post included in the weekly summary.
  • Tweet out your post!  Use the hashtags #MTBoS (Math Twitter Blogosphere)*, #PushSend and #SundayFunday to get more traffic to your post.  This is especially important if you are new to tweeting because only your followers will see your tweets unless you include a hashtag.
  • Additional Hashtags:  Of course you can always add more hashtags to your Tweet so more people will be exposed to your post!  You can search any keywords to find a hashtag, and here are some of the more popular ones:
    • #ElemMathChat (Elementary Teachers)
    • #MSmathChat (Middle School Teachers)
    • #GeomChat (Geometry)
    • #Alg1Chat
    • #Alg2Chat (Alg2 Teachers)
    • #PreCalcChat
    • #MathChat
  • JUST  #PushSend!  🙂

Submit your post using the form below by Saturday at midnight! Just #PressSend

You can also click here to submit.

New to Blogging?

If you are like, “Wow!  This sounds like so much fun!  I want to blog but don’t know where to start!” then you must read “Mission 1: The Power of the Blog” on the Explore the MTBoS site.

** The hardest thing to do week after week is come up with great prompts.  Please help us out by telling us what you would like to blog about (or even read about) here!

* The Math Twitters Blogosphere is not an organization.  Rather it refers to ANYONE that is involved in MATH in ANY way!  You do NOT have to Tweet or have a blog!  But, you can find many teachers that do tweet and blog by searching the hashtag #MTBoS on Twitter.  All are welcome, no invitation necessary!  Please join in the conversation!  Just #PushSend!  

Thanks so very much to @DruinOK for getting this all started and Jessica,  @Algebrainiac1, for creating our awesome logo!

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#TMC17 Favorites = My Goals

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Many of my goals for this year came from the amazing teachers at TMC (Twitter Math Camp).

Goal #1:  BLOG MORE

I was disappointed when I looked back at my blog for the past year, as I did not blog much.  Blogging is something that I love, and it is something that I do for me.  I am excited to participate in the new Sundday Funday weekly blogging initiatives. I did a 180 blog two years ago, and am going to start it up again this year!

Goal #2: Build Community in My Classroom

I would love to make students feel appreciated and valued in my classroom.  Here are some ideas I am considering.

  • Greet my kids with “Hi-Fives” at the door (from Glenn).  I did this two years ago, but wasn’t as consistent this past year.  I’m back!
  • I have tried “Two Nice Things” from Elissa before, but this year I am trying again!
  • Sam’s Bell of Joy! Sam has his students ring a bell when they have a “gaspable math moment” I would love to do this so I can spread math joy around the my classroom!  I hope I can make it work.
  • You Matter clothespins!  Please go read about this on Sam’s blog as it is long, and I love it.
  • I love Sara’s method of writing down one or two students to have a conversation with each day about something they value.
  • Make Groups Work!  I want to incorporate group activities and whole class activities that will help the class get to know each other and bond as a community throughout the year.

Goal #3: Rich Tasks

We are using CPM this year.  And I want to ensure that I implement it well, as many of the lessons are rich tasks.  I want to make even the most basic extra practice worksheets rich tasks from the strategies I learned in my “Rich Tasks” morning sessions at #TMC17 that was ran by Peg Cagle, Bill Thrill, and Cal Armstrong. (I plan to blog all about this soon, but you can check out the morning session materials here).

Goal #4:  Build Math Teacher Community in My Community

I have been planning a “Math Teacher Cafe” in my area since last year that will hopefully happen about once a month starting in September for Charlotte area math teachers.  And then the NC teachers attending TMC got together and talked about organizing a MTBoS NC meeting!  Jenn White, Lauren Baucom, and Anna Vance are rockstars and working hard to put that all together.  I feel that this is such an exciting time in my state and can’t wait to connect locally with more math educators!

 

Goal #5:  WRITE STUFF DOWN

In order to achieve all of these goals I know that I need to get organized.  I bought a tiny notebook that will fit in my purse, and plan to write down lists of things I want to get accomplished everyday.  I am also going to try to hi-light three top goals of everyday that I want to accomplish.  I bought this notebook this week and it has already been amazing.  I intended just to write down things “to do”, but have also written down idea, blog post outlines, and even an outline of my first day plans.  I love that it is small enough for my purse, as I always have it with me and can write in it whenever I have a thought I want to put down.  It also has decreased my phone screen time, which is something I need to do. I attached a pen holder and a clear vinyl pocket to front.