Sale Time - If You Haven't Heard!!

If you haven't heard, there is a TpT sitewide sale Monday and Tuesday.  This means that my store will be 20% off, and the site is 10%, so you will get a total of 28% off the original prices.

This is the time to stock up and purchase items that you have been considering, but held off because of cost, or items that you know are versatile and will be used later in the year.

I know for me there are items that I look at, but wait to purchase....now is your chance.

Do your window shopping, and then get your cart ready so you can take advantage of the discounts on Monday and Tuesday.

If I were shopping my own store, some of the items that fit into those categories are:

Buy My Store Products -- a great deal, at an even bigger discount!

     
Exit Tickets -- useful all year, even if you aren't quite sure what you will need later on.

What happened when I was asked "How do you use information about your students?"

I recently was asked "how do you use information about student's families and communities" to inspire them in science.....

At first I thought this was a difficult question because of where I teach (high school in a very urban, free and reduced lunch, high poverty area) I don't always have good success with parent involvement in the more traditional sense.  I can't always get a hold of parents.  I set up a field trip last year and we had parent chaperones lined up.  Unfortunately a couple didn't show up.

I feel like there is a bit of a divide, or a culture shift between my culture and my students' communities.  I live five miles from the school, but it is a very different culture.  It is suburban. I grew up in a middle class suburb.  I have taught in my current district for 10 years, but I still feel like there are barriers or differences that I will probably never be able to cross.

Then, as I thought about this question, I took it a completely different way and realized that I do use information about families and communities.

• Because my students home lives are often chaotic, and they often don't have school supplies, I make sure that I always have extra paper, pencils etc. available in the classroom.
• Because my students may not have homework support at home, I always give homework that can be done independently (a menu of choices to practice vocabulary words, for example).  And I don't ever assign homework that is due the next day.  I always give some flexibility.
• Because my students, in general, have a lot of other responsibilities outside of school, I don't give a lot of homework.
• Because there are a lot of reasons that school is missed, or homework doesn't get done, I am flexible on accepting late work.
• Because there is a huge range of abilities, I try to differentiate and provide multiple pathways to success and multiple reading levels.
• Because they may not have background experiences, I try to start most units with common background experiences and build in some background knowledge and engagement, as well as feeling for success early on.
• Because the way for them to change their situation is by passing these high stakes exams, earning high school credits, and graduating, I still hold them to a high academic standard. I do not dumb down the content, and I do not excuse them from assignments.

Many of these have become such a part of my practice that I don't even think about them anymore. But my teaching style does reflect where I teach...

How about you?  How does your teaching style reflect the families and communities where you teach?

Great deal!!

Just a quick update to let you know of a great deal you may want to take advantage of.

CAST  2014 is this week in Dallas, TX. 9 of us science teachers from Teachers Pay Teachers got together and created an awesome bundle of products for the event. Even if you are not at the conference you can take a look at the activities online and purchase. http://www.4mulafun.com/product/science-teachers-of-tpt-volume-1/ This is a limited run product and 80% off retail value. Enjoy.

This bundled CD includes a great selection of products at a huge discount!

A Teacher's Unique and Unexpected Power

I would like to simply share a brief story that has caused me a lot of reflection lately.  My son is in kindergarten.  In gym class, his gym teacher told him he was a champ, or called him champ recently.  

He has literally talked for weeks about how his gym teacher thinks he's a champ.  He has taken this to mean that he is great at gym, and he thinks he has to work extra hard to not let the gym teacher down, since the gym teacher thinks he's a champ!

As a teacher we often are reminded about the power of our words, and the fact that we are working with impressionable young kids.  I think it is easy to lose track of this fact, in the day to day shuffle.   This has been a big reminder to me of the power of our words.

Remind your students that they are champs!  Don't be afraid to compliment them!  And be thoughtful about what you say, because you don't know the impression it will leave.  

A Useful Gift For You: Exit Tickets and Much More

I was lucky to be part of a cooperative effort spearheaded by Brain Waves Instruction, Literary Sherri, and Getting Nerdy with Mel and Gerdy. Each page gives a chance to 'meet' a secondary seller, and a printable, ready to teach freebie.  My page includes 4 immediately usable exit tickets.  These are part of a larger e-book with TONS of resources, across subject areas (see below for details).

They have compiled 3 FREE Meet and Teach e-books profiling SECONDARY teacher-authors and sharing print-and-teach resources from 25 TpT stores in each e-book.  The e-books center around ELA, Math & Science, and Humanities (Social Studies, Art, Foreign Language, and more ELA).  In them you'll find a 'meet' page completed by each seller that includes responses to 5 prompts.  You'll get to learn a bit about each seller like their favorite book or things that make them happy.  Then, each seller provided you with a 1-page resource that you can use in your classroom.  These e-books are filled with awesome teachers, little insights into each sellers' life, and resources that are easy to implement in your classroom.  They're pretty amazing.  Of course, you don't have to take my word for it, you can find them here:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Meet-and-Teach-eBook-ELA-Grades-6-12-Free-1468027

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Meet-and-Teach-eBook-Math-Science-Grades-6-12-Free-1466695

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Meet-and-Teach-eBook-Humanities-Grades-6-12-Free-1466589


Download each free e-book and you'll get a chance to meet and teach resources from these teacher-authors: 

An InLinkz Link-up

>

Learning Reflection Sheet Exclusive Free Gift

In secondary education I feel that we don’t spend enough time building relationships, and 

nurturing our students’ curiosity because we are bound by curriculum and pacing.   This sheet is something that I often use at the end of the class period in my own classroom.  We are only two weeks into school and I  and have already found that students are looking for my response each day, and are thinking about what to write during class (reflecting upon what they learned, or jotting down questions). 

This tool has become a great tool for formative assessment, and especially for 

differentiation. It is open-ended enough that the lower level students can simply 

state what they learned, or ask a question about the lesson, where higher level 

students can ask more in-depth questions, and I have an easy way built in to 

respond to them. 

I think it is critically important for students to reflect on their own learning, and, if needed, I can give a more specific prompt for the day. However, sometimes it is better open-ended.  On Friday I had one student write "I learned today that I need to come to this class ready to work, not fool around" .....If he learned that, I'm happy as well :)

Sick and Tired of Making Seating Charts? Seating Chart Freebie

I created seating charts for my classes, as the year begins, and thought they might be useful for you as well.  As such, I am offering this seating chart freebie.

It is offered in PowerPoint, so the template is editable to type in names, or move the location of seats and

This is a sample of a larger product available at my Teachers Pay Teachers Store.