Appreciating Teachers

With summer in sight, the first part of May is dedicated to a week of celebrating teachers.  


As a fifth grade teacher, this week can bring out a bit of jealousy.  Watching the primary teachers (especially kindergarten teachers) be showered with gifts on a daily basis is a bit hard to watch.  See, in lower grades, there appears to be a lot more love and respect for teachers.  The little ones absolutely love their teachers (most of the time).  By fifth grade, school isn't a novelty anymore and the hormone/puberty beast is alive and well.

However, I did get some sweet gifts and cards from my students and their families:

(Not pictured: the delicious homemade lemon bars. They didn't last long enough to get a picture...)

Our PTA is amazing and fed us lunch every day.  Seriously, food is the way to our hearts!  Between Raisin' Canes, a taco truck, and make your own trail mix, we felt loved by our school.


So any parents reading this, please acknowledge your child's teachers.  Even with just a hand written note about how much you've meant to them will mean the world.

On a side note, chocolate is also almost always welcomed, especially at the end of the year as we are running on empty.

The Highest of Compliments

We recently had a teacher leave our school, which ruffled a few feathers.  He hadn't been there for very long and there was some miscommunication, but I did my best to stay out of the drama.  It's been a bit of a logistical nightmare trying to find subs to cover a short term vacancy that coincided with the holidays.  I did my best with the students that I had and was fortunate enough to meet some awesome new substitutes.

However, upon his departure, the leaving teacher sent me a very thoughtful and kind email.  He expressed his appreciation for opening my classroom door, for showing him new strategies, and for letting him learn from my teaching style.  

The warm and fuzzy feelings continued when he shared that I would have been that "game changer" teacher for him as a child or his children now because of the passion I bring to the classroom.  He commented that it was inspiring to see how truly excited my students were about their learning.  

That's why I teach. I'm humbled that someone who was in my classroom co-teaching for such a short amount of time was able to notice the effort I put in and the difference it makes for my students.

Thank you, fellow teacher, for your compliments on my craft.  I love what I do. I'm glad it shows, even on the most difficult of days.

Proud

I previously {shared a letter} that my coworker, Erika Barber, penned and sent to the governor, the superintendent, the state senators, the board of trustees, and local media outlets.

She was invited to appear on John Ralston's show on Vegas PBS.  Her nerves got the best of her, so two other coworkers (and a third teacher I have no relationship with) appeared on the show.

View {here}.

I've never been more proud of some of my friends.  Teressa and Rob remained calm, didn't place blame, but firmly shared the unfortunate facts of this depressing scenario.

It's not just about the repeated pay cuts and increased wages.

It's not just about the increased class sizes and responsibilities. 

It's not just about the ridiculously high number of substitutes in the classroom.

It's not just about the misinformation we receive from those who are supposed to support us.

It's not just about the unfair allocation of funds.  Why do new, out of state hires get a hiring bonus while everyone else takes a pay cut?

It's not just about teachers who are single parents needing to get second jobs to afford health insurance for their dependents, while married teacher couples pay nothing for their families.


It's about the unfair treatment of teachers.  I am a professional, with college degrees, and don't think fair compensation for my work is asking too much.  

Our next Rally for Respect will be at 8 am on 11/25. I'm hoping it won't be so ridiculously cold outside.  I'm also hoping parents stand with us. 

Thankful November, day 14

That {parent-teacher conference} I shared about yesterday?

Not only did it go wonderfully, but the mom brought me hot chocolate:

Score! It's nice to feel appreciated.  It was a very positive conference.  The student took responsibility for his actions and we talked about ways to help him improve.  It was presented as a united front, she told him she was proud of him, and thanked me for my hard work with him.

I wish all my parent teacher conferences were like that: parents working with me, supporting their kids, appreciating my efforts, supporting education at home.

Most are like that...but there's a few hostile ones I dread.

Good thing parent-teacher conference day isn't until December!

Thankful November, Day 9: My Work Wife

Today, like most days, I'm thankful for my work wife, Mrs. H.  (Her husband, who also works at our school, knows we are work wives and accepts our constant collaboration).

She keeps me on task. She reminds me of work obligations that I've written down, then ignored. She motivates me to look for ways to improve and continue to improve my knowledge as an educator.  We're currently taking our fourth (?) grad class together and we keep each other accountable to deadlines.

She is very linear and sequential in her thinking and planning.  She is organized and on top of things.

I am organized in my own, slightly chaotic way.

See, I'm a squiggle and she's not.  That's why we work. 

I live in right brain, global thinking, big picture land where we try new things and make lots of connections.  She lives in scaffolded, sequential land and that's very good for students.  Together, we make some awesome learning opportunities for our students.

Sometimes I have to go to trainings and she's not there.  This is how I cope:

Those of you who also have work spouses, you get it.

I am thankful for the continued collaboration with my work wife.  We plan every subject together, share the SPED kids, and constantly bounce ideas off of one another.  My strengths compliment her areas of growth and vice versa.  She's my sounding board, my back up, and the person who willingly takes that kid when he's having that kind of day. 

I'm thankful for a majority of my coworkers, but she really stands out as one that consistently encourages and motivates me to be the best teacher I can be.  I hope I do the same for her.

Back to Work, Days 1 and 2

It was really, really nice to go back to work.

We were greeted with donuts and a present:

The sticky label said "we're the sharpest teachers around!" 

We did a few delightful ice breaker games, went over our data from last year, and talked about new procedures.  We decided on committees (I'm co-chair of Sunshine and on the math committee) and had time to meet with both our committees and our grade levels. 

Our long range plans are done and most of the copies and lesson plans for the first week are done as well. 

Oh, and Cafe Rio was provided for lunch.  Thank you admin!

Thursday brought an entire day of classroom prep and grade level planning.  It was amazing.  PTA splurged for lunch and we got a lot accomplished.  My room is almost done and I took home some first week prep (cutting) because I can do that while watching Netflix.

However, I am exhausted.  I've put in two twelve hour days and tomorrow will be another long one.  I've been productive and know that I'm a perfectionist.

I stumbled upon {this article} and it reminded me why I'm a teacher.   

Thank you Candice for noticing teachers! I've put a lot of work into my classroom and eagerly await my 33 fifth graders.

I'm ridiculously excited about this school year! 

Perspective

This sketch has been all over my newsfeed this morning. 

Thank you DEN tribe for sharing.

Just spreading some teacher love as we all head back to work. 

 

Why?

From the start, DENSI 2015 is purposefully filled with intentional activities, sessions, and conversations meant to hone our craft as educators.  

One of the opening sessions focused on passion projects, which is similar to Ted Talks, but this time focuses on DEN Speaks.

One of the opening questions was simply this:

Why do you teach? 

The room immediately exploded into conversations, some with tears, about making a difference in students' lives.  Teachers from all over the country (as well as Canada and the UK) shared stories about that one student who was particularly difficult, but they were able connect with and positively impact.

For once, I didn't join the conversation.  I simply sat back and soaked in the inspiration, the joy, the passion of teaching.  I took the time to listen to others and not just wait for my turn to speak. Sitting at the table with teachers who have been changing lives for longer than I've been alive was a very humbling experience.

That is what it should feel like when I'm surrounded by other teachers.  I don't want to be in a cloud of negativity, I want to be inspired by the passion in others.

So let's continue that conversation: Why do you teach?

End of the Year Sale!

It's my last Sunday night of the current school year.  Tomorrow will consist of students vs. teachers kickball, round two of a lip sync battle, desk clean out, and various other end of the year tasks.  As my year is winding down and my summer plans are taking shape, I thought I'd take a minute to pause and appreciate one of my favorite websites: teacherspayteachers. 

Yes, I have a store here.  But I love looking at others' sites and pages.  Even better, I know with each purchase, I'm supporting a fellow hard-working teacher who has spent hours developing supplemental materials for his/her classroom.

To appreciate these fellow educators, and my followers, I'm holding an end of the year sale!  Monday through Thursday, everything in {my store} will be on sale for 20% off.

Thanks for all the support!  Year six is almost done!

Teacher Appreciation Week Sale

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

I am starting the week off by taking a nap!  Our PTA and administration is providing lunch for us several times this week and Chipotle is taking care of dinner on the 6th.

I'm appreciating fellow teachers with a free gift for all online buy 3, get 1 free Jamberry orders!

I'm also appreciating fellow teachers with an online sale on TpT!  Stock up now :)

 

(This was amusing only because there's a 99% chance I've already found it, pinned it, and am in the process of making it myself!)

 

Compare & Contrast

The fact that it's mid-November is still mind baffling to me.  This time last year, I was emotionally done with work.  I was tired of having others seek out opportunities to make me seem inferior.  My grade level was amazing, but the respect seemed to end there.

The days I was observed last year?

1. Thursday of the first week of school.  We are setting up notebooks and building class norms.
2. Halloween afternoon.  
3. Thursday afternoon before winter break.
4. The Monday morning after winter break, when we had been in the classroom for 10 minutes.
5. The Thursday before field day, which was right before spring break.

Yup, those five magical days are what my evaluation was based on.  Was this fair? Absolutely not.

I've been formally observed once this year.  My admin has popped in, my coaches have popped in, but I've had one formal observation.  We had both pre- and post-observation conferences.  It was a Tuesday afternoon and was planned.  Did it go perfectly? No, of course not. One kid went to the nurse for throwing up.  We had an assembly later that day.  It was a three day week.  However, my admin's first words to me was how great the lesson was and how I have wonderful classroom culture.

My new admin is looking for ways to praise my teaching and find minor tweaks to help me improve.  My old admin? Looking for ways to humiliate and degrade me.  Seeking out ways to make me feel stupid, not ways to make me feel empowered.

Glad I switched.  As an educated professional dealing with thirty different youngsters, it's nice to be treated with respect.  It's nice to hear what a positive difference I'm making and that I'm appreciated.

While scary at times, I'm glad I took the risk and changed schools.

Passion

Continuing with the blog-tember challenge, today we are asked to reflect on what lights our fires.  What makes us passionate?

I get excited about a lot of things.

For example, books.  I was that person that needed Harry Potter, at midnight, on the release date.  I would not share with my brother and I wouldn't talk to anyone until I was done reading. I will passionately defend Harry Potter because it wasn't just a book series, it was my childhood. I will always find my home at Hogwarts.

Sometimes books make me angry (looking at you Rick Riordan, Lois Lowry, and Victoria Roth).  In that anger is a passion and investment in the characters.  Books don't always end the way I'd like and that's something I'm still learning to be okay with.  That passion, that frustration, is a good thing because it means I've connected with the characters.

This is a lesson I'm working on with my students.  Being emotional and passionate about books is a wonderful thing.

I'm also passionate about teaching.  The paperwork and playground duty? Eh, not so much.  But the conversations with students, the opportunity to watch them grasp a concept they've been struggling with for weeks is amazing.  Watching them fall in love with literature and learning is the best part of my job.  I love kids and I love watching them learn to think for themselves. I'm passionate about teaching my fifth graders.

What are you passionate about?

Staff Development Day

Yesterday, I attended my first staff development not at my current school.  After five years, I was ready to venture out and try a new school.  I'm so excited for this change but was super nervous because I don't know anyone.

I arrived early and got to check out my new classroom.  I will definitely need to find more bookcases, but I like the layout! I will definitely use table teams instead of rows, but that's the only major change I'm making.  

I hope the 12 x 12 ft carpet stays in the reading corner!

We then learned about the NEPF (Nevada Educator's Performance Framework), talked about SBAC (standards based assessment consortium, how we'll be tested next year) and went over expectations.  We had some computer based training on our new grading & attendance system but had plenty of time for a team bonding task and lunch.  I also found time to tour the school, talk with the librarian about Battle of the Books, and found stickers to level my books (since we are an AR school).  Overall, it was a very positive and productive day!

I absolutely loved the energy of my new school.  I felt so welcomed, appreciated, and valued as an educator.  I feel rejuvenated as a teacher and that's such a wonderful feeling!

I also get an entire day to shadow my new grade level tomorrow to see how they operate, which is a pretty awesome opportunity! I love learning from others and these ladies seem full of great ideas!  

Onward and upward!

Teacher Appreciation Week

Next week is Teacher Appreciation Week (wahoo!).  I love seeing cute ideas like these online:

But am realistic enough to know that I will probably not be receiving cute things like this...so I decided to make them for my grade level instead!  We aren't feeling very respected or valued by a majority of our students and their families at the moment, so I might as well seize the opportunity to let my work wives know I love them and appreciate their daily efforts.

I will be missing our free teacher luncheon due to a previously scheduled vacation.  My best friend is getting her PhD and there's no way I'd miss the opportunity to celebrate her 9 years of hard work.  I do get to take advantage of a free mini-facial at work and am contemplating if I'm brave enough for this:

Fifteen minutes in line? Worth it.  If the line wraps around outside the building? Definitely not.

I do believe in acknowledging the hard, often unnoticed work of fellow educators.  I know that classroom didn't arrange itself over night.  I know those papers didn't grade themselves and those small groups didn't shuffle themselves to best meet the needs of students based on data by accident.  So thank you, fellow educators, for consistently going above and beyond to provide your munchkins with an excellent education.

To thank you, I'm hosting an appreciation sale:

Visit my store for 20% off May 6th and 7th!

Happy teacher appreciation week!

It's the little things

Out of no where, I was presented with this adorable hand-made gem:

For no reason at all.  My kiddos are really cute sometimes.  

Impromptu Parent Teacher Conferences

When I dismissed my kiddos on Friday, I had a parent waiting by the door wanting to chat.  This wasn't a scheduled meeting, but the look on her face said it was urgent.  So I asked her to wait a few moments while I took care of some last minute end of the day issues (calling another parent, printing report cards for magnet school applications and dealing with another upset student).  She gladly waited and politely looked the other way when some choice words were used by an upset ten year old.

She came in and expressed her concerns about her son's math performance.  My neighbor, his math teacher, popped right over (without me having to ask, because she's amazing like that) to join the conversation. 

She expressed all the strategies she was trying to use at home and we talked about the strategies we're using in school, including changing his placement during our intervention/extension portion of the day to allow for more math support.  We talked about the importance of bringing home the math notebook and having her son talk through the math strategies we go over in class.   

It was a short, very positive conference.  My student was there and we all clarified that he wasn't in trouble, we (family & teachers) just wanted to work together to help him succeed.  They left feeling confident and armed with ways to support learning at home, which is wonderful.  I made sure to let her know how much I appreciate that she was concerned and wanting to help her son do his best.

While it wasn't a planned conference, I love that my students' families know I have an open door policy and that the whole fifth grade team supports their children.  I love that they know it's perfectly acceptable to come talk to us about ways to help their kiddos.  At the end of the day, we're all on the same side with the same goal: helping students grow academically and become successful, confident young scholars.  It's nice to have support at home! I'm glad my student's family cares so much for him and isn't afraid to ask for help!

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Days

I had a rough day.  I'd go as far as saying it was a terrible, horrible, no good very bad day and like Alexander, I was ready to pout.  Nothing was going right.  As a teacher, it's kind of expected to always have a happy face but teaching is hard.  Some days, it's really, really hard.  

Granted, teacher problems were slightly more complex than not getting the right shoes, but I get Alexander's frustration too.  I was having a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Scratch that, I had five of them in a row.  It was rough week.  There wasn't a day I worked less than 12 hours.  

As an educator, it happens. 

I'm just relieved it's over and I'm in the midst of a relaxing (and reflective) 3 day weekend.

 I got a new student at the last minute.  The stress of preparing for a new kiddo is rough.  Our district has the policy that a student sits the day he or she is enrolled.  In theory, that's wonderful for the student so they don't miss out on another day of learning.

But for a teacher, it's a tad stressful.  I didn't have much notice to find a desk, chair, notebooks, various other supplies and label the necessary classroom items (desk, behavior tracker, file, whiteboard marker, etc) for him.  I knew we had to quickly do a formative diagnostic assessment to figure out which reading room he'd be in, then the opposite period for math, find out if he was in the RTI process or already had an IEP because that also determined which room to place him in depending on the levels of instructional support.  I must say, it's lots of thinking for so early in the morning!  He wasn't the only new student we got this week either.  

I wanted him to feel welcome in my classroom the moment he sat, and that meant some scrambling on my behalf because there was about twenty minutes notice.  But he had a great first day, a great first week and was always smiling.  He's happy to be here, knew about number talks and phonics (score!) and I'm glad he's here.  Sometimes I wish I had a tiny bit more time to prepare for new students' arrival.

I'm in the process of DRA'ing my students in small groups and well, it's time consuming and there's a lot of them.  I know it's useful information and I cut out phonics this week to make extra time for it, but I didn't finish and have to continue testing into next week.  Part of this is my fault because I was unwilling to go a week without meeting with my students to discuss their novels. More importantly, they were unwilling to go a week without meeting.  I'm not kidding when I say there would be lots of pouting, some tears and borderline rebellion (district 13 style) if I told them that sorry, we'll have to wait until next week to talk about The Miserable Mill, the Austere Academy, Hatchet, Harry Potter (1 and 2), Mockingjay, Brian's Winter, Number the Stars, Gossamer, Maniac Magee and Tiger Rising. They become slightly hostile if they aren't given the chance to talk about what happened in their books.  This is a wonderful problem to have and as an educator, I wasn't going to fully cut this opportunity for them to replace it with assessments.  I compromised and shortened our meetings, allowing them to finish without me in the hallway and DRA'd in between.  I didn't finish their assessments, but I also got to see that most of my groups could handle having their own lit circle...which was great.

Battle of the books also started this week and because it was so fun on Wednesday, I had about eight more kids sign up after the deadline.  Of course I accepted them with open arms because they want to read and well, that's awesome.  

I had to turn away one student because his frequent behavior problems are interfering with others' ability to learn. That wouldn't be fair to the students who are trying to work and read in our book club.  I've had several conferences with this student's family and this student is frequently off task and argumentative in my room, so the student didn't earn the privilege of book club.  I talked with my admin and fellow teachers, who were all in support of the decision.  However, it was a very heartbreaking conversation to have.  

We sat in the hallway and talked about all the choices that were made and how these choices took away from learning time.  We talked about all the second chances that had been given and how behavior hadn't changed.  In life, we don't always get unlimited second chances and there are consequences to our actions.  Sometimes, we don't like these consequences and that's a tough lesson to learn.  I also knew that he would have been a disruption every week and that's not fair to the forty students who are so excited to sit and read.  I also knew it wasn't fair for me, who is volunteering to run this club to deal with additional behavior issues with a student who has had several dozen second chances.  

There were tears and that's hard for a teacher.  I made him cry and I couldn't do anything to fix it.  There have to be consequences, even if it's unpleasant.

My mentee is having a rough time with some students and we had a nice long chat about strategies.  She feels better, which is great.  I just wish I could observe her more.  My prep falls during her whole group reading block so that's the only subject I've been able to see her teach.  I wish I could see more.

There's some inconsistencies at our school and it's very bothersome.  I'm not one to slack off and make things up, so it's very frustrating for me to see others doing so.  It's very irksome to see such blatant favoritism.

Take these factors, add in a four hour class, twelve more issues, a few parent teacher conferences, shouting in the hallway (not me, two students), lots of tears and a lot of sleepless nights...and there's my week.  I'm glad it's over.

But I also know I have the amazing opportunity to work with my grade level, which is filled with such dedicated teachers.  I learn from these women daily and know they're also making their decisions based on what's best for students.  Think of a pack of lion mamas and that's our fifth grade team :)

While collectively, they drive me slightly crazy with their talking (which is out of excitement), I do adore these fifth graders.  I love at the end of the day when we fist bump on their way out and they tell me their "click" of the day.  Their click is what is "staying with them" and made sense to them.  Naturally, I pretend frown when they tell me it's a subject I don't teach or recess, but it's great to have them reflect on their learning and share it with me.

I also am appreciative of the support I have from other educators.  My admin made the time out of her very busy schedule to talk through an issue I'd had.  Through our conversation, the missing pieces of information were filled in and now I understand why the decisions were made. lt was a difficult conversation for me to bring up, sharing that I was frustrated with an outcome but through discussion, we both filled in each other's gaps and now the situation makes sense.  

We also had one of our old academic coaches on campus this week and well, she's amazing.  We talked through my structure of small groups and looked at the questions I was asking of my students when they read their novels.  I'm doing everything right, which was nice to hear.  The same amazing coach sent me inspirational texts throughout the week because she knew I was having a rough time.  

She also works at her parents' restaurant which has amazing Italian food.  She suggested I come in on Friday night because in her words, I deserved garlic knots, pasta and cannolis.  It didn't take much arm twisting to convince my boyfriend that we needed date night since he had a rough week too and well, who doesn't love pasta?  We had a wonderful relaxing meal which almost made up for the rough week.  Then I found this note when I got home attached to our left overs:

It made me cry. She's the best.  My grade level is the best.  My students are such hard workers (most of the time) and my family and boyfriend are supportive through my tears and sometimes colorful language. One awesome friend stopped in to work to borrow something and ended up bringing me dinner since I didn't have time to run out and get food before my class.  I'm thankful to not be in this alone. I'm thankful to be an educator, even though it's not always an easy road.  There will be rough days.  There will be terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days.  But some days are like that...

...even in Australia. 


(If you haven't read Judith Viorst's Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day stop what you're doing and go read it immediately.  This blog post and it's images will probably make a lot more sense after!)

Teacher Shout Out: Mr. B

At our school, we enforce "HALLS":

H: hands to yourself
A: all parts of body facing forward
L: low speed
L: lips zipped
S: space between you and me

I was outside my room DRA-ing students while my co-teacher taught writing when we were interrupted by a rowdy bunch of third graders.  They were waiting to enter another teacher's classroom since we switch students to differentiate based on their needs.  I went down to remind them about our school's expectations and then told their teacher that they needed to work on their voices.

He spoke with them and they were so much better today!

What impressed me even more was this delivery:

I love that he talked with them about personal responsibility and had them take ownership of their actions.   He had them write apology notes for their voice levels and disrupting our learning.

I appreciate that he took the time out of his day to use this teachable moment to talk about how to behave appropriately and be functioning, considerate members of society.  

Huge shout out to him!

Thank You

I'm working on appreciating the positives and acknowledging others.  Thank you, blog readers. I know all the page views aren't spam :)  (Feel free to leave comments though!)

Thank you to the nearly 300 customers I had on TpT last year.  It was a very good start and I received a lot of positive feedback, which validates that the hard work I put in for my classroom is beneficial for others.  Why reinvent the wheel? If I've put in the work with my students, why shouldn't other educators gete to use these materials?

Thank you to the almost 60 people who have taken the time to rate my products on TpT and left comments.  I've got a 3.8/4 rating and 9 followers, which I appreciate!

Thank you to those who have shared my blog on pinterest or on TpT :)

Just overall, thanks and high fives/fist bumps to my readers and supporters.

I look forward to a new year of continuing to improve as an educator!

Teacher Resolutions

With the new year upon us, resolutions are a must.  While I've made my personal ones, I think it's important to reflect on my teaching practice and make some resolutions.

One: Positivity
Instead of focusing on the five or six squirrely students who are off task (as long as they aren't harming themselves or others), I will be more positive and reward/acknowledge those who are on task.  I will make more of an effort to call these parents and share that their student had a great day.  It won't happen daily, but I can try to call 2-3 parents a week.

Two: Rearrange & Reinforce Expectations
They're getting new seats.  Small group reading (both AM and  PM) are getting assigned seats, as is my new science group, everyone is getting new seats.  I feel like Oprah, new seats for everyone!  In small groups,  we will start again with no centers and re-learn one per day with very clear expectations.  They'll have more must-do's and I'll make a pride board for outstanding work.

Let's be honest here, I'm really excited about making a clothesline to show off work, come up with a cute title and paint polka dots on mini-clothes pins.  Pictures to come!

Three: Life-Work Balance
This is what I struggle with the most...that whole work-life balance.  I'm lucky to have a very understanding boyfriend who also works long hours & balances work/school but I can't keep working these 12+ hour days once we start a family.  I understand that there will be long days, but they shouldn't be every day.  I shouldn't feel guilty for leaving at 3 pm when I got there at 6 am.  I should ignore other's comments about "oh, must be nice to leave early!" when it's at least an hour after my  contract time (meaning I stopped getting paid over an hour ago).   It shouldn't feel like a "special" day when I'm gone by 3:30.  We're an early start school, which means my contracted day is 7:10-2:11.  In all honesty, there would be nothing wrong with leaving and being home by 3 pm most days of the week, but there are lots of judgmental eyes at work if you do this.  Luckily, none are from my amazing team :)

As long as I've done what I need to for my team and I'm fully prepped for the next day, that will just be good enough.

Four: TpT (Teachers Pay Teachers)
I will aim to post one new product a week and spend no more than one hour a day revising products I've made for my classroom.  I've still got a few dozen novel guides to revise (add in suggested answers, homework questions, etc) but there have to be time limits. 2 TV episodes & I'm calling it a day :)

Five: Try New Strategies & Be Okay with Mistakes
I like to learn new things and I like to try new strategies.  They don't always work great the first time and I need to continue to be okay with that.  Sometimes, it's my fault for not being clear enough in my instructions.  I need to make sure I'm continually modeling exactly what I expect from them instead of just assuming they get it becaue I've got the higher reading groups.

Six: Mentor
I'm currently mentoring one new third grade teacher at my school, a new fifth grade teacher at a neighboring school and a pre-teacher from my Alma Mater (ASU!). I love it, I get excited when the strategies I've shared are working in their classrooms.  I want to make sure I don't slack on this and take the time (prep) to go observe the teacher at my school to give meaningful, timely feedback.

I'm still in denial that I have to go back next week, but I'm determined to put more fun and joy into my job.  Happy teacher = happy classroom.

What are your resolutions?