I can't wait for this school year to begin! The junior high is undergoing many new initiatives that I'm excited to implement. I sometimes wonder if other teachers are as eager as I am to test and use these "research-based" practices. Some of the practices include formative assessments, understanding that we might not get through all of the standards so to focus on less but making sure students understand what we teach, and school-wide interventions.
I too am anxious for the new school year and the changes we are making at the junior high. As 8th grade math teachers we are planning on using more common formative assessments instead of just common summative assessments. I think this will force us to colaborate more as a department, which will help further our teaching. We have always had issues with students completing homework last year. I feel that the SWAT period we are implementing on the block schedule weeks is going to be a great solution to a lot of the students who dont do the work. The choice time is a great time for students to do something they really love to do.
The second day of school is over! As of today, I have the speech therapy schedule ready to go and I start seeing students 1:1 next week! In the meantime, I've been getting to know my Saber Pause students and "floating" between the two DCD classrooms and the two ASD classrooms. It has been great to be in the classrooms and interact with the students. The SWAT time we are implementing will be a new experience for all of us. I'm looking forward to building relationships with more students (as I'm often limited to meeting only SPED students and my Saber Pause). This year, I also have the opportunity to be part of our Student Assistance Team (SAT). Our goal is to intervene with students as soon as possible when concerns are raised. If we can catch these students early, I believe we will see a much higher success rate. Looking forward to a fantastic year!
It is so fun to read your posts because it is exciting to see what is going on in other buildings. I think it is awesome that you are excited about initatives at your schools and that you are pumped about research-based practices! What is the SWAT time you are all talking about at the Jr. High? Is it different from your advisory? What does it do for students? I would love to hear more about it!
In my classroom, I am excited to be launching reading and writing workshop--this is the first year I am able to teach in the same position for a second year in a row, so I am excited to be able to add depth to our curriculum instead of just learn it as I go! As for students, I am excited about this bunch...there are always a few who may give me a run for my money, but I am trying to look at these students this year through the lens of "I need to make a really good connection with them" rather than "I am going to have to keep an eye on their behavior". We'll see how it goes! Happy first week, all!
As many teachers may tell you, the first week of school is always chaotic and busy. For me, this is an understatement... :o) This year, I am incharge of the Severe/Profound program at the Junior High. I have 3 paras and myself to manage 5 students my classroom. The way I am running my classroom is a bit different than last year. I am using task centers, visual schedules, first_____, then______ charts, and behavioral incentives, and more to help keep transitions with my students as smooth as possible. This week has been more about getting to know the students, figure out behaviors, ability level and more. As the week has progressed, each day is getting easier to manage. On top of this, the junior high is implementing SWAT time for student interventions. I'm excited for the new school year and look forward to blogging weekly.
Good morning. This school year has been more stressful than the 5 previous. Don't really know why. This year I am traveling, for my first time, and with that teaching a new class (haven't taught Physics in 2 years). I am starting to settle in again, but with all the students it is going to take some time to learn ALL the names. For the first 2 weeks, I have not had any major behaviour issues. But with a class of 34 at the end of the day they get a little loud. In PLC's this year we are trying to raise ACT scores, especially in the science portion. This is going to be difficult for me considering I didn't do that well on the ACT to begin with :-) This is year has a lot of new changes, and it is running very smoothly. Hope it stays that way, and that some rules are starting to get inforced by all. Time to get back to preping for next hour, talk to you all next week.
I hope this continues to be an okay format for discussion as I can't figure out how to start another post? Congratulations, everybody on finishing up another week! It seems like we have been in school for so much longer than just nine days, which, I suppose, is a good thing as we and our students get the routine down and we are able to get into the swing of things.
I really do love hearing all that is going on at other schools and in other areas of teaching throughout the district. Steph, how are your new classroom management strategies going? I have been implementing a few new strategies as well including doing a lot of practicing of our procedures in these first few weeks...so far, the fact that the students know what to expect seems to be limiting other management issues which will be great if this trend continues!
I am also in a new position of co-teaching this year with an ELL teacher in our building. After a couple of weeks using this model, I have fallen in love with it! I love how when we plan lessons together, Tania brings the perspective of an ELL student and we are able to really meet the needs of all the students in the classroom. We tried a model of splitting the class in two today to teach a mini-lesson, and it was fantastic. When I first thought of co-teaching, I was nervous about it and a little apprehensive. Now I am thinking that when it is used to its full potential, it can really make teaching a lot of fun and can make differentiating instruction a little less daunting.
Hope you all are enjoying this cooler weather (I am going to a Twins game tonight...I suppose I will experience true "Fall ball"!)
Hello, Last week was the first week the Junior high had "block schedule" as part of the new intervention. Although it was great for some students, mine caseload had some "difficulties" with it. OUr block schedule has Monday, Tuesday, Fridays with a 'normal" regular week schedule WITHOUT advisory (meaning classes are 4 minutes longer than the typical schedule). On Wednesdays, we have 90 minute classes with hours 1,3,5,7 and Thursdays are 90 minute classes with hours 2, S.W.A.T, 4, and 6. This schedule is SO hard, because there is no consistency, the periods are way too long for my kiddos, and I feel like I am dealing more with behaviors (because the kiddos don't know how to handle the change) rather than doing academics. I have given my kiddos visual schedules, prompts, extra time to transition, and more. I know this was only the first week of this "schedule", but if the way last week went is going to be a reflection of how the rest of the year is going to be, I'm in for a LONG year. On top of this, I have been helping with the interview process of hiring a paraprofessional for the DCD program. This process has been stressful, since many candidates are not willing to work with the "severe/profound" population.
Hopefully this week will be better. We have a service retreat tomorrow as a Junior High and we are going to Feed my Starving Children.
I can't wait for this school year to begin! The junior high is undergoing many new initiatives that I'm excited to implement. I sometimes wonder if other teachers are as eager as I am to test and use these "research-based" practices. Some of the practices include formative assessments, understanding that we might not get through all of the standards so to focus on less but making sure students understand what we teach, and school-wide interventions.
ReplyDeleteI too am anxious for the new school year and the changes we are making at the junior high. As 8th grade math teachers we are planning on using more common formative assessments instead of just common summative assessments. I think this will force us to colaborate more as a department, which will help further our teaching.
ReplyDeleteWe have always had issues with students completing homework last year. I feel that the SWAT period we are implementing on the block schedule weeks is going to be a great solution to a lot of the students who dont do the work. The choice time is a great time for students to do something they really love to do.
The second day of school is over! As of today, I have the speech therapy schedule ready to go and I start seeing students 1:1 next week! In the meantime, I've been getting to know my Saber Pause students and "floating" between the two DCD classrooms and the two ASD classrooms. It has been great to be in the classrooms and interact with the students.
ReplyDeleteThe SWAT time we are implementing will be a new experience for all of us. I'm looking forward to building relationships with more students (as I'm often limited to meeting only SPED students and my Saber Pause).
This year, I also have the opportunity to be part of our Student Assistance Team (SAT). Our goal is to intervene with students as soon as possible when concerns are raised. If we can catch these students early, I believe we will see a much higher success rate.
Looking forward to a fantastic year!
It is so fun to read your posts because it is exciting to see what is going on in other buildings. I think it is awesome that you are excited about initatives at your schools and that you are pumped about research-based practices! What is the SWAT time you are all talking about at the Jr. High? Is it different from your advisory? What does it do for students? I would love to hear more about it!
ReplyDeleteIn my classroom, I am excited to be launching reading and writing workshop--this is the first year I am able to teach in the same position for a second year in a row, so I am excited to be able to add depth to our curriculum instead of just learn it as I go! As for students, I am excited about this bunch...there are always a few who may give me a run for my money, but I am trying to look at these students this year through the lens of "I need to make a really good connection with them" rather than "I am going to have to keep an eye on their behavior". We'll see how it goes! Happy first week, all!
As many teachers may tell you, the first week of school is always chaotic and busy. For me, this is an understatement... :o) This year, I am incharge of the Severe/Profound program at the Junior High. I have 3 paras and myself to manage 5 students my classroom. The way I am running my classroom is a bit different than last year. I am using task centers, visual schedules, first_____, then______ charts, and behavioral incentives, and more to help keep transitions with my students as smooth as possible. This week has been more about getting to know the students, figure out behaviors, ability level and more. As the week has progressed, each day is getting easier to manage. On top of this, the junior high is implementing SWAT time for student interventions. I'm excited for the new school year and look forward to blogging weekly.
ReplyDeleteGood morning. This school year has been more stressful than the 5 previous. Don't really know why. This year I am traveling, for my first time, and with that teaching a new class (haven't taught Physics in 2 years). I am starting to settle in again, but with all the students it is going to take some time to learn ALL the names. For the first 2 weeks, I have not had any major behaviour issues. But with a class of 34 at the end of the day they get a little loud.
ReplyDeleteIn PLC's this year we are trying to raise ACT scores, especially in the science portion. This is going to be difficult for me considering I didn't do that well on the ACT to begin with :-)
This is year has a lot of new changes, and it is running very smoothly. Hope it stays that way, and that some rules are starting to get inforced by all.
Time to get back to preping for next hour, talk to you all next week.
I hope this continues to be an okay format for discussion as I can't figure out how to start another post? Congratulations, everybody on finishing up another week! It seems like we have been in school for so much longer than just nine days, which, I suppose, is a good thing as we and our students get the routine down and we are able to get into the swing of things.
ReplyDeleteI really do love hearing all that is going on at other schools and in other areas of teaching throughout the district. Steph, how are your new classroom management strategies going? I have been implementing a few new strategies as well including doing a lot of practicing of our procedures in these first few weeks...so far, the fact that the students know what to expect seems to be limiting other management issues which will be great if this trend continues!
I am also in a new position of co-teaching this year with an ELL teacher in our building. After a couple of weeks using this model, I have fallen in love with it! I love how when we plan lessons together, Tania brings the perspective of an ELL student and we are able to really meet the needs of all the students in the classroom. We tried a model of splitting the class in two today to teach a mini-lesson, and it was fantastic. When I first thought of co-teaching, I was nervous about it and a little apprehensive. Now I am thinking that when it is used to its full potential, it can really make teaching a lot of fun and can make differentiating instruction a little less daunting.
Hope you all are enjoying this cooler weather (I am going to a Twins game tonight...I suppose I will experience true "Fall ball"!)
Hello,
ReplyDeleteLast week was the first week the Junior high had "block schedule" as part of the new intervention. Although it was great for some students, mine caseload had some "difficulties" with it. OUr block schedule has Monday, Tuesday, Fridays with a 'normal" regular week schedule WITHOUT advisory (meaning classes are 4 minutes longer than the typical schedule). On Wednesdays, we have 90 minute classes with hours 1,3,5,7 and Thursdays are 90 minute classes with hours 2, S.W.A.T, 4, and 6. This schedule is SO hard, because there is no consistency, the periods are way too long for my kiddos, and I feel like I am dealing more with behaviors (because the kiddos don't know how to handle the change) rather than doing academics. I have given my kiddos visual schedules, prompts, extra time to transition, and more. I know this was only the first week of this "schedule", but if the way last week went is going to be a reflection of how the rest of the year is going to be, I'm in for a LONG year. On top of this, I have been helping with the interview process of hiring a paraprofessional for the DCD program. This process has been stressful, since many candidates are not willing to work with the "severe/profound" population.
Hopefully this week will be better. We have a service retreat tomorrow as a Junior High and we are going to Feed my Starving Children.
Until next time :o)