Three Tips for a Beginning of the Year Scavenger Hunt

What are some of the activities that are "tried and true" that always seem to make an appearance in the first few weeks of your school year? Do you do team building activities? What about giving students scenarios of what they will experience during the school year (and walking them through how to handle them)? I'll share some of my favorite activities for the next couple of weeks. Hopefully you'll be able to find something that you can use in your classroom.

I like to give my "new to our school" students an opportunity to work with my "veteran" students to take a tour of the building in a fun way. I did not do this when my classroom was out in the portables for safety reasons, but when I was in the building, this was a favorite for some of my students.

Things to consider when allowing students to walk around your building:

1. Safety - Where are the classrooms located that they need access to? In another hallway than where you are? Can you station yourself "in the middle" somewhere so students can check in with you? What about access to exits? Do they know not to leave the premises?

2. Sound - You don't want your students to be a distraction in the hallways. Give specific instructions where students are/are not allowed to go. If I had several new to the building, I allowed them to go to the gym, music room, and art room for supplies if needed. If many are returners, I ask that they only go into our grade level classrooms. I let my teammates knew when it was happening and made sure if it didn't work in their schedule, that I told the students that classroom was off limits. Keep in mind, you'll want to make sure you introduce students to that teacher or teammate at some point, if you work closely with all of the other grade level classes.

3. School spirit - I like to include little things that tie our students back to our school. I asked for items that were in our school colors, and one of the very first items I request is a stuffed mascot. Is there something you can add that will bring them back to your school? Where is your pride throughout the building?

If you don't already have thoughts on what to include in your own scavenger hunt, grab one here from me!

Three Ways to Make Your Classroom Work, "Real World" Work

                                                       My Education Niche: Curriculum

My advice for today: make the classroom work, real-world work. Yes. We talk about this over and over.

We say it must be relevant and that students must see the purpose. But how far do we go to bring in
the true “real world” aspect. Here are three ways that I bring the “real world” into my classroom.

1. Invite parents and community members into your classroom, that use your skills every day. If you have a strong
parental support in your classroom, start there. Many times they will love to come in and share what
they do on a daily basis, but have no idea “where to start.” If you are working on a specific unit, share
with them the skills that they need to talk about and how they use those particularly in their daily
occupation. When I teach economics, I ask all of my business owners to come in and talk about the
different ways they run their businesses and organizations. After reading Bridge to Terabithia, and we're building bridges in our science lesson, I ask my engineers to come in and judge the construction process and load-bearing structures. Not only will students see the use for why they are learning a skill, but they may make the “what’s in it for me” connection, knowing they have a desire to follow in one of the career paths brought in. Not only have you shown real-world use, but you’ve strengthened your community connections.

2. "Hire" the students as members of certain occupations and career fields. My mentor teacher taught
the COOLEST unit that I “stole” from her and used throughout the rest of my classroom years. I will
run into students years later and they still ask if I teach “Med School.” Even this past year, during Meet
the Teacher night, prior families asked if I would teach Med School and if their kiddos would be able
to “farm” (during our embryology unit). These are the units that your students remember, the families
remember, that inspire future adventures and bring the real world right into your classroom. With Med
School, we taught each of the body systems – as students excelled and learned more, they “leveled
up” in the medical profession (think gaming mentally with expert points and levels) working their way
from RN to Nurse Practitioner to Medical Doctor…with several steps leading them to Specialist –
allowing them to “choose their specialty” and how they were able to apply their knowledge. Not only
were they able to see the path of a medical professional, but they understood it took hard work to get
there. What steps can you put into your next social studies unit or math unit, that allows students to
see the growth into a new profession?

3. Find literature and current events/news involving the specific topic. When do you teach statistics
and probability? Could you shift it to align with March Madness or the Kentucky Derby? This allows
your students not only to apply it to real-world events, but they can also learn a little about what is
going on in their present day. Would you be able to line up your biology unit in the spring, when you
have a) many newborns at the zoo or b) your greenhouses are starting to reopen and market for the
season? As students realize the time and energy it takes to make sure timing is part of the skill set,
too, then it becomes more intriguing. More like a puzzle that they solve, than a set of skills they
are memorizing.

How to Determine your Niche in Education

How to Determine Your

Niche in Education

I’ve stated more than once, that I always knew I wanted to be a teacher. After I became a teacher, I realized there were parts of the biz I excelled at and others…well, that weren't my forte. The teams that I have been surrounded by have shown me the variety of teachers that are out there, as well as that each of them is needed. My focus has been on the curriculum. I love creating experiences for students – no matter the age or subject area. That’s what I hope to share with my other colleagues – the ones who are strong data analysts, the ones who don’t like to plan, but can perform and deliver a lesson better than a show on Broadway, the ones who grow their lessons out of relationships in their class or current events in their districts. Hopefully, my planning and experiences can help you be stronger in your niche.

Do we ever stop to think; I could NOT do my job without Mr. or Mrs…. because they are so strong at
XYZ, where I am not? My second teaching partner was a math guru. Seriously. She taught second
grade for 20+ years and was moved to High Ability 4th grade where I saw her passion and desire to
learn rival the kids! Math is the lowest on my totem pole of exciting things to do in class. Literature and
science are my jam, followed by a healthy dose of social studies. All of these lend themselves (in my
eyes) to an interactive experience that gets everyone involved. Students, teachers, and anyone else
who can join. The project-based (and problem-based) learning that comes from these content areas is
overwhelmingly “awesome.”

After all of that, my Math Guru taught me the opposite. We started combining geometry cities in math,
with government and rules in social studies. After reading a novel, we mathematically engineered a
bridge to hold the weight of the main character (I know, I know…that’s science, too). For our Kid
President projects, we had to determine the total population of people we would affect with our efforts
and then figure out the weight of the donations to be able to deliver them safely and fairly.
As I latched on to various ways to bring math curriculum to life, we had to determine who would walk
us through the “data analysis” of our adventures. Although students (and possibly their teacher) were
enjoying math now, what we had to determine if they were getting the skills that were needed to be
“successful” in the next step. Our teammate helped us figure out what to track and how to keep it
manageable with RTI and IEPs and the typical testing deadlines.

I challenge you – what is YOUR teaching niche? Where do you fit in the vast number of teachers we

have? Do not feel that you have to be a cookie-cutter teacher and be good at curriculum AND data

AND “performing a lesson” AND…find out what you bring to the table and partner and work with those
who have their own unique abilities within our great profession.