classroom management Archives - Page 2 of 2

03 Dec 2016

Entry 15 – Thanks For The Feedback?

It's was the first week back after break. I really had a refreshing break! I finished a video about a retreat that my school goes on called The Forward. I took about 50GB of footage for it; one of the largest amounts I've had for a single video. I'm really happy with how it turned out. You can check it out HERE. In other news, I won a presentation software competition! A little while ago I wrote a review of a platform called Visme. In addition to reviewing the platform, I also entered into a presentation contest they were holding. Last…

02 Sep 2016

Entry 2 – Dealing With Inappropriate Moments In Class

We are at the end of our second week of school. I'm much further along this year as I've decided to introduce elements of our classroom structure as they arise instead of frontloading everything (waiting to get into Khan Academy until our first Khan Academy assignment instead of doing this big period-long scavenger hunt on day 2). I'm also spreading out the Week of iMath activities from YouCubed over a few weeks instead of just doing that for the first couple of weeks. It's helped. What I'm really excited about this year is that several teachers have jumped on board…

28 Aug 2016

Entry 1 – My Sixth First Day

I've begun my sixth year in teaching. The plan is to reflect at the end of each week again this year. I've invited some of my colleagues to join me and am excited to read through their reflections :) This week was our first week back with students. Being that many of my students from 6th grade math are now in my 7th grade math class, it felt more like coming back from a long weekend than it did a brand new year. This week has felt a bit long with having to stay after school for some back-to-school nights &…

30 May 2016

Week 36 – Last Week, $3k Candy, and My 100th Post!

Last week was the last week of actual instruction. I opted to take it easy. Life will go on even if I don't try to cram the teaching of volume of 3d figures into two days. Also, this is my 100th post on this blog! LAST WEEK ACTIVITIES Last week, I shared all of our previous quizzes, tests, and reassessments with answer keys with the students. This week, I decided to make a more proper review sheet in the form of a Quizlet. I've never used Quizlet but students kept suggesting it. It's virtual flashcards. On one side I put the…

25 Sep 2015

Week 5 – Mind Blowing Math, Class Fines, and Chatty Cathy’s

We've come to the end of week 5. It's actually Friday morning but it's a staff development day. I really enjoy staff development days. You don't have to be 'on.' You just show up and try to engage yourself in the discussion. It's coming at the end of a fairly good week. MIND BLOWING MATH In Pre-Algebra, we started exploring exponents. We delved into powers of 1, 0, and negative exponents. Power of 1 was easy enough; 31 = 3. Seems just like multiplication. 30 though...is actualy 1. 3-1 is...1/3...whaaaaat? Without going too much into it, HERE'S a video of…

16 Jul 2014

An Educator’s Perspective on ‘To Sell Is Human’

I took the Myers-Briggs personality test in college (or at least a free online version so who knows how reliable the results really were) and I got ENFJ. I read that this personality type is pretty good at getting others to do what they want (for better or for worse). Naturally, moving people has always been something I’ve been very interested in; how to get people to understand an adopt your perspective. As an educator, I’m always trying to sell the students on the idea of working hard, being respectful, helping each other, and taking charge of their own learning. I…

12 Mar 2014

4 Tools To Organize Your Teaching LIfe

Here are 4 organizational tools that I’ve found super useful in the past year that perhaps you may find a use for in your classroom. Padlet WHAT PROBLEMS DOES IT SOLVE? I used to write instructions on the board, and in a pinch, I would open up Microsoft Word and type up the instructions for an assignment. When I was done, I never saved the Word files. A few days later, a student or parent would ask me to clarify some things on an assignment, and I would have to rehash it all out again. But not with Padlet! HOW…

08 Nov 2013

Ambiance, Decibels, and Dancing in The Classroom

Studying sound recording technology in college wasn’t necessarily the best preparation for an aspiring teacher, but I've tried to find ways to incorporate the things I learned and enjoyed from the world of sound engineering into education. Here’s three audio related tools and tips I’ve found helpful in my classroom. Bloom I enjoy having calming music playing during times of quiet or silent work, but I don’t like the idea of having only a couple CD’s or tracks of calming music. Playing them over and over gets old. I’ve tried online radio, but the advertisements that come up on Pandora,…