Kiddos arrive September 4th! ANXIETY!

Classroom!

While I am still a travelling teacher and still must share classroom space throughout the day, I am happy to say that the room where my resource classes are located.... will actually house some of my math stuff this year. I have one small bulletin board to use (so instead of having the entire board dedicated to a theme, it is an organized mish-mosh of things I want displayed. I'll probably end up switching things out as the year progresses).

 The quote on the bottom left will be changed out weekly. The pink sheet is where I plan to write the date as a math problem each day. And the yellow sheet is where I plan to write that night's hw assignment. The small calendar on the right will be a paper log of homework assignments and assessments. Googling math posters, I found that awesome sign on the top right. Then, because my kiddos can never remember horizontal and vertical (nor do they know what the horizon means, so that does not help) and because integer operations are so difficult for them, I have labeled each direction and provided a number line. YAY! Lastly, the "Fist to Five" Check is a quick way I ask students to tell me how they are doing. I'm sure I modified something I saw on Pinterest, but I can't find the pin to give credit. I'm sorry! :(  Up close, it looks like this:

 Also, I FINALLY get to keep some of my supplies in the room, which is extremely important as I am going gung-ho with INBs this year. Last year I was INB-crazy for the first couple months and then failed miserably. This year, I have a significant number of INB pages already created so I am sticking to it! So, I have space for tape & glue, scissors, and colored pencils and other assorted INB supplies. There's also room to keep their notebooks in the classroom so they do not get lost or destroyed in the black holes that they call "lockers" and "backpacks". Additionally, I have a cup of pencils - you would think 16, 17, and 18-year old people could come to class with at least a pencil? Nope! Oh and my super awesome 3-drawer paper holder for plain, lined, and graph paper. :)

Let me tell you... it was a rocky time in August trying to secure space for me in this room, and I may have made a few enemies in the process (oops), but I can't lug all that stuff around all day!



Goals!

I have always been an organized person. Everyone always says I probably have a mild form of OCD and they are probably right. However, this is the year of true organization. I want to maintain a binder for my co-taught college prep level classes that contains completed notes, completed study guides, and a log of their homework assignments to reference for the days when our building's internet decides it does not want to work (i.e., ALL the time).

I want to make sure I really focus on monitoring student learning, getting all students involved, and making the knowledge stick. I want to get the kids up (we have a TINY classroom space - probably smaller than some of their closets at home) as much as I can, interacting with each other as much as I can, and engaged in the material more than I have in the past. My enthusiasm is not enough. THEY need to own it.

The goal that has been my goal for 3 years - classroom management. Ugh. I have some ideas. Hopefully they come to fruition. Looking at my rosters and talking to colleagues, I have a tough crowd this year. The big thing I need to focus on for classroom management to be more successful is ROUTINE.

DATA COLLECTION for my students' IEPs. Enough said. It needs to get done frequently, accurately, and consistently. I have 54 students with IEPs... I need to be on top of this stuff!



Anxiety!

This year my district is 1-1. In grades K-4, each student has access to a Nexus tablet that are housed in the classrooms. And every student in grades 5-12 has a Chromebook that they take to and from school each day. It is going to be a year of transition for me as I am going from having basically no technology (not even a working projector half the time) to LOTS of technology. This makes me excited, but more anxious. I want to introduce classwork with the Chromebooks slowly. I know I want to do INBs instead of trying to find a way to take notes on the Chromebook. Typing math is just too time-consuming!! The interactive aspect will be so much better for my students. I have a whole room full of struggling learners. So, here's my plan: each day, students will need to use their (hopefully charged) Chromebooks to access my Google Site and view the day's agenda. There will be a warm-up to complete (Mental Math Mondays, then a variety of warm-up problems Tues - Thurs, and Friday Funnies) which will almost always be online. Then it's lids down! Most days I plan to have a mini-lesson, frequently involving our INBs. Then it's practice time. Some days this might be on our Chromebooks (still looking for more ideas) and some days this might be good 'ole paper and pencil. And some days I might try to squeeze some stations into that tiny classroom - wish me luck!

Again, I'll reiterate the TINY SPACE that is this classroom. (Also you can see that the other teacher will hate me because of my influx of COLOR and STUFF) :) :) :) I'm standing next to the first pair of desks, there are actually 12 crammed in there. And of course I have mostly athletic boys and it's on the second floor (hello hot and sweaty!) Good thing I'm only in this closet for two periods a day!