Blog Revamp

Originally I created this blog for a technology course I took my junior year at the University of Maine... after a solitary post and two years of collecting dust, it became my road trip journal when I decided to drive across country to see what there was to see. Now, another year later, another inch of dust accumulated, I've decided to generate a collection of ideas, stories, materials, and the like from my classroom teaching experiences.

Currently I am a sixth grade elementary teacher in central Maine. I absolutely love my job, which wasn't always the case. Anyone educator knows, the first year can be a doozy. However, I have come into my second year recharged, enthusiastic, and a bit more confident than originally anticipated. My goal is to share quality, useful, and inventive ideas for truly teaching well.

Today's Teaching Tip:

Last year I started off with a flop. I used mini lessons to convey classroom management protocol to my students, without consistent reinforcement, thorough modeling, or any success, for that matter. This year I've adhered to the gradual release model in the majority of my teaching- especially when I expect my students to adopt a habit that will essential turn our classroom into a well oiled, self efficient machine.

I've discovered beginning of the year classroom management is more successful when I:

• Identify ONE clear objective per lesson that I want my students to be able to accomplish
• For example: How to record books read in my Reader's Notebook
• Clearly TELL my students what that objective is in kid-friendly terms
• Show them EXACTLY what I mean (without student input)
• Try it TOGETHER a couple times so they can encounter different instances
• Move them to INDEPENDENT practice, allowing them to gain mastery

This is probably a no-brainer to experienced educators, but it took me a full year to catch on. Even then, I didn't realize the effectiveness of this method until I put it into basic terms for myself. Now, my goal is to find consistent, do-able ways spice it up to keep kids intrigued and excited.