My 18th first day as a teacher

Yesterday was the first day of school for the 2015-2016 school year. It was my 18th first day as a teacher. Wow. I can't believe I've been doing this, this long!

Here we are before school.

Aren't they adorable!

Kylie is going into 1st grade.

Lexi is going into 5th and is off to the Intermediate school!

 And Maddie is a 10th grader!

And here is my classroom.  I LOVE getting things organized and ready each year. 

The view from my desk.

A couple of panoramic pictures. Yes, my classroom is HUGE! 

And here is my intro into my world that I showed my students. (there is supposed to be a video below..?)

Environment as Third Teacher

In the quest for education rigor, academic performance and high stakes testing, the educational environment is easy to forget.

I'm talking about the actual brick and mortar building.

The classrooms, the playgrounds, the hallways, the bathrooms.

All of it.

Sure, it has to be safe. Everyone is aware of that.

No one (or at least I'm not) is going to send their kids to a school like the one in Matilda!

But if we want to reach students and help them to achieve all that they can be. Or let's face it, to just ENJOY the journey, we have to stop and ask what their daily environment looks like.

I really, really appreciate the Reggio Emilia approach of Environment as the Third Teacher. Interested in learning more? Click here is a fantastic pdf article on our teaching environments. What I see in this approach, besides acknowledging that the environment we live in is important, is that it levels the playing field a little between teachers and auxiliary staff members.

In fact, I bet the custodial team at my campus has never been given articles on environment and how all team members are CRUCIAL for successful schools. Sure, people are quick to stop these hard workers when something isn't done, but when was the last time I stopped Lilly as she is organizing the cafeteria and told her thank you and that she MATTERS! Shame on me.

So what am I going to do?

Well, I'm going to start by saying thank you and telling our maintenance/custodial team that they matter. Then I'm going to work on changing MY environment. A really good article on creating quality environments is "How the Environment Inspires Curriculum." 


And then I'm going to...

1. De-clutter. I'm going to look for and get rid of "unintenional knick-knacks."  (man just typing that and looking around my dining table, I'm like oh man. How about the Easter basket that is on my china cabinet? It's July. Talk about an "unintentional knick-knack")

2. Walk around the room/building and ask "What is the purpose of ___?"

3. Remember that the environment needs to be balanced. If I break the room into sections, have I balanced the space or will all of the students be forced into one area so that I can create a cool space that looks fun but rarely used. The idea of taking a section and placing it on a mental scale has me rethinking sections of my classroom. I have a ton of space designated for rarely used stuff, but for every day life with students, we end up crowded.

4. Create more FOOT space than SHELF space. (Boy this another ouch for me. I have shelves, shelves and more shelves. Both at home and at school.  I really need to get rid of some of my junk to make room for life!)

And once I've done that. I'm going to stop and brainstorm about the places that I like spending time in. And figure out what I can do to bring that about into my daily environment.

Here are a few of my favorite places.. these are just representative pics from google. I haven't necessarily been to Starbucks on at Downtown Disney. :)

 

So what do I notice about these places.. I love the contrast between light and dark. I love the different textures. I love the see-thru containers.

Stopping and brainstorming about my teaching (living) environment is pretty fun. I would have said that the lack of windows to the outside world was the hardest thing for me to overcome. But after some visual brainstorming, I have so many ideas! And ideas that I can implement! I can't cut a hole in my cinder block wall and put in a window for my classroom. But I can add contrast and texture!

This is where I am starting.  These are pictures from my classroom at the start of school last year.  It's pretty much the same.. maybe even less cluttered right now!

First up. Moving the big front table from the dominate position in the classroom. We use it primarily for holding supplies. So why does it get soo much space?? If I move the monster table to take up some wall space, I can open up a large section of the classroom for feet space. This would really help the traffic jam of students trying to get in and out from their tables.

And the half painted wall of cabinets? It bothers me, but I got used to them. Like we all do. We get complacent in our daily life. I'm not sure what color they will be painted, but something for contrast!

And that's one of the best things about summer. It's a time to rejuvenate our minds and bodies AND our environments!! Because I want my environment as the third teacher to be a ROCKSTAR.. not a teacher in need of assistance plan! ;)

Ready for 2014-2015!

I can't believe another school year starts tomorrow! 

I'm more excited this year than I have been in a long time.

A lot of different reasons, but having Maddie on my campus has me pumped.

And I've also finally made the place MINE.

Going into my 7th year in the same room teaching the same thing has me in a place that's comfortable and fun. I'm not having to recreate the wheel anymore. I'm just fine tuning my approach.

So here is my room.

And a panorama.


Yes, I am blessed with a lot of space and organization. In the past, it still felt crowded and cluttered. Because it was. But I have finally thrown away or given away a dumpster worth of stuff I won't use and so now I have a CLEAN space!!

Let me show you a few more pictures of my space.

 

Yep, I have to say, I love what I do!

Reggio Emilia... if it's good enough for my classroom, it's good enough for my home!

While taking my grad class this last month, I learned about the Reggio Emilia approach to education. While it is primarily used for early childhood education, I was inspired and convicted all at the same time about my classroom, my approaches to teaching and even my home!

 

So, for those of you who have no idea what I am talking about, let me give you the very much abridged version of what Reggio is...

1. Child, parent and teacher are all partners in learning.
2. Teacher is an observer. Provide the tools and the foundation, but allow the students through trial and error to take control of their learning.
3. The environment is the third teacher. "The layout of the physical space in the classroom encourages encounters, communication, and relationships. The arrangement of structures, objects and activities encourages choices, problem solving, and discoveries in the process of learning."
4. Children participate in complex, long-term exploration of projects. A project could last the entire school year!
5. Learning is documented daily. The teacher OBSERVES the children learning and documents specific examples of learning.

 

http://www.reggiokids.com/the_reggio_approach.html

 

Here are some Reggio classrooms. I love them. The natural light, the clean lines, the plants and the overall sense of wanting to be in that room!

 

If you are interested in learning more about the Reggio Emilia approach, there are tons of articles on the web. Here is one. http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Reggio_Emilia/

But now let's take this home. How does this play into my home life? Well, as I am working on the girls rooms and organizing their crap toys, I am inspired to use more natural and/or clear products to store things in instead of brightly colored bins.  I love storage bins, but I have found that these brightly colored plastic bins overwhelm Lexi. She can't see what is in them, she can't distinguish easily where things go and then ends up in a meltdown because she didn't make any progress cleaning.

So, I am thinking.. instead of deciding for her where things should go, I am going to invite her into the conversation and allow her to organize based on how she wants thing done. My gosh, it is her room after all. She LOVES pretty things and I think would probably do much, much better with clear glass jars to put Barbie shoes in rather than have a large tub full of Barbie stuff that she can't find.

I like how the picture below has random items placed together, not for function, but for color. Lexi would be all over this! And really, why should I care if she puts her Barbies, her books and her art supplies together based on color rather than function!

 

And look at this one! I love the blue wall. 

 

And this is a dream playroom! Wow.

 

Okay, one last thing... Who wouldn't want to put the colors back where they go if you had something like this!! Too cool. That is next on my agenda to make!

 

Be A Part Of It!! My 2012 Classroom is ready!!

I'm in love with my classroom. I guess it's a good thing since I spend most of my waking hours there! I'm starting my 5th year teaching art (15th overall) and I really feel like this is gonna be my year!  I don't have to be anything I'm not, I've proved that I can do the job, and do it well. Now, I'm gonna have fun!

So here is a sneak peak into my classroom! My theme this year is "Be A Part Of It" using the New York, New York song (Frank Sinatra singing..) and the New York skyline.

When students enter my classroom from the hall, this is what they see first. I have spent countless hours cleaning out years and years worth of accumulated stuff, so I love seeing my empty table and floor space. I still have a ways to go, but I feel like I'm on the downside finally.

As students move into the main classroom, here is what they see first.

The cabinets are on the left as you enter the room. I love the bright colors!! 

The view from my desk.

The view from the back right wall.

The white board and Mona Lisa.

A view of my desk area... eek.  I really need to do something with all of the cords!!

The Assignment Wall. This is the place where students who say, "you never told us...."  are sent!! Sketchbook assignments and project due dates are already posted!!

And a picture of my tables. It says this room is full of artists.. and it says to do your own work, keep your hands to yourself and so forth. And it reminds the students of Mona Lisa! (Mona Lisa is my reminder to students about expectations.. eyes on me, hands still, pleasant face..it's not my original idea, I stole it off an art teacher blog!)

And finally, here is a picture of my SMARTboard in action!! I LOVE that I can make interactive scrapbook pages to teach from! (okay, really it's called Notebook11 for the SMARTboard, but with it I can make a cute scrapbook style page...)

And there you have it.

In case you missed it in all the cuteness, yes, I teach high school art!!

And now I'm off, tomorrow is gonna get here quick!!

Stop the Press!

Stop the Presses! 

I made it to TWO events at Lexi's school in ONE day!

As a working mom, I NEVER get to go to anything at my children's school.  Sad really given that I'm a teacher, but I'm one of those parents that the teacher never sees.  My girls are so good about it, but they do notice that I'm not there.  Lexi goes through spurts of asking me to come for lunch or to pick her up, but most of the time I think we are all just pretty resigned to the fact that while I get holidays off to spend with my kids, I won't ever get to see them in things at school.  Well, I guess until they get to high school and are at my school.  And then they will be too old for class Christmas parties!

Okay, enough of the whine and back to the fun.

Today Lexi had a T.O.T.S. performance in gym class. I can't remember what it stands for.  Basically, it's ball handling skills.  She did great.  After the performance, they had parents come out and the kids taught the parents. Good for Doug!! I was happy to be the photographer :)

Then came the class Christmas party! I must say, I so enjoy a well organized classroom and party!  The kids rotated from the letter to Santa station, to the gingerbread house station, to the ornament station, to the snack station and finally to the Christmas tree decorating station.  I know that some classrooms function in chaos, but I just love organized teachers!! Yay Mrs. Priddy!!