Is This The End Or A New Beginning?

For all of us teachers out there we are staring into the impending doom that is the end of the summer! We have had approximately three months off and yet when this time come it seems like school just ended. Though I have spent countless hours in my classroom this summer I still feel so unprepared for the students to be back next Tuesday. Today is my official last day of summer since tomorrow starts our beginning of the year professional development. I will continue my long hours through this week to help me be as prepared as possible to welcome the students back!

Yes, I may be complaining that my sleeping in and boring days are coming to an end, but at the same time I am very excited. I am excited because I love my job and miss my students! I am fortunate that each year I do not get a whole new group of students. The students stay in my classroom for about four or five years and I only get a handful of new students each year. And with all my new changes I cannot wait to dive in a try them out! I think we will have a very successful year, or at least I can only hope.

I want to take this moment to share a few more pictures on the finished bulletin boards:

*By the way, the punch card idea is spreading to the other teachers! Hopefully in the next year it can become a school wide PBS!


Good luck to all the teachers out there as we kick off a new school year! It may be the end of the summer but the beginning of a great new school year!

Persistence

So lately the word persistence keeps coming up in my world. Persistence is defined as: to continue steadfastly or firmly in some state, purpose, course of action, especially in spite of opposition, obstacles or discouragement. When asked about my weaknesses in a job interview I say that I'm persistent because this is a quality that most find very annoying (just ask my husband). I have also been persistent when it comes to working in my classroom this summer. Every time I walk into that room I discover a problem or something that has thrown a wrench in my plans. For example at the end of the school year I was looking at maybe having 14 students in my classroom and now I'm up to 17. For those of you general education teachers I'm sure you're thinking "17, I'd love to just have 17 students!" It is not necessarily the extra students or the extra work that causes me added stress, its the extra body in the classroom. My classroom is very oddly shaped and fairly small. My classroom measures approximately 40' by 20'. The classroom is full of adults 17 students and 5 staff and we need a "break" room for students to calm down when getting aggressive. Also, there is not one corner that is available to utilize because I have 2 doors in 2 corners, a sink in another, and the furnace in another, which makes classroom layout difficult.
Anyway, I consider myself very persistent but maybe I'm just impatient and want things done my way right now.

Tell me what you think:




I just realized that maybe many of you do not know exactly what kind of teaching I do. Currently I am a Special Education Teacher in a Community Based Program. My students have a variety of disabilities but fall within the Moderately Impaired range and are ages 16 to 20. We have students in the school until the age of 26 (Michigan is the last state to allow students to attend a public school, all other states are only to the age of 21). It is in the works that Michigan cuts the age back to 21 to join the other states and the funding will then transition to programs that provide work for adults with special needs, such as Mid Michigan Industries and (those of you from Hillsdale) Key Opportunities. Therefore it is not saving money by cutting the students the monies will just be used differently.

Another Day

Spent another day in the classroom. Now that volleyball has started I'll head up to the classroom after practice probably every day until school starts. But everything is finally coming together set up wise. But I still have a long way to go with teaching materials. Here are a few pictures of what has been keeping me busy all summer.

The front of my room:

 One Bulletin Board

 Behavior Plan (kinda)

 The whole room

 Worksite Organization

But all the progress doesn't really matter because I still have tons of paper work here as you can see in all the boxes on the left. And under the fabric, that is hiding shelves, is even more boxes with papers that I have to go through.

It may help me to move a little faster on progress if I was there when the office was open to make copies and such. 

I know, I know, I know . .

It is all that I've talked about lately. But my classroom overhaul is all I can think about. The bulletin boards are all figured out and I can only only hope that then that classroom procedures are finalized . Throughout my undergrad professors would ask us to create classroom procedures to run the classroom but none of us had spent too much time in a classroom let alone enough to be able to understand and create all those inner workings. So as part of an under taking in this overhaul I decided to put all my classroom procedures in writing. Well maybe not ALL but most. This simple project turned into a 40 page paper, oops. I found it necessary to put all of these workings onto paper because there are four other adults in my classroom with me and we all need to be on the same page on how everything works. My paraprofessionals are amazing and my classroom would be a zoo without their help. We just had a few minor communication gaps last year that only confused the students. Therefore the creation of this 40 pages of classroom procedures was created.

I've also changed my behavior plan and after lots and lots of thoughts I've decided to try punch cards:

These cards were created with help from my friends at Vistapint from business cards. After all the :) are punched with a hole punch the students can turn these cards in for a prize. The students are able to earn getting their card punched by staying on task when everyone else is off task, lending an extra hand to staff or a student, volunteering for a job request, etc. As I'm not great with trinkets and am cheep, I wanted to find prizes that were at no cost to me, but age appropriate for my older students. These prizes include:

§  Candy or Gum

§  Decorative Pencil and Eraser

§  Be the first one in the lunch line

§  Use teachers chair for a day

§  5 minutes of extra computer time

§  Listen to music while working for one day

§  Choose what movie to watch on designated movie day

§  Get out of school job

§  Get out of class job

§  Choose a book for the teacher to read aloud during circle

§  Print something from the computer

§  Trip to the prize box

As you can see, most of these items are free but some cost a little bit of money. I also have included some long term goals with the punch cards giving out larger prizes after a student turns in 10 cards and even larger prizes and lots of recognition when a student reaches 20 cards.

I'm very excited to try this new plan in hopes that is minimizes behaviors. My biggest problem that I'm having with this is that I keep wanting to say that the students will get "punches" for good behavior. While using this plan I will have to choose words carefully while describing.

Pat on the Back

Throughout the process of the overhaul of my classroom there have been many moments that, I feel, deserve a pat on the back. From creating lessons plans that will last for months to completing a task analysis for all school jobs. These two are very large jobs but it is mainly just busy work. But as these projects are completed an idea that will dawn on me that makes very excited and feel good. For example: I created a task analysis in list form, then I had the idea to make it into a power point. After that I had the idea to turned the power point into task card that will be available on the job for students to carry with them. This is something that has never been done before and I hope it helps the students to learn the jobs better and give the the ability to complete the jobs more independently. It will also help us adults teach and execute each job the same way. As I was working away on things needed for my classroom I had this feeling many times and felt the need to share.

As school is coming closer and closer there are many things that are coming up fast along with the school year. Volleyball will start next week, two masters courses start the 22nd, first day at school is the 30th, and I'll still have to find time to work that second job. This is a large change from my days of nothing and my weeks consisting of one day of work, maybe. Therefore, I am trying to plan my classroom for months in advance (hopefully into December) so I can make little changes as needed with instruction and be able to manage everything else that is coming up.

1) What did I learn today? There are still many things that need to be done to be ready for the first day of school.

2) What did I accomplish today? Create more lessons

3) What can I do better tomorrow? Spend more time outside

4) What did I enjoy today? Creating materials for the room

5) What am I most grateful for today? Power Point

-Cheers-

Changes to the Room

At the end of last school year I decided that this year was in need of a complete overhaul. From how I taught, what was taught, room organization, and even furniture. Needless to say nothing in my room will be the same this year despite the people and students. Since last year was my first year of teaching I just filled the shoes that were left from the previous teacher. Hopefully this overhaul will help me become a better teacher and to allow my students the best opportunities to learn. Some of the biggest obstacles in my room are worksites and school jobs. Many different times throughout the day I have students that are gone for 30 minutes to five hours despite what is being taught in the classroom that day. My staff is also in and out of the room with the students. Of course on top of all of that is some of the behaviors that are displayed that can disrupt the room for an unusual amount of time. Therefore my overhaul also includes adding a token economy-like system within my classroom to help eliminate the smaller behavior problems and minimize the larger outbursts.


My first visit to my room this summer my room looked like this:

 And now it looks more like this:

I moved some furniture that hadn't been moved in many many years and before the tables each of my students had their own cubbies that lined the walls. More and more students entered my classroom last year and we just didn't have room for more cubbies. Plus, it was difficult to have a whole class discussion when all students, while at their seats, had their back to me. Half way through the year we get smart boards put in and with this new layout I hope to utilize it a lot more this year and I can't wait! Also, this this layout I was able to create a "break room" for my students who may need some alone time away from the other students. And if you can see there are still 3 cubbies for students who need to sit somewhere with fewer distractions to complete individual work.

Anyway throughout the summer I have been buying a bunch of new items for my classroom to help in the change of decor, organization of materials, schedule, and behavior plan. Through this search of items I have fallen in love with Vistaprint buying items such as business cards (turned punch cards for behavior plan), magnets (for rewards), tote bag (for worksites), personalized sticky notes, "completed with teacher's help" stamper, school t-shirt, and even a notebook. All of this for under $10 which just paid for the shipping and handling. I received all of this because they have a bunch of free things which can be personalized. I have attached the e-mail flyer I received highlighting everything free or at a large discount.

Try any of these high-quality products for FREE: FREE Business Cards Great Value!  250 FREE FREE Car Door Magnets Great Value!  1 FREE FREE Window Decals Great Value! 1 FREE FREE Banners  Great Value!  1 FREE FREE Rubber Stamps Great Value! Get 1 Now FREE T-shirts Great Value! Get 1 Now FREE Postcards Great Value! 100 FREE FREE Lawn Signs Great Value!  1 FREE FREE Invitations and Announcements Great Value!  10 FREE FREE Magnets Great Value! 25 FREE Uploads 1 Starts at $4.99 Now FREE FREE Notebooks Great Value! Get 1 Now FREE Return Address Labels Great Value! 140 FREE FREE Tote Bags Great Value!  1 FREE FREE Letterhead Great Value!  10 FREE

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ACT NOW! Sale ends Wednesday, August 10, 2011!

You search online for other Vistaprint coupon codes if you order something that isn't free.
I have also purchased a few items from the container store to make supplies easier to access. Last year I would let the students get into my desk for items such as highlighters, erasers, sticky notes, tape, etc. Hopefully this will allow the students to feel free to help themselves and that they don't abuse the access to materials. I ordered the 4 step drawer:

And as a free gift I received a free standing hanger organizer:

The problem is I have no idea what to do with the hanger organizer. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. This is a nice product and would hate to see it go to waste. Maybe I'll store poster boards, but I will need to collect many more.

On top of these orders Dollar Tree is one of my favorite stores because they have a large area for teachers and school. On top of their good selection of supplies and prizes everything is a dollar or maybe even 2 for a dollar. Much better prices than any other place for items such as bulletin board boarders, posters, die cuts, etc.

This is the last week I have off before I work two full weeks (first time all summer), and start volleyball. So, I'm trying to take advantage of these empty days though I'm bored and trying to focus on my classroom. But before I know it school will be back in session and I'll be begging for my lazy, sleep-all-day life back.

1) What did I learn today? My classroom has changed a lot.

2) What did I accomplish today? Changes to classroom procedures.

3) What can I do better tomorrow? Make it to my classroom, again.

4) What did I enjoy today? Sleeping in

5) What am I most grateful for today? Relaxing evenings

-Cheers-