Educators Staying Connected

So looking back on my blog, I did exactly what I said I wasn't going to do! I quit writing (again) and did not even give it one thought in my mind. I let myself get busy with school and coaching. When I first started the blog I was very excited to try something new, but yet again I let life get in the way of doing something out of my comfort zone. Even though I have said it before, I am going to try to keep up with my blog this year. I am currently taking an online class that focuses on the book, "Ditch that Textbook", by Matt Miller. So far, I am loving the class and the information that Matt writes in his book. I highly recommend it to any teacher! It is giving me new ideas for next year and more importantly more motivation to switch up some things and try new activities that might be out of my comfort zone. The class is being led by two great educators from our school district and this week they have posed the question, "Why should teachers be connected to educators?". We had 10 choices for how we wanted to answer this question so I thought that doing a blog post would be the best option and a great way for me to get back into blogging this year!

My top 5 reasons why teachers should be connected to educators!

1. New Ideas: This is probably the most obvious reason, but by being connected you can find LOTS of new ideas that you might not have thought of. Not only should you be connected to other educators at your school, but there are SO many ways you can be connected online. I am already a big Pinterest user, I love looking for new blogs online, I have connected with some sellers on TPT, and this year I am going to try out Twitter. Follow me @msjhistory   ( I am new to Twitter, so I am excited to post more during the school year!)    I have found lots of new ideas through these sites and I am excited to learn even more. 

2. Feedback: Trying new lessons and activities can sometimes be a little daunting. It is easy to get stuck in a rut and continue to do the same tried and true lessons. However, by being connected with educators you can get feedback and suggestions that might help take an activity to a whole new level. If you try a new activity and it doesn't go as planned, you might find a way to make it success by sharing with other educators. You might even have a lesson that goes AWESOME, but another educator might find a way to make it even better! Constructive criticism is something that helps all educators and by being connected you can allow others to help you do better in your profession.

3. Motivation: We have ALL been here before: Classes that we can't seem to inspire, piles of papers to grade that seem to keep getting bigger and bigger, finding it harder and harder to get the desire to try something new, etc. 

By being connected to educators (more importantly, POSITIVE educators) we can find people who can help us get out of a slump and get back to doing what we love. Can we get motivation from people don't teach? Of course we can! However, fellow educators know how to relate to each other and can really find the right things to say and do to get us motivated again! 

4. Expand Possibilities for our Students: By being connected to other educators we can expand the world for our students. I teach social studies and by being connected I can show kids a world that they might otherwise never experience. You can connect with teachers in other states, countries, etc. and help expose your students to new people, ideas, and cultures. 

5. Praise: Who doesn't like to be praised when they do something well? By staying connected with other educators you can cheer on other's success while also sharing your own. Your best friend might not understand the joy that comes from hearing a student tell you that the lesson you just taught was the main conversation at their dinner table, but another fellow educator would. It is always nice to hear some acclamation when you have a victory (no matter how big or small) and doing this with others in your profession is one of the best ways! 

Those are my top 5 reasons why teachers should stay connected to other educators! There are many more reasons besides those. What are some reasons YOU think we should stay connected? I would love to hear your thoughts and hope to continue the blog journey this year!

  

Back to school updates!

Can't believe school has already started! We had 2 days of in-services last week and kiddos on Wednesday. By the end of school on Friday I was EXHAUSTED! It is always hard to get back into the swing of things. However, I think this is going to be a great year and I am excited to get to know all my kids. I have about 160 students and I am teaching 7 sections of social studies. I have never taught this many sections before of one subject so I hope I can keep my enthusiasm going all day. Below are some pictures of my classroom this year. I had Pinterest to thank for a couple of my ideas!

This is my "Histagram" board that I saw on Pinterest! I will put items on this that discuss the topics we are covering in class. 

I have never been good with absent work so this year I am going to try to be better about keeping up with it! I got this organizer at Target and I am going to put the work for the day in the folder with the student's name written on the paper. I hope this helps!  

 This is my desk area. I thought the fabric makes it look more fun and personalized. The fabric to the left is covering a couple of shelves. This helps hide clutter and makes it look neat. 

 This is one side of my wall that they painted this summer! It used to be white like the rest. I think the color looks nice and makes the room feel more homey. This was a picture taken before I glued the rulers on my wall (they are the picture below).

This shows the yard stick I got from Home Depot. I then hot glued decorated clothespins on the ruler so I can display more student work. The kids always love seeing their work displayed so now I have more room! It will also cut down on all the time I spend re-taping items in the morning after they have fallen down during the night! 

I am pretty happy with how my room looks this year! I have a couple of areas I forgot to take pictures of that I will put on here eventually. So far it seems my kids are enjoying my classroom decor also! 

New Year, New School, New Grade

Well I obviously did an AWFUL job of keeping up with this blog last year! I can't believe my last post was January 2013! Here is a SUPER quick update. I took a new position in August of 2013 back in my hometown! I am now teaching 6th grade social studies and our curriculum is all about ancient civilizations. This was quite a change from geography and Kansas history so last year I had to really brush up on my knowledge of the ancient world! I was also completing my last year of my master's which I finally finished. I graduated in May 2014 with a degree in Curriculum and Instruction from my Alma mater, Emporia State University. I am VERY happy that is done with so I can fully focus on my kiddos at school.

Graduation Day!

I cannot believe that I only have a little over 2 weeks until we have to report back to the building. I have been working slowly on getting things ready, but now I am ready to get back in gear. I know I have said it before, but this year I am REALLY going to try to keep this updated more often! I won't be quite as busy now that my master's classes are finished. I will be coaching volleyball and track and I will be the assistant STUCO sponsor, which I am very excited about. I know I can handle all of that though!

Well here is the first, hopefully of many, blog posts I will write this year!

Bulletin Boards

Something I have noticed being in a middle school is that some teachers really try to change up their classrooms and bulletin boards and some don't. When you are in an elementary school you see SO many different and unique bulletin boards that get the studetns excited, so why does that have to change in middle school?? Middle school students are not yet grown up, but they also don't want to be treated like little kids. I think it is important to make your classroom warm and inviting and also switch it up occasionally. I don't think middle school teachers need to go all out like elementary school teachers, but I do know the students notice and appreciate it when they can tell their teachers care about what the room looks like. We are getting ready to start Kansas History so I wanted to change my bulletin board. It isn't a dramatic change, but the kids knew when they noticed it that we were going to make a switch from geography to Kansas History. I have spent time looking online for ideas for bulletin boards and I must admit there are hardly ANY for middle school. Here are a couple pictures of what I did:

 

I made my board so I can switch out the informational posters based on what we are discussing in class. We are getting ready to do Native Americans in a couple of weeks. I also hope to eventually make my board interactive. I kept my "Picture Perfect" side to display student work.

New Year's Resolution

When I first got this blog I was so excited to start writing on it, but now when I look at my blog I realize I have hardly created any posts! One of my New Year's Resolutions this year will be to update my blog more often with actual things I am doing in my classroom. I had planned on creating more items for my TpT store over break, but now my break is almost over and I have hardly done anything! I hope to get some new items in my store and start updating my blog with beneficial posts!

Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary

Tomorrow's the day....Election Day!

So my 7th graders are VERY excited to vote tomorrow! They all have many different opinions on who to vote for and are excited to find out the results. I just wanted to post a short post on what I am doing tomorrow. When students get to class they are going to vote using the Pearson ballots for the state of Kansas. I created the following "voting booth" for students to go behind when they vote:

 

Students will go behind the board and vote. I also have "I voted" stickers to give them once they are done! I am hoping they will enjoy it. They will also be making various campaign items while they are in class. Some ideas will be t-shirt designs, bumper stickers, pins, and posters.

 

It is SO important to get them interested in voting at an early age so they will be contributing citizens when they are older!