Missing a Test? Problem or Opportunity? Part 2

Now there are other weird cases of missing tests. Here are a few, and what I've seen as solutions.

Case 1. The student has lost the test.
I've met students who couldn't keep their shirt on frontwards. It happens. The tests are collected. I cound the tests. John's test is missing. I ask him about it. He fumbles around in his over stuffed backpack. He starts disassembling his desk, heavily strewn with various books, papers from last year and today's lunch. In this case, I look into his bespectacled, foggy eyes and gently say, "Let's schedule a retake. Tomorrow.".

Case 2. The student has possibly deliberately lost the test.
This student is struggling in my class. She offers the chance to make up the test, "tomorrow". I pull out an extra test. I hand it to her. I say, "Today. I know you've been studying all weekend. I don't want to put you under more stress." I direct her to the library, with a note to the librarian that this student must turn in their test to her, and that this student already has lost a test in my classroom.

Case 3. The student has taken the test home. On accident.
I didn't count all my tests back. Perhaps the bell has rung and everyone is anxious to leave. He returns the next school day with the test, a bit sheep-faced, "Here is my test." I graciously accept the test and quietly explain, under the circumstances, the test is marked a "zero". I offer an opportunity to take an alternate, make-up test the very next day. In some cases, as in a quiz - because I usually have a large number of quizzes upon which the grade is based - , I do not offer the make up quiz but console myself it's a lesson learned for both of us.

Caes 4. The student has taken the test home. On purpose?
It's hard to say if it was on purpose or not, even if the student is struggling. In the case of the "in the classroom", it's slightly more plausible to believe that the student may be hiding their test somewhere. Unless of course your classroom has a test vortex, and students sometimes trip over it on their way to turn in their test. However, whether or not the student is trustwortthy cannot be taken into account when the test goes home because, I think, it's hard to attribute forgetfulness or sneakiness in an instance where you, the teacher, aren't in control of the environment. It could have gone out the door, been lost on the playyard, the bus, the park, at home, at a neighbor's, at a parent's.... too many options. Yes, it could have been lost.
In the classrom, between their desk and my desk? No way.
In this case, I offer a make up as if it was case 1.

My mother in law (a retired educator) has advised me to grade the students at least once a week. If you are doing that, you give yourself sufficient flexibility to drop or excuse a missing test or quiz once in awhile without greatly affecting a student's grade. More validation for the Friday test day!

Happy teaching.

Missing a Test? Problem or Opportunity? Part 1

This is a continuation of my missing test pain. I've misplaced tests before. I've also had students show up on Monday with their test, they've accidentally taken home over the weekend. Both are miserable situations.


Based on experience, I've developed several options. I'll list them for you, and the reasons I made certain decisions in case you might need a bit of a insight or inglorious sympathy.


Scenario 1.:
I've misplaced the test. I've searched high and low and it's nowhere to be found. I've made a serious effort to find it; I've turned over filing cabinets. After being sufficiently exhausted, I have come to reflect on what do I do now?


Choice A: Have the student retake the test. This appears to be fair after explaining to the student that for some unearthly reason his or her test is not in the collected pile. This is excruciating to the dedicated student who had spent hours preparing for the test. This is a mild surprise for most others. Be sensitive to the difference.


The key here I think is to rapidly offer the choice: not wait for a week or more. The material studied is slipping from their mind, and they won't be on top of the tested items as before. This is especially true if you have moved onto another subject.


I also think it's appropriate to offer a choice of retake dates. This permits the student time to review their notes and to work around other possible tests. I always assume the student cares about doing well. In the opposite case, if I slam them through an immediate re-take, I am setting them up for a stressful fail. Is that really fair? When you've misplaced the test, that you now put them in a perilous position? Also look at it from a parent's point of view: "You lost the test. Now you're freaking out over my son retaking this test with no prep time?".


Choice B: Have the student take an alternate test. Careful with this one. It appears to be an easy solution, but how appropriate is it? For example, offering an essay response when the class has prepared for a multiple choice test. Does the alternate test cover all the same material which the class has studied? You have to review the test. If you have a good series of textbooks, sometimes this isn't a problem but you must be diligent about testing this student on the same playing field as his classmates.


Choice C: If a lot of time has passed, say a week or more, you have the choice of excusing the test. This may work as a one time option. You might have a few tests coming up. You might have several quizzes on the same material already done. The missing test may not affect this student's grades very much at all. It depends.

Overall, I want to also state that the class still needs to review the test. In the past, I've held onto a test review "until everyone has taken the test". But you know what? That's silly. The material needs to be reviewed when it is fresh in the mind of the class. Now, when a student has to retake a test (for an absence, for example), I send them out of my classroom to another classroom or the library and I review the test with the class. The student who is making up the test will not have the review day, unless I personally sit down with them and review it with them. Sometimes it has worked where the student actually takes the test while at the library, when I am reviewing the test with the class. If the student isn't taking the test, I keep everyone honest and to avoid temptation, I collect the tests back after being reviewed, until all students have finished taking the test.
...To be continued

Things that make you go... oh.

You've been there: I know.

I was working on this series of lessons on crystal formation with the class for about two weeks. It'd taken me about twice as long to actually plan the lessons out, so I was mentally engaged for about six weeks.

We studied crystals in Science, and then unsuccessfully made sugar and salt solutions for crystals. Two weeks later, I still do not have the crystals. I think my proportions may have been wrong, but I'm giving them more time over Christmas break to form. At least that's my hope. They may end up being more green with mold than sparkly when we return. I'm tempted to run out and buy rock candy... but I am resisting. I want to have an authentic learning experience for them.

Thank goodness for Twenty Mule Team Borax. We made SUPER crystals out of that and hot water in an overnight soak. You ought google it and try it out with your classes.

Anyway, so my hidden little 'secret' was that I was going to give the class 'snowflake' ornaments for a Christmas gift. I had gotten them on clearance last year and I just wanted it to be a cute, fun surprise. I had shared giggles about this with a parent and two teachers and felt confident it was going to go over BIG. Really HUGE.

The last week of school I gave a firm, serious lecture on the formation of crystals from Isopropyl Alcohol (to sound fancy and I knew the three drops would dry up quickly) and a special iridescent glitter. Oooo. We were excited. We liked the success of the Borax and we were looking forward to creating more crystals (unlike the weak sugar or salt solutions). I had thought I had made it 'obvious' enough because part of my recipe's instructions were to blow into a plastic bag and wish for "peace" during the holiday season. In fact, when students questioned me, I replied, hey I tried it without the word "peace" over the weekend, and it didn't work so "peace" was required. (Snort.)

The following morning, with the help of three angelic parents who were in on the secret, their plastic bags were stuffed with the ornaments. The rubbing alcohol had dried up, the ornaments had glitter on them, so my additonal glitter was NOT a big deal. In fact, I thought, it made a nice little sparkle-puff when the bag was opened.

The students opened their bags... and there... was... a big... nothing. Blink. Blink.

"It didn't work".

"Yes, it did."

The students looked at each other.

One student chuckled. "It's made in China. We made crystals all the way from China!" Her little giggle permitted others to smile.

"It didn't work Mrs. Austin". One other student, Disappointed, insisted and frowned slightly.
"Yes, it did."
"But ..." She pulled out her ornament and showed me the packaging. "It has cardboard."
I paused for a moment, staring deeply into her liquid, doe-eyes. Helloooo? I mentally said to her. Aloud, I repeated. "It worked. It did." I leaned forward. "Even the cardboard grew out of the solution. " I paused for effect. Then I whispered, "You have to believe."
"Oh." A light glimmered across her face. "Oh." She smiled.

All that work. Six weeks. I get an "Oh".

Oh... oh, well.

Teaching During Christmas Season

Oh, I'm so done with Christmas! I realize it's next week, but it's been Christmas since December 4th here. The students are just adrift, plodding giggles of zombies. It's a bit mortifying since I am in a Catholic private school, and I should be a bit more... respectful.

I also find myself, four years into this now, a bit more tolerant of their silliness. I mean, I've come to believe they sincerely cannot help themselves. It's as adults when we learn how to tone down our enthusiasm and exhuberance for the sake of maturity and a trade off for say, that promotion. Right now, these are glum adults in training, and they haven't worked off their energy yet. However, they also need to learn the ageless skill of appropriate behavior, so between warnings and the occasional consequence, the students and I are dancing the careful dance of holiday madness. How to enjoy the season without actually enjoying it ... too much, where I'm forced to go into correction-mode. I mean, it's no picnic calling parents and scheduling conferences. The goal is to shape and guide energy, not snuff it.

I've said this before and as usual, I've not listened to my own wisdom. I need to plan less tests and more projects during this time of cheer. It is an opportunity to do a different type of assessment, appeal to a student's artistic or other skills, rather than drill and kill. But it's also a blend of two needs: a professional neccesity of a wide range of assessment styles, to capture all sides of a student's abilities, and a logical approach to heighten student engagement when their attention is being pulled away by so much tinsel and fake snow.

My best Plan B approach right now is to slow down, teach a concept very, very well; and reward my students' good behavior with a bit of movie or craft time. Switching up the subject is useful, too, for capturing their attention. For example, in math, a natural leap is geometry. Children find geometry interesting when it is explained well, and especially if they have a chance to use their hands, as in tangrams or blocks or drawings. For Social Studies, creating the art of ancient civilzations is an exciting change. Science is always a big draw, and if you have the opportunity, experiments and labs which do cool things, like crystals, give you an excuse to pull out the old lab coat.

I've started and probably over this coming break fulfill my promise to myself to organize my idea cabinet. From my catering management days, I've used a calendar drawer system, where events were filed according to date. I've a plan to set up one file drawer in a similar way so that when December rolls around next year, I'll be better prepared with my ideas. I also can tuck new ideas away by holiday.

My flex plan right now is to teach very, very well; and then pop in a movie like "It's a Wonderful Life" when the lesson is over. That is a no-plan which works.. Over a week's time, the children are enjoying the excuse to watch a movie which has an excellent message, and I can utilize the first half of the class for a good lesson on protractors.

Merry Christmas... Break!

Test Anxiety of the Teacher Kind

Okay, now I've done it for the millionth time and I am writing to help you avoid the same pitfall: please count your tests.

This the scenario: the week has been busy, perhaps a holiday week with plenty of school activities to boggle your mind, and your students are taking their test. It's most likely the only test you can get out of them during December, because it's all "vacation mind set" from here on out. You note two absent students. No problem. You've noted this because you've marked their name on the two remaining tests you have. Making copies in the exact number (plus one - for teacher or key) that you need is absolutely essential to identifying quickly any missing students. Ahhh. You breathe easily. You tuck away the collected tests, determined to grade them over the weekend.

Sunday night: you are poring over their tests, making little notes, feeling quite the teacher when suddenly, you feel odd... a little prickly feeling. You mentally swat it away. Later in the evening, when inputting, you gasp: you're missing FOUR students. What happened to the two additional tests?

No matter what: count your tests when they come back in. Plan on this time by cutting off the test time by ten minutes before the end of the period. This allows for collecting and counting. Most of the time, I've noticed, this cut off of ten minutes does not dramatically affect the outcome of my A B C or D or other students. But it helps prevent **groan** retakes and re-grades and the occasional sobbing student who is convinced that some other student stole (!) her test.

In these instances, I've chosen to re-test (if an alternate test form is available) or to give the student the option of a pure essay or a pure mutiple choice test. My goal is to ensure they've been tested according to the standards and they don't feel penalized in the rare... but entirely possible.. situation where the teacher has lost their test between work and home. BLEH.

Just count your tests. Thanks.

Homework... is it really necessary?

Over the last three years, I've come to reconsider homework as a tool for reinforcement. Wow, what a revelation you say? Well, not for all of us. I've made many mistakes and observed mistakes made by other teachers.

Homework is sometimes assigned by teachers because the "lesson wasn't finished". This is an okay assignment, but the extreme is when the lesson hasn't been reviewed or practiced at all in class, with the teacher hoping the students will basically "learn it on their own". For example, "Read Chapter 13 and answer the questions on page 100". There is no purpose in this other than collecting more mind stuff, stuff for the students to recall or remember on a test. I suppose you could argue that is what school is about, learning "stuff" for the test, but I'd like emphasize that school can and should be about learning how to "think" versus collecting mental notes.

Homework is sometimes assigned to teach a skill. For example, writing a good paragraph. However, you can't teach skills at home. Skills must be taught first in the classroom. Then reviewed by peers or the teacher.

Homework is assigned to give the students ... homework. Well, I've seen that a lot and homework for the sake of "having something to take home" is the worst treatment of the homework opportunity that you can have.

I gained the insight that homework isn't necessary for students to learn something. You can lead a lesson, gather participation, ask for reflection, review answers, all in class, without giving them a worksheet to go home. This is a welcome relief for both students and teachers (and parents!), during this current storm of "learn the standards, choke them down, spit them out" approach in education.

A teacher has to decide what her or his purpose for homework in the first place before deciding to assign it.

In math, homework is nearly everyday to practice skills taught in class or to review skills previously taught. In science, I assign only homework if the work "isn't finished in class", and I make that an achievable goal. Since I check science homework only once a week, the students who actually have homework are those who "decide they love it". (This is a joke: most students, after seeing their friends have no science homework, get it done more quickly and in class.) I assign one or two questions from Social Studies. For both Science and Social Studies, my homework is for reinforcement.

I've recently required outlining the chapter in Social Studies. We read the chapter in class and students can either outline in class or at home. The outlines are modeled in class, and I've checked them for completion. Eventually I will, I think, not check them at all, because the purpose for outlining has been establised by the students themselves. After a test, I get affirmation from the class that the outlines "were a great help in preparing for the test". Students who aren't doing it start to make an effort to outline. The beauty of the outline assignment is that I'm not perusing for details, just "done" or "not done". I stamp their notebooks while they work out of the book, at the beginning of class. Easy peesy. I feel very good about this because this is a cross curricular skill.

Another approach I have for Science and Social Studies is, once in awhile, instead of "traditional homework", I've planned out "projects", which represent what they've gained out of a Chapter or possibly two chapters. I write up a rubric for the project and then they turn it in. It provides variety for them and for me. I think this is best about progress report time, because report cards at my school take up a lot of effort and is very timeconsuming. I've not yet done the same for math, but I hope to do so in the future.

The broadest support for homework is that it is a assessment of work habits. When homework is pertinent, doable, and essentially, light (two - very important - questions, 20 math problems, written paragraph response to a textbook experiment)... then the actual skill being taught and being assessed is the skill of responsibility.

And that, my friends, is what school and homework is really about.

I need help, and I've got sixty opportunities

Well, in class of 30 children, that is, I've sixty helping hands. Originally I thought it was somehow unethical to "use" my students to do "my work". But over time I've come to realize that there is a lot that needs to be done, and which don't cross privacy lines. For example, many children love to help. They like to feel needed, which in turn, makes their self esteem go up. Combine that with minor items around the classroom (sweeping, straightening books, keeping doors closed or open, lights on or off) is a win-win situation for teacher and student. The trick is managing their energy so that their focus is still on learning, and not being eager to help. There is still that mythology around the ten year old mind that the teacher who likes you, will pass you.

First, establish your basic system. For me, this is the hardest. Being in a non-self contained classroom, I don't have the luxury of keeping my children with me for most of the day. I have them for forty minutes and so I can only deal with immediate things. I've resolved this by assigning jobs to 'chairs', not students. For example, the chair nearest the phone answers the phone (this may not be appropriate in your school... please check with your administration). The two chairs nearest the front and center aisle are my paper collectors. The chair nearest the lights handles the lights, etc. The second nearest is the "back up" in case of an absence. Therefore when the class shifts from sixth grade math to seventh grade math, I am not reassigning jobs. I know, and the students know, who does what. Of course, this now makes seating charts and a regular system of changing seats more important, but more on that at another time.

Paper passing, and paper collecting are favorites of teachers, but I encourage to 'kick it up a notch' by a) assigning each of your students a number and b) having a student sort papers by number after being collected. You may assume that requesting alphabetizing by your student is enough, but trust me, for most children, even though they may be in sixth grade, sorting by number is FAR easier than determining between Zymowski and Zymewkowich. This tiny effort greatly speeds up my inputting of my grades.

If you can have a mailbox system for returning papers, all the best to you. A student who is in charge of filing will enjoy this job more if your boxes are numbered according to student number, and the sorted papers (which you've already inputted) are paper clipped and in order for sorting.
Another minor job students like to do is marking a big yellow highlighter X on papers. I do this when I am done inputting papers, so I know I've seen them and they are ready to be returned.

A regular basket for office mail is essential, as we know. Establish someone near the basket to ensure that it's empty ALL the time. I've gotten in trouble before for not rushing up required payments to the office fast enough or I've waited a day before noticing a note that was urgent to the office in the basket. If you're feeling risky, you can inform your office chair that they can leave ANYTIME, if they request permission from you first. This freedom of leaving (after informing you) is exciting and considered a treat. They must inform you! They cannot leave the classroom without the teacher in charge being aware of their whereabouts. This is a safety issue.

Other random jobs which may not be suited to any particular place in the classroom are:
a) Chair monitor (reminds students to push in their chairs). Their "reward" could be they are the first to leave the class at the end.
b) Room Sweeper
c) Agenda/Homework : they ensure the board's homework is accurate and that everyone has seen the homework. Careful: they are not the "homework god". The wrong person could make this task seem like they are supposed to demand compliance from their classmates. It's simply to ensure everyone sees the homework schedule.

Items not to assign to students (in case you weren't sure) is anything to do with confidential or private material, grading or computer work (you aren't in control of what they can do on your computer). There may be other things: you must exercise thought and caution. As the saying goes, if you are not sure, don't do it.

The times for these jobs to happen are usually near the beginning or at the end of class, say the last ten minutes. Some students work through a morning warm up exercise very quickly and need the extra thing as "something to do". I think it's important to make it clear these are choices, and not requirements. If your selected students don't feel well or don't feel inclined to do a good job, or prefer to do their homework, that's quite okay. Ask someone else, and don't make it a big deal. After all, it's still technically all your work, and they are helping you out.

July is Hot for Teaching

But not too hot for planning. So you think I'm nuts? Well you wouldn't be the first. Being a newer teacher, my bag of tricks and lesson plans are still being developed. As I sit here thinking about my forthcoming year, I realize you might need a little nudge, too. I've emptied my bookshelves of older, unused teacher things and have rediscovered some great tools that I have.

"How to Plan Your School Year", published by Evan Moor, and with a suggested retail price of $29.99, is well worth the hefty investment. It covers classroom organization from physical layout to student management and includes handy reference tools for planning your curriculum. For us newer teachers, this is a boon.

It has reproducibles for hall passes, wall displays, student name tags, a calendar, notes home, postcards and ice-breaker activities for your first day. Altogether, it's actually a money saver.

Good luck, and although I'm not saying vacation is over, the little time you spend now will repay you double fold in September.

Cliffs Notes Go Online

Cliffs Notes have resurfaced into internet age. Being a forty something, I have Cliffs Notes memories based on brightly packaged yellow and black mini-books, the bumblebee of hope when confused by a piece of literature. In use, some students have read the notes versus actually reading the book. As a good reader, in my youth, I was full of disdain for this practice, seeing it as lazy and uninspired. C'mon, I'd think. Just read the book! However, life experience has taught me, that although there were certainly students who were doing this type of 'cheating', Cliffs Notes could be a life saver for those who struggle with comprehension or who don't have the background knowledge to really understand or appreciate Wuthering Heights or The Martian Chronicles. So, with that said, I've discovered Cliffs Notes have portaled themselves onto the 'net in a nice way.

They have a nicely organized site, for free. The site, Cliffs Notes.com, summarizes many classics in literature, and each summary of a chapter has a "commentary" tab, which reveals the subtext beneath the story. Quite a boon for those who simply, from working three jobs or a lack of preknowledge, don't quite "get it". There's also a neat online quiz, so you can quiz yourself on the story. I thought this was rather nice.

You could sign up for emails, or get nice instruction in a variety of subjects, math, science, etc. There are practice tests. The site also claims to help you review Shakespere in a flash. As a side note, Netflix.com has a nice collection of downloadable videos of Shakesperean plays. You have to go to the Instant section and choose special interest.

As an instructor, this could be tool for your students OR you could use it to brush up on this semester's reading, which you have chosen out of memory, but hey, who carries all the details of Antigone or Catch-22 in their head, ALL the time? Well, come on, perhaps we DO know a few who would do that, but, if you're like me, you actually like to see sunlight once in awhile. So don't be afraid, use the tools available, to prepare yourself, because a prepared teacher is a confident teacher, and a confident teacher will have a better time teaching.

The Mailbox Delivers

The Mailbox is a magazine publication which is the brainchild of former teachers, Marge and Jake Michel, founded in 1973. It is a resource of creative, innovative teaching tools, made by and for teachers. They've been a successful resource for over thirty years and with good reason. Every page in The Mailbox has consistently proven to be an invaluable source of inspiration for teaching. According to their "About Us" section on their homepage, their staff consists of former teachers, who love to teach and to make teaching fun and easy.

There are reproducible forms for creating amazing bulletin boards. Hey, what teacher doesn't like an interesting bulletin board? "Hot Doggin' It" and you can photocopy large hot dogs that the students can decorate with their favorite sport. "We Fall Into Place" and you have large Fall leaves. I mean, sure, you're probably creative, but c'mon, wouldn't you rather spend your energy preparing lesson plans than staring at your classroom's blank walls? It's about shifting balances.

There are great organization ideas: use a recipe card box to organize stickers, to yet another inventive way to organize students: providing colored folders, which are labeled and match their textbooks. You'll also learn about holiday and seasonal activities and you'll see great units for literature, math and science. Again, where do you want to spend your energy?

If you cannot subscribe to the magazine itself, the Michels have also produced "The Best of the Mailbox", a compilation of ideas in book form, for varying grade levels. I like this version because it's jam-packed with hundreds of ideas for planning, boards, teaching for specific grades. However, their magazine version does come in different forms, elementary, for example, or intermediate. You should subscribe to them for at least one year, then plan on keeping the issues. You'll find yourself returning to them time and time again, to refresh your approach or brighten up your walls. Don't be surprised if you end up subscribing again. The Mailbox is definitely a teaching resource that delivers.

Power Teaching, Oh Yeah!

I found this amazing series of free videos and free to very low-cost instructional materials by a trio of Southern California teachers, namely, Chris Biffle, professor of philosophy at Crafton Hills College, 3rd grade teacher Jay Vanderfin, and Chris Rekstad, 4th grade teacher. They founded an organization Power Teachers which supports their ideals of peaceful classroom filled with engaged students. I have viewed their videos on You Tube and am so impressed with their style, which is easily adaptable to all grade levels. I sincerely believe it fulfills the needs of our students today, who, more than ever, desire engaging, entertaining and interactive learning. The Power Teaching method is a simple approach that includes guided student responses and routines.

Sixth grade students love to imitate me. I am a highly expressive and gesture heavy teacher. If I'd wave to emphasize a point, fairly soon, three or four students would wave at each other or at me. I liked the response of the students but I didn't know how to control it. Well, I really didn't know keep their responses from knocking me off my teaching path. Actually, control isn't really the goal. Learning is. I knew there was something "there" and that "something" could be utilized, but I didn't know how. I once designed a lesson around cue cards, where I planted students in my "audience" to spout out responses at key times. It was mildly amusing but didn't quite produce the whole class engagement that Power Teaching does. I also asked for students to repeat after me, but after a time, it became dull, and the minimal responses eventually killed its use.

Power Teaching is really child centered education.

Power Teaching takes that 'something', the natural energy of students and channels it into an engaged, productive way. Students in the video clearly feel a part of something and are not bored. Boredom, as many of us already know, is the seed of disruption. When students are engaged in the lessons, I can clearly see where the classroom discipline would improve.

Using gestures, fun games and guided responses, students stay centered and on-task. This has so many obvious benefits for all students, but especially for those students who need extra stimulation or cues.

The materials are free or so very low cost you should almost donate double to support their organization. Do yourself and your students a favor: check out Power Teaching and support these teachers who clearly understand today's students and their learning needs.

Organizing IEPs

This is really a sub section of general organization suggestions, but I thought it deserved its own little header.

I was at one time head of a catering department. We followed a system which was pretty common for event planning departments. We organized our functions by calendar date, in so far as placing their files in order, by their date, up until a year in advance. The odd event which was further than that, we kept in regular alpha order and pulled their files into the calendar system as needed.

I was briefly in special education. A challenging career, not without its own rewards, but certainly not the direction for me. I survived on the strength of my organization skills, which though important for teaching overall, was critical for my job as a resource teacher. Losing a document, or not knowing the date of a conversation could be the point of contention in an IEP meeting with parents, advocates and lawyers.

Date Order
IEPs, or Individual Education Plans, are usually lengthy documents with a lot of support materials. They are kept in folders. I am responsible for annual reviews, so to speak, of the student's needs. When you are juggling forty or more students or "caseloads", it can be quite daunting in addition to the other duties of a resource teacher.

I based my system on an the old catering system. The folders should be labeled with the student's last name, and the date of the annual and/or triannual. Then these folders are filed according to date first. The files are further divided into months, with month labels clearly posted. In this manner you can see what is "due" three months from now, four months, etc. I showed my system to the other resource teachers I was working with, and they immediately adopted it.


Contact Log
On the left side of the folder is a running phone and contact log, much like a sales person's log. I put the information in this order

date phone number person msg or result


If I were to do this again in the future, I would add another contact sheet specifically for observing when and how the IEP objectives were met throughout the year. When it comes time for the IEP meeting, I would have been better prepared.

Creative Use of Space

During summer, it's a great time to take stock of what you really need and don't need. Without being guilty, if you haven't used that resource book or statue of Zeus in a long time, get rid of it. Clutter is the deathknell of an organized room.

After clearing as much as you can, observe the layout of your classroom. Are your shelves keeping what you use? Are your closets packed with items you actually need? Is there a missing opportunity?

Double or Triple Use?
At our classroom, we store our students books within our classroom. They are stored there, during summer. I realized once the student books are removed, I have five shelves that I could utilize with teacher materials. These materials, in turn, I keep in plastic boxes within an empty closet. When the students return, the closets are full of backpacks, the plastic box is a storage for their playyard equipment which arrives from where it's stored at the athletic department, the shelves are emptied and then filled with my teacher 'stuff'. It's a circular path of storage!

Hang 'em High
I don't have much wall space. But students love (and I think need) to see their artwork. With the help of the plant manager, we created a 'cross hatch' of strong fishing wire, like multiple tic toe games. Until it's in use, the fishing wire is unnoticeable. Using clothes pins, I can hang student artwork or creations. The cross hatch allows more possibilities than straight simple lines. Using yarn, I can create vertical lines when needed to hang smaller artwork and this also lets me more arrange more student work than if I simply clipped them directly onto the lines.

Win with Cork Panels
Again, the wall problem. On the plus side, I have many closets. On the downside, these closets are not ideal for pinning or taping anything on them, as this destroys the varnish of the wood. Well, after a year of feeling guilty about pinning the wood, I dove in and "resurfaced" the doors of two closets by pasting cork panels. This gave me a lot more space for pinning than a simple corkboard. I paneled the doors from to to bottom. Before you think it's a 70s flashback (and it is) in my classroom it actually had a nice appeal. If I were to completely cork panel the remaining closets (and that is a goal of mine) I wonder if it will diminish some of the sound vibrations. Well, we'll see.

Now learn from my mistakes. First, sanding down the doors would have been better. It would have created a better surface for adhesion then the varnished wood. If I were clever, I would have sanded down only the areas being covered by the panels, leaving a nice varnished ring of wood around them. Second, use Liquid Nails brand 'glue' , specially marked for use with cork. Do not use those silly sticky back squares that the cork panel companies provide. In a classroom, cork panels will get heavy use and in a matter of weeks of pinning and unpinning, the sticky back squares will loosen and drop the cork, leaving an embaressingly pockmarked door. Thirdly, don't be afraid of using the Liquid Nails glue. Experiment with different amounts and find what works right. You may find as I did that I had to hold a panel in place for about thirty seconds to keep it from sliding down. Once I did that, it "stuck" and til today, is near impossible to remove.

Be Kind in Design
Oh, please note: you can cut the cork panels with sharp scissors. If you want to cover your surface completely, I suggest you measure your area carefully, and then lay out your cork panels on a large flat surface. Mark where you have to cut, then cut. My assumption here is you will want to see evenly paced cork panels, not large pieces then skinny pieces filling in "short" areas. Or you can do it the lazy way (which isn't bad) and start from the top, knowing that the bottom may be cut off short. Not too many people notice the bottom of an area, especially a door. In addition, any 'design' approach you use with the cork, do it consisently. If you've got a short bottom on one door, the door next to it should have the same short bottom. Haphazard patterns of any material is an eyesore. I've used tempera paint on the cork panels in small designs, like stamping, and it brightened up an otherwise plain cork area. I think an oil based paint would have been better, because the tempera paint gives off very tiny flakes after awhile.

Cloth is Boss
Some classrooms have built in bulletin boards. A nice touch is to cover your bulletin boards with cloth. Some teachers use paper because its cheaper or more available. This is an okay option, but with cloth your background lasts longer, looks attractive when papers are taken down (the pin holes disappear) and really isn't that much more expensive. If you are truly stuck for money (and what teacher isn't) shop at a local thrift shop for an old sheet or curtain with an interesting pattern. (You may wish to cover your cork panels with cloth, but these panels are thinner than a real cork board, and may not hold up the weight of the cloth. You decide. I haven't done it and can't comment but those are my thoughts on it.)

Use a staple gun to affix the cloth. And don't imagine you are Wild Bill Cody. Two or three staples along each side should suffice.

Other Things
I had too many coathooks in my closets. About sixty. I removed twenty and that left forty for my students on which to hang their backbacks without stabbing themselves on the arms. I also eyeballed the hook space, being careful not to plan a backpack to hang where the closet door should close.

A strong magnetic hook on the side of my filing cabinet holds my car keys. A second holds extra closet keys. (I never hang my school keys, for security reasons).

A magnetic curtain rod is hanging from my classroom door. Beneath it is a general poster of learning. I can hang seasonal "flags" from it, without using tape (which peels off my door paint) to change the "look" of the entry way.

Other Things I've Seen
I can't use these "chair backpacks" but I've seen them, in various teacher supply books. It's essentially a hanging wall of pockets for the backs of the student chairs, some pockets being large enough to hold extra books. These are better for self-contained classrooms, in my opinion. They are expensive, about $15.00 per chair (multiply that by 30!), but I've had the thought that a willing parent or other person with good sewing skills could possibly make the same thing out of canvas.

Coat hooks on the inside of some locking closets could work for my personal items.

Other Plans I have
I'd like to hang window boxes from my classroom windows so I can show off a student created garden. Since my walls are brick, I'm going to install a heavy duty adhesive style hooks to hold my classroom's set of broom and dustpan. I know I can use a cement drill bit, but you know, the adhesive hooks sound easier. I'd like to see a locking area above my closet so I can have additional secure space. I'd like a lateral two drawer filing cabinet so I could use the top of it as additional table space for books or files or decoration. These are very expensive so I keep an eye out for a used one. I hope one turns up!

There may be other creative ways to use your classroom space. You have to look and imagine all the possibilities.

Summer: Rituals of Renewal

I've been told that in order to feel like I've gotten anything out of summer, do it early in the season. Otherwise, you'll feel like you've never had a break. Teachers have to develop a nurturing "wall" when set with ten year olds all day. This wall needs rest to maintain. But after a frenzied June, it's sometimes hard to slow down the pace.

You could possibly find your zen in a summer opening ritual. In the past, my children and I have made a train trip to my husband's work in downtown Los Angeles for the joy of trains and for school ending. What would be your signal to the year's end? It has to be something special, just done this time of the year. You are telling your body, your mind and soul that it is time to rejeuvenate. It needs to be more than a long hot shower, less than a trip to Nepal, although if you can afford that trip, I will not stop you!

Here are some ideas, which can adapted to include any children. I have two, so that's always a consideration.

*Jelly Making. Is there a place you can pick the fruit yourself? Or a Farmers Market trip?
*A weekend camping trip to a very special place
*The beach! After collecting shells and driftwood, use them in art project
*Have the tallest, most expensive Banana Split Sundae you can buy (or make)
*Burn your used up pencil stubs and graded papers in the fireplace... or shred them to make recycled paper
*Get a henna tattoo
*Dye your hair
*An early morning (or nighttime) hike with a local group
*Day Spa (duh)
*One really, really nice glass of wine with a good friend
*Make homemade ice cream or juice popsicles and eat while watching a favorite movie

These rituals you can create with your children, if you have them, like I do. They like to be included. Can they help you paint a special "Summer is Here" flag or banner to hang? Can they weave daisy headwreaths with you? Can they plant your summer garden with you? Can they watch the "first sunset on a Monday of no school" with you?

Usually after spending the year with so much noise of children, I'd like to have a day of quiet, but with two children of my own, that's hard to do. So I minimize the noise: we play "Inside, Outside", my children play Inside when I am Outside... etc. Or, I request we have an afternoon of reading time and I am lucky both my children love to read. I have to remember not to "over teach" them during this.

I understand my children cannot be absolutely silent for hours, so I steal moments of quiet from them. I've talked about how Mommy needs her quiet time, and after a few years, they are getting used to it. Better my quiet time than their time out!

Of course, if you have created a Summer Opening Ritual... you should create a Summer Close Ritual... but I will leave that up to you. What are your ideas?

Keeping Distance Keeps the Peace

Sixth graders are at an interesting point in life: they are at the stage of disbelief.
"Nuh uh."
"No way."
"Sure. Right."
"Who said so?"
"Why?"

A nine year old can ask why, and you can bet he or she means: "Why?" in a really serious "Why does that happen? Why does that work? Why does that mean that?" kind of way.

Two years later, he or she asks, "Why?" in a "I don't think you really know what you are talking about" kind of way.

Two years later we are re-living the terrible twos in the form of something more frightening: the terrible tweens.

Of course, first let's re-spin this word "terrible" to "challenging". It's much more accurate and post-Dr. Spock.

As an educator AND an adult I have double-jeopardy in the world of sixth graders. They can hate me in two ways.

They are not mystified by adults at this point. I do not have the advantage of awe anymore. In fact, awe I think leaves around second grade and is replaced by tolerance through fifth. They would like to like me, but I represent two forms of authority which they can easily resent.

The best answer is keeping a friendly distance.

I often state, "I cannot be your friend. I can be your teacher." This is usually in response to a request to "Don't tell anyone" or "Don't tell my mom". I try to smile as I say it, to carry the message that being someone's teacher isn't so bad. (In fact, I secretly hope I am cool but it's a dim hope. I resent teachers who have the image of cool purely because I cannot carry it off. )

A common mistake in teaching practice is to be too friendly with students. It's a newbie error when starting out in all forms of industry and creates a particulary stressful nest of vipers when placed with children as an authority figure. I will not recount the horror stories I've heard about new high school teachers attending parties of students, new middle school teachers involving themselves in the personal social lives of their students, etc. It destroys any chance of respect when engaged in teaching students, and worse, diminishes all teachers in a small way.

In truth, older children do not respect adult "friends". As their AIC (adult in charge) to function as their leader, I need their respect. We should never attempt to be like their peers through joking or extreme behavior. Children need structure and respond to consistency, and as their adults-in-charge, we use those needs and responses to develop or "earn" their respect so we can do our ultimate job: teach.

I have a high regard for those teachers who can easily carry themselves in a lively fun debate with their students and then turn around and introduce the lesson. I don't have that skill (yet). In fact, I may hold myself a little too distant from my students, but, during these days of media-fed teacher-student scandals, that's the safest bet.

When starting out as a teacher, I've heard the advice: Don't smile until Christmas. It's a truism that smiling too much sends a message to students that "Hey, I won't be mad if you dump pencil shavings on a neighbor".

I don't know why, but three smiling Septembers later, that appears to the message. To combat that message I now start September with very FEW smiles. I can NOT not smile. That's not my nature. But I do smile less and I DO find that my classroom management has improved (meaning: the class does (often) get quiet when I ask them, a milestone in teaching).

In the beginning, I wasn't badly dressed, but a little casual. These days I dress more deliberately. That is to say, I match better and my clothes are less weekend mom and more shopping mall mom. I sometimes wear make up. On the days that I wear a suit, I have their complete attention. I am still exploring teacher dress styles. I am trying to find one that is "me" yet is still professional because I although I like suits, they are a little restricting.

I also make fewer jokes. I enjoy speaking with my students but "on the side" (of the classroom). I don't have personal conversations while I am "up front". I've found that if I start joking around up front, then it sends out a message that I am comedian inviting responses from the audience. But I don't need interruptions. I need their attention. This part is hard for me, because I am a natural jokester, but I've learned to adapt. I am trying to use my style, my placement in the classroom, as a signal. If I am up front, I expect quiet: the lesson is starting. If I am on the side, looking at your paper, I might admire your work, and then ask about your day. This maintanence of placement in the classroom as a signal is difficult to do but it's something I am looking forward to developing.

As a sociable person, it was a bit of a challenge at first to relenquish some of my need for their attention and allow them to have the spotlight of my attention. I am applauding at times, and laughing when appropriate. It is a universal human need to be wanted. As a teacher, I am predisposed to fulfill this need.

Without any disrespect toward this common shared human bond of need, I underscore the idea that we have two different roles in the classroom: teacher and student. I show this by respecting their privacy and, by extension, mine.

Being friendly and not a friend, in their sense of the word, will always prove to be in the best interest of both student and teacher.