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.