What I've Been Pinning

Like everyone else I LOVE Pinterest.

I often wonder what we teachers ever did before Pinterest and other forms of social media.

Connecting with other teachers and sharing ideas with one another is amazing.

Of course it can also be overwhelming at times.  There are sooo many great ideas out there.

Today I thought I'd share a few things I've pinned recently.

If you see something you like, just click on the picture to go to the original site.

ONE.

These tokens are designed to help with those students who always seem to be blurting out in class. You know the ones I'm talking about it.

However when I saw them I immediately thought of another use for them.  I encourage a lot of small group discussion in my classroom.  Just like wevhave those students who love to talk and share their knowledge we also have those students who cringe at the thought of talking aloud.  I want to use these tokens during small group discussions as way to make sure every student participates and no students hog the conversation.  

TWO.

I love everything about this photo.  I love the three "rules" at the top.  I love the colors and the fonts.  I plan to do something similar to this in my classroom next year.  Shoutout to @teachcreatemotivate for such cuteness in her classroom.

THREE.

Next year for the first time ever I will have a chrome cart in my classroom.  A whole cart just for my students every single day.  

Cue happy dance!

I plan to step up my Google game next year and I'm loving the idea of having students record their answers to task cards or any station activity on a google form.  

FOUR.

This is one of my favorite sayings for a classroom.  This is and "throw kindness around like confetti".

Again I love the bright colors.  This may very well be my bulletin board next year.

FIVE.

For the past two years I have been allowed to wear jeans whenever I wanted.  Let me tell you it has been glorious.  Next year I will be in a new district and will have to say goodbye to jeans.  It's sad but I'm excited by the excuse to spruce up my wardrobe a little.  I've been pinning lots of outfit ideas.

What's the best pin you've found recently?  Leave me a comment letting me know.  I'd love to hear from you.

A New Adventure

I will be starting in a new grade level at a new district next year.

And I could not be more excited.

I will be teaching 7th grade Math.  Y'all 7th grade is my favorite!  I am thrilled to be returning to a middle school setting.

I don't think I'm cut out for elementary.

Today I attended New Employee Onboarding.  

We basically took care of paperwork and the business side of things.  We set up our school email and online gradebook accounts.  We had pictures taken for our photo IDs and we received a new MacBook Air.  We signed our contracts and received insurance information.

After we attended those stations they walked us through the district website and lots of "how to"s.  It was  a lot of information.

I felt like I was back at freshman orientation in college.

I liked doing it this way.  It gave me the opportunity to meet other newbies.  It feels like a safer environment, at least to me, when you aren't the only new person in a sea of people who know each other.

I happened to sit down at a table with the woman teaching 7th grade Science.  She will be my neighbor.  I also sat down with a woman who used to hang out with my younger brother.

This afternoon I met with four other new teachers and our principal.  We toured the school and got to see our classrooms.  I'm in love with the big windows in my classroom.   I have tables instead of desks which I'm happy about.  Lots of awesome technology including a  smart board and a chrome cart just for my classroom.

We also had the opportunity to fire any and all questions at our principal.  I learned my schedule for  next year...

I will be teaching 3 sections of Math to students who are below grade level.  The 3 sections are double blocked so I have 98 minutes with them.  During these classes I will have a coteacher with me.  I think I'm excited about that.  I've been praying that she will be someone that I get a long with and work well with.  Today I learned that she is someone who has worked for the district before.  She has worked her way to be a principal and is now coming back to the district and will be coteaching with me.  

If you have any experience or advice on coteaching I'd love to hear it.

I also have one class of students who are signed up for Pre AP English but not Pre AP Math.  That class is not double blocked so I will have them 49 minutes.

Overall I feel excited and overwhelmed at all the new information.

It's a new adventure for sure.