Co-Teaching! {Part 2 of 5} Starting off the Year! {Plus a Freebie!!}

Back from the Appalachian Mountains and super excited because {drum roll puhlease!!!..............}

Mrs. Cahill and I are back for Part 2 of 5 of our series on co-teaching!  If you are starting off the year with a student teacher, this series is great for you!  We would especially love lots of comments and feedback about what other fabulous {and experienced!!} teachers have done when receiving or becoming a student teacher. 

 

Last week Martina and I talked about our first weeks together and our first impressions, before the school year began.  Today I’m here to talk share my story about starting off the school year together and how we transitioned from me teaching full time, to Martina teaching full time, and then back again.  And I apologize ahead of time, it’s a long one.  But if you stick with me to the very end, there’s something good in it for you!  I promise.

 

We’ve all been there- student teaching.  However we all have different experiences.  Some *amazing*, some horrifying!  But it’s important to have experiences.  No matter what they are.  For me, I felt like it was kind of challenging to start the year off with a student teacher.  There’s no “normal” at the beginning of the year.  But I knew that you don’t always never have two teachers in the classroom and I had to make the most out of it while I could!  So for the first few weeks, we lesson planned together and worked together on everything.  It was awesome and easy for both of us.  It felt natural. 

During these two weeks, I taught all of the lessons but would have Martina teach mini-lessons or work with kiddos one on one during independent work time.  I taught her to do DRAs/ Fountais and Pinnell’s Reading Assessments and she began doing some of these during Reader’s Workshop.  The students got comfortable referring to both of us when they had questions.  We began to get comfortable working as a team.  She was still so nervous getting up in front of the classroom!  But she got better and better every time!  And what better way to get comfortable than standing in front of 20-something kiddos?  Slowly she gained more and more responsibility.  {From leading small groups to leading morning meeting!} The kids loved her!  And I loved her!  She began to learn classroom routines, expectations, and create her own teaching style.  She already had my trust as a friend, but she began to gain my trust as an educator as well.  There’s a big difference!  I don’t know how you know when it happens, but you know.



We decided that in order for her to take over the entire classroom for four full weeks, it would be best to do it gradually.  {Her program required two full weeks but I thought it would be hard to get the “gist” of being a real teacher in just two weeks so we upped it to four!}  So week by week she picked up a new subject.  She started with math and taught math for a whole week.  Then the next week she picked up Science so she was responsible for Math and Science every day.  The third week she picked up a new subject… and this continued, week by week, until she had picked up every subject and transition time.  While she was picking up new subjects, I was in the classroom.  I felt comfortable enough to leave for large chunks of time- maybe working in the workroom or helping out another teacher.  But I was mostly there.  Helping her, making sure everything was okay, and overall, being a co-teacher!  At the end of each school day we would sit down and discuss her lessons from that day.  I always started by asking her, “What went well?” and then “What do you want to do differently next time?”  This helped her reflect on her lessons but also allowed her to celebrate what went well!  We had lots of celebrations!

As much as I *love* and *trust* Martina, when it came time to leave the classroom altogether, it was not easy.  Once she was teaching every subject, I had agreed to leave her in the classroom ALONE for two-four full weeks.  Easier said than done.

Y’all, I went home and had anxiety attacks.  I tried my darndest to step back and allow Martina to figure everything out.  But at the same time I found myself going home and not needing to lesson plan, grade, or organize… Weird, right?  I threw myself into a new project at our school and tried my best to allow Martina to learn, grow, and {most importantly} teach!  Even keeping busy I really missed being in our classroom.  I trusted Martina and loved having her teaching but I missed being a part of it all too.  

Those four weeks were hard on both of us for so many different reasons.  Martina was used to having another body in the classroom so management was all of a sudden more challenging.  Things that were easy with two teachers {such as running to make copies real quick} was all of a sudden not an option!  I had to step back.  I had to learn about working with other teachers, staying away from my classroom, and trusting that Martina had it {which she did!}  Martina grew and I grew as well.  Don’t we all learn best when we do?  Rather than just listening or watching?  Well, Martina was learning.  Fast!  And I learned that I was much more of a control freak than I had ever known :)

Martina’s two weeks were up and gone before I knew it and I was suddenly taking back a subject, week by week, until I was again teaching everything {but with Martina by my side!}.  It felt great to be back in the classroom teaching.  However, I realized our kiddos didn’t even react to having different teachers.  They were fine. 


A nice little reminder I saw this weekend :)

Mine and Martina’s struggles had gone unnoticed by our 5^th graders!  Martina continued to lead Morning Meeting and be a huge part of the classroom! {But more on that next week!}  And I stepped back in and it was as if I had never left.  I learned that sometimes it’s best to step back and allow someone else to take on some responsibility.  Having Martina in our classroom allowed me to notice things that I would have been too absorbed to notice while teaching.  She made me such a better teacher!

Having a student teacher is such a responsibility.  It seems great but is so scary and intimidating too!  I really loved and trusted Martina but still worried about handing my classroom over to someone else.  But I knew I had to.  How else will newbie teachers learn?  We’ve all been there!  And I know my classroom was better for it.  I also know that Martina and I are better teachers for it. 


The 5th grade way of saying, "You are awesome!  You, you, are awesome!!!  Yayyyy!"

How do other teachers out there handle receiving a student teacher?  How have student teachers taken responsibility in the classroom?  What’s the best thing your mentor teacher or student teacher has done for you? 

Go check out Martina’s thoughts on Starting off the Year on her Blog, The Hungry Teacher!

Alright, you stuck with me until the end- THANK YOU!  If you comment on this post before the end of Monday {August 19^th} I will e-mail you a FREE product {of your choice} from my TpT store!  Just leave a comment, your e-mail address and the product of your choice!  Next week I will have a similar treat!  So please be sure to check back next Sunday for some more freebies!

 AND OF COURSE... GO CHECK OUT THE AWESOME BACK TO SCHOOL SALE on TpT!! :) Everything in my store is 20% off for the next day and combined with the code BTS13, you can get 28% off TONS of items all over the site!!  YAY!

Thank you Beth for this super cute graphic!!

 

{SALE, Sale, SALE!!}

THANK YOU Beth for this adorable graphic!

Happy Saturday!!  I hope everyone had a wonderful week and had as much fun as I did celebrating Teacher Week with Blog Hoppin'!  I walked away with so many great ideas, things to think about, and meeting so many lovely teacher bloggers. 

Are y'all as excited as I am about Teachers Pay Teachers' upcoming sale!!??  Make sure to check it out!!  You can save up to TWENTYEIGHT percent!  WHAT!? 

Everything in my store will be marked 20% off on August 18th and 19th!!  Combined with TpT's sale, you can save up to 28%!  Go shop, enjoy, and buy, buy, buy!!  Just be sure to enter BTS13.

What are you looking forward to buying?  I have had the below items on my WishList for ever now and am looking forward to purchasing a few of them!

This awesome Social Studies Unit, and these Level of Understanding posters!  Also I am super excited about this cute Algebra Unit!! 

Go check it out and ENJOY! 

Teacher Week! {Taming the Wild!}

Hello teacher friends!

My hubby and I are packing up the car to head up to Bedford, Virginia to spend a long weekend with his family!  His grandparents have a bridge along the Appalachian Trail that was dedicated to them.  I've never seen it so we plan on doing a little bit of hiking and exploring while we're there!  {HOORAY!!} 

So since I'm sitting on the couch right now and he's doing all the work :)  I better make this a fast one. 

Whew behavior!!  Behavior is never perfect.  I am always learning, changing, adapting, and praying.  Behavior can make or break your year.  It definitely broke me my first year.  I have all sorts of nightmare stories from that year.  And while I know I had some rough kiddos.  I feel like it all mainly comes down to expectations and classroom community. 

So now, I start my school year off with high expectations and LOTS AND LOTS AND LOTS of time spent on building a community.  When you have a community built around respect and a culture of learning, a lot of behavior takes care of itself.  In this environment kiddos understand what is expected of them.  You can give them a good ol' raise of the eyebrow and they know exactly why you're doing that.  Of course you will have the kid that yells "What?  I'm not doing anything!?" And you're want to be like, "I know, that's the problem... You're not doing any work".  But I've noticed that if I really focus on expectations and community the first SIX FULL weeks of school, and continue all year long, it makes a huge impact on my classroom!

Perfect, right?

So with that being said, I handle behavior in several ways.  I have that typical "Move your clip" Red, Yellow, and Green poster.  This works well because it 1) alerts them to their behavior and 2) allows me to address kiddo's behavior in a quick and easy way.  Once I ask a kid to move their clip because of something they're doing, I almost always try to address the behavior 1 on 1  asap.  It's usually on the way to Specials or Lunch or Recess though.  They also fill out a "Cool Down Form" that you can pick up here.  {FOR FREE!} :)

Go grab this guy on TpT!

Then I have a ton of positive support to motivate kiddos to keep doing well!  My FAV is one I started using last year.  You can check it out more here {TpT} and here {Blog Post}!  But basically for individual motivation, each student has a checkbook that they create and I have checks that I can give them as "payment" for going above and beyond in the classroom.  They keep track of their balance in their checkbook {MathMathMath!!!} and they can buy certain items from the "bank" whenever the "banker" is working.  I love this system because as soon as you start passing out checks, you see other kiddos get their stuff back in order.  Once they earn a check, I never deduct money from their account.  They earned it fair and square so it is theirs to use as they please. 

I also use a marble jar to support whole class awesomeness.  Yup, I just said that.  As the entire class is working well together, I drop some marbles in the jar.  When the jar is full, we have a celebration! {Pajama day, Read-a-thon, Math Game Day, etc... I have them vote but I always tend to give one really awesome choice *that I want* and two less awesome choices...}.  The sound of marbles falling onto other marbles, or the jar, has such a great impact on a quiet classroom. :) 

To support group work, I have clothespins that I clip onto group table numbers {that hang above each table} as I see table groups working well together.  Once they receive ten clips on their table number, each member of the table gets a $20 check. 

After my first year, I really decided to focus on the positive and *on the surface* ignore a lot of the negative behaviors.  I spend a lot of time building up those kiddos that are doing great {which is normally at least 4/5 of the class!!} and then talking 1 on 1 with the "troublemakers" later on.  Not only does this help the community but it makes me feel much happier as well. 

Coming full circle, behavior is never perfect.  I am always learning, changing, adapting, and praying {seriously!}.  I don't think I'll ever have it down to a science.  Or if I do, I'll get a crazy group of kiddos who have new behavior issues.  But with a basis of expectations and community, I'm sure I'll be able to adapt to whatever is thrown at me. 

Now off to the mountains we go!!  Thanks so much for those of you who stuck with me to the end :)  Have a happy Thursday!!

Teacher Week! {Now Teach!}

Alright y'all.  It's confession time.  I am the least organized person I know.  I would love to be more minimalistic and put together but I always have that {horrible} mindset that "maybe I'll need this CottonballSetof100Rulers59,000CalculatorsBook15ExtraMathBooks".  And so I keep too much stuff.  And guess what?  I never ever need it! 

So I'm really working on getting more organized.  One thing I've learned in teaching secondary {heck, any grade level!}, is that it's vital to keep good records.  Anecdotal notes and all data collection are super important come parent conferences, report card time, and, most importantly, next steps.  So, while I may not be able to find that set of 100 extra half-used pencils I came across one day and stashed in a random drawer... I can always find my data.  As long as I can remember which binder it is in :)

I use binders for EVERYTHING {even for filing some things}!  Binders can be super bulky and cumbersome but they work best for me, and isn't that what it's all about?  I have a binder for each subject and then sometimes multiple binders for each subject. 

In most of my binders I placed numbered dividers and then I assign each student a number alphabetically.  If a new student comes in, I just add them at the end.  Then, I tape a numbered class list in the front of the binder.  I haven't had to waste valuable classroom prep time switching dividers out each year, and I usually memorize their numbers pretty quickly! 

One of my favorite binders is my all-subject anecdotal notebook.  It has each Common Core Standard & all of the State Standards so if I know what standard I'm hitting, I can grab this notebook and jot quick anecdotals.  I usually just use a 4, 3, 2, or 1 {see below} to mark how well students are grasping the concept.  Sometimes I'll even jot a super quick note about it.  If we are doing different things, I'll use different colored pens to keep track!  This is SUPER handy for planning small group work as well as during report card time!

 

 

I am so excited to see all of y’alls organizational strategies so I can Pin them and use them in my classroom.  Organization- here I come!!  Thanks for stopping by!  Be sure to hop on over to Blog Hopping to join in the fun!!

Teacher Week {Classroom Digs!}

Hey y'all!  For those who follow me, you're probably like "Why in the world are you posting about a classroom??  You don't have one right now!"  Which is super true.  My hubby and I are moving to Spain to teach, in September.  So as of now I don't have a classroom.  But I've had one!!  And I LOVED my classroom last year.  So I decided to share my past "digs" with you... some of my favorite moments in my classroom.  There's been many {sometimes few and far between} that stand out in my mind.  I mean, we spend a minimum of 40 hours a week in there.  Usually 60-80.  How can we not have a place that we love? 

 This lady, Martina/Mrs. Cahill/The Hungry Teacher is by far the best part of my teaching career!  She was my student teacher this past year who turned into my fantastic co-teacher!  We're doing a series on our blogs about co-teaching together.  You can check out our first posts here and here.  Or stop by this Sunday to read our second posts on the {amazing!!!!!!} experience.  In this picture we're both dressed as Mrs. Frizzle, for Halloween.  We decorated the entrance to the classroom to look like the back of a school bus.  All the kids had to enter through there.  They loved it!  Even 5th graders whoSoClaimNotToLoveMagicSchoolBus love the Magic School Bus!!

 Here's a view of our classroom.  {Our kiddos are "hiding" because we were throwing a surprise party for Martina at the end of her student teaching time!  Too cute :)} I just love using round tables in my classroom.  It's so much easier for the bigger kids to have conversations.  We had lockers out in the hallway so they could store their things out there, so that wasn't an issue.

Oh The Lorax!  For State Testing we all know the drill- cover up ANYTHING/EVERYTHING that could help any learner in any way.  So Martina and I decided that at the very least, our coverings could be fun!!  I usually like to go with "earthy" colors, but he was just too cute not to use!  You can see in the next picture that on the wall we went with blues and greens everywhere else. 

Christmas lights!  I just adore the feel that twinkle lights provide and would have these guys everywhere if I could.  I rarely turn the overhead lights on.  Instead I use lamps and Christmas lights to illuminate the room.  It keeps us all a little more mellow {I like to think...}

 I can't lie... I sometimes bribe my kiddos.  Not for things that are expectations.  But for things that they have no interest in or control over... like state testing.  I told our kiddos that if they did well on the state testing {just tried their hardest/stayed focus/didn't give up for all TWENTYONE tests} then we would all spend the night in our classroom the week after testing ended.  Well, needless to say, they are all AWESOME {although we have no results back yet, I could see they all tried really hard which is all that matters to me} and so we spent the night at school.  It was the COOLEST thing ever.  You can see our beds all ready to go!  Martina and I slept on a blow up mattress in the middle of the room {with two padded mattresses on top- SUPER comfy} and the girls slept on one side and the boys on the other.  We played all sorts of team building games, hide and seek in the dark {CREEPY!!!} and watched a movie until late that night.  Then we woke up, made breakfast, and had a school day together!  Crazy much?  Maybe.  But It.Was.Awesome.

 Me and Martina all snuggled together :)

 I love this moment.  That's my daddy!  He came and hung out in our classroom all day.  Although here he's doing a crossword puzzle with my students.........

 Loved this Pinterest inspired bulletin board we made.  Aren't they precious!? P.S. That's a faux blackboard made out of black paper and chalk!

 This was my last day with my kiddos :(  I had them for two years {because I looped up with them from 4th grade} and we all just loved each other.  {Most of the time.}  They put together a slide show, made me sit in my rocker, hold my stuffed mouse, and watch it with them.  {Precious!!} 

Here's all my stuff packed up and ready to go.  Such a sad day!  Can you believe that's all I took?  I left a lot with Martina and consolidated as much as I could.  Now it's sitting up the attic of my parent's house just hanging out until we're back from Spain and I can us it again. 

My empty classroom.  The cool thing is that Martina will be posting today all about how she's taken this exact room and made it her own classroom!!  Check that out here.  Isn't she awesome?? 

Thanks so much for stopping by!! :)  Be sure to stop by the rest of the week to enjoy as much of the Teacher Week Fun as you can!!

Blog Hoppin' {Let's Talk About Me!}

Hey y’all!  I am linkin’ up with Blog Hoppin’ to celebrate Teacher Week 2013!! 

Be sure to check it out, if you haven’t already.  Monday is all about ME!  :)  So here are ten fun things about me…

1) My name is Kelly Anne and I am going into my fourth year teaching!  I absolutely love teaching and have been working with 4^th and 5^th graders for the past three years in Grand Junction, Colorado. 

2) This year my {recently married!} husband and I are moving to Mallorca, Spain to be teachers!  Ahhhh!  Just yesterday we received our VISAs in the mail.  So it’s SuperDuperReallyActuallyHappening official now! 

We leave for Spain on September 17^th. {One way flights booked and everything!!}  While extremely nervous and anxious, we are SUPER excited for this new adventure in our lives.  I am VERY excited to learn about teaching in a new country, as well as sharing it all with y'all while I learn!

3) My hubby and I both graduated from the University of South Carolina {GO GAMECOCKS!} and moved out to Colorado to get a new experience.  Coming from Ohio {me} and Virginia {him}, we were both taken {far} outside of our comfort zones.  Spain will be a whole new step that we are ready to conquer! 

4) In case you cannot tell from the fact that we’re moving to Spain, my husband and I LOVE to travel!  We have been all over Europe together and actually fell in love while travelling.  We are hoping to be able to travel a lot more once we get over to Europe... and I cannot wait!

5) I am OBSESSED with everything office supply.  Aren’t all teachers!?  My absolute favorite thing I own right now is my Erin Condren Life Planner!  Not shopping for a classroom right now is nearly killing me.  However, the idea that I’m not doing the normal stuff because I’m moving to Spain is definitely helping. 

6) I am often described as positive!  Maybe sometimes too positive... But I try very hard to keep a positive outlook on life and share it with others.  Even if I’m feeling down or am upset, I challenge myself to remain positive and focused on the big picture.  It’s very easy to let the little stuff drag you down, but in the end I’ve realized it’s not worth it.  I never regret keeping a smile on my face but I almost always regret saying something negative or having a sneer on my face. 

7) I’m not a homebody.  While I embrace quiet time {like today!} I just crave being near others and socializing.  Sure, after teaching all day I need crave some peace and quiet.  But I’m almost always ready to go out to dinner with friends or grab a drink with a coworker after a few minutes of quiet. 

8) I have a kitty cat named Ridley who I adore.  She has been with me for the past five years, loves riding in the car, and she has quite a bit of character.

9) I loooove to eat.  Hamburgers.  French fries.  A good salad.  A delicious cheese plate.  Pizza.  Tacos.  I love food and enjoy food.  I even enjoy cooking it!  Chopping up veggies is therapeutic to me and my body.  I think I could stand in the kitchen, chopping veggies, with a glass of wine and Pandora playing, instead of going to get a massage, and be totally relaxed. :)

10) I love riding around on a golf cart.  My family lived in Peachtree City, GA for a while growing up.  The entire town has golf cart paths!  So you can go anywhere on a golf cart.  Grocery shopping? Check!  Target?  Check!  J Crew?  Check!  McDonalds?  Check!  An-y-where!  I’ve always loved riding through the woods on the back of a golf cart.  And recently my parents moved into a community that has plenty of golf cart paths and golf carts!  I could spend hours riding around and getting lost on a golf cart.  It puts me in my happy place :)


Riding around on the back of a golf cart with two of my favorite men!
-My brother and husband-

Well there ya go!  There’s 10 crazy things about me!  Please stop by the rest of this week for all sorts of Teacher fun!!
 

 

Part 1 of 5: How to Be a Co-Teacher!!

Yay!  I am so excited to be sharing this series with y'all!  My fabulous Student Teacher, Mrs. Cahill, and I started out on this adventure together nearly a year ago!  YIKES!  We had quite a journey and we're looking forward to sharing all we learned with you.  Without further ado... How to be a Co-Teacher, part 1 from Martina's perspective!  Check out her blog, The Hungry Teacher to see my perspective!

 

 

 

And in case that is too tiny for you to read {And it absolutely is but I can't make it any bigger-gah!}

 

Student teaching is one of the craziest and most beneficial things you will ever do before you become a teacher. It is so scary to think that you will be spending one whole semester or year with the same teacher. That one teacher will have a bigger influence on all teaching decisions you will make for the rest of your teaching career, than anyone else ever will. Some of us will learn how we will set up our classroom, or how we will set up our reader’s workshop, or how to finally implement a successful unit, or some of us learn things that we will NEVER do. But some of us are really lucky and we get to learn so much more than that. Well… I was one of the lucky ones.

I was terrified I would be placed with a mentor teacher who was forced or unwilling to have a student teacher or that they would be so hard on me that I would go running for the hills. Well…. I don’t know what I did in my former life, but I must have been really good, because I was given the best mentor teacher a girl could ask for.

I went to my student teaching school to meet the principal and he told me that he wanted to put me with the 5^th grade teacher, Kelly. I was terrified for a couple of reasons. First of all, fifth grade?! Second, this was becoming real. I was actually student teaching, I had a mentor teacher, and I would have to actually teach kids stuff. I was terrified. Looking back now, I have no idea why. The principal introduced me to Kelly, she squealed, and then gave me the biggest hug you could ever get from someone who you had known for 0.5 seconds. At that moment, I knew Kelly would have a big impact on me as a teacher, but I had no idea the impact she would have on my life.

I started my student teaching experience with Kelly during teacher in service the week before school. Kelly explained every single thing about her thinking. Like why she used her spelling program, how to make copies on construction paper (even when the copier clearly stated not to J), why she used the workshop model, why we have 107 (extremely cute and durable) binders, and so much more. There were two extremely amazing things about this. First of all, the girl had West Nile (seriously). And second, and the most profound thing of all, is that I never once just felt like a student teacher. I felt like her co-teacher from day one. I can’t imagine trying to explain all your thoughts to someone else in just your third year of teaching (not that you would know it was her third year of teaching) but Kelly did (did I mention she had West Nile? J….. But seriously….) She was a rock star and I was already learning more than I had ever learned about teaching.

Don’t get me wrong, there were times I thought she was crazy. Like how she kept telling me we had to make our room feel like home because we would be spending 50-60 hours a week in this room (what?! why?!) Or when she finally told me that she had West Nile after WEEKS of being utterly and completely exhausted (and after she had answered every, single, little, and ridiculous question I ever had.) Or when she told me I could have her class for four weeks instead of the required two weeks so that I could really get some good experience (is she nuts?!) and that she would leave me completely by myself for 2-3 of those weeks so I could get experience for when I’m a teacher on my own (ok, she is actually crazy.) Or when she started to tell me that I should start selling some of my teaching resources on Teachers Pay Teachers (What is she talking about? Is that even legal?) Or the craziest of them all…. “We should blog about our teaching experiences together” (what? blog? This girl is on a whole different level J). Yeah. All of these things sounded so completely crazy at the time, but that’s what Kelly does. She pushes me to do things that I never thought possible or that I am capable of doing. And again, she does this while still making me feel like we are two co-teaching coming up with these great ideas together.

For all you student and mentor teachers out there, I hope you form a co-teaching relationship like the one Kelly and I have because the outcome will be more than beneficial to you, your co-teacher, and your students.

Isn't she the absolute best?  Seriously.  We just learned so much from each other throughout our year together.  I just lover her.  Whew! {I didn't just tear up or anything reading that...}

 

Thank you so much for stopping by!  Be sure to visit later this week for some new blog posts about starting the school year and definitely stop by next Sunday for our second post about Starting the School Year as a student teacher!