First official day back on the clock
Well, today was the first day teachers in Falls HAD to be back to school, but it has been a busy week!
--On Monday and Wednesday, the new staff reported to school for training. I am working with a team of teachers to be mentors for the new staff, so we were working on getting the new hires acclimated to Sheboygan Falls. We have a new teacher, Matt, in 3rd grade, and it will be interesting to have another guy on the team (I haven't had that in the last 11 years)! We spent most of Monday and Wednesday helping the new staff with online tools and resources in the district and going over beginning-of-the year procedures. It was really interesting to see all the stuff that you just naturally do when we were going through the mentoring checklist. I think Matt is going to be a great addition to our team!
--Tuesday was like Christmas in August! Near the end of the last school year, I started a Donors Choose project to raise funds so that I could make some pretty major changes to my classroom environment. I decided to move away from the traditional classroom setting and provide the students with flexible seating options. Due to the generosity of some fantastic family and friends (as well as Herb Kohl Philanthropies, who matched all donations!), I was able to get a standing desk, stools, wobble chairs, stability balls, balance cushions, kneeling pads, and a bungee band! I've gotten rid of half the desks in my room (some students will still be able to sit at classroom desks if they feel that will help them learn the best), and I can't wait to see the students' reactions when they come into the room!
Here is a link to my project if you want to check it out: https://www.donorschoose.org/project/providing-a-personalized-learning-enviro/2583809/?challengeid=20939599
--Today being our first official day back, it was time for inservice. My school district is highly dedicated to providing the staff with professional development on Universal Design for Learning (UDL, for short). Here is UDL in a nutshell, from the National Center for Universal Design for Learning: "Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework that provides ALL students equal opportunities to learn. It encourages teachers to design flexible curricula that meet the needs of all learners. Using UDL principles in general education classrooms makes curriculum and instruction accessible and engaging. Curriculum barriers are reduced; learning is supported; students gain knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm for learning; and their learning is validly assessed."
Last year, the staff dedicated a lot of our district learning time to getting familiar with UDL, and the next step in the process is to become more comfortable with planning for UDL in the classroom. We spent our morning today discussing our learning standards and the process we can use for incorporating those standards in a fashion that will accommodate UDL. I'll be honest, there are times that inservices are not very exciting, and depending on the time of year, I could be thinking about all the other things I would rather be doing in my classroom than sitting in an auditorium. But UDL is important, and it is best practice for teaching. If your school district isn't really familiar with UDL, I recommend you start doing some of your own learning on it.
Following our morning dedicated to UDL, we had some work time back at school. My team was able to get a little cleaning done in our pod (we have supply drop off next Monday, so we want the pod to look better than it did). I spent some of the afternoon working on my to do list that I posted last week. I'd like to say that it's almost done, but there is a lot to still do before Monday.
--Today was a really great day! On top of the stuff at school, there were a few other cool things that happened! On my drive to work today, I was listening to one of my regular podcasts, Pro You Podcast. I started listening to the podcast almost a year after it started, but I am working my way through it from the beginning. Now I'm only about 6 months behind (I listen to a lot of different podcasts :-) Anyway, a couple of months ago I posted a review of the podcast on iTunes saying how much I liked it, and when I was listening today, the host of the podcast, Tom, read my review. It was so cool!
Other cool thing about today: I am the president of my school's social club, which we call Falcon Club. Today we had a staff picnic to kick off the beginning of the school year. We had about 30 people come, and it was really nice to get together outside of school. I work with some great people!
--Final note (I know, long post for today...) Last week I made a twitter survey about teachers spending extra time in classrooms before school starts, and here are the results. I'm not huge on twitter, so I didn't get a lot of responses: I had 7/7 votes for Yes. I also had 8 Facebook friends comment on my post about spending extra time.
Until next Thursday...
--On Monday and Wednesday, the new staff reported to school for training. I am working with a team of teachers to be mentors for the new staff, so we were working on getting the new hires acclimated to Sheboygan Falls. We have a new teacher, Matt, in 3rd grade, and it will be interesting to have another guy on the team (I haven't had that in the last 11 years)! We spent most of Monday and Wednesday helping the new staff with online tools and resources in the district and going over beginning-of-the year procedures. It was really interesting to see all the stuff that you just naturally do when we were going through the mentoring checklist. I think Matt is going to be a great addition to our team!
--Tuesday was like Christmas in August! Near the end of the last school year, I started a Donors Choose project to raise funds so that I could make some pretty major changes to my classroom environment. I decided to move away from the traditional classroom setting and provide the students with flexible seating options. Due to the generosity of some fantastic family and friends (as well as Herb Kohl Philanthropies, who matched all donations!), I was able to get a standing desk, stools, wobble chairs, stability balls, balance cushions, kneeling pads, and a bungee band! I've gotten rid of half the desks in my room (some students will still be able to sit at classroom desks if they feel that will help them learn the best), and I can't wait to see the students' reactions when they come into the room!
Here is a link to my project if you want to check it out: https://www.donorschoose.org/project/providing-a-personalized-learning-enviro/2583809/?challengeid=20939599
--Today being our first official day back, it was time for inservice. My school district is highly dedicated to providing the staff with professional development on Universal Design for Learning (UDL, for short). Here is UDL in a nutshell, from the National Center for Universal Design for Learning: "Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a framework that provides ALL students equal opportunities to learn. It encourages teachers to design flexible curricula that meet the needs of all learners. Using UDL principles in general education classrooms makes curriculum and instruction accessible and engaging. Curriculum barriers are reduced; learning is supported; students gain knowledge, skills, and enthusiasm for learning; and their learning is validly assessed."
Last year, the staff dedicated a lot of our district learning time to getting familiar with UDL, and the next step in the process is to become more comfortable with planning for UDL in the classroom. We spent our morning today discussing our learning standards and the process we can use for incorporating those standards in a fashion that will accommodate UDL. I'll be honest, there are times that inservices are not very exciting, and depending on the time of year, I could be thinking about all the other things I would rather be doing in my classroom than sitting in an auditorium. But UDL is important, and it is best practice for teaching. If your school district isn't really familiar with UDL, I recommend you start doing some of your own learning on it.
Following our morning dedicated to UDL, we had some work time back at school. My team was able to get a little cleaning done in our pod (we have supply drop off next Monday, so we want the pod to look better than it did). I spent some of the afternoon working on my to do list that I posted last week. I'd like to say that it's almost done, but there is a lot to still do before Monday.
--Today was a really great day! On top of the stuff at school, there were a few other cool things that happened! On my drive to work today, I was listening to one of my regular podcasts, Pro You Podcast. I started listening to the podcast almost a year after it started, but I am working my way through it from the beginning. Now I'm only about 6 months behind (I listen to a lot of different podcasts :-) Anyway, a couple of months ago I posted a review of the podcast on iTunes saying how much I liked it, and when I was listening today, the host of the podcast, Tom, read my review. It was so cool!
Other cool thing about today: I am the president of my school's social club, which we call Falcon Club. Today we had a staff picnic to kick off the beginning of the school year. We had about 30 people come, and it was really nice to get together outside of school. I work with some great people!
--Final note (I know, long post for today...) Last week I made a twitter survey about teachers spending extra time in classrooms before school starts, and here are the results. I'm not huge on twitter, so I didn't get a lot of responses: I had 7/7 votes for Yes. I also had 8 Facebook friends comment on my post about spending extra time.
Until next Thursday...
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