F is for Formative Assessment

We often focus only on what we do not know and perhaps it might be beneficial to also know what we do know. We developed two products to facilitate formative assessment by creating fun and fast exit slips and fast formative assessments. These two products are grounded in our own practice as well as research.

Exit Slips and Tickets Out are fast formative assessments that you can use daily to see how you and your students are doing. The novelty of these exit slips will catch your students’ attention. They will also give you ideas for creating your own. This product includes:

• One-Minute Write
• Muddiest Point
• Ticket Out
• Exit Slip
• Admit Slip
• One Thing I Learned Today
• Halftime Report Basketball and Football Themed

Fast Formative Assessment Strategies: Checking for Understanding is a packet of mini-assessments ideal for closing a lesson or unit for grades 6-12. These mini-assessments get students focused on showing what they have learned in clever and engaging ways. This product includes:

• Stick it With 6
• Hey Granny Did you Know?
• Resume of a Leader/Portrait of a Character
• Scene Rewind
• A Poetic Moment
• Fact Checker Quick Check

SALE 20% off May 14-15 Exit Slips and Quick Formative Assessment Strategies

E is for Esperanza Rising

E is for Esperanza Rising, a novel by Pam Muñoz Ryan. The first time this novel came onto my radar was when my granddaughter was reading it in fourth grade. She is an avid reader and lucky for me, loves to discuss what she is reading with me. I suppose we are both book nerds—nothing wrong with that.

A few years later I picked up the novel to consider for a novel study and her retelling came back to me as well as how meaningful the novel was to her. As I read it I was taken with how the author titled each chapter with the name of a food that was relevant to that chapter. Then I thought it would be fun to create a novel study that focused primarily on each food as well as how that food was symbolic of the ongoing story. So the Enrichment Activities Connected to Chapter Foods emerged. This product includes:

• 14 Individual Lesson Plans (1 per chapter)
• Chat Stations Activity
• 12 Food Cards for Forming Student Pairs, Trios, and Quads
• Permission Letter to Parents/Guardians
• 1 PowerPoint with 58 Slides and Teacher Guide for PowerPoint

SALE 20% off May 12-13 Esperanza Rising Enrichment Activities Connected to Chapter Foods

And, don’t forget to check out the FREE bookmarks!

C is for Colleagues

C is for colleagues, those persons with whom we share our professional and personal lives. I have had two experiences working with colleagues that almost seem like Camelot. At Burlington High School I worked with Carl, Patti, and Judy. I learned more about my own teaching from Carl and Patti than any other colleague—we teamed taught, experimented with block scheduling, and established site-based management. Judy was my life-saver when I had to call in sick because one of my kids was sick. But, more than that she and I shared our ideas about how high school English should be taught. Judy was innovative and supported my own innovation—gave me courage to go ahead and try it.

At Cadinal Stritch University, I worked with Linda and Jennifer, among others, to develop a Masters of Arts in Teaching program, designed for people who had a non-teaching degree who wanted to teach. I’m very proud of the teachers we turned out and to this day, those teachers are making a difference for kids. Linda, Jennifer, and I published two books together on classroom management, one for elementary and one for high school. We presented together at national conferences and area school districts—what fun! Today we are partners in Surviving to Thriving LjL and continue to create teacher materials that engage kids and are easy to implement for teachers.

When we presented, we always had give-aways which included bookmarks with inspirational quotes for teachers. So, we decided to offer those bookmarks to teachers free of charge. This product includes 16 reproducible bookmarks with directions for 7 Ways to Use Bookmarks with your colleagues. Each bookmark has a graphic and teacher quote. As you think about your own colleagues, think about how much you appreciate them and their role in your professional life.

B is for Bell Ringers and Bell Work

B is for Bell Ringers or Bell Work or those little assignments you give to students as they walk into your classroom. I remember them as sponge activities, sponging up every moment for teaching and learning including the moment a student walks into class. These activities only work if they are engaging, quirky, interesting, fun, relevant, and/or off the wall. The key to making these activities work is to refer to the activity sometime during the lesson—beginning, middle, or end and students sharing responses with a partner, the class, or you.

I strongly believe bell ringers should NEVER be graded or checked off or whatever. On the other hand, students should know by your practice that responses will be shared with each other, the class, and/or you. The classroom climate you establish will encourage or discourage students to share responses. All responses should be respected and respectful.

One of our new products is Bell Work-Set 1, available on Teachers Pay Teachers. These are designed to be used for morning meetings, advisory, or anytime, including the beginning of class or end-of-the-class reflection. These prompts are useful to keep in a substitute folder, have them ready to use for shortened periods, or when there’s that odd amount of time left at the end of a lesson. Each day includes a question or prompt, an optional student handout, and a sharing strategy that you could easily incorporate into other lessons. Finally, these activities build community and relationships between you and your students and among your students throughout the school year. Bell Work Set 1 includes:

• 20 Day of the Week Questions and Prompts—4 for Monday, 4 for Tuesday, 4 for Wednesday, 4 for Thursday, and 4 for Friday (4 weeks)
• PowerPoint Presentation with 24 PowerPoint Slides with directions and suggestions for sharing
• Outline of PowerPoint Slides and Notes/Directions
• Easy Reference Guide to Sharing Strategies Included in Bell Work Set 1

THREE DAY SALE (May 8-9) 20% Off!

A is for Animal Farm

One of my favorite blogs is Compulsively Quirky written by Irene. Recently she published a blog about the A to Z Challenge. “For the past several weeks, I’ve been toying with the idea of participating in the 2017 AtoZ Challenge. Every April, bloggers write their way through the month publishing a post each day except Sunday based on every letter of the alphabet.

While I don’t think I can blog my way through the alphabet in one month, I am going to attempt to post a blog based on every letter of the alphabet in the coming weeks. My theme focuses on products my colleagues and I have created for Teachers Pay Teachers. The comments we receive regarding our products communicates to us that we are making a difference for teachers and students. So while I share a little history and description of our products, I hope you might pick up some tidbits and tactics for the classroom. And, who doesn’t love a thematic alphabetical list?

A is for Animal Farm, a novel by George Orwell, is more relevant today than ever. It’s a short novel, but worth reading or reading again. Some of the propaganda tools used in the novel appear to be the playbook for the current administration. Animal Farm is the perfect novel to illustrate George Santayana’s quote: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

The Discussion and Activity Guide is a great tool for classroom book clubs, independent studies, and community-wide reads. The unit works very well for a whole class study of the novel including propaganda techniques used in the past and present.

3 DAY SALE (May 4, 5, & 6). Save 20% off the Discussion and Activity Guide as well as the unit. Save even more if you choose the bundle which includes both products at a discounted price.

Seven Ways to Use Free Bookmark Quotes for Teachers

To me the sole hope of human salvation lies in teaching.  George Bernard Shaw

Even teachers need reminding of how critical they are to the education of students and to maintaining a democratic way of life. We collected 16 quotes to share with teachers that reflect just how important teachers are.

Visit our Teachers Pay Teachers store, Surviving to Thriving LjL and download a free set of 16 bookmark quotes for teachers. And, here are seven ways you might use those bookmarks:

1. Display the bookmark quote where you can see it from your desk to remind you your work as a teacher is appreciated.
2. Copy bookmark quotes on colored card stock and cut out. Write personal notes of appreciation on the backsides of the bookmarks and place the bookmark quotes in faculty/staff mailboxes.
3. Distribute the bookmark quotes at a faculty/staff meeting. Use bookmark quotes to form pairs, trios, or quads by directing teachers/staff members to find one, two, or three other teachers/staff members who have the same bookmark quote. Invite pairs or groups to discuss the quote and/or work in groups. Nice way to start a faculty/staff meeting.
4. Make mini-posters out of the bookmark quotes and display them on a bulletin board near the main entrance where visitors will see them.
5. Place all 16 bookmark quotes in a box, pull one out during lunch, read it aloud, and discuss the meaning of the quote with your colleagues.
6. Challenge students to find inspiring quotes related to education or a topic related to the content area in which you teach. Make your own bookmark quotes for students, using the quotes that they find.
7. Use as a bookmark.

Other FREE bookmarks to check out:

FREE Teacher Bookmarks with Homework Quotes

FREE Esperanza Rising Bookmarks

 FREE Friendship Bookmarks

FREE The One and Only Ivan Bookmarks

Homework Bookmarks!

While I was teaching preservice teachers, I wanted to model another way for teachers to communicate homework assignments to their students. The homework bookmark was born. I simply started with a new word document, ½-inch margins, landscape orientation, and added a table of 1 row and 4 to 5 columns. In each column, I typed in the homework assignment and added a quote and a graphic. Copied them onto plain white paper, easily cut them with a paper cutter, and distributed them to my preservice teachers. They loved them, and better yet, they started to use them in their field placements. Their students loved them.

Below is an example of quote bookmarks from The One and Only Ivan. Homework bookmarks are similar except they also include an assignment. They really are easy to make. Try them, you and your students just might like them!

We love bookmarks. Students love bookmarks.  And so, in many of our products, we include bookmarks.  We even offer free bookmarks to teachers on Teachers Pay Teachers. Check out our store, Surviving to Thriving LjL.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We Love Bookmarks!

We love bookmarks. Students love bookmarks.  And so, in many of our products, we include bookmarks.  We even offer free bookmarks to teachers on Teachers Pay Teachers.

7 Ways to Use Bookmarks

1. Form pairs, trios, and/or quads. Distribute the number of different bookmarks equal to the number of pairs, trios, or quads you want to form. For example, to form quads, reproduce four copies of each individual bookmark. Distribute bookmarks and direct students to form a group of four by finding three other students who have the same bookmark they have.
2. Use as a writing prompt. Distribute bookmarks. Direct students to read and ponder the quotes. Next, ask students to write a short reflection on what the quotes means to them. Invite students to share their reflections with an elbow partner.
3. Investigate the speaker. Use the bookmarks to form student trios. Direct trios to read and ponder the quotes. Ask trios to answer the following questions: What kind of person would say this? To whom would this person address this quote? What kind of situation would be appropriate for this quote? Invite trios to share their quotes and their responses to the questions.
4. Review the text. After students have read the novel, story, or play, distribute a variety of bookmark quotes. Direct students to read their quotes and jot down the incident in the text connected to that quote. Next, direct students to find another student who had the same bookmark quote and compare responses.
5. Choose a favorite. On a table, lay out bookmark quotes and as students enter the classroom, invite them to choose a favorite bookmark quote. Ask students to jot down a few notes on the back of the bookmark quote what this quote means to them. Invite students to share their responses. Consider this activity for a morning meeting or talking circle.
6. Make your own bookmark. Distribute blank bookmarks and direct students to write a favorite quote from a text you are currently studying in class. In addition to the quote, ask students to include a graphic or illustration that connects to the quote they chose. Invite students to share their quotes with the class. Consider collecting the bookmark quotes and displaying them on a bulletin board in your classroom.
7. Use as a bookmark

We hope you love our bookmarks!

Free bookmarks for The One and Only Ivan

Free friendship bookmarks

Free bookmarks for Esperanza Rising

Unique Approach to Teaching Esperanza Rising

As many teachers know, novelty catches students’ attention. Once you have students’ attention, readiness for learning increases. This was our thinking in creating enrichment activities for Esperanza Rising by Pam Muñoz Ryan.

Food plays an important role in this novel, literally and figuratively. Enrichment Activities for Chapter Foods are designed to increase students’ connection to the novel through food. There are two or more activities for each chapter. Activities are connected to the food in the chapter title and/or foods mentioned in the chapter. Each lesson plan also includes Chapter Connections, which help students think about the significance of the foods in each chapter and find connections of those foods to their own lives. There are suggestions for preparing food for student sampling and additional resources connected to the various foods. The food activities are fun and may introduce students to new foods or honor the foods of their families.

Product Contents:

• 14 Individual Lesson Plans (1 per chapter)
• 1 Culminating Activity: Chat Stations Activity
• 1 Chat Sheet
• 7 Chat Stations Questions Mini-Posters
• 12 Food Cards for Forming Student Pairs, Trios, and Quads
• Permission Letter to Parents/Guardians
• Common Core Standards and Best Practice Connected to this Novel Study
• 1 PowerPoint with 58 Slides

For more resources and ideas, check out our Pinterest Board.

Surviving to Thriving LjL: Pinterest Board on Esperanza Rising

Here’s a list of some of our collaborative work:

• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
• The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
• Wonder by R. J. Palacio
• Mockingbird by Kathryn Erskine
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• Son by Lois Lowry
• The One and Only Ivan
• The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla

Visit our Teachers Pay Teachers Store!

 

Avoid Burnout: 10 Ways to Add Fun to Your Teaching

Find a place inside where there’s joy,

and the joy will burn out the pain. Joseph Campbell

Often, this is the time of the year where both teachers and students begin to get restless, tired of winter, and in need of a change. In January I came across an article, 10 Steps for Avoiding Teacher Burnout by Ben Johnson. The first step was to have fun with your students.

In a study I did with my two colleagues, we surveyed middle school kids to see what they had to say about good teaching. And, one thing they wanted was fun (Fontanini, Neiman, & Carpenter, 2014). I think this is a great place to start to avoid burnout, but how do you do it? Here are 10 ways to add a little fun to your teaching.

1. Play music as students are coming into your classroom. Ask students how that music or song is connected to the content or topic. You might be surprised at what your students might say.
2. Show a video clip to start off your lesson. Youtube is an easy place to find a video clip on practically any topic.
3. Do a read-aloud. Pick a picture book, poem, short story, or novel you love and start reading it aloud to your students before your lesson starts or use it as a closing activity.
4. Do a community/team building activity, one you have used in the past or a new one.
5. Stand at the door and greet each student formally.
6. Rearrange your classroom into a new pattern.
7. Play a game that connects to your topic.
8. Tell a joke or funny story.
9. Start class with a brain-teaser or trivia question connected to the topic.
10. Come dressed as a character, scientist, historical figure, or just something a bit outrageous. (When I was team teaching with a social studies teacher, he had a rental tuxedo that wasn’t due back until Tuesday—he wore it all day on Monday. Definitely got students’ attention!)

Not only will your students appreciate the change in pace, you will too! Novelty catches attention, teachers and students. As my colleagues and I create teacher materials for Teachers Pay Teachers, we remember that students want learning to be fun. Fun to students equates to engaging. We think, and many of our buyers agree, that our products are engaging to students and easy to implement for teachers. Check out our store on TPT: Surviving to Thriving LjL. Let us know what you do to add a little fun to your classroom.

References

Fontanini, J.J., Neiman, L.V., & Carpenter, L.L. (April 2014). Ask the Real Experts About Good Teaching. AMLE Magazine, 1(8), pp. 24-26.

Johnson, Ben. (April 22, 2014). 10 Steps for Avoiding Teacher Burnout. Edutopia.