Workin it Wednesday

I am loving these linkies!!! I have linked up with some great teachers to share what we have been working on!

This week I have been working on my brain break smart board activity. I have created it in various themes.

These have some awesome songs on them that the kids love.  They can be found at my tpt store!!!

I am starting some new items hopefully will be done to share next week! !

Summer linky

I am excited to join this linky and awesome group of teachers to talk about what I have been doing this summer!

Well, I have been moving my classroom and I am now moving my house!

I have created some smartboard items and placed them onto TPT. Very excited!!!!

I have bought my planner as nd d ome awesome pens which I can not wait to use!

I have read some awesome books, Teach Like A Pirate and Eating Mangoes.

I am leaving Sunday for the Model Schools Conference in Washington, DC.

My goal is to create some more products and travel some!

AAAArgh you ready for a giveaway???

I am very excited!! here is my first giveaway!! Just become a follower on my blog and in bloglovin and enter the sweepstakes below. Two random winners will be chosen!! The prizes are a thirtyone small carryall bag (great for pens, stamps and other goodies on your teacher desk) and a 15 dollar TPT gift certificate!!!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Are you a purple cow or a brown cow??? Chapter 5 Teach Like A Pirate- Transformation

So ask yourself this question:                      Are you a

                                                                              or a

We all would like to be purple cows. Purple cows are fun and exciting. That is how we all would like our students to view our classrooms. If we are a brown cow then we are ordinary. Our classroom is touching upon what is needed but not in the manner in which the students are excited.

There are two questions that were asked in this chapter:

If your students didn't have to be there, would you be teaching to an empty room?

Think about your classroom, is it one that students want to be there. Do your students come sick or not? Is the environment exciting?

Do you have any lessons you could sell tickets for?

Think about your lessons, are there any that your kids loved and wanted more of. Are they exciting, educational and keep your students on task and leaving wanting more.

These are two questions that many would not answer yes to but they are thought provoking and need to be kept in the back of your mind when creating that unit or new classroom activity or environment.

Positioning and Reframing

How do you position your lessons?  Positioning is important. How you teach will place your lessons on a scale of boring to exciting. It is how we relay the information and present the lesson that will position them with our students.

Do you reframe? Reframing is when we change the perceptions of the material by our students. many will say they hate a subject but do they hate it or how it has been taught to them? It is up to us to reframe their opinions and thoughts. Reframing is done at times with quick thinking and a simple strategy that makes it more understandable. it is taking a situation that could be detrimental and turning it into a success.

So are you a purple cow or a brown cow?

                                                                            

It's easy for you. You're creative: The six words of chapter 4 in Teach Like a Pirate

Have you ever heard those words? It's easy for you. You're creative. How do you respond and do you agree? Chapter 4 is Ask and Analyze. We all are creative, we just have to ask the right questions and analyze ourselves and our lessons.

People have this false idea that either you are creative or you are not. They put people into these two categories. What they fail to see that being creative takes work. We are not born creative. We work towards this.

As the great Michelangelo has said:

"If people knew how hard I had to work to gain my master, it wouldn't seem so wonderful at all"

 

Michelangelo

When you are on the outside looking at the finished product, it is easy to say wow, they are so creative and assume that it comes natural. Those looking in from the outside do not see all of the hard work that goes into our "creativity".

Asking the right question will assist with your creativity. Analyzing our lessons will also assist. It is important that we look back on what we have done and look to see what worked and didn't work. I always stress to the teachers that I have mentored or to my student teachers that self reflection is vital for the success in our classroom. It is through self reflection that we grow as an educator!

Then we look at our failures. It is ok to fail. We all do. We then take these opportunities and use the feedback and create better activities, make us a better educator.

We must remember that it is ok to have a life outside of the classroom. Taking our experiences and weaving them into our classroom will increase our passion and enthusiasm.

This week's saying

I was blown away when I say this saying.  My kindergators do this everyday!  This is the new saying that will Greet people as they enter our room!

A new experience

I am trying out a new experience and that is placing my smart board items on teachers pay teachers.  I am a little nervous so we will see.  My first new item is my Bodacious Brain breaks. I already have November and December attendance activities but I was practicing and did not add a thumbnail.  So here's to a new experience.  The brainbreak activity is shown here.