Getting ready for school


School starts tomorrow for teachers. I have already made two trips to school in the past two weeks. Each time I look like I am going camping for an extended amount of time. Bags, bags, bags and more BAGSSSSS....


In prep for school, I have done two Aldi runs during their 'Back to School' sale. I am in love with the new rose gold range (magazine holders, pencil holders and rubbish bin). From my latest Aldi trip, I also bought a 2 in 1 office cutter and a large calender desk planner.


Above: I have cleaned out my desk and put in my new purchases from ALDI.

Tomorrow I am doing a presentation on 'Classroom Management'. This is one of the reasons why I started my blog and how I got interested in DIY projects. Here are some pictures of how I am getting my classroom management in place and making my classroom a tiny bit more inviting. I live and breath inside an old demountable and plan to give it a more refreshed look throughout the year.


Above: I wonder if my door decoration is still standing up on my door. It is possibly on the ground and withstanding some rain. My demountable is outside and I really need to find a way to fix it on the door. A staple gun or really strong adhesive tape should do some magic.


Above: A change to the layout of my room.


Above: Every two table share the same colour label (the circle cut outs). This is to help with the distribution of materials. I can keep an eye out on where my materials go. For example, the pink table can only take resources from the pink Smiggle tins (bought it on sale for $1.15 each).


Above: I have finally written all the names of every student on a paddle pop stick ($2.50 for a packet of 130 from the Reject Shop). Every time I need to call out students for classroom discussion or to randomly reward students, I will pull out a paddle pop stick. On my pinboard there are my new classroom management strategies. This includes classroom 'iHelp' jobs, voice level, burger quality poster and a reminder to place all bags at the back of the room. I have spray painted two delux paint tins and plan to make a 'Kudos' and 'Suggestion' jars. Students can put a little discreet note inside as they walk out of the classroom.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maintenance of Accreditation

Image
Being a NSW teacher requires one to pay their Teacher Accreditation fee (aka teaching license). My first teaching gig was given to me because another temporary teacher forgot to pay her accreditation fee. This jeopardise her capacity to teach in any school or service in NSW under the Education Standards Authority. Tonight I decided to pay my $100 (tax deductible) Teacher Accreditation Fee before being penalised for forgetting. I also tick a few things off my To-Do list. This included evaluating all my tasks on the NESA eTAMS dashboard (a website built for teachers to record all professional learning). I decided to look into the final processes of my maintenance of accreditation since it is due on Feb 2019. The process has been simplified and one only needs to have a total of 100 hrs (50 NESA Registered and 50 TIPD), all courses evaluated, confirm employment details and press the submit maintenance button. On the NESA e-TAMS website, it is optional for teachers
Read more

Speed Dating Art Critique

Image
A few years ago, during Valentine's day, I made a 'speed dating' activity for my Year 11 Community and Family Studies class (I was on a contract block). I left a trail of cut out hearts from the classroom door to the long tables in the classroom (I am the corny teacher!). I instructed students to seat on either side. At that time, I was teaching them about wellbeing factors. Each student received a character card and they were required to role play. A list of questions was given and it helped assist students with the conversations.  Students enjoyed the activities and there were A LOT of giggles.   Photo from 2014 'Speed Dating' activity: I decided to revisit the concept of speed dating. The idea of speed dating is to meet as many potential partners in a short frame of time. Using this concept, I built a lesson for my Year 11 Visual Arts class. I will be asking students to critique each other's artwork(s) in 5 minute increments. They must follow
Read more

Hamburger analogy

Image
My head teacher came into my Year 11 Senior class today to do an observation lesson. I also asked my co-worker who wanted to do a peer observation to come in at the same time. The purpose of the observations is to allow them to give me feedback on my teaching practice and for them to see the level of engagement in the classroom. At my school, every teacher must do an observation and also have someone seated in their class to provide feedback. I spent a quarter of the lesson going through the hamburger analogy. I adapted this from a shared resource on the 'Relief Teaching Ideas Community' Facebook group. I improved on this resource by using words from my own marking criteria and by picking out desirable and non-desirable behaviours exhibited from my students during the first 9 weeks of the term. After the hamburger analogy, I went through the requirements of HSC Visual Arts. I wanted students to understand why the preliminary program and assessment tasks were designed in a
Read more