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Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Owl Duck Tape!!!

On a side note:

I found OWL DUCK TAPE!



Click picture to see it on Amazon! 



My life isn't complete but it is going to be a little better after this!

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Nostalgia

I am sitting here unable to sleep on the eve of the last day of school. 

I am happy that this school year is coming to an end as it is one of the worst year (if not the worst year) on record in my short teaching career. 

I can't stop my brain from thinking about the past. The places and faces of the teachers that have graced the halls where I still walk each day. 

I thought that a little trip down memory lane might calm my frenzied brain!
 ~~~~~~~~~
When I first started teaching at the school I am at currently, a huge influx of new teachers started at the same time. 

We formed our own little band of misfits. 

We had dinners every Thursday night without fail to discuss, whine, and cry. 

While that first year was a pretty bad year (aren't all first years pretty bad?) I always look back on that first year with a heavy dose of happy nostalgia. 

No matter which way I turned I had a friend to laugh with, a shoulder to cry on, or someone to share joys and battle scars with. 

A small trip down memory lane of the faces of that first year:
Poker night (I still don't know how to play poker)
Adam and I before the Semi Formal 

Lexi and I in our old apartment complex
Annual Camping trip to Lake MooMaw
Jake, Adam, & Me the last day of school our first year right after the kids left!

~~~~~~~~~
We managed to keep our little group intact for the next few years and added a few new faces and life events:
Kate and I on her wedding day
A group of us posing before another semi formal dance. 
Tricia and I doing a "middle school girl pose" after a dance.

A gansters and flappers birthday party!

New Year's Eve!
~~~~~~~~~After three years we started to slowly disintegrate. 


One by one almost all of these other young teachers moved on to other schools.  


Adam was the first to leave followed by best friend Tricia, her then husband, Emily, Emalee & Tim, and a few other supporting characters. 

Eventually our large group of over 10 dwindled to just 3.  

The friendships might have evolved or faded away, but I still miss each and every single one of them terribly and think of them each day. 
                                ~~~~~~~~~


Two years ago I got my first "mentee"  

She ended up becoming a close friend who has always been extremely thoughtful. 

On more than one occasion she has brought breakfast in to work for me (brownie points!) 

One day I complained about being sick so she stopped on the way to work and brought me tissues and orange juice (Seriously how thoughtful and sweet is that?)

She was always up for whiny dinners and working on projects. 

Yesterday we went out for one of those dinners and she confessed to me that she is not coming back next year. 

I am sad that she is leaving, as she was one of my last remaining pieces of sanity, but I am happy that she has the opportunity to move on. 

                                 ~~~~~~~~~
One of the traditions of my school is on the last day of school all the teachers go out to the bus landing and wave as the busses drive off. The kids wave back and the bus drivers honk their horns. 


In 13 short hours we will be repeating this tradition. 


I have been listening to the new-ish Justin Timberlake song on repeat tonight "Mirrors" (Hey, it's catchy!) and the line keeps sticking in my head is: 


Yesterday is history
Tomorrow's a mystery


I am SO glad that this year is over and I am sad to be losing yet another comrade in the fight against sanity, but maybe, just maybe, next year will bring new faces with new potential.


Monday, May 20, 2013

Classroom Noise Tracker

I don't know about your kids but my kids do NOT understand volume control in the slightest. 

It doesn't matter if someone is sitting one foot away from them my students will YELL their conversations at each other. 

I cannot stand a LOUD classroom. I don't mind controlled chaos but I absolutely abhor just straight up chaos. 

I have seen the "ball noise tracker" that is going around Pinterest, but there are two issues I have with that. 

1. It is blocked at my school
2. I Know the kids would find it too much fun to make the balls bounce (and then scream and laugh about the fact that they are making the "balls" bounce) 


I did a search and found this useful online tool:
http://www.ictgames.com/calmCounter.html


You can change the sensitivity level if you are a teacher that can handle more noise, or if you are like me you will want to keep it around 8 or 7!

I have been using it in class and it has worked GREAT!

I have a few rules that go along with this.

If the noise tracker is on the screen if the kids go into the red

First offense: Five minutes of silence
Second offense: Ten minutes of silence
Third offense: The ability to talk or work in groups is off the table (you have no one to blame but yourselves!)


Sunday, May 19, 2013

Link up

I've never done a "link up" before, but I was reading one of my favorite blogs that I have been silently lurking for awhile and she was having one. I thought....why not!

Danielle is a stay at home mom that homeschools her kids (Have I ever mentioned that I was home schooled?) She has a lot of cute kid ideas and recipes. Check her out! :)


Blissful and Domestic

Saturday, May 18, 2013

New Lesson Plans


I have been working on my lesson plans for next year and they are driving me just a little bit insane!

I tried two different configurations before settling on this one:

I decided to take all of the bell ringers, journal questions, random facts, and exit questions off.

I decided to add a Vocab Word of the Day section and start a Word Wall in my room.

I finally decided to break it down into what The Teacher Will do and what The Student Will do. 

I hope I don't have any more ideas because I don't want to change them AGAIN!
***********************
I also decided to handle my bell ringers, journal questions, random facts, and exit questions a different way. I decided to go all digital. 

My students this year were having trouble understanding the concept of a BELL ringer and taking advantage of the fact that the information was displayed on the chalkboard all period and chose NOT to do the journal questions when asked. 

To try to combat again this next year I am putting together a PowerPoint that contains all the information and they will only have 5 minutes per slide. Once the slide is gone, it is GONE. 




 I decided to add a new slide for next year of exit questions based on the lesson (or previous lessons) that the students will have 5 minutes to answer at the end of class. These will be graded right along with their journals and bell ringers each week. 

************************

People might think I am a little crazy thinking about next year already and THIS school year is not even out for 6 1/2 more days....but I feel like I am already behind....so maybe I really AM crazy!

Collages

Here are the collages that my classes worked on this year!

The original pictures:

Harry Potter Book Covers

Hunger Games PSA

Stack of books

Zombies.....
I went with having the kids turn a sheet of paper into 4ths this year to save on paper, but they still turned out really cute I think!

Thursday, May 16, 2013

When your best...

just isn't good enough.


Well, we got our state standardized writing test scores back yesterday. The last five years I was never below a 94%, this year was not the case. This year I clocked in at 70%. I had more people fail this year than in that last five years combined.....times 3. I knew this was coming, but it still hurts.

I've known since October that we were not learning the way we should.  I tried to address the issue every way I knew how. In fact, the entire 8th grade team of teachers tried to address the issue because it was grade wide. I won't go into details with that, but we are all EXTREMELY frustrated with how this school year went.

The only thing I can take away from this is that I know that I truly did everything in my power to give those kids the information they needed in the ways they needed it. I changed my teaching style halfway through the year to cater to this particular group of kids exactly, but many of them still were not having anything to do with it. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink!

On the positive side...I had twice the amount of perfect scores I have ever had and 4 times as many pass advances I have ever had! One student who got a perfect score told me, "Thank you for giving me confidence in my writing to get this score." Which was pretty darn awesome!

My students took their reading SOL on Monday, but I have not gotten those scores back yet, so hopefully that news will be a little bit better.

We are now in the home stretch with 7 1/2 school days left until summer. We are in the dreaded part of the year after testing when I am trying to keep the kids engaged and fill time productively!

My students have been working on their book collage posters for the last two days and they finally finished them today! I did them a little differently this year and they actually turned out pretty darn cute. I will take pictures of them and share them soon!

I hope that your testing is going well!

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

To Kill a Mockingbird

I just wanted to share the coolest thing!

My advanced class has been spending the last month reading and working on a To Kill a Mockingbird project. It was due today and one of my girls crocheted a mockingbird and put it on the cover of her project. Isn't it the greatest thing ever? (no hyperboles here) 

Also, it is teacher appreciation week so a shout out to all of the teachers who read my blog!

I hope that this week brings you some stress free teaching days and maybe a few goodies. 

Two of my students actually gave me gifts today (a first!) 

One girl baked chocolate chip cookies!

One girl got me a day planner, some highlighters, a candle, and a really sweet and funny letter that I thought I would share:

Dear Ms. Potter,

Happy Teacher Appreciation week! Even though we've had a lot of disagreements, ups and downs, smacks and spats, and so on, you're a great teacher. I love how you make it your job to always get on my nerves to see my shocked facial expressions. Well, not really, but whatever floats your boat. Anyway, I know this isn't much, but I hope you like it and enjoy a week all about celebrating you and the other teachers. Oh, and one last thing, JEAHHHH!

Love your favorite student no matter what lie you try to say!

This particular student and I recently got into a conversation about the Ryan Lochte show and his ridiculous catch phrase, "JEAH!" so she likes to use it around me quite often because she knows I HATE it. 

I hate to admit it, but I will miss a few (not all, but a few) of these kids next year and the inside jokes we have cultivated! 

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Freebie and SALE

Just thought I would let you guys know that I added a new freebie to my store tonight. I took my YOLO idea and turned it into a prezi! Best of all it is FREE!


Check it out: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Original-YOLO-end-of-the-year-activity

Also, both of my teacher stores will be on sale on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday for Teacher Appreciation Week, so you should check those out!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mskcpotter 



Commercial for teaching foreshadowing


Robinsons is a British drink company. The juice in this ad is concentrated, and putting water into it is normal, so don't let that distract you too much. You'll probably want to watch this video twice, because once you see where it's going, there are little details that will make sense. -via Buzzfeed  

I saw this video today and it would be the PERFECT video to teach foreshadowing!

Have the kids watch it once so they know what is coming. 

Then go back and have them write down all the instances of foreshadowing that this ending was coming!

A few:

Green shirt wipes of the back of stripes
Green shirt lifts stripes up to do a chin up
Green shirt's rock goes MUCH farther when thrown
Green shirt's shadow is much taller than stripes
They are playing Star wars and green shirt says, "I am your father."
Green shirt can run faster
Green shirt teases stripes about a girl
Their glasses are two different sizes
Green shirt carries stripes up to bed

It's such a cute commercial and I think the kids would really like it and GET it!

Friday, May 3, 2013

New Windows and Doors!

This post is basically for my mother because she wants to see my new windows and doors, which got installed this week!



Landscaping needs to happen next!




Woo Hoo for home improvements! 

I hope that your school year is going well and you can see the light at the end of the tunnel. 

SOL testing has started at our school and everything is beyond hectic and hostile. 

I've been working on some new things in the little free time I have had and hope to write some new posts soon!