Exhausted Teacher in September!

🏫  OMG!  Our school changed from a 6 period day to a 7 period this year!  This was to ensure equality of teaching time for each instructional group but I am so so so very tired.  Can't think straight by the end of the day!

🍎  Teaching assignment include 3 grade 7 Math classes and 3 grade 8 Math classes.  Initially I was hoping that I would have three consecutive Grade 7 classes followed by three consecutive Grade 8 classes.  I am so glad that this is not the case 😃  instead the order is mixed (8A, 8B, 7C, 8C, 7A, 7B)

😃  I find that I have a tendency to go through the lesson faster and faster the more often I teach the concepts in the same day.  Having a different grade mixed in has allowed me to refocus on the grade, curriculum and students.


🎒  I teach 6 of 7 periods in the day.  Given 30+ students per class I am seeing about 190 students per day.  Thankful that I also teach my homeroom otherwise the number would be even higher lol

🍎  190 faces to match with names on the attendance list.  I am going to create 6 seating plans tonight as students did not sit in the same place on day 2 as day 1.  Confusing for me.

Brain Research & Doodle Notes

Minds In Bloom

🍎  I am always looking for new and different ways to engage my students in the Math curriculum.  Brain based research and Growth Mind Set has been a focus of my professional development in the past couple years.

Making Math Lessons More Engaging lists five ways to engage students in lessons.  

1. Tell a Story
2. Open with a Hook
3. Emphasize Your Main Points
4. Choose Images over Words
5. Address the “Why”

Two great sites Brain-Based Doodle Notes and Math Giraffe have an incredible amount of research and resources for using Doodle Notes in the classroom.

Doodle Notes meet all five points listed in Knewton's blog.  Doodle Notes enable students to understand the "why" of the lesson hooking the students while telling a story about the concept, emphasizing main points and include student created or teacher provided images.

Last year I used a couple of the resources from Math Giraffe modifying the content to meet my curricular needs.  My students loved them.  This year I plan to incorporate Doodle Notes into every unit as I create (and post) my own Doodle Notes that are specific to my curriculum.

Beginning of School Year 2017

It has been a incredibly busy three days (August 30, 31 & Sept 1) getting ready to start a new school year.  It is amazing the tremendous amount of work involved at the System, School and Classroom levels.  

Meetings - system & school focused meetings
I feel very fortunate 💜 that our school leaders acknowledge teachers need time to meet, organize and set up their classrooms in preparation for students arriving.  

System and school focused meetings are informational providing updates to policies and procedures necessary for the day to day operation of our school.  It is amazing how a seemingly minor change in mandate can have a far reaching impact on the school, staff and the reason we do what we do the 🠞 STUDENTS!

At the end of our first morning of meetings we were advised to come the next morning dressed comfortably for a "team building" exercise.  To be totally honest I was dreading it.  Prior experiences have left a bad taste in my mouth for such activities.

Well any and all misgivings went out the window!  Our amazing principal organized an "Escape Room" activity.  We divided into our six Teaching Pods and rotated through three activities created Mobile Escape.  Everyone raved about the activity.  It seems that many were as apprehensive as I was.

Pod Meetings

Each Core subject Pod consists of a English Language Arts teacher, Mathematics teacher (Me), Science and Social Studies teacher.  Pod 1  teaches 3-Grade 8 and 3-Grade 7 classes every day except Fridays where we teach 3 each Friday.  

My pod, Pod 1 (we have to come up with a name for our Pod) gathered to participate in the Escape Room team building activity and another time to discuss and share knowledge about the special needs students.

Department Meetings

Maternity leaves, teaching assignment changes and teachers moving schools has decimated our school's Math Department.  This year the other members of the Math Department's teaching experience ranges form 1st year to experienced.  We had productive meetings where we discussed long range plans, Course Syllabus, order of math units and assessments.   A positive to being the sole remaining member of the department going forward is that I get to say "how we do things".  

 Classroom Preparation  


   🍏  3 Staff Meetings  ✔

   🍎  2 Department Meetings  ✔

   🍏  1 Pod Meeting  ✔

   🍎  Clean & Organize Classroom desks ✔

   🍏  Organize 1st day activities & lockers, handouts ✔

   🍎  Create and print Math course outline ✔

   🍏  Organize teacher & student supplies ✔

   🍎  Create Bulletin Boards ✔

• How to Learn Math        
• Changing Words Changing Mindset 
• Class Expectations 
• Borders on Student word bulletin boards 

🍏 To Do List (working at school on Saturday September 2nd)

1. Math games - check that all games are complete
2. Cards - check that all decks are complete (24 decks)
3. Update Marks & Attendance binder dividers
4. print Homeroom & Class lists
5. Print Year Plans at a Glance & Detailed Long Range Plan
6. Create Teacher Day Book Plan sheets (changed to a 7-period day from a 6)
7. Print class lists