I feel like I've grown a lot in my teaching this year and I credit that to my amazing team collaboration. Together truly is better! We are fortunate enough to have SOAR time every Thursday for 45 minutes during which time our students do great things at leadership academies (definitely check out Leader in Me if you aren't a familiar with it) and we get to team plan/review assessments/analyze data ....
So here's my day, with some random thoughts about how it's going. Use you imagination and think about all the great hyperlinks that will take you to new posts with the specifics.
7:45-8:10
Students arrive, fill out agendas, get ready for the day, etc. Announcements/"tardy bell" is at 8:10. I started a different type of morning work this year. I've always debated MW because I'm a firm believer in no busy work (for their sake and mine) so finding a way to make it meaningful has always been a struggle for me. This new one I bought off teachers pay teachers (because why create something that someone else already did amazingly?!) has been a great way to teach those pesky grammar skills (to use in our writing/word study sentences), figurative language, and use our research skills using iPads. Students complete it in the morning (or during 1st round if they're running late) and we do a quick mini-lesson over the material after recess.
8:15-9:10
Specials/plan time
9:10-9:30
ELA skill mini lesson
As for Daily 3 (Daily 5 minus 2 to fit our time/abilities as 5th graders) and ELA, it's always a work in progress. We've settled into our schedule/routines and I've tried a variety of new ways this year to hold students accountable during this time (some with success, some junk, but hey, that's teaching!).
9:30-10:00
Daily 3 1st round
I use music that I made in garageband to time this. When sandstorm plays at the end of the 1/2 hour round, students know they have the full 2 minutes to stretch, move around, get what they need, & start 2nd round so that way my small groups aren't disturbed. My 1st round varies with the day of the week, but is typically a skill based group or student conferences. On Thursdays, all book clubs meet during 1st round. Listening in on student conversations during these lit circles never ceases to amaze me!! Otherwise, students use their choice sheet to make their daily choices. (Mental note: take picture of schedule anchor chart and insert here)
10:00-10:30
Daily 3 2nd Round
During this time, some students leave for RTI for additional small group reading practice. On regular days, it's another round choice for students. Two days a week, we use this for our genius hour projects. Google this if you're unfamiliar with it!! My students love it! I have some learning French, others studying mythological creatures, some designing new kinect structures, and some learning to code. Literally amazing, but I've got some management changes to make on this for next year. I'm looking forward to reading my new book this summer that I got regarding genius hour from Dave Burgess' presentation on teaching like a pirate. (Side promo for Dave: best PD I have ever been to!! He's so inspiring to step up your game as a teacher, hooking students and investing them in learning. Also, my teammate said he's a male version of my hyperactive ADD self, so it was love at first sight). .
10:30-10:50
Recess
10:50-11:00
Mini lesson on morning work
11:00-11:20
Daily 3, 3rd round (Again to music, when mission impossible plays, we clean up and get ready for math) This is the round I focus on word study using Words Their Way (a differentiated spelling/vocab program). In 5th grade we focus on the usage/meaning of the words more than the spelling because, seriously, everyone has spell check. I meet with groups, depending on what day we are at in the schedule. Students have a word study checklist they complete during rounds before we meet. On Fridays, we either buddy study or test during this round (it's on a 2 week schedule).
11:20-12:40
Science/SS with Mrs. Kilgore's class - this could be (& will be!! Optimism strikes again...) multiple posts on its own. My background is in science and I generally feel like we (Sarah & I) rock this time! I struggle between doing all the inquiry/hands-on labs with the time and money it takes me to prepare for them. Plus, there's always room for improvement, but I love the direction we've headed with these.
12:40-1:05
Lunch!
Though not teaching related, our team does a lunch bunch that everyone should try! It's been fantastic for my attempts to eat healthy and save money. Basically, I bring lunch every Wednesday for the 4 of us. I make lunch one day a week and eat all week! Plus, it's way easier to prepare a meal for 4 people versus 1.
1:05-2:30
Science/SS with homeroom
2:30-3:10
Writer's workshop
For once, I'm loving the way writer's workshop looks in my room and the writing my students are producing. Also, the fact that they clearly enjoy writing time says something! I'm losing steam with this post tonight, so I'll save the whole plan/structure for another time.
3:10-3:25
Read aloud, agendas, leadership jobs, pack up.
So there's a typical day in my life! Well minus the technology integrated into all my plans in a meaningful way using the SMAR model, the unlimited formative assessments to change instruction, critical thinking, differentiated instruction, student leadership, classroom management, data analysis, collaboration, goal setting, data notebooks, teacher data notebooks, standards based grading, PLC, NEE evaulation system, Units of instruction, GAP training, IEP modifications ....I could go on forever! Seriously, people don't understand all that goes into teaching if you've never done it, but that's a different rant!! And again, my goal is to provide details/PDFs/ specifics on everything one day so this is like my brainstorming ideas/prewriting (which autocorrect changed to predrink hahaha).
Also, I'm not proofreading this tonight (maybe ever), so be a problem solver and figure out what I mean with any typos/spelling errors. Thanks.
