The First Week

     We had a great first week back in 4th grade! Instead of the normal going around the room and letting each student speak we did an engaging 4 corner game that helped us all get to know each other better.

     We used Plickers to survey the class on reading interests. I taught students the C4b4Me (See four before me) which reminds students to ask 4 other students before going to the teacher with a non emergency problem. Students were introduced to team jobs. We are off to a great collaborative start!Next week, we will set up data folders and set reading goals!!
                                 

Rethinking Reading Conferences

So, as I sat at my desk this past week with 3 very large binders, packs of dividers with labels and my new class lists for the upcoming year I gave an exasperating sigh as I dread to put together  these binder for reading conferencing purposes because it literally takes me a couple of hours. They are cumbersome and not easy to take around the room with me and not optimal for looking at class data in a group format. I had watched an online google training a few days prior and the instructor had shoed how to use google forms for surveys and assessments and then it hit me!! Google Forms for reading conferences. So, of course I googled it and other teachers were already doing it. I watched some instructional videos on you tube of other teachers doing similar things and created my own.
Below is a sample. It allows me to enter data for each student and the cool thing is it will compile class data into a pie chart and graph as well as displaying it on an excel spreadsheet. I'm so exited to try this for my reading conferences with my 3 fourth grade classes this year!!


Conference Form

Giving classroom instruction a remodel

    Everywhere I look, twitter, Facebook, books, and my favorite blogs, the message is the same: our education system is floundering. We have to change the way we are teaching to meet the needs of today's learners. Our job, as teachers, is to prepare kids for jobs that don't exist yet. Don't get me started on the need for technology integration. It's sooooo much!! So overwhelming!! Sometimes I just want to put my head in the sand and continue on the same path hoping that it will continue to work. But, I know that is not fair to my students. I want to be the best teacher I can be, sooo this school year I am going to document my journey of making changes one day at a time. Yes, I would like to share my ideas with others and hopefully gather some feedback and encouragement along the way, but I primarily want to keep myself accountable to this "renovation" of sorts. I know those HGTV house flipping shows that I am addicted to make it look so easy, but behind those incredible transformations is a ton of blood, sweat and tears. On a DAILY basis. So, I am committed to one activity at a time, one lesson at a time, one day at a time. Why? Because I didn't get into this profession for the money (lol) or summers off.

 Because my students are worth it.