Joy in Teaching

I've realized that being a blogger is not really my cup of tea. Reading others blogs and catching up with family through their blogs is what I enjoy. To give you a glimpse into my classroom and much of my time, this is why I'm bringing you the following post.

As you already know, this school year and change in schools has been a blessing for me. Stress levels have minimized and my ability to attempt creativity for learning has grown. Time I now have because paperwork demands are less at this school. This extra time I use to research ideas and resources to assist with my National Board Certification process but also begins to enhance my level of teaching. If there were to be a picture taken of me at work in just about any moment of the day, you will see me smiling as I work. Okay, so maybe not first thing in the morning but once my door opens to the students, the smile pops on my face.

Since this blog is not public and open only to who I invite, I feel comfortable sharing these images here.

As you'll see through the pictures and video, I'm not necessarily an artsy type of teacher so decorations in my classroom include students' work or simple posters to aid learning. Our classrooms are not pretty with lots of old cabinets and a TV that we don't use anymore (thanks to the Smartboard). Yet, I make the classroom work as best as I can.

Two of my students racing against each other to solve a 2 digit x 2 digit number and checking their work through another strategy (using expanded form for each number & multiplying in a matrix.

The following are pictures of my students playing a multiplication game called, "Salute." They loved it so much that at times the voice levels were overbearing due to their excitement. Students who struggle with multiplication got to go on the computer and play multiplication games for the fact(s) they're working on.

The following are photos from when we were introducing division with remainders. This game called "Leftovers" definitely challenged the students. My higher level students had to write their division problems with the remainders in addition to using the manipulatives.

During Red Ribbon Week (Drug Awareness Week) our school probation officer had coordinated many different guests to speak to the students' during the week. As well as coordinated with the DEA to have their helicopter land on the school field. Since the helicopter had to quickly move onto a drug bust, they landed temporarily and took off. The kids were in awe.

Here are my students' watching the helicopter.

Here is Dereck's classroom standing outside to watch the landing.

My students are working towards their class ice cream sundae party once ALL students have mastered their multiplication facts up to 9. We track using the ice cream scoops on our cupboard. Currently, all but 6 students have mastered their multiplication facts (photo was taken a few weeks ago).

Here are the Boys and Girls Volleyball teams on Game Day. There was no one available to take the Boys' photo except for me. Thus, as Coach, I'm not in the photo.

Boys Team

Girls Team

The following is a video I took on Thursday when the students were learning about equivalent fractions. This is the first time I've really taken video of my students (in preparation for National Board) so I knew not all students would "behave". Some groups did great of ignoring the camera, other groups...not the best. I bet you could probably pinpoint who the "class clown" is and who the "cool kid" is. You even even hear me telling a student to go put his head down (it's not any of the students that were onscreen at the time). Yet, I must say...ALL students were engaged in the activity. Yes, voice levels were a bit loud but I wasn't going to stop the class when they were all engaged and actively participating. (Video quality isn't the greatest but I had to resize it in order for it to load).

Sadly, I don't have any recent photos of Dereck and me readily available to add in this post. The holidays are quickly approaching and my blog post is quickly getting longer. Till next time, Happy Holidays!