I do find that I am trying to "find my groove". I think if you have ever changed schools, or states, then you might know what I mean. Some of us may have that feeling every year. Maybe finding my "stride" is a better word?!
One new thing I am trying is a way to get the student's attention. I've always had my different ways, and staring seemed/seems to always do the trick...my motto is/was "You waste my time, I waste yours". And they knew that I was timing them and would take that time away from any extra time at the end of the day, recess, or they could owe me time by the end of the week. I also tend to have a "strong" voice, so usually can get their attention pretty quickly. Another one I use when partner sharing or group sharing is I simply start counting backward from 5 and they know to stop talking by the time I reach 1.
Something I noticed at my new school was that most of the teachers say something...and then the students say something else in return. I Pinterest searched a few of these and while they were cute and great attention grabbers they just didn't seem to fit my personality. I will admit this whole idea was a little out of my comfort zone to me. But once again it was something these students were use to and something I felt I could incorporate.
This was also something that I could use/do if I was in small group and needed to get the whole classes attention while they were doing something else (unlike the silent putting my hand in the air and such). So I thought...and thought.
My room is Room 15...so I thought I could call out "Room 15" and then let them call something back. I really couldn't think of something that rhymed so I asked my class to help out.
First response (kid you not), student response: "You're the Queen!"
Can't get any better than that!!!
Well actually we could, we did the You're the Queen thing for a day or so and I vetoed it and now they say: "We're a Team"
I just kept blushing every time they said it!
On another note I semi-successfully taught my first art class...we started with Primary and Secondary colors. After a long speech on not playing with the paint (and that the two worst things for my OCD were letting kids use paint and glitter)...that I was really taking a step of faith and hoping they would follow my directions/rules not to play in it, paint themselves, etc. I went to mix up the red paint by shaking it and WHOOSH!!! it splattered all over the place!!!!!!! (at least it was washable, and the class didn't laugh they all just sort of stared in shock...and waited for my reaction).
I used this fun printable for the mixing. Click here to get it!
Also here is a little peak of our Learning Targets the other day...some for the week.
I left some of them incomplete because I didn't want to "give away" what I would be questioning them about at the beginning of the lessons.
Finally on the eve of September 11th please make sure you remember this day with your students. If you need some last minute ideas, links and such you can read my last year's post as to what I did with my students. A Day to Remember
