Sydney's School Stories

I've always been fairly good about working my contract hours but the last few years (pandemic teaching and teaching new subjects) have made me be more mindful of my self care and my work/life boundaries. Here are some tips for working your contract hours: Make a daily must do list. I usually about 3-5 things a day I write down that I must get done.  Make the most of your prep time. I really value my prep time and I do my must do items of the day during this time. I'm working as a special education teacher this year and I make sure to also value their prep time.  Don't grade everything. When I taught general education- I had assignments that I would just check for completion (IE center activities). There is no way you can grade everything. In special education I take data on one goal area a session (IE in a math small group I will take data on one kid's goal area and target the lesson on that- the next time I'll focus in on a different goal).  Make and re-use materia...

 Year 7! I cannot believe that time has passed so quickly. This year I am teaching a new subject (elementary resource room) at a new district. Last year was really challenging and I just needed a change. This year I am hopeful . Hopeful to fall back in love with teaching and hopeful to regain my own sense of self.  Here are some photos of my new classroom. I share this space with a wonderful PT and OT.  Update 3 weeks in... I just finished the first full week week of the school year- so tired but overall feeling happier/more at peace with teaching. I'm exhausted but I think this is just because of transitioning to being back at school.  Highlights I realize that last year I really missed having more conversations with kids and building relationships. (Last year I taught young students who were still learning how to use AAC and this made communication more challenging). I love laughing and talking more to my students.  I am using A TON of skills that I gained fro...

Summer!!! Summer is the time of year when teacher rejoice and what we look forward to all year.  In the past I've always worked summer school - it gave me extra money and I always worried about not having enough to do. People hate on summer school- but it is nice to get to get extra income (*side note- unfortunately many teachers rely on supplemental income) and I got to do creative technology camps and learn new skills. The past 2 years I didn't work during the summer because of the pandemic and this year I was honestly just too burnt out.  This summer I am approaching my time off in a whole new way! I am healing. I am resting. I am smiling.  This past school year was exhausting. I was in a new role and the learning curve was very high. I worked with students who needed a lot of support and some who could be extremely physically aggressive (I still have scars / marks that I'm healing). I am tired of fighting for support for my class / students. To add to that- we all jus...

  2021-2022 A Year In Review- Big Leaps & Persistence I’m finishing up my 6th year teaching! This year I took a big leap and went from teaching upper (general education) elementary to teaching kindergarten/1st grade special education. For me personally- this was my most challenging year. It was challenging to go from fully remote to in person, from general education to special education, and work with aggressive behaviors. In this post I want to share golden moments (good things to cherish), what I’ve learned, and some advice on persisting.  Golden Moments I made a lot of new teacher friends! The connections and community of teaching is something that is irreplaceable.  I worked with some really cool kids. The kids had a lot of needs and different struggles but they also reminded me daily of childhood joy/innocence/enjoyment in small moments. They laugh and love bubbles, playing with toys, Peppa Pig, and playing with water. The kids have a strength that is special. Th...

  PSA: It’s ok to leave your computer at school      Leaving your computer at school is 100% ok. I leave my computer at home on most school nights and weekends. Why? I try my best to do my prep work during my prep time or lunch. I don’t make/create many materials that are too time or material intensive- unless it’s something I can see the kids using often (Ex: IEP materials).       What are some of my favorite activities in a self-contained K/1 class? I really like cut & paste activities for counting, dot-blotter activities, cut and paste sorting, etc.  Leaving my computer at work has helped me to keep my work at work so that I have more freedom at home.       Now I still will check email at home or work on an IEP if I have something coming up. I will work on creative projects or school work occasionally. The big difference is that now I don’t put pressure on myself to do work at home- it's only if I want to.  Pri...

  Hello Internet Friends!  It has been a few years since I’ve done a blog post and quite a bit has happened since then- a global pandemic being one of them. I can’t really blame my lack of writing on the pandemic though- I stopped blogging in mid 2019. I decided to give my blog a facelift (Thanks to Simply Stella design It’s now 2022 so let's do a little world/life/teaching update! Pandemic. I couldn’t do an update post without mentioning the pandemic. In the 19-20 school year I was teaching 5th grade and honestly struggling with student behaviors. I had some kids who were really anxious and depressed. In March 2020 (like the rest of the world) I sent my kids home one day thinking I’d see them all in 2 weeks as we waited for the mystery virus to cool down- little did we all know lol. The rest of that school year actually wasn’t that bad- we all adjusted fairly well to remote learning and I grew closer to my kids who were struggling with anxiety because the peer pressures of sc...