Sydney's School Stories

  My 3rd year of teaching ended last week. It was a fast whirlwind year that was filled with many ups and downs. I will be honest in saying that it was one of the most difficult years I have had so far. I also learned and grew more as a teacher than in any other years. As I reflect here are the big takeaways from this school year.  I went to a lot of professional development trainings outside of my building this year. I had students with challenging behavior and I didn't feel like I had all of the right tools to help my students succeed. I went to PD about special education and behavior! I became more understanding about students with special needs. I learned so much about working with students with trauma, ADHD, and behavioral needs. One of my closest teacher friends is a life skills SPED teacher and we went to a lot of trainings together. I have learned that so much a population of students who are frequently underserved that I hope to possibly get a special education endors...

  As a teacher you are often also take on the role of- counselor, mentor, friend, parent, guide, and social worker. The key similarity of all of these roles is the importance of creating connection with students & developing a relationship with others.  I didn't know that relationship building was such an important part of being a teacher until I had a classroom of my own.  Last year I had a group of students that I bonded with quickly and easily- we had a lot in common and had similar family/life backgrounds. I was really lucky to share my interests of Pokemon Go, music, and TV shows with a majority of my students. We had so much fun laughing together and I had a group of sweet helpers who liked spending their recesses with me so we could hang out. My class last year was the group that taught me the "heart" of teaching.  This year I have a much more difficult group students. It is not that they don't have their charm- they really do, but most of students have ha...

This is the second post of my "3 Schools in 3 Years" series. After you have (mentally / emotionally) processed that you are moving schools or classrooms it is time to get down to the process of packing. Here are my top 10 tips for packing up your room in preparation for moving. Share with your students that you are moving . I told my students that I was moving schools because I was feeling stressed and on edge- I knew I wasn't being the more "present" teacher I could be and wanted to share what was going on in my life to my 5th graders. I also want my students to know how they can contact me next school year and not be shocked when if they come to visit in the future and can't find me.  Start early. I began packing with 3 weeks left in the school year. I started by packing things that students couldn't see- such as curriculum I was done teaching or teacher books. If you start the process early you won't feel overwhelmed at the very end of the...

The past several weeks have been difficult because I am being involuntarily transferred to another school in my district. I am being transferred because a new school is being built in my district and students from my current school will be moving there and thus several classes are being cut and determined by seniority. I will be teaching 5th grade (staying in the same grade level- yay!) at a title one school. This will be my 3rd school in my 3 years of teaching. Moving schools is not easy and it has been stressful wrapping my brain around the fact that in a few weeks I will be saying "good bye" to the new friends I have made and will have to establish new relationships. I had previously thought that if I was going to move I could at least go back to my old school- but there were no open positions there. If you are getting involuntarily moved this year- here is a hug to you. It is hard and its ok to be frustrated, confused, tired, and in a "bleh" state. It is...

Today I am going to share how to create a teacher website. I have created both a teacher portfolio and classroom website on  WEEBLY . Weebly is a free and easy to use website building plateform that is great for educators Other great website builders are: WIX . WIX is a free website builder that also has an easy drag/drop system. I know several teachers who have used WIX and love it.  BLOGSPOT . This is part of Google’s system and mostly used for blogging vs. building a traditional website. This teacher blog was created on Blogspot.  SQUARESPACE . I have friends that have used squarespace and they find it easy to use - it seems to have a similar drag and drop function as Weebly. Squarespace costs money to create a site.  Wordpress.com  or  Wordpress.org . These websites offer more customization and people create beautiful sites. I have tried wordpress.com but found it very difficult to use.  A classroom website is a great way to connect with y...

We recently had a 4 day weekend - there were district wide professional development days. The kids are always so excited to be back at school & see their friends. Whenever students come back from a break they need to talk to their friends. I had the students do peer interviews. I listed the questions on the smart-board and students interviewed one peer at a time. I set a timer for 5 minutes and after the "beep" students got another partner. It was great to see students sharing their experiences, goals, and laughing with a friend. Here are the questions I posed: What did you do over the 4 day weekend? What is a goal you have for the week? How can you show kindness this week? How can you show the Woodridge Big 3 today and everyday?​

Weekly Math Rotations Grouping I put students into 5 homogenous groups. I group students by using a unit's pretest scores, exit tickets or quick quizzes throughout the course of a unit, STAR tests (these are tests that predict / track end of year SBA scores), and what I notice as a teacher.  There are about 5-6 students per group. I color code student's names with their group- this makes it easier for students to look at the smart-board and know what group they are in.  This year I have more boys than girls, but I do try to have both boys and girls in each group. I put students who are quiet with students who are chatty and try to make sure that kids have someone they like in their group.   Weekly Math Rotations