Back-To-School Money Saving Tips for Teachers and Parents!

I've watched the shows about people who use coupons to the extreme and am in awe of their dedication and consistency.  I wish I could be that kind of money saver, but unfortunately, it just is never going to happen.  However, when it comes to back to school supplies I tap into my inner extreme couponer and start pulling out ads, finding coupons and trying to combine the coupons with the sales.  Teachers and parents spend so much on back to school supplies!  Seriously, I have a list of 22 items for my upcoming first grader and 24 items for my upcoming 3rd grader!  With that in mind I wanted to share a few of my and some of my friends favorite Back-To-School money saving tips!





1)  Big box office supply stores start with their back to school savings in July!  I discovered this by accident a couple of years ago when I was looking up on one of their websites and happened to glance at the weekly ad and saw things for a penny, a nickle and a quarter.  I was like a penny?  No, that can't be right...but it was!  This week alone I was able to get:

*  packs of 3 glue sticks for a penny each
*  70 page notebooks for a penny each
*  packs of 3 pink erasers for a penny each
*  handheld 2 hole sharpeners for you guessed it, a penny each.

Now of course these stores have limits - usually three each but you can go back multiple times, take a friend and some even extend the limits for teachers - just ask.  Some also have a minimum purchase (usually $5) but that can easily be met by the things that are on sale for a dollar apiece that you would be buying anyway (for me this often colored paper or dry erase markers).   I already have next week outlined because they have 2-pocket folders and packs of 100 index cards for $0.01 apiece and colored pencils for $0.50 starting tomorrow! :)





2)  Jameson from Lessons with Coffee suggests going to thrift stores! "There is so much stuff there from rugs, binders, storage options and even fabric for bulletin boards at fractions of the dollar of what you would pay at the bigger stores."  I agree completely!  I have no blinds or any other window covering in my classroom so the sun is always beating in and heating up the room.  I went to a local thrift store and picked up fabric that I fashion curtains out of!  Not only does it cool
the room, but it looks amazing too!  In addition to thrift stores, you can also check out garage/yard sales especially for storage bins and other containers for holding books and supplies.

3) Use teacher discounts and rewards programs.  Multiple stores not only have special discounts for teachers but they also have rewards programs.  Barnes and Noble Bookstores has a teacher discount program as do official teacher stores like Lakeshore Learning.  The major office supply stores like Office Max, Office Depot and Staples have a special teacher rewards program where you earn money back, coupons and other deals on purchases.  Often these discounts can also be combined with coupons so double savings!

4)  Prioritize your shopping list and buy in bulk when possible.  The reality is that as much as we want everything we don't need everything.  When sitting down to figure out what you are going to buy for your classroom, your upcoming school year or for your child(ren)'s up coming school year that sometimes you have to realize that everything is just not possible.  Money is limited and some supplies are more necessary than others.  Figure out what is the most important, most crucial and what is going to have the greatest impact and purchase those things first.  Once you have figured out the most necessary things see if you can buy them in bulk.  While the bigger package is going to be more expensive it will more often than not work out to be cheaper per individual piece than if bought smaller amounts.  Also, don't be afraid to use the store/off-brand for supplies that are "consumable".  A glue stick is a glue stick regardless of what label is on it.  Construction paper is the same paper if it is a store brand or a name brand!

5)  Jamie from Miss Math Dork takes it a step further and encourages you to "Make a budget! Or else it's too easy to keep buying "one more thing". Shop in stores that have a sale going on, and check out thrift shops and yard sales for nice storage options.  I try to buy a little bit at a time all year, and keep it stored until BTS time."  Knowing what you have to spend and setting a limit will not only make you a frugal shopper but will also help you to stick to your list (and you should always make a list)!

6)  Figure out what you already have.  I cannot count the number of times that I have shopped for my classroom, bought something and then when I set-up my room in the fall I find out that not only did I already have it, but in some cases I have it it in abundance.  For example, I found a great deal on index cards, then realized that I had 20 packs stuck in a cupboard in my closet - whoops!  I recommend taking the time to make a list of what you already have. Making a list of what you already have not only keeps you from spending money that you don't need to but it also encourages you to examine what is really essential.  What you do you use a lot of (glue sticks, paper, etc.) and running out of and are there things that you thought would be so great but you never used ... or forgot about?

7)  Invest in quality versions of the reusable supplies.  While spending a little more on quality will not save you money immediately, it will in the long run.  If you know that you are going to be splitting students up into groups often, invest in some high quality totes so that you have supply boxes ready and able to go.  Since scissors are used constantly, invest in higher quality brands so that they hold up to the constant wear and tear of 100+ students using them in one
day.  Of course, still look for these to be on sale (I just got very high quality 7 - inch scissors on sale for $1 apiece that were regularly $7 each) but be willing to pay a little more for the things that are non-consumable.

I would love to hear your money saving tips!  Please share them below!


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Interactive Notebooks - The Perfect Combination of Lecture and Handout Notes!

Lecture notes = stand and deliver in many minds.  Guided (fill-in-the-blank) notes = spoon feeding in other minds.  Neither one is better or worse than the other.  Instead they are structured to meet your students at the place that they are at.  The reality is, though, that in a class of 28 - 35 no one is at the same place.  So how do you meet them where they are at while retaining the flow of the class?  This is a struggle that I have had for the better part of 20 years through a 7 - period day, 6 - period day, trimesters, semesters, block and probably more that I cannot remember!  In addition, we have tried to be more "green" and "paperless" in my district as well which further adds to the struggle when you are trying to not make multi-page handouts that will just be (hopefully) recycled at the end of the semester.  So this year, I am trying  going to pilot something different in one of my classes - Interactive Notebooks - that I think will be the "perfect" marriage between the two methods!  I wanted to share with you why and how I'm going to go about it!

Cut and Paste

1)  Interactive Notebooks help students to stay organized helps them to reference back to old material.  One of my biggest frustrations is when students are trying to find something in a folder that is jam-packed with old assignments, notes, handouts and 1,000 other pieces of paper.  While it is fantastic that they are keeping all of these things, they serve no purpose if they can't find anything in them!  By using an interactive notebook students have all of their notes, IN ORDER, and can actually find them when they need them.  Some teachers also have students number the pages and keep a table of contents (which makes so much sense) so that they know exactly where the material is.  This is a fantastic thing, especially at the secondary level when material spirals and keeps building upon each other.  Although I did not use INB this year, I had a couple of my honor's students

FREE!!!

bring out their INB from the previous year (yes they kept them!) to look up previous ideas!

2)  Interactive Notebooks help to hold students accountable for and engage them in their own learning.  With many of guided notes, I find that a few of my students literally only fill-in-the blanks and don't write anything else down.  While this is by far a slim percentage of my students, as a teacher I want to reach them all.  I asked my students why this was and the common response was
that they don't know how to take notes and that they write slow (especially if the blanks are words that they are not familiar with).   INBs allow teachers to go more in-depth and help students to focus in on small pieces of information which leads to students writing more down.  Students also seem to feel more ownership because they can annotate easier and add things around the page.  

Angles of Elevation and Depression

3)  Interactive Notebooks should save paper, resources and time.  Since the interactive notebook pages are smaller and many less pages than traditional notes it should save on both paper and copy machine resources.  Most INB pages can be printed two to a page or are tabs that you can paste into the regular notebook and write under, both of which will save on paper.  Fewer copies means less time at the copy machine which means more time for everything else!  Additionally, since INB pages tend to be shorter, it will be easier to go over them more in-depth with absent students instead of having to wait for them to copy down multiple pages of notes from other students first.  Instead you can create an Interactive Notebook of your own that can act as a key.  This way  absent students can just borrow yours to fill in theirs and you can copy just one or two pages of your notebook if you need to send something home instead of multiple pages.

Similar Triangles Cut and Paste

4)  Interactive Notebooks meet students where they are at.  Interactive notebooks allow students to pick their pace.  If they need more examples, they can write them on the notebook page around the INB paste in.  Or if they want to explain how different ideas tie together, they can write the page number of the related page on the INB page and have quick reference.  Additionally, for those students who have accommodations, INB pages are easily differentiated to meet their needs.  I have even found that when surveyed, my honor's level kids liked the idea.  They stated that sometimes it is nice to have the diagrams done so that they can go further and explore the ideas more in-depth instead of getting bogged down with drawing everything.

Congruent Triangles Cut and Paste

I am going to try out Interactive Notebooks in one or two of my classes for the first couple weeks of school and do traditional guided notes in my other.  After a couple of weeks, I will let my students chose which one they like better.  I suspect it is going to the Interactive Notebooks.  I'll keep you posted!   Click here to get my Interactive Notebook pages on Angles Formed by Parallel Lines for free!   I would love to hear how you use Interactive Notebooks in your classes!  Please share below!  

Why I Believe You Should Decorate Your Secondary Classroom (and How To Do It!)

When I first started teaching 15 years ago, I was the only female in my department and the youngest teacher to boot! Needless to say I stuck out from the rest of my department (cue the song "one of these things is not like the other...). When I made the decision to decorate my classroom it made the difference even more obvious. However, looking around my very empty, bare, beige, cinder-block classroom I felt it was very cold, very sterile and just not that welcoming so I HAD to decorate. The big question, though, was how and with what? I had no clue how to decorate a secondary classroom so that it look like a high school classroom and not an elementary one. I had no idea how to get things to stay on the walls, where to find supplies or even a vision of what I wanted to look like! I just knew that I had to do something...

It was that last part - lack of vision - that led to many mistakes and wasted money (and as a beginning teacher money is definitely not something you have a lot of)! Finally, though, after 15 years I have finally feel like I have an under control, inviting, warm, educational and cohesive design! I would like to share a few tips with you to help you avoid the follies that I made my first few years!

1) Plan the space out before you begin. All classroom are traditionally either rectangular or square in design but you don't have all of that space to work with. If your room is anything like mine you have cupboards, heating vents, boards on a certain wall, bulletin boards, computer drops and of course 33 desks! Free space is a premium and you need to use it wise. You don't want to go out and get a bunch of things and then have no wall space to display them or floor space to put them. Before I started my current classroom "decor" I laid out on paper all of the thing that I had to have that I had no control over. For example, based on where the drops were, I had to

have my computer and teacher desk in the front corner. I have a huge air-conditioner/heater that sticks out 2 feet and takes up a third of one of my walls - but it is right under a window so I couldn't have used that wall space anyway. By laying out everything that I HAD to have, I was able to recognize what space I had to work with and could move on to the next step.

2) Place physical objects that take up floor space before posters or other decor. Start by placing your desks, tables, file cabinets that have to be in your room in the place that they need to go. If you want book cases, shelves, a student resource area (i.e. pencils, paper, sharpener, etc.) then they need to go in next. There is nothing more annoying than to put up posters, only to have to move them because a book case, file cabinet, etc. needs to go in that space. Placing everything physical first also allows you to see sight lines and room flow. If you want to post homework, you need to have it in a spot where it is easily accessible and visible versus someplace that it is going to get lost or cause mass congestion.

3) Decide what you want to put on your walls before you buy or make it. Do you want to illustrate your vocabulary (check out my previous post on word walls for ideas if you need them!) and formulas? Do you need to post your objectives and I-cans in a certain place? Do you want to post a list of previous homework or a homework calendar? Do you  want to do some encouragement posters (character, effort and the like?) or words to think about? Do you need to post your rules/expectations? Do you want to leave a space open to display student work?

Do you want to use a lot of different colors or stick to more of theme? Remember, the purpose of putting stuff on your walls is to not only make your room educational and helpful, but also inviting and some place that students feel encouraged and free to learn. Also keep in mind, while you students look at the walls for an hour or so a day, you look at them for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week...

4) Shop smart and frugally. When I first started out buying posters for my classroom I just went to local teacher store and bought what caught my eye. I put tape on the back, hung them up and called it done. It never occurred to me to laminate them to make them last longer, to make them myself or to shop online. Matter of fact, when I first started teaching, the internet barely existed!!! Now, there are so many options. You can go to Amazon and get them in two days for cheaper than the teacher stores offer which is fantastic - depending on what you are looking for that is! I found that while teacher stores were great for the encouragement posters, basic concept and a small portion of middle school math skills that we use at the high school level, they did not cover what we do at the high school level. There just did not exist posters covering the higher level math that I needed. Again, since this was really before the prevalence of the internet I was left with one option - make them myself! And make them myself I did! :) I ended up making over 200 "posters" that are 8.5 by 11! (If you are interested in having them for yourself, check them out in my teacherspayteachers store.) Over time, I have also bought some from other sellers on TpT and finally found a few on Amazon as well! If you choose the route of buying digital and printing them yourself, you can get cardstock pretty inexpensively at your local craft store or some of the big box stores. Also, look into the cost of printing them on your own color printer versus paying an office supply store to do it, often times they are cheaper!

5) Take care of what you have so that it lasts beyond a school year. We live in a green-conscious world and we need to conserve resources so make yours last! While I

know that laminating something and then pitching it is not good for the environment, more often than not, when you laminate a resource, it is because you plan to keep it long term! All of my posters are laminated for two reasons. One because they last longer and two because when I put tape on the back of something that is laminated, it pulls off easily and the poster can be stored easily. I also recommend that you buy a few totes or something else hard plastic to keep them from getting bent or damaged. I tried buying on the poster folders that the local teacher store had, but they were flimsy and unless stored flat, they would eventually curve and curve the posters with them.

My room has evolved a great deal over the last 15 years from a cold, empty, beige (oh way too beige) room to something full of life, color, warmth and that is welcoming! It has been and probably always will be a work in progress but it is also something that I have found enjoyable! I hope that my tips have helped you! I would love to hear what you have done to your room or to answer any questions you might have below in the comments!

Avoiding the Pitfalls of Teaching 3 - Creating Your Own Materials and TeachersPayTeachers

      As I have progressed through my years of teaching (currently sitting at 15+ !) I have learned a great deal.  One of the things that I learned was to not follow the textbook as if it was the end-all-be-
all guide to teaching.  I learned to break away and follow my own sequencing (see pitfall 2 here).  Doing so, however, left me with a problem.  If I was creating my own sequencing and my own lessons then I didn't always have an assignment ready to go.  The work and worksheets that come with the book are designed to follow their sequencing, not mine.  So an epic quest started to find materials that were on a single topic (or similarly related topics) that I could use to give my student practice.

       I began by printing out the textbooks worksheets and using the good old cut it apart and tape parts back together to create a new worksheet.  For a while, this worked.  Eventually, however, I moved further away from the book and started creating my own examples because they better fit what I was trying to teach.  I did this because I often felt that the book was asking them to solve a math problem while jumping rope and singing the alphabet in their over complicated examples.  So my quest continued and led me to start buying worksheet books from the publishing companies and again, for a while this worked.  It solved my problem far better than the cut and paste method did.  Until suddenly I found myself frustrated again with the holes.  I kept thinking there had to be a better way and I started searching online and I found my first TeachersPayTeachers resource.  It matched exactly what I need and it was beautifully made.  I seriously had one of those "heavens opening, beam of light moments".  I'm not kidding, I spent hours on the website searching, bookmarking and loading my cart.  It was like Christmas in September.  I was incredibly happy...until I got switched from Algebra to Geometry and everything I had found and bought was for Algebra.  So back onto TpT I went and discovered that the Geometry resources were a lot more scarce than the Algebra ones...

        By that point, however, I had taught enough years that I was getting really good at creating my own stuff so I used what I learned and started creating high quality Geometry resources that matched the caliber of the Algebra that I had purchased.  One day I decided to share what I was making with other teachers and the  Secondary Math Shop was born. :)   Since I opened a store on there, the caliber of my lessons, activities, diagrams and classroom environment has skyrocketed. I not only make things that are so much more superior to what I used before, but I purchase so many things as well to supplement my lessons!  That's right, while I am a seller, I am also still an avid buyer! :)

I spoke with a few other teacher - authors about their journey to opening their own stores and here is what they had to say.

Apples and Bananas shared "Since we work in an alternative school setting, we found it necessary to create materials that would appropriately scaffold content for a variety of learners. When we realized that the curriculum we were given only reached a handful of our students, we decided to try our hand at creating scaffolded notes and interactive notebook activities, like the products in this Algebra bundle.  We saw that our students were retaining so much more information with this format, and we love that it is general enough to be used with any curriculum."

Nikki from Teaching Autism stated "I started to make my own resources when I realised that there wasn't anything out there that suited the 'class' as a whole. I decided I would have to make it myself! You see, we are very big on inclusion - when our topic is 3 little pigs, we ensure ALL our children, regardless of ability take part in the same 3 little pigs activities, BUT we differentiate them so they are working at the right level for them with just the right amount of challenge. So, I started making my own resources, I had always been good at ICT so thought it would be easy - it's not so easy, trust me, wow I don't know how some of these teachers do it! At first I was using publisher, slowly I got around to powerpoint, then I got brave and started using my macbook instead of my usual windows laptop, investing in clipart that I just KNEW my students would love. The more enthusiasm I put into my resources - the more the children LOVED them! I make the same activity in 5 different levels, yep FIVE. It means all our children are working on the EXACT same activity, yet it's just changed to suit their individual abilities and needs!   Every child is different, which, in my class, means they all need different resources suitable for them. "

History Gal shared that "The textbook and the material that come with it make history boring. Raise your hand if you remember being in history class and being told my your teacher to read pages x - x and answer the questions at the end of the chapter. Who gets excited about doing that? I want students to get excited about history so I created my own activities. My favorites are my historical simulations"

It's Kinder Time I purchased Morning Work for my kinder kiddos and found that some of it was too easy for my kids. I also noticed that sometimes the morning work would have standards I had not taught yet and my kiddos would struggle to complete a supposedly review independent activity. This issue pushed my to take the giant leap and create my own Morning work. You can find it here(Morning Work Bundle). I know my kiddos were able to work through this product independently and were reviewing stands that we covered. It also helped that the weekly practice was repetitive and my kiddos knew what skill they would practice.  I am now working on adding the units that I have created for my classroom to tie in some fun activities as well as hitting the academic standards. Really creating came from wanting to have materials that fit the needs of my kiddos and allowed me to support each kiddos at their level."

Mrs. E from Mrs. E Teaches Math explained that  "I taught honors students and had a very difficult time finding activities and other resources rigorous enough for my students. Most of the activities I found online were way too simple for my students. I started creating my own activities to use in my classroom. One of my coworkers saw the activities I was making and suggested I list them on Teachers pay Teachers."

Coach Christopher from Courage To Core shared  "In my view, most textbooks aren’t sufficiently student-centered. They also tend to cover an incredible breadth of material at the expense of depth, and rarely give students the authority to do more than a series of relatively repetitive practice problems. They are certainly useful resources and particularly so for students who can work and learn independently out of the gate, but I think they don’t work so well for students who are not already performing at a high level. By contrast, having students work in small groups engages and challenges students widely regardless of level. Students must collaborate, articulate, listen, be creative, risk failure, deal with failure, persist, organize, assist, be assisted and actively engage as problem-solvers. Really putting my students to work has worked for them."


The pitfalls are there, just waiting, but hopefully together we can navigate them, avoid them or capitalize upon them to the benefit of you and your students.  What do you do to create your own materials or to supplement to make things fit the needs of your students?  Comment below, I'd love to hear it!

Avoiding the Pitfalls of Teaching 2 - Breaking Away From the Book's Sequencing

      As we move forward in our teaching career we look back on the past and say "if I had only known then what I know now..." and have a hundred things to fill in the blank with.  While there are many things that I wish I could have a do-over on, it is what I have identified as pitfall number 2 that bothers me the most.  It is simply this:  I wish that I had known that it is preferable to deviate from the book and teach material in an order that makes more sense rather than going lock-step section by section.

       In those nervous first few years we follow the book (if we have one) because it is our lifeline.  It is what tells us where to head next and saves our sanity when we are completely overwhelmed and cannot think of one more thing before we crash from exhaustion.  So we do section 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, quiz (because they book says one should fall there), 1.4....until we get through the book.  We don't realize (often because no one tells us or we are too tired to ask) that it is only a guide, not a curriculum.  I know that for years I followed it because it was all that I had.  My notes were even labeled "1.1 Title of Section".  I look back on those days and realize that while I was teaching, I was not reaching.  I was covering every topic that was on my list and getting through the whole book (most years anyway) which was seen as a win!  I was so nervous and so anxious about keeping my room quiet and under control (see pitfall one here) that I never asked myself "are they learning"?

      One day, however, as I got over my nerves, I started to realize that the ideas were so choppy and segmented that the students were struggling to make connections.  I started examining the content and not the book and came to some realizations.  I realized that there were triangles in chapters 1, 4, 7 and 9 so why not just do a unit on triangles?  Why not rearrange the order of topics so that they flow together instead of battling with each other?  I sat down and started mapping out topics and identifying what went with what and what was foundational information versus what was the next level.  Ultimately I started rearranging my entire outlook to meet the needs of the students (while still covering the curriculum).

      When I started doing this, my whole classroom changed, improved and strangely enough, I felt like a better teacher!  I felt like I was actually in control of what my students were learning and had some autonomy to try new things.  My passion for teaching was reenergized because I was again enjoying what I was doing.  Best of all - my students were happier, learning and retaining better and more effectively engaged!

I spoke with a few other teacher-authors about how they broke away from the textbook:

History Gal shared that "history's sequencing is chronological so it is difficult to deviate too much. However, as the teacher, I can decide how much to spend on each unit. This might surprise you, but there are parts of history that are boring even to history teachers! I cover those time periods quickly and spend more time on parts of history that I enjoy.

Coach Christopher from Courage To Core  shared "I like to switch things up every few years and teach at a new school, or quit and go rock climb for a year to keep things fresh. On the other hand, one way to keep some continuity for me has been to craft my own teaching materials to go alongside the school’s preferred text. The materials were adapted, refined and expanded with each new school. After 15 years (!) the texts became ancillary to my own materials which are now under the moniker Courage To Core. The evolution continues. No lock-step allowed!"




The pitfalls are there, just waiting, but hopefully together we can navigate them, avoid them or capitalize upon them to the benefit of you and your students.  How did you learn to break away from the books sequencing to using your own?  Comment below, I'd love to hear it!

Classroom Management Tips: Secondary Level

No matter how many years you have been teaching, be it just starting your first year, starting your last year or somewhere in-between there is one necessity that never goes away - Strong, Effective Classroom Management.  I have found over my years of teaching that regardless of the class, topic or even grade really, that there are few standard practices that will always hold true.

1.  Start day one with a clear set of expectations in your head.   
Spend some time before the first day thinking about what you want your classroom environment to be like.  Do you want to establish a routine where students know that as soon as they come they get started on warm-ups (bellwork/do-nows, etc.), then homework questions, lesson etc.?  Do you want to have students hand in work to a turn-in bin, do you want to collect it or perhaps you plan to walk around during the warm-ups to check it in and conference with students.  Do you plan to give bathroom/locker/hall passes?  If so, when in the class is it acceptable to ask?  What is your acceptable use policy for technology? These (and many more!) are questions that you need to have an idea about ahead of time.  By knowing what you want your classroom environment to be like, you can devise ways to make it happen!  The less that you have clear in your head before you start, the more likely you are to lose control of your classroom.

2.  Stick to your word.  If you say that doing "x" will result in "y" consequence, then do it!  The minute you let a behavior slide once, you are done.  You will start hearing "but you let so and so get away with it...".  On the flip side, if you express to students that they will get a reward of something for completing a task (i.e. the winning team gets a candy bar tomorrow), and then don't follow through, you will lose their trust.  One very powerful way to be able to stick to your word is to talk to your students about what you expect (see #1), what they expect and devise consequences (and rewards) together that everyone can find acceptable.  Students are far more likely to "buy-in" if they feel like they had a stake in creating something in the first place.

3.  Create an environment where students feel safe to make mistakes.  Math students, especially at the secondary level, are very afraid of failure as well as getting something and therefore tend towards not trying unless they are pretty sure of success.  When students aren't trying, they aren't engaged and therefore become behavior problems.  In order to combat this I employ two very powerful strategies.  First, when I make a mistake (especially if I am at the board teaching) I acknowledge it.  I don't try to cover it, I just go with it and use it as a teachable moment.  I will often ask students if they can help me find my mistake.  I even been known to make a mistake on purpose to further this goal.  The second thing I do is to talk to my students about what it feels like when you make a mistake in other situations, how you learn from them and then we discuss how that can be applied to our classroom.  This goes a long way to showing students that getting it wrong is part of the process of learning how to get it right!

4.  Establish norms for the different situations that will arise.  
Just as knowing how your want you classroom routine structured is important to effectively managing your classroom, so is knowing how you want the different situations that occur in a classroom to run.  The first situation that you may want to consider is group work settings.  What is your plan for when students work in groups?  Do you choose the groups or do the students?  Do you have limits on group size?  Are you going to assign roles within the groups?  Do you want a single paper turned in per group or do you want all the students to complete an activity and staple their papers together as a group?  The second situation which is crucially important to have a plan for is classroom discussions. Do you call on the students or can they call on each other?  Can students opt out of answering a question or must they give it an attempt?  Are you going to keep track of participation for points or is there not a need for that?  How are students allow to talk - to each other or just to you?  A great strategy to structure classroom is discussion is "Math Talk".  

5.  Enjoy your job and communicate that enjoyment to your students.  
Nobody wants to be around someone who is miserable and wishing they were somewhere else or doing something else.  I'm so sorry to be the one to say it, but its true.  If you hate what you are teaching or where you are teaching it, the students will know it and they feel rejected.  This attitude also bleeds through into your ability to teach you students and to help them to feel connected.  On the flip side, if you are pleasant and genuinely want to be doing what you are doing, it draws the students in and helps to make a connection and communicate that learning can be enjoyable.  The more you want to be there, the more your students will too!

I realize that there is a great deal more that goes into effective classroom management, but these are five things that I have found work for most anyone!  Do you have any other strategies that you have found work well?

Why Collaborative Work Needs to Occur as Often as Possible

Looking back on my own schooling experiences I cannot clearly identify situations where we worked  together.  I cannot remember my teachers telling us to "turn to the person next to you and share your answer" or coming into the classroom and working in groups.  After talking to a few people who I went to school with I realized that I can't remember it because it rarely happened (except for labs in science class).  Knowing what I know now about the power of collaborative communication, this makes me incredibly sad.  I wonder how my own school struggles would have been diminished had I had the chance to work with others.  I know that for many of us, collaborative work and communication causes fear.  I addressed the ways that I handle this by setting up the classroom for collaboration from day one in a recent post (available here).  What I want to address today is not the HOW of collaboration but the WHY.

Reason one:  It helps to aid with classroom management.  I know, the first thought that goes through the mind is how in the world is it possible that getting them to talk will help with classroom management?  Hear me out, I promise it will make sense.  Teenagers have difficulty sitting still and listening for long periods of time, this is a proven fact.  Just watch your students for a few minutes and see what happens.  They start to shift in their seats, they doodle, they try to sneak a peek at their phone and/or they start talking to the people near them.  By taking collaboration breaks in a lesson such as "turn to your neighbor and work out this problem" or "collaborate with your elbow partners to restate ______________" you are giving them an outlet for that nervous energy.  It helps them to focus on what you are teaching and has the added benefit of identifying misconceptions about what you are teaching if they exist.

Reason two:  Teenagers are social creatures who live in a world where information and communication is literally at their fingertips at all times.  As teachers who desire to meet our students in the ways that they best learn, retain and reference information we have to move outside of our comfort zones and meet our students how they learn best.  Today that means collaboration, communication, sharing of ideas and talking with classmates as often as possible.  Students need to work together to clarify information in their own minds.  I have even seen some "social media" templates that work perfectly to get at the information on the students' levels.

Reason three:  We need to teach our students how to work cohesively with all types of people.    We are preparing these students for the "real world" (I really dislike that term) beyond high school whether it is college, the military or the workforce.  Regardless of what path they take, there will be people that they have to be able to effectively communicate with.  As educators, it is our responsibility and privilege to give them the opportunities to practice and refine these skills.

Reason four:  Studies show that information is retained most effectively when it is shared with others. I saw this graphic online and it stuck itself in my brain.  This is why teachers need to to embrace collaboration.   We teach in a world of high stakes testing, constant competition, and we have to do what it takes to set our students up for success.  The majority of teachers get entrenched (and often trained) in the top part - passive teach methods.  In the past, it worked for the most part.  Looking, however, at the 5% (which yes, may be a little low) of information retained from lecture compared to the 50% for group discussion and the 90% (which yes, might be a little high) from teaching others I'm left with one thought - how can we not try???  If there is even a chance (and research shows there is) that group collaboration can help with retention, learning and connections between concepts we have to try.

Reason five:  If students don't communicate, you have no idea what they know and don't know.  I have had many students in my career who have difficulty showing their knowledge on paper but when you talk to them they can explain it fantastically!  Additionally, by talking to their classmates students will often clarify their own understanding.  In my experience, students can use the same words that you as a teacher use, but it sounds completely different to their classmates and can make a great deal of sense.  

Whatever the reason, I challenge you to try it.  Get your students talking and see what happens, you just might be surprised! :)

Branching Out on Social Media

While I am not anti-technology, I usually prefer face to face contact (or at least voice-to-voice on the phone)!  That being said, I realize that I live in the year 2015 and that a social media presence is a necessary means by which to communicate.  The odd looks I get from my students when I ask what something is, lead me to do some research and get educated on social media!  So, I am pleased to announce that now you cannot only follow The Secondary Math Shop on Pinterest, but also on Twitter and Facebook!  I am getting ready to do my first give-away on Facebook when I hit 100 likes and 50 followers on Twitter.  I will announce the give-away on Facebook and on Twitter so keep your eyes peeled!

More Effective Classroom Discussion and Questioning - How I'm Working to Make it Possible! (part one)

As a teacher you can find yourself in some very uncomfortable positions when standing in front of a classroom full of students, especially pre-teens or teenagers.  While you get pretty good at deflecting the inappropriate questions and comments and redirecting students who are heading off on a tangent, if you are anything like me, you still struggle with how to get responses out of students.  One of the most uncomfortable moments come when you ask a question and you get cricket eggs.  Not even crickets, just simply their eggs waiting to hatch.  It's that Ben Stein moment in Ferris Beuller...anyone, anyone, Beuller, Beuller...?   You ask, no one answers (or the same students who answers every question shouts something out), you ask again, still no response.  Then, nine times out of ten, you end up giving hints or just straight up answering your own question. 

In an attempt to combat this, I have spent this year on a quest (in that "free" time that we all don't have) to find more effective ways to facilitate classroom discussion.  I started by examining my own question techniques during a lesson to see if changing up HOW I am asking a question has any impact.  For example, I changed from asking "Does anyone have any questions" which gives students an out from asking any questions, to "What questions do you have" which assumes that there are questions that need to be answered.  This can prod students into thinking about whether they really get it or if there might be something that they are unsure about.  I have seen a rise in the amount of questions asked just by this simple change.

Taking into account that fact that many pre-teens and teens really like to "save face" in-front of their peers and not admit to not knowing something I have also expanded on this.   I will often ask  "If your friend wasn't here today, what question would they have tomorrow" or "Tell me one thing that your friend might be confused about if they just walked in and looked at the board".  Both of these questions allow students to have make it seem like it is someone else question and not their own.  Additionally, both encourage students to think outside of the box and look at a lesson or topic in a new light.  By asking students to put themselves in the brain of another person, they start to examine connections to prior knowledge and make those connections to new knowledge. 

The other major change I have made during classroom lessons and discussions is to put forth a concentrated effort to get students talking to each other and working with each other.  Once a student has answered one of my questions I will often not tell them if they are right or wrong (mean of me I know!).  Instead I will chose one a few different paths for follow. 

1)  I will ask someone else (or multiple someones) if they are agree or disagree with what the student said which serves multiple purposes. First,  it makes students really pay attention to the lesson and discussion since I call on random people not just those with their hands up.  Secondly, it makes them listen to each other since they can't explain if they agree or disagree if they don't know what the first student said.  Lastly, it helps students to focus their own thinking and understanding to figure out what they believe to be correct or not.

2)  I will ask someone to rephrase or expand upon what the student just said.  Rephrasing helps students to align their own understanding and to express it more coherently.  When I ask students to expand on what was just said, it takes the discussion to the next level and takes a simple answer to a rich mathematical inquiry.

3)  I will ask the student to convince me that they are correct.  Odd I know, but it makes students take ownership of their answer instead of just saying something for the sake of answering.  Additionally, when I go this route, I often find students pulling up prior knowledge, using better vocabulary and often asking if they can come to the board to show me.  Other students will chime in to help with the support needed or to correct misconceptions.  They love to be right and being given the opportunity to prove it is always a winner!

I don't have all of the answers, but I am seeing positive results so far so I'll keep at it and hopefully continue to improve!  Next step, improve discussion during group work and activities! :)

New Year, New Resolution to Get Organized

At the beginning of the school year I went through and spent time getting myself organized both as a teacher and in my classroom.  As the year has gone on, however, I have found certain things lacking.  Namely the cohesiveness of the walls, boards, turn-in, pick-up and supply bins.  They are just a mess and it drives me bonkers!  I have tried different ways to overcome this mess including sticker labels, folders and other random methods.  But for me, since it is handwritten, it still looks sloppy.  

As a result, I turned to my favorite teacher store first - Lakeshore Learning - to see if they had anything that would meet me labeling needs!  I found some great little plaques/name tags that I could laminate and write on with dry erase markers.  They are really nice and cohesive looking...but after getting them home and trying them out, I realized that they still didn't look...well professional enough for a high school classroom.  

 

Vintage Digital

So I did what I have done for a while now - I made them myself!  I downloaded some fantastic retro and vintage digital papers from Stacey Lloyd on TeachersPayTeachers and got to work!  I used the papers as a background in PowerPoint, added some frames, did some other coloring, manipulating and modifying and had a template.  I then started thinking about everything I needed to label in my room and created professional looking labels for everything in my room!  I even created labels for my group numbers so I don't need to recreate them every I put students in groups. To make them functional and long lasting I am going to print them on card stock and laminate them.  

Starburst

After a couple of days of staring at them (since I made them over winter break when I was still over a week from getting back in my classroom) I decided that if they would benefit me, then maybe they would benefit other secondary math teachers too!  So I made four more sets with different backgrounds and posted them in my TeachersPayTeachers Store.  I also included a powerpoint file so that teachers can make their own labels and change the phrasing if something that I labeled isn't what they call it!  The labels come in Starburst, Circles, Diamonds (a black and white design for those without color printers), Stripes and Circles and Stars (this prints really well in gray scale if you are color ink challenged!). 

What is your favorite way to get  organized?

***Thank you to Stacey Lloyd for the fantastic background for my blog cover slide***

Reviewing Beyond A(nother) Worksheet

After all the days of teaching a unit, doing practice work, quizzes and other formative assessments I find that I need to change it up a little bit for the review before an assessment. I have explored many different methods and want to share a few of my favorites with you. The results will of vary depending on the make-up of your class and how well they can keep the noise level down when being up and moving around!

My first favorite is to use station activities. Station activities can be designed in multiple ways. I have done some stations where students complete task cards at each station that focus on different skills or concepts for the unit. For example, I just finished a unit in Algebra on functions. My students had a station activity where each of the five stations focused on major skills - 1) finding the domain and range from a table/graph/mapping and identify whether it not it was a function, 2) evaluating functions, 3) writing a function rule from a table, 4) find the domain and range from a graph, and 5) applying functions to create distance time graphs. I found that this worked well because they were focusing in on one concept at a time and I could quickly identify if there were gaps or holes in their knowledge.

I have also done station activities where different stations actually have them completing tasks. I did one where one station has them going online (usually using i-pads) to look up a topic, one station had them constructing something out of pipe cleaners, another had them doing a matching activity, and two were problem solving. This type usually works better in a more visual class like Geometry. Regardless of the type that you use, make sure that you have a timer displayed and that students know the direction of rotation. Also, make sure to build in rotation time when you are planning out the lesson.

My second favorite form of review is to use a review game such as BINGO or Jeopardy. I especially like using BINGO in a unit that is identification heavy be it from vocabulary or diagrams. My students enjoy it because they get to a) compete, b) win prizes and c) be noisy! When setting up a BINGO game make sure that you either laminate your cards so that can be reused or have the students create their cards themselves. While I don't use Jeopardy as often, the times that I have I found that my students really enjoy it. The only drawback that I have yet to overcome is how to have students "buzz" in.

It was from this drawback and I discovered my favorite review game of all time to play in the classroom...KAHOOT! :) I love this game. My students love this game! It is a win-win situation all around. The game is free and if you search on the website there are ready made "Kahoots" already created that you can download and edit to suit your needs. The two essential requirements are a board to broadcast on and devices (i-pads, computers, phones) that can connect to the internet. It is an online game. Whenever I mention Kahoot my students get excited. They enjoy it so much that they ask if we can play. A really wonderful feature of Kahoot is that you can download the results and save them so that you can use it as a form of assessment or a record of their knowledge gained. Are there still units that I use a paper and pencil review on? Of course there because a review game or station activity won't fit every unit. But they are not always my go-to anymore. I still always create on though in case the technology goes down and so that absent students can still have a review to use to prepare for the assessment. How do you review?