As I take part in the 20 Day Blogging Challenge (#bc20), I find myself reflecting on teaching. What can I share that is meaningful? Taking part in this blogging challenge has definitely made me push beyond my regular blogging frequency as well as the content being published. Serving What does serving have to do with teaching? Isn't that something that a waitress or waiter does at the local restaurant? This characteristic is one that has been highlighted in my life recently. I have been reading Tony Dungy's book titled The Mentor Leader. Tony has great advice on being a leader and serving. It is not about the short term results. However, it is about cultivating and building up others around you. It is about building significance into their lives so that they may someday lead the next generation. Wow! Those of you that are teachers may be getting goose bumps or chills knowing that Tony's ideals about leadership resemble what being a teacher is all about. It's not about accolades or getting paid big dollars. It's about serving those in our classrooms, buildings and communities. There isn't a magic formula for manufacturing greatness in our classrooms. What is magical though is the investment, nurturing and love that takes place in classrooms to foster leadership for future generations. While some professions look for the short term return on their investment, a teacher treasures those little moments when a light bulb turns on inside their student's head, regardless if it took months to accomplish. Sometimes I find myself focusing on the short term which leads to negativity and poor execution on my part. I often forget about the greater vision and purpose of being a teacher. Through all the chaos each day, I sometimes feel like I am not getting anything into my students' heads. Stepping back and looking at the long term helps me realize it takes a lot of small stones to build a mountain. Being a teacher is not as easy as most think. Those that do not teach have a skewed view on what all factors into each learning adventure that takes place in the school and classroom. Those that teach know what it is all about. It's about serving in a way that is selfless. It is about being focused on others in an authentic way that builds them up to succeed. It's about the intangibles, the, "I missed you," the, "your the best." Most of all, it is knowing that you instilled something that will ultimately be the foundation for the rest of someone's life. Priceless! Cheers to being a teacher! Share This:
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As the new year has started, I have undergone some change in my behavior management system. I have gotten rid of the stop light style behavior chart. Check out my "Be Brave" post to find out more about why I got rid of the stop light behavior chart and am challenging my students to "be brave." One of the challenges that I have been facing was having students self regulate their choices. We spend a lot of time discussing the amount of choices they will have in my classroom. However, I wanted a quick little way for students to check themselves. I created the label above using address labels. It was a quick way to create multiple visuals that would stick to desks. During transitions, whole group, small group instruction I ask all students or sometimes even a single student to "check yourself." They hold up a finger to tell me what they think about their choices. I will also hold up a finger showing how I feel about their choices. If we are not on the same page, I ask them to fix it. It has been a simple way to refocus students on monitoring their own behavior. I have been amazed at how honest students have been when I say "check yourself." I assumed I would have some students that would not be honest but the students are usually well aware of their choices being good or poor. Download the "check yourself" labels below. I was reading an article on the Greatist website. This website had its readers respond to the question, "How do you find happiness?" The winner of this writing contest was Casie Cook. You can find her on Twitter @kaceemaree. There was a section of her writing that gave me an idea. She talked about how her dad left her Post-it notes randomly for her to find. These little notes had positive comments. Casie reminisced how this gave her happiness. This gave me an idea of using QR Codes to leave little "notes" of encouragement for my 1st graders. Since reading is a skill that is taught and refined in first grade, I knew that a QR Code that provided a text response could be a challenge to read for some students. However, there are a couple of options for creating QR Codes that play audio. Here is how I envision this in my classroom. Randomly put QR Codes in students' desks, book box, lunch card holder, etc. When a student finds one he/she can use our iPads to scan the QR Code and hear what the code says. I could start the year with my voice being the one speaking but transition to students creating their own voice QR Codes to share with each other. Talk about building happiness in addition to classroom community! The sky is the limit for what your QR Codes could say. "I am so proud of you." "Keep up the great work in math." "Thanks for being a kid of character." "I am so happy to have you in my class." "You have been a rockstar worker lately, keep it up!" Below are a few resources for creating the audio QR Codes: Record MP3 is a website that can be used to create an audio recording. Press record and begin talking. When finished, press stop. You can choose to save your recording or if you are not happy you can start over. Once you save your recording, you are given a link to the recording. Copy the link and take it to a QR Code generator like Kaywa or QR Code Generator. Paste your link and create a QR Code. Now you have a QR Code that you can print and cut out and place in a student's desk. Vocaroo is somewhat similar to Record MP3. You click the record button and say what you want. When done press stop. If you are happy you can click save or if unhappy you can retry. If you save, you are given a link for your recording as well as some other options for sharing your recording. You would then take the link to a QR Code generator to produce your talking QR Code. QR Voice allows you to type text. Once you have typed in your text, click the little QR Code to generate your scannable audio code. The only downside is that it will not be your own personal voice. However, if you do not have access to a microphone and want to create a QR Code that talks, QR Voice is an option. |
Andrew FenstermakerInstructional Technology Coordinator | Innovation Coach | Google Certified Innovator | Presenter | Blogger | Adjunct @UiowaEducation | Owner @kids_f_i_r_s_t |