7 months and 2 days later...

Happy Presidents' Day!  This year has been C-RRRRR-AAA-ZY (as evident by the fact that I haven't posted anything in 7 months)!!!   I hope that I am back on top of things and will be seeing you around the blog a couple times a week for the rest of the year!

Countdown to the first day... 20!

I have only 20 days until school starts for students!  I can't believe my summer is almost over and I will have 20+ new faces staring at me in just 20 days... That's two-zero folks!

On Facebook, I saw where the Unshakeable Book Community is beginning another round of book club for Angela Watson's book, Unshakeable: 20 ways to enjoy teacher every day... no matter what.

I thought to myself, what better way to count down Back to School, than with a review of her book, one chapter per day.  For each chapter, I have included some resonating thoughts from Angela.  These quotes are nuggets of truth that I want to remember, and add to my positive thinking arsenal.  Yes, I call it an arsenal because some days "toolbox" just isn't enough to combat all of the negativity thrown at us as teachers.  I also have a section for My Classroom Application.  This is where I've chewed on the words from the book for a while and I am connecting her thoughts to my actual classroom, my life, and my kids.  I sometimes even link other authors, bloggers, or strategies and resources that I find useful that go with Angela's thoughts.

So today has our first installment - Chapter 1: Share your authentic self to bring passion and energy to your teaching.

Chapter 1: Share your authentic self to bring passion and energy to your teaching

Balance the “acting” with an integration of your authentic self

• Resonating thoughts from Angela

• My classroom application
• I can let my personality shine through in my decorations and classroom organization.
1. I like bright colors, especially blue hues.
2. I LOVE labels and want to label ALL THE THINGS!
3. I am an advocate for student choice in the layout of a classroom, and do not feel tied to traditional seating options.
4. I can bring an element of magic by adding some Disney touches to my classroom.
• I can let my personality shine through in my teaching style, even though my curriculum is chosen for me.
1. I have my own set of best practices and “go-to” techniques in my teaching repertoire.
2. I choose the best routes for my students to help them get from Point A (where they start) to Point B (where the standards dictate they should be.  Although our destination is assigned and mandated, the journey and sights along the way aren’t.
• I can let my personality shine through in the way I interact with students.
1. I choose every day whether to be positive or negative for and with my students.
2. I like to laugh and tell jokes with my silly boys.
3. I like to gab with my girls about the newest fashion.
4. I like to talk about movies and games with my entertainment-loving crowd.

The real you is memorable

• Resonating thoughts from Angela

• My classroom application
• I am a:
1. Mother
2. Christian
3. Wife
4. Daughter
5. Sister
6. Runner
7. Reader
8. Crafter

Build rapport by sharing who you are on a personal level

• Resonating thoughts from Angela

• My classroom application
• Share with kids all about who I really am - my likes and dislikes; my goals, wishes, and dreams;  my favorite things.
• Cue The Sound of Music. As I read this section, I just kept, singing in Julie Andrews' pitch of course, "when the dog bites, when the bee stings, when I'm feeling sad. I simply remember my favorite things, and then I don't feeeeeeeeel, sooooo baaaad...." When I bring my favorite things into my classroom - my Roll Tide pumpkin carved by my mother-in-love, a beloved wooden hippopotamus figurine, my Minnie Mouse teacher
  
  statue designed by Jim Shore, a Bible verse plaque, a vase of pink tulips, a treasured letter K carved from a book that was a gift from a student - my classroom feels more personal to me and allows my students to see who I am as a person, besides Mrs. Kelley the enforcer of rules and dictator of reading skills. Our favorite things really can help to cheer up a bad day, or bad moment in the day.
• On her blog, Angela shares an idea for Daily Connections to connect with each student individually.  What a great way to build rapport!! Check it out!

Be a storyteller: draw inspiration for teaching curriculum from real-life events

• Resonating thoughts from Angela

• My classroom application
• I draw inspiration from my hobbies, interests and daily life experiences to make meaningful curriculum connections.
1. Running
2. Playing with Harper
3. Mr. Kelley (Jake)’s grad school days
4. My dog Ollie
5. Bible journaling / scrapbooking
6. Cooking
7. TV and movies
8. Books I read
9. Shopping with Ms. Lee (Misty)

What does passionate, authentic teaching look like for ME?

• Resonating thoughts from Angela

• My classroom application
• When I am passionate about a topic, I tend to be LOUD!
• I enjoy classroom activities that involve my students discussing with each other and creating artistic representations of their learning.
• I enjoy reading aloud to my students as they sit at the carpet.

Beyond passionate teaching: be a passionate person

• Resonating thoughts from Angela

• My classroom application
• As much as I feel like I am generally authentic with my kids, I have a hard time with not letting setbacks steal my joy.  This year I am going to focus on creating a Growth Mindset in my classroom for both my students and myself.  I need to model a growth mentality for my students so that they can grow into wonderful people who embrace growth rather than arbitrary achievements.

Your motivation at work is directly related t how you spend your personal time

• Resonating thoughts from Angela

• My classroom application
• I should make a calendar with to-do’s for re-energizing and track my progress with a sticker incentive chart!
• Re-energizing activities I enjoy:
1. Running
2. Scrapbook / journaling / crafting
3. Shopping (but not if I spend too much money)
4. Going to the movies with my family
5. Playing with Harper, especially outside
6. Taking Harper to swim, music, art or gym
• I read a post by Jennifer Gonzalez over at Cult of Pedagogy last year about finding your marigold. (You can check it out here.) IT was so moving to me both in looking for
  
  teacher companions and in BEING a good teacher companion. I am always given some new teacher in my building to mentor, and last year I actually bought myself a marigold as a reminder to be encouraging and uplifting. (By the way it died, which pretty much summed up the year I had in my own classroom, which is why my blog has been complete radio silence for almost a year... but alas, I will try again this year!)

Learn to manage your most important resource: energy

• Resonating thoughts from Angela

• My classroom application
• I need to include time estimates on my to-do’s, and also mental energy estimates.  That way I can choose tasks more efficiently.

When you increase your energy level, you get more done

• Resonating thoughts from Angela

• My classroom application
• Ways to replenish my physical energy:
1. Sleeping
2. Healthy foods
3. Running
4. Getting a manicure or pedicure
• Ways to replenish my mental energy:
1. Spend a few minutes connecting on social media
2. Crafting
3. Sleeping
4. Running

The secret to how some teachers “do it all”

• Resonating thoughts from Angela

• My classroom application
• Create a Vision Board to keep inside my teacher planner. Just last week I read this blog on Scholastic's website about creating a Teacher Vision Board. I've been brainstorming exactly what I want to put it on it, but I haven't actually started gluing just yet. Let's face it, I'm having trouble just deciding which magazines I'm actually going to destroy to create this board. But now I'm thinking that I will create it and laminate it with the really really good lamination and make a planner cover out of it for my teacher planner.
• Put a copy of my Mission Statement in my teacher planner.
• Write a copy of my Daily Affirmations in my teacher planner.

Those are my thoughts about Chapter 1. I know this post was super long. The others probably will be too... There is so much to learn when you read one of Angela's books! If you stuck it out to the end, THANKS! I'm impressed with your perseverance! Leave a comment telling us what YOUR authentic, passionate teaching looks like!

See you tomorrow for Chapter 2: Allocate your time and energy wisely through productive routines

June 2016 - Currently

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Oh. Sweet. Mama!!!

Wow wow wow!!! Coach B was in town this morning delivering the PD for ALL PreK-5 teachers in my district.  And can I just say... it was AHHHHH-MAAAAY-ZING!

I'm going to share my favorite parts and Big Take-Aways, but lucky lucky you - the WHOLE lesson was recorded via Periscope.  Click here to watch!

First of all, Coach introduced the coolest new feature to really amp up those gestures and mirrors - Power Cards with Power Plus for extra uummph!  Each child is given a 3X5 index card.  One side is the Normal Power card.  This is what you typically expect from your students.  But the other side is Power Plus.  When students are feeling sleepy and slow after lunch and you want them to remember a big point, have them flip their card over to Power Plus and really get into those gestures and use their big teacher voices.

Who is excited to try Power Cards????  This girl!!!!

Of course, because I am awesome and I love you so very much, you can download your very own Power Cards here!  Just print them on card stock, laminate, and velcro to your desks.  (That's my plan anyway!)

Secondly, Coach introduced a new review technique which I can already see working seamlessly with the lesson sketch.  The Big Questions of the day (or lesson, or unit, or chapter, or whatever unit of measure in your room...) are listed on the board in a PowerPoint presentation.  At the beginning, students read the questions to each other using brainies, similar to a Crazy Professor reading.

Then once you have taught a lesson and answered a question, you flash the slide again, but the question is in blue.  The students simply Review the Blue!  Then, as the chapter, or unit, or whatever progresses, more questions are flipped to blue and students are continually reviewing all the lessons or skills you wanted them to know.  Can I get an OH YEAH? I mean... c'mon.  OH STINKING YEAH!  Kids constantly reviewing EVERY skill they need in a unit.  YEEESSSSSS!!!! THAT is teaching heaven!

Finally, Coach gave us some Mirror Words varieties and Teach-Okay varieties.

In true Coach B style, he used his chair props to navigate through the sequence of the lesson.  Which I personally love!

And of course, had lots of colleagues get up and practice.

To end the presentation, we all had to evacuate due to a fire alarm in the building.  I just figured Coach's gestures were so fast he started smokin' up the place.  Turns out a day care kid on the other side of the building pulled the alarm... but I'm just going to continue to imagine Coach setting off the alarms with sparks of funtricity!!!

Book Study: 122 Amazing Games! Chapter 2

This chapter is a more in-depth review of "The Big Seven" of WBT.
1. Class-Yes! (Attention Getter)
2. Mirror Words (Engager)
3. Scoreboard (Motivator)
4. 5 +1 Rules (Unifier)
5. Teach-Okay (Activator)
6. Switch! (Involver)
7. Hands and Eyes (Focuser)

If you are new to WBT, or just still feel overwhelmed, these are the seven steps to master before you proceed to any other components!  You can read my original blog post about The Big Seven here. And, you can see how all these components integrate into a single lesson here.

The Big Take-Away for me from this chapter is that the "classroom management plan" we use in Whole Brain Teaching cannot be separated from the instruction we teach.  Coach says it best on page 9, "...thinking well is behaving well."  When we keep our students focused, motivated, involved, engaged, and active, there is NO ROOM for misbehaviors.  We have their WHOLE BRAINS developing reading or writing or math skills, and that, my friends, is a WONDERFUL place to be!

Another Big Take-Away for me was the description of the types of gestures used during Mirror Words.
     * Casual gestures - make lessons visual; match the story/instruction; can vary from teacher to teacher.
     * Memory gestures - linked to core concepts; should be the same for every WBT teacher in a school; (can find these in conjunction with Power Pix).

There have been some ahhhh-mazing updates and additions to the Scoreboard. Check out my original post here!

Five Rules; Plus on brand new, oh so shiny, new in the box... DIAMOND RULE!  The Diamond Rule is "Keep your eyes on the target."
     >Reading a book?  Page is the target.
     >Listening to teacher?   Teacher is the target.
     >A classmate is speaking?  Classmate is the target.

When it comes to teaching the 5 rules, Coach B has included some extra special 2-step lesson plans for teaching all 5 rules AND the diamond rule.  Rolling 10-finger WOOO, Coach!

Using the Switch! helps our most talkative kids to listen, and our most quiet kids to talk.  It forces each of those "learning styles" to embrace the opposite - thus, involving the WHOLE brain!

Use Hands and Eyes only SOMETIMES to make a very important point or call students to "laser" attention.

Next week we will be talking about the 10 most popular WBT games, and I will *hopefully* have some lesson plans to share with you that involve some-most of the games.

That's all for tonight, and remember that by adding these little sparks of funtricity into your classroom instruction, management will work itself in and you will be visiting Teacher Heaven on a permanent teach-cation.  Oh, sweet mama!!!!

Chapter 1: WBT Overview

I am BEYOND excited to read through Coach B.'s new book with y'all!  I've been reading and, honestly, the ideas he has compiled are nothing short of genius!  By utilizing even just a few of these 122 games, my classroom is going to be sizzling with funtricity and let's face it, we could ALL use a little more fun in our lives!

Let's get started with Chapter 1.  It's a really quick 4 page read, but it is the foundation for everything we are going to study.  If you haven't already read through the original text, I suggest you find it and really get a firm grasp on the foundations of WBT.  Chapter 1 in this book BRIEFLY reviews chapters 5-12 from Whole Brain Teaching for Challenging Kids.

Major points from Chapter 1 include:

*The Big Seven*

       1. Class-Yes!  Everyone's favorite attention-getter to calm your class and focus their attention.  It has infinite entertainment possibilities, if you just use your imagination!  Make the call-outs seasonal, academic based, or just plain silly.

       2. The Five Classroom Rules + the all NEW Diamond Rule - a rule for EVERY scenario without posters and posters of lists.
            -Rule 1: Follow directions quickly.
            -Rule 2: Raise your hand for permission to speak.
            -Rule 3: Raise your hand for permission to leave your seat.
            -Rule 4: Make smart choices.
            -Rule 5: Keep your dear teacher happy. (*More on this in a bit.)
            -Diamond Rule <> Keep your eyes on the target.

       3. Mirror words - activates all areas of the brain including speaking, listening, motor, visual, feelings, and critical thinking.  100% engagement?  Oh sweet mama, yeah!

       4. Scoreboard - with all new levels to game-ify your classroom so kids WANT to win the behavior "video game" you're in charge of!

       5. Teach-Okay - like think-pair-share, except FUN, focused, and energetic... activating all those neurons again!  No sit-and-get here!

       6. Hands and Eyes - use this sparingly to make REALLY BIG points, or in cases where complete attention is of the utmost importance.

       7. Switch - balancing our Chatty Cathy's with our Silent Susan's.

I promised more about Rule 5.  I've heard a lot of teachers say they get grief from parents over this one.  It's all in the explanation.  Notice that the rule is KEEP your teacher happy, not MAKE your teacher happy.  I tell the kids a whole spill about how no matter what happens at home I will come to the classroom happy.  Some mornings throughout the year, the kids even get to see me take deep breaths or sip my tea and get myself happy so we can begin our day.  Coach B. says that it is the no-loophole rule.  Even for those kids who can argue their way out of anything, or think they can anyway, you are the master of your own emotions.  They cannot argue with what you feel.  Also, Coach B. says that the one true thing that keeps him happy as a teacher is for students to learn.  Students learn?  Happy teacher!  I usually end up with parents creating this rule for their families at home, or at least buying-in to why this is important in the classroom.

Which WBT strategy are you most interested to learn more about?  If you have looked ahead (who hasn't sneaked a peek?!), which game do you want to know more about, or which chapter seems the most relevant to your curriculum and grade area?

I am so excited to begin this book study with you!  Don't forget to follow my blog so you will get updates, and SHARE!!!

You can also follow me on Instagram and Twitter at @AddieKelley.