Tips and Tricks

Hey y'all! Soooo this was supposed to go up Friday...but I spent ALL DAY Friday putting up all my lovely college decs in my classroom (I hope to figure out how to post my video this week) and re-personalizing my computer (gotta love unannounced updates!), so I didn't get this written. But anyway, Blog Hoppin' ended Teacher Week '13 with tips and tricks. Here are a few of mine:

1. I teach high school and there is A LOT of movement the first few weeks as students add and drop classes. Since I am kind of OCD about my rosters and grade books being in alphabetical order and not messy, I just print off paper rosters and grade books for the first two weeks of school. Then I transfer everything to my official grade books and rosters once things seem to settle down.
2. Speaking of grade books and rosters, make sure you keep paper and digital copies of attendance and grades. When I got overwhelmed and stressed, I would just update the digital ones since that's what the school and students/parents accessed. Inevitably, a student would change sections or teachers and I would lose access to their previous grades. Furthermore, sometimes I make mistakes entering grades online and have a paper copy to double check.
3. DOCUMENT EVERYTHING, especially behavior. Conferences are much easier when you can point to documentation, particularly multiple types of documentation. For instance, I started to just keeping a running log on Evernote (thanks, district iPads!) of student behavior. This year I'm adding in ClassDojo and a D-Log students will have to sign (and describe their behavior). 
4. If you dread contacting parents about behavior/academic issues like I do, decide on one day a week you will make contact (unless it is imperative you address the issue ASAP) and put it on your calendar. To make this even better, contact parents about good things. Aim for 1 positive call for every negative call. You'll feel much better.
5. I am planning on not discussing the syllabus the first day and just sending it home because they can read. Some of my coworkers have done this with great success. When I told one of the AVID students of my plan, she broke into a grin and shouted "THANK YOU!" Instead, they'll try to guess things about me and each other (a post for another day).
6. DOCUMENT WHAT YOU DID EACH DAY AND HAVE A SOLID PLAN FOR ABSENT STUDENTS. I failed so hard at this and it made my year so hard. Once you get more organized in this area, add in reflections so that you always know what you thought about a lesson/unit/activity/etc.
7. My Do Now (warm-up) EVERY Friday (even if we had a test) was to have the students share successes/good things from the week. Usually I had them share with their groups and then I would take 5 volunteers or so for whole class sharing. They got really into it and loved being able to brag. It's a fantastic way to get to know kiddos. One class even starting asking ME every week for a good thing.
8. Get to know each of your students. Each week, I pick a kid in each class I don't know too well and ask him/her a few questions when there's downtime and/or call on them to share on Friday. I could tell some had never spoken to teachers before unless absolutely necessary and it just made my day when I took the time to get to know them. One particularly reclusive student was always surprised when I remembered things he had told me and he became more willing to share in class.
9. Be consistent in whatever you do. Even my seniors loved knowing there was a routine or protocol for things. My students learned that if a phone was out, I sent it to the office EVERY TIME. They knew that when they walked into the room, they only had a few minutes to complete their Do Now. If I took up their Do Nows for a grade and they turned it in after I called time, they received a 0. It really does make them feel safe and secure knowing exactly how you will handle things.
10. Respect and treat your students like real humans with valid opinions. One of the best compliments that was simultaneously one of the most heartbreaking things I've heard was when one of students moved to another district. On her last day, she said "Ms. Poe is my favorite teacher ever because she respected me and didn't make me feel stupid." While I'm glad I succeeded in making my classroom a safe place, it absolutely broke my heart to hear she felt like none of the teachers in her life ever made her feel like a real human. 

Tomorrow starts my week of professional learning and then the kiddos come! I'm so freakin' excited!