In January I celebrated my 2-Year Blogiversary with another Mystery Prize Package giveaway, specifically tailored to the winner’s likes and interests! I’ve wanted to share the prize package for a while now and here it is! After emailing back and forth with this year’s winner, Lori, I went shopping! The first time I put together this prize, I incorporated a lot of smaller items for the winner’s classroom but this year a larger item caught my eye and I knew I HAD to put in this year’s package 🙂 This year’s package included: – A 48-piece decorative wall sticker set… Read More
Exploring Mitosis & Meiosis
Term Two is beginning to settle into a routine and my Grade 9s are hard at work on their unit on Reproduction. The first things we discuss are both Mitosis & Meiosis. With mitosis being the process in which cells divide into equal clones of themselves to produce body cells and meiosis being the process in which cells divide into haploid cells to produce sex cells (sperm and eggs). In addition to textual notes on both of these topics, I really wanted to incorporate activities for my students who may learn best through music and hands-on activities.… Read More
Twitter… 2 Years Later
Shortly after I began this blog in 2012 I decided to join Twitter as well. Prior to this, my only social media tool was Facebook, which I only utilized with my close friends and family. I can’t remember what exactly prompted me to try Twitter but, two years later, I am still very happy that I made the plunge! Compared to what I had been used to with Facebook, Twitter seemed chaotic and unorganized; I felt completely lost. After some exploring and trial-and-error, however, I quickly got used to the format and became a big fan of Twitter… Read More
Don't Blame The Tool – Blame the Environment
One thing that I’ve been thinking about a lot lately is the use of devices in the classroom and how polarized educators seem to be when it comes to managing how students use their personal devices during class time. In fact, on Friday during a lunch out with colleagues I overheard someone say they should be banned all together in the classroom! Another teacher mentioned how they planned on implementing a bargaining system where students could earn a “tech-break” depending on their behavior during certain activities. Regardless of the specific details, a majority of teachers agreed that devices were… Read More
End of Term One Reflections & A Room Revamp
Thursday marked the last day of semester one in our division and it is pretty crazy to think that I have already completed HALF of my first year of teaching. When I look back at it I feel like I did A LOT but I also feel like it went by really, REALLY quickly. Friday was an administration day that we utilized to work on marking exams and completing report cards. Lucky for me, I marked ALL of my exams on the day they were written (Wednesday) so I was able to work on report card comments and… Read More
February Currently
Not only are we starting a new semester, but it also a new month! If you haven’t encountered a “Currently” post before, it is just a fun post at the beginning of each month that serves as a way to share what is Currently going on in your life! You can link up and share your own “Currently” post by visiting the wonderful Farley over at Oh’ Boy 4th Grade. Guess which one is the fib?!
Free #EdTech – Apps For Your Class 2
Free #EdTech – Apps For Your Class is a sporadic posting I do every time I find a neat new app that is not only being offered FREE (for a limited time) but that is also educational and could serve a purpose in your classroom. While no longer free, last sessions app: Singaling, is still awesome and I recommend you check it out! Today I’ve found: King of Maths: Full Game “Level up your mathematics skills and become King of Maths!” This interactive math facts game allows users to work their way through various mathematical challenges in order… Read More
Sit Wherever You Like… and Other Room 132 Anomalies
This week I was responsible for distributing and collecting surveys from all of the teachers in our school regarding our PD wants/needs. As such, on Thursday during my prep, I visited each classroom in our school to ensure I had everyone’s surveys… and I noticed something interesting. I am the ONLY teacher from Grade 8 to Grade 12 that does NOT have my student’s desks in rows facing the “front” of the room. In fact, I am only teacher that does not have their desk as the focal point of the room! I am also the only teacher… Read More
Free #EdTech – Apps For Your Class 1
I can’t speak for your school & classroom, but in ours the majority of my students have some type of smart device. A little over half of my Grade 8s have a device that they can have in the classroom with them and this percentage increases as my students get older. If they don’t have their own, I have access to a class-set of iPads as well as my personal iPhone that I use in the classroom as well. With all of these resources at our fingertips, I’ve been closely watching to find new apps that I… Read More
What Makes A Great Teacher? Part Two
Last week I shared Keith Hughes video, “The Recipe for Great Teacher” and shared my comments on the first two “ingredients”. (If you missed that post, you can check it out here.) One week later, I’m back and read to explore this further! Like Keith says, the final two ingredients are those “warm fuzzies”; that’s right, we’re going emotional on you. Before you read on, however, if you need a reminder, I’ve embedded Keith’s video again: Here are my thoughts: 3 ) 25% Authenticity– This one may seem pretty obvious but our students want us to be real. They… Read More