A Great, Truthful Article

Ten Supplies Every Teacher Needs

This article is from a site I look at occasionally. It's full of good ideas and helps me keep my cool knowing that others are going through similar struggles in the teaching world. 

10 Supplies Every Teacher Needs

theeducatorsroom.com/2013/07/10-supplies-every-teacher-needs/

Franchesca Warren

courtesy of Reynolds Fine Art

In a couple of weeks, thousands of teachers will open their classroom to a new classroom of eager students ready to learn for the 2013-2014 school year. During this time teachers will have the privilege to know a whole new set of schools and have the chance to ask parents to help contribute to supplies for their classroom. The other night, I had an epiphany as I was creating lesson plans and I thought in a perfect world where parents/schools actually bought supplies that teachers needed, what would teachers ask for?

We posed the question on social media and the answers we received should be any principal and/or parent’s guide for purchasing supplies for their teachers!

image courtesy of macworld.com

1. A classroom set of iPads. With a variety of capabilities, the hottest item on our informal survey was a classroom set of iPads.  According to Apple, the iPad is a tablet computer designed and developed by Apple. It is particularly marketed as a platform for audio and visual media.. Within the last couple of years their versatility for facilitating student learning has made them a hot commodity among schools and teachers. In recent years, some schools are thinking about implementing a 1:1 iPad classrooms to cut the costs of buying paper textbooks. While initially they are expensive,  Ipads have a variety of ways they are helpful in the classroom. Teachers can load textbooks on them, students can create interactive  presentations on them, students can read classic novels on them without worrying about books being damaged !

Click here for #2.

My Short Summer

So, summer school finished yesterday. We had a little celebration for the kids and then they were out the door! Now I have exactly 10 days until I have to be at work for the school year. What will these days include?

Well first, finishing up the bookcases I made for my classroom. This mean just decoupaging the sides and top.

They also include a 2 day training at the Smithsonian. I am excited to see what this will entail. This institute as they are calling it, is supposed to be for teachers to collaborate and share ideas, as well as learn what resources the Smithsonian has to offer. I am looking forward to having this opportunity and seeing what I can learn from fellow educators.

This summer also includes maintenance being in my apartment.   This was unexpected. We woke up to a wet spot in our carpet. Now if you remember, the water problem we had earlier this spring, you may be thinking, seriously? Maybe its time to move? Well, good news friends, it is simply a leaking AC unit. This means I will get a new patch of carpet where the other one was messed up and they can easily fix the AC. This is especially easy since it is not crazy hot and I don't need to have the AC on all the time.

I am also hoping to get the sewing machine out next week and sew myself a maxi skirt and put velcro on my cover for my shelves at school. There will be pictures, once we get the camera back (it was left at the hubs sister's place this past weekend).

Gearing up for another year

SO I know, it is only the end of July but my kids start school on August 19 so I have to be thinking of these things. One thing I have been brainstorming is how to do my job differently. I fell into a resource position where the teacher had previously gone into the classroom and helped certain students. Sometimes she would pull students out. Perhaps this works for some, however, my student's don't seem to be getting much out of it. I think it is because they are so low. My coworker and I have been thinking of ways to boost our students academically and get them where they need to be. This is an ever-growing challenge as we struggle to balance working with our students and the ever-growing amount of paperwork.

We decided to try something different this upcoming school year. We have decided to just have intervention groups, regardless of grade, but group students by ability and have set reading and math groups to really reinforce the skills students are missing. This becomes tricky as scheduling conflicts will arise, however, I think if we do half hour groups for reading and math interventions we should be able to get it to work.

I am racking my brain trying to figure out how to help my students and get them up to the level that is being asked of them. Anyone have any ideas? I will gladly take them!

On another note, I am excited because in a few weeks I am going to be part of Smithsonian's Teach It Forward. This is an opportunity to meet with other educators and share lesson ideas while learning how to reach all students and the resources thee Smithsonian has to offer. I am looking forward to exploring this opportunity and meeting other educators while sharing ideas. I'll post more on that once I go.

Hopefully, I stop being such a horrible blogger. I am trying but this summer has been kicking my butt and with it having been so hot I had NO energy for anything.