Inside Bell's Brain

It's time for the second edition of Friday Feels...what's on my mind this week?  Classroom management and classroom culture!  Whenever possible, even when disciplining, speak words of affirmation.  We hold the precious minds and hearts of our children in our hands.  Every one of us undoubtedly has a teacher who spoke words of affirmation and encouragement...we probably even remember those words to this day.  In fact, that teacher is probably the reason we became teachers.  But conversely, we all have that one teacher for whom nothing was good enough, who tore us down, who we dreaded seeing everyday.  Which teacher are you?

I'm joining up with Mrs. D's Corner this week for the Building Blocks of B2S (Back to School) .  I was a little late to the party last week, but I'm jumping in on week 2 for "building relationships." Teachers have major shoes to fill, so to speak.  Chris Lehmann said, "People send us their most precious resource ; they send us their kids every day... Short of, like, a brain surgeon, I can't think of a profession where people are placing greater trust in the professionals than teaching...and it is our job to be worthy ."  What great truth there is in that statement, and we must rise to the call of being worthy. One profound indicator, in my opinion, of a person's worthiness is the way he or she treats other people .  Not just those who can do something for them, not just those from whom they will get something in the future.  What do you do when you think no one is watching?  Do you help others?  Do you belittle those who you perceiv...

So right now it's kind of hard to stay focused on the here and now.  I think many of us start feeling spring fever and thinking about what we " coulda , woulda , shoulda" done differently this year.  I think that's a completely normal part of teaching and a very healthy reflective attitude.  But, of course, we want to still be dedicated to our current students and stay focused on the tasks at hand.  That's just one reason why I am so glad I took the time to make my planner last year.  I still see some things I want to do differently...because, like you, I'm already planning for next year, so I am mentally designing my changes already.  But since it takes me quite a while to personalize and design each and every one, let me tell you why I have loved mine so much this year and why I think you need one too. 1.  It's SO cute!   Who doesn't enjoy planning in a planner that is personalized for their own needs and likes?  It makes me EXCITED ...

I'm really excited to participate in the Back to School Linky with Miss V's Busy Bees and Mrs. D's Corner.  This week's posts are focused on behavior management. Let's start with my philosophy on behavior management...I believe behavior management is strongly rooted in classroom procedures.  When there are clear expectations and those expectations are clearly articulated to your students, behavior management takes care of itself. A friend and co-teacher of mine has taken me on as her mentor project, so to speak.  She lent me some of her materials from Harry Wong, THE behavior and classroom management guru.  One of those items she lent me was an audio book .  One of the comments that Mr. Wong made in that audio really made me rethink my entire behavior plan in my classroom.  He clearly explained the difference between rules and procedures .  We shouldn't be overly focused on rules, per se, and we should only have 5 real rules at the most.  ...

This year, one of my focus areas has been to incorporate more Whole Brain Teaching strategies in my daily instruction.  In my opinion, one of the best - and certainly most fun - components of WBT is "call and response".  These "attention grabbers" are very popular on Pinterest; you can find so many premade posters out there with creative calls and responses for teachers and students.  But I wanted something a little more individualized for my classroom, so I made my own!  I printed each page (pair) on a different color of bright paper.  I cut out each phrase using several designs of craft scissors and glued each pair onto a large posterboard.  (See photo below.)  My students really enjoy them; it makes a big difference in student engagement and adds variety to our lessons.  I'm sharing the file with you so you can do the same!  It will be free for the first 24 hours, so grab this one while it's HOT! NOTE: I took out so...