First Day Of School Escape Room

Hello!

I have officially been with students for three days! I can already tell I have a great group and I'm very excited for this year. 

I wanted to start the year off with a bang, but it's hard to do that when teaching procedures, rules, disclosure/syllabus stuff etc. In years past I have gone over all my rules with a powerpoint and it's  been excruciating for everyone involved.

My fabulous PLC member found an escape room on TPT and we each bought it and decided to try it out. It was SO awesome! Students were super engaged and I  have never seen them going over a syllabus so carefully in their entire lives.  

There are four tasks included in the escape room, students get a key word with each task and that is how they move on to the next task. The first one is a getting to know you game where students have to make BINGO with things they did over the summer. 

Then they do a supply scavenger hunt where they are given different riddles and they have to find places in the room where those supplies are kept. Each spot has a letter and they eventually find all the letters to come up with a word.

The third task is a syllabus close read, and the fourth task is a cryptogram with growth mindset quotes.

We had to tweak the escape room a little bit to fit our needs and then we had to come up with some rules to help students actually get the content of the different activities instead of just skipping ahead to the end where they got their key word. For example, I really made a point in telling them to be careful about their voice volume because they don't want other teams to hear their work. All this group work and it was a super quiet room! I also required that the students decode all the growth mindset quotes instead of just the underlined parts that gave them the key word, that way they would actually understand the quotes. 

It was a great activity, students understood everything that they should on disclosure day and they loved doing something different.

You can purchase this Back to School Escape Room from Nouvelle ELA! Thanks to her for all the work that went into it! 

First Days of School

Hello!

It's been a glorious summer and I'm very excited to go back to school!

I have been evaluating my process for the first day of school since last year and I have decided to change it up entirely. It used to be all about the rules so I could keep my classroom management in check. This year, I am going to work harder at building relationships and a classroom community and I think the classroom management element will come naturally. 

Here are a few things I am implementing this year...

1. Book Talks

I'm an English teacher, so it would be only natural that I should book talk on the first day! I will be highlighting three books, two I read over the summer and one all time favorite. This will show students that I'm invested in reading from day one.

2. Start learning ASAP

This was a suggestion I saw on Instagram and it makes total sense! What better way to jumpstart those brains than by doing some real work on the first day? We will be reading My Name by Sandra Cisneros and doing some close reading. We will then tie that into Name/Nombres by Julia Alvarez, and then tie both of those works into a writing assignment about the students. 

3. Unique getting to know you activities

I am such a grump when it comes to getting to know you activities. I hate them all, usually. I think they are all contrived and a lot of times are done for the sake of doing them, not for the actual information. However, I value getting to know my students! I wanted to find some unique and fun activities that wouldn't make the students feel like we were just going through the first week motions. I found a couple ideas I am very excited about. The first one is called, "If I Ruled the World." Basically, it's a fill in the blank poem that really helps you to get to know students. This is mine..

This is a fun way to get to know students, their likes and dislikes and most importantly, how they see themselves. 

Another great activity is the "Perfect Day" activity. I found this on Pinterest and instead of doing a daily life clock, I thought it would be great to do a "perfect day" clock. I did one for myself as an example and I feel like a stranger could look at it and know exactly all the things I love to do. Sleep, craft, play with makeup, hang with my friends, etc! So much better than a boring survey. 

4. Rules

Yep, you always have to have rules in a functioning classroom. Previously, I have gone the very old school route of having students write down rules word for word. I am super embarrassed to admit it, but it was the only way I knew how to keep order. Yeah, no longer.

After I do a really brief rundown of rules and procedures, students will be making skits!

I have heard that I have a particularly silly group of kids coming in, so I think they will love this activity! They can get as creative and silly as they want, I will even have a few random costume pieces that they can throw together. I'm excited to see how this goes.

In a few other classes that this won't work for, I found this breakout game (no equipment needed) from Nouvelle ELA on TPT. It looks so fun!

5. Teamwork

I am taking on a new elective class this year, Mock Trial, and it's really important to me to get in the teamwork frame of mind. I think this could be really useful in all classes as well. Students need to learn to be collaborative and work with people even if they aren't their friends. We will be doing a lot of team activities. I have compiled a big list of short improv games that would be great for warmups. I also found this great activity using plastic easter eggs that would be a great lesson on teamwork. When I was at ISTE, I went to a presentation on a game maker lesson and my students will be starting day two with this awesome team building exercise. Basically, students get in groups and are given play doh and a paper folder and they have to make a game.

It's easy to be freaked out by the first days of school. I have had so many nightmares about having the meanest class ever, not having disclosures ready, not sure of what I'm teaching etc. Whatever you do, just have set rules and procedures and be kind, but also a little scary :) and you'll be fine! If that advice doesn't help, check out this really great article from The Cornerstone for Teachers about dealing with back to school anxiety.

Remember, we preach a growth mindset to our students yet don't always expect it with ourselves. If you have a rocky first day of school, just realize that any day can be the first day of school and kill it! 

Classroom Management

Happy Sunday!

Today I am coming at you with a post I have been writing for a long time. I write a little, get ready to publish and then feel self conscious and revert it to a draft again. Today, I am getting brave and publishing with the caveat that I have so much work to do on classroom management. There is a huge gap between things I know I should be doing and things I actually do. If you come in my room for five seconds you could probably spot several things I am not doing perfectly or even at all, but I am constantly reflecting and trying to improve, and I think that is all that matters. 

I want to start with the best education advice I have ever received. "Any day can be another first day of school." Meaning do not be afraid to put on the brakes and start over. If you want to incorporate anything on this list, or even anything you find on any other site, just do it! Don't ever write off a year completely. Is it easier to do at the first of the year? Absolutely. However if you are miserable (been there) then it's worth a shot!

1. Keep your power

The worst mistake I made my first year teaching was giving the students the power in my classroom. I would say things like, "If you let me get through a thirty minute lesson, I will give you the last ten minutes of class to do what you want." This was totally giving the power to the students, making them in charge in my classroom. Their behavior is not something to be bargained with. I felt like every day I was pleading with them to learn something. I wish I would have had more of a, "this is school and we learn here" type of mentality. Have confidence that you are the adult and that they can't argue or bargain with you.

2. Have serious conversations 

You cannot be afraid to correct a student's behavior or pull them out in the hall to talk. My first year I was so scared of this very thing. I didn't want students to feel bad or embarrassed, so I would let bad behavior carry on instead of correcting it the second it happened. Last year I was much better at this, but as soon as a student was doing an incorrect behavior, I would address it right then. Sometimes that meant calling them out in front of everyone, or coming to their side and whispering, or pulling them out in the hall. Your life will vastly improve if you just buck up and have a tough conversation right when you need to. Just this week I had to pull a kid out in the hall to have a really tough chat about his behavior. Before I went back in I assured him that I loved him and I don't think he's a bad kid at all. Kids are more resilient and used to these types of conversations than we realize, so talk with them and then tell them you love them and go back in your room smiling!

3. Know procedures vs rules

A lot of the things I'm strict on in my rules are procedures, not rules. For example, having appropriate language is a rule, whereas what to do when you don't have a pencil is a procedure. After you break down your rules v procedures, you will realize you have way more procedures than rules. The good news about that is procedures are way easier to perfect than rules. If your procedures are tight, that is 90% of the battle. 

4. Review, practice, review, practice

Speaking of procedures, these need to be practiced like you are training for a marathon. The first week of school, my students and I practice everything. Even simple things like passing papers down the rows, we practice over and over. We practice coming into the room. We role play getting tissues, forgetting a pencil. We practice cleaning up for the day. We practice getting into groups. We. Practice. Everything. When we are off for a break, we come back and I review the procedures and we practice again. This takes five minutes every so often but it pays off greatly.

5. Focus on positive incentives, not negative consequences

This year was my last year of posting consequences. Next year, I will start focusing more on positive reinforcements. When a student comes in my room and gets started right away, I give them a blue raffle ticket. They put them in a big bucket and on Fridays during the first two minutes of class I play the Chariots of Fire or Eye of the Tiger song and draw ten winners for ten pieces of candy. It's silly but they love it! 

My current school has "pride cards" and my last school had "Golden Tickets" but basically these are traded in for bigger prizes. When you give these out, recognize the student in front of the whole class instead of doing it in private. I also do a student of the week board with a student for each of my classes. It's important to recognize this student with why they are student of the week so that students know what they are achieving. Positivity goes so much further than negative consequences like lunch detentions, etc. 

6. Start off strong and strict

Ah, the first month of school. What a different person I am. How much I enjoy the roll around of October when I can finally start loosening up. However, it's so worth it. I can't even describe how worth it starting strict actually is. Correct every behavior. Mean business. It's loads easier to start off strict and get more lenient than the other way around. If it isn't you natural personality (it's definitely not mine, I have to force myself!!) fake it till you make it!

7. Get parents involved

The best thing I ever did was start sending out weekly emails to my parents with news and upcoming due dates. I found this cut down on the angry emails and opened a communication portal so that if a student needed parental intervention, I have already been in contact. I also contact parents frequently to come in for meetings about their student, especially if their student has consistent behavior issues. I have several students this year who weren't doing anything completely against the rules, just being disrespectful in general. We had a great conversations every time and the behavior of the student improved. Communication is key, not a cliche for nothing!

8. Stay consistent

You cannot slack off on your rules/expectations. If you say you are going to expect something, then that has to stay as your expectation always. I don't allow soda in my room, but one time I decided not to tell a student to put away a soda. Then, a week later, I told another student to put his soda away and the time I let it slack came back to haunt me. If a student doesn't have to guess what your rules are and when you're going to enforce them, your life will be so much easier.

9. Be prepared + ready 

The more prepared you are, the better your day will run. If I greet the students at the door and then am standing at the front of the room when the bell rings, class is smoother. Even things like getting my room totally set up before the first day of school matters. I just re-arranged my room and it totally screwed up my kids, it's been a rough week and honestly I think that is why. If you're ready to tackle the day/class period, it gives students the signal that they should be too.

10. Give love

Above all, be loving to each student no matter how hard it is. Without going into too many details for privacy's sake, last year I had a student go missing for two days because of a conversation we had about him needing to work harder (it was a gifted class). I wasn't very loving in that conversation. It really made me realize that I may only have a 10 second one on one interaction with a student as they walk in the door, but that one interaction needs to be very loving and happy that they are there.

Okay, I hope those are helpful and not totally obvious and like, "well, duh!!!!" 

These are the things that have helped me the most, so I hope they help your classroom too! 

Civl War Battles Simulation

Long time no blog!

We finished Mock Trial about a month ago, which is why I wasn't blogging, and then we had spring break, state testing, etc etc etc and anyway, I'm just sitting down to blog all the fun lessons we have been working on!

We only have FOUR weeks left of school. It's pretty crazy and kind of stressful! I have a lot to cover still and not a lot of time, but we will make it work!

So, I'll be straight with you when I say that Civil War is not my favorite thing to cover, only because I feel like it's very battle heavy. I don't really focus on the battles with the American Revolution, just the ideas, themes etc. With Civil War, I feel like a lot more students are interested in the battles because they have been to battlefields or heard about Generals, so I feel more pressure to cover the battles more in depth than I normally would. 

The problem is, I have never found a way to do battles that isn't Powerpoint/lecture format, which I hate.

So I turned to my trusty TPT! I looked for battle simulations and found one that had good ratings. Only problem, it was $8. That is a lot, in my opinion.  However, it had good reviews so I took the risk! I had some precious TPT credits I had been saving and I bought the simulation.

Oh man, you guys. This was the worst TPT product I have ever purchased. It was a disorganized mess! I have never seen anything so bad. It was just several very confusing documents. The seller had a key that didn't match the student copy and it also had a lot of wrong information. I was so disappointed, but I realized I could spend a significant amount of time using the same basic idea of  a simulation and create my own.

So, here is the idea. I split my class into two, Confederacy and Union. Then within the bigger groups, I created four smaller groups with 4 students per group. Each of those smaller groups was a regiment. I gave them the description and pictures of their regiment and they had to introduce themselves to the class. So we had regiments like The Iron Brigade, the 54th, Irish Brigade, Stonewall Brigade, etc.

The idea of the game is I read what has brought students to a particular battle, then students are presented with a choice. Every choice they make has positive or negative point value.  Then I read what actually happened and show students a video, then I give them the point breakdown of what they earned based on their decision. The goal is to get the most points. Even though the Union won the war, they aren't guaranteed to win the game.

My students have had SO much fun with this game and they are so much more likely to remember why each battle/general was important. I'm so glad I finally figured out how to teach battles in a way that I love.

If you would like the game for yourself, you can buy it from my Teachers Pay Teachers store here.

Hope you enjoy it as much as my students! If you have any questions about the details, email me at beggingborrowingstealing@gmail.com

Intro to the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution is my favorite unit to teach! I love everything I do during this unit. Just last year I added this activity as an intro to the Industrial Revolution. I heard about it from another teacher at my school and I was intrigued so I did it last year. My students reacted just as the teacher said they would last year and again this year. It was perfect!

Students come in and I hand them a coloring sheet. I tell them we are going to relax and take a brain break and color for the first 10-15 minutes. The students who know me better are always a little skeptical..."she's tricking us into learning!!!!" haha! However I maintain my innocence and the students eventually relax.

Then I tell them we are going to play a coloring game. I split the students up into groups and assign each student one color. They are in charge of their color only on the color by number sheet. When they are done or when I say switch, they switch with someone in their group. I tell them the group with the most completed coloring sheets in the fastest time gets a piece of candy, but that never happens! :) As they start to color I start out calm and slowly tell them to switch faster and faster. I also "yell" at students to go faster and if they color outside the lines I "fire" them and rip up their coloring sheet! I also add new coloring sheets in as they are frantically trying to color.

Without fail, students absolutely freak out. They are so stressed and have no idea what is going on.

After about five minutes of the second coloring activity I stop and explain life Pre-Industrail Revolution. Most people worked on small farms making everything by hand or from a small shop. Things were really quality, but expensive and took a lot of time. People didn't have much and life wasn't great.

Then I talk about the factory system and how it changed life as we know it! It made things cheaper so people could afford more, created a middle class, etc. but it also had some drawbacks.

Students love this analogy and they love being in on "the secret" of the coloring activity until I can get through all of my classes.  

It's a great ice-breaker for the Industrial Revolution! 

Lewis and Clark Twitter Assignment

Last year, I did a Lewis and Clark newspaper assignment. I thought I liked it and intended to do it again this year, but when I got it out to make copies I didn't think it met the goals of my unit. So I had to scrap it and come up with something FAST. 

I love social media and I haven't utilized it at all this year in any lesson. When I taught World Civ, they created instagram pages for an Egyptian God/Goddess. However since I made the switch to U.S History, I haven't. So the Lewis and Clark Twitter Assignment was born.

I brought elements together from many lessons I found online until I found something that worked for my classroom.  The main aspect of the assignment I got here, from Room115's TPT shop. It was a little expensive for what you get, which I left in the feedback. 

The next thing was to find a Twitter template. I looked high and low and couldn't find anything I liked. This was the closest from Alli Brigg's TPT shop. I ended up downloading it and students edited it on Google Slides. I deleted some parts like "Trends" and "Photos and Videos". We just didn't have time to do that part, but it could be cool to incorporate next year.

Students were able to zoom in and edit right on slides and it was fairly easy, only after I explained what Twitter was. It was pretty surprising how many of my 13 year olds didn't know what Twitter was! 

It ended up being a great project, despite the parent who told me it was an inappropriate assignment... (??) Gotta love feedback!

Here's an example of a student that got full points!

The students loved this project and kept sharing their hashtags and tweets, so there was a ton of laughter! 

Happy tweeting! 

Lewis and Clark Board Game

Hello, friends! Long time no blog! I coach Mock Trial and we are smack dab in the middle of our season, so I have had no life! It's fun and I love our team, but it sure does take over. However, I'm back and ready to share some awesome resources.

I'm compiling a blog post about being paperless in my classroom, let me know if you have questions!

We just wrapped up our Lewis and Clark unit. I was a day ahead of the rest of our history department so I needed an extra activity to slow us down. This board game was perfect! It's a free download from  Relentlessly Fun Deceptively Educational. I can't imagine the work that went into it. The few things I added were a spinner instead of dice, this made the game go a little longer and each student get more info. I also cut out small circles with my Cricut for game pieces. The last change I made was students had to write down a summary of each card in their notebooks. This helped when all students wanted to do was read the last step of each card and not get any historical information. As I say, "THIS IS SCHOOL, PEOPLE!" 

The kids love, love, LOVE when we play board games. We played an awesome one for the French and Indian War that the students still remember. I find it's a good way to wrap up a unit.

Head over to the Deceptively Educational blog to download Westward Bound for your class!

Thanks to my three student aides who cut everything out and laminated all of it! They were champs.