Back to School

The time is here my friends. I've fought it as long as I can! Next week I will be working in my classroom and at the school helping with schedule pick-up.

Summer - has officially ended.

When is your first day? What is one thing you are excited about for this school year?

I have many things to be excited about this year!

• New principal and assistant principal (both amazing!)
• New elective - Leading & Succeeding
• Disney Field Trip (second year)
• Applying strategies from my MA in Gifted/Talented education in my classroom

Please share your positive outlooks on your upcoming year in the comments below!

Middle School Yearbook - Organization

Middle school is a slippery time. In our school 7th and 8th grade is middle school, so we don't get to keep our students for very long. This makes the yearbook staff a challenge. I have one year to train them and one year to really use their knowledge and talents before they leave me. Thankfully there are a few things that have made my yearbook staff highly successful and efficient. I plan to share several yearbook blogs over the next few weeks.

• Organization of the Book (today)
• Staff Selection & Set-Up
• Team Building & Management
• Advertising (Ad Sales & Student Sales)
• Grading

I am passionate about yearbook, and I keep high standards for my class. I do hope you will check back for more updates on the other topics over the next couple of weeks!

Today's topic:

 OF THE BOOK!

Quick Background: My staff is made up of 12-15 7th and 8th grade students plus one 8th grade editor. I have a 50 minute class period for yearbook that is also shared with my newspaper staff (separate staffs - same class time). The application processes is rigorous. We typically have between 30-40 applications for yearbook. The 8th grade editor must be a student who was also on staff as a 7th grader.

For our staff, we have one unifying theme for our book each year. That theme is developed through:

• Cover Design
• Yearbook Title
• Section Titles
• Image/Photo Scheme on each Page

Part of the application for editor is to develop an entire theme - complete with color schemes, cover design, yearbook titles, and section titles. The editor applicants present there theme idea to the staff in May to be voted on. The winning theme and its developer become our new editor in August.

Since we keep our current year theme under lock and key (and threaten of staff removal), I can not currently discuss the super-awesome 2016 theme currently under development (check back in May 2016 - you will NOT regret it!).  Therefore - I'm going to use our 2015 to explain our organization process.

Anatomy of a Dolphin

Our 2015 theme was Anatomy of a Dolphin because we are the dolphins! We used a sectional organization method for this yearbook. Each dolphin section was labeled with a yearbook section, and each section page referenced back to that dolphin part.

1. Mouth - Student Life
1. Who's Who, Baby Pictures, Dances, Pep Rallies, ETC
2. Brain - Academics
1. Core Subjects and Electives
3. Spine - Clubs
1. Because clubs bring the school together and add support systems for those that need it
4. Eyes - Portraits
1. We love seeing photos!
5. Fin - Sports
1. Fear the Fin!
6. Tail - Community Support
1. Ads

This theme concept and design was completed by a 7th grade student in May 2013. She guided her staff through the 2014-2015 school year to develop and complete this theme through a 100+ page yearbook! I really can not speak of how proud I am of the hard work and dedication these 11-13 year olds put into their yearbook! (More on this in the next blog about yearbook staffs!)

Each of the six dolphin parts listed above reflected a section in our yearbook. The theme was carried through section titles and dolphin photos. We also hid a small dolphin silhouette on each page then challenged students to find them all!

There are two main ways to organize a yearbook:

1. Sections
2. Chronologically

The 2015 design called for a section organization, so that is what we did. Each page fits into one of the categories. A table of contents in the front of the book directs students to section page, and each section page is a mini table of contents for that section. 

Our 2016 theme calls for a chronological organization. This year we will follow all events, sports, and happenings as they unfold through the year. Since clubs are all year long, they will have a special section in the back right before ads. All other dances, sports, portraits, ETC will be placed in the book in the order they happen through the year. 

Our 2015 yearbooks completely 

How do you organize your yearbook?

Walk & Talk with Flipped Classrooms (from GRITC)

Engaging, collaborative, and interactive Professional Development is my absolute favorite! PD taught by teachers who really have a passion for bringing their students into the center of learning and creating meaningful experiences warm my heart and kick me into gear for the school year. I love the motivation!

This type of PD is exactly what I get at GRITC (Gulf Regional Innovative Teaching Conference) each year. GRITC is held in Robertsdale, AL by the Baldwin County Board of Education Technology Department (my county!). It is open to anyone and everyone. The conference opens with an incredible keynote speaker (this year Dr. Lodge McCammon), offers 100+ different sessions, food trucks and live music onsite, and sessions taught my teachers who are passion driven educators. They love their job! I feel blessed to present at GRITC and to call presenters and attenders my colleagues!

If you haven't had the change to attend GRITC yet, check it out for 2016! The conference is free, and they give out amazing prizes! Today I won a tripod from tweeting! They've also been handing out goodie bags and free t-shirts. At the end of tomorrow's sessions, they have drawings for iPads, bluetooth speakers, a drone, and a ticket to ISTE! GRITC 2016 will be July 27th and 28th!

Our keynote speaker, Dr. Lodge McCammon, has incredible ideas about flipped classrooms, student engagement, transparency in the classroom, active classrooms, and so much more! He is inspiring. Check out his website, twitter, and youtube account!

One session I was able to attend with Dr. McCammon was Walk & Talk. This activity gets students literally - walking and talking. Studies have shown that during exercise our brains are more active and engaged. Walking helps stimulate the brain and get the blood pumping. Through the use of a flipped classroom and videoed lectures, teachers can have students simply walk around the school or outside while discussing the topic.

How much do you hate sitting through PD sessions? How do you think your students feel stuck in a desk all day?

During our PD session, Dr. McCammon had us walk and talk about the walk and talk strategy. We discussed challenges and solutions with using this strategy in our classroom. I felt energized as we walk while having our discussion. It also took away the distractions of computers, phones, and doodling when I should have been talking.

This is an easy to implement strategy I plan to use in my classroom at the start of the school year along with videoed lectures (blog to come later). Check out this video from Dr. McCammon about walk & talk:

Can you use walk & talk in your classroom? What would you have students discuss? What challenges and solutions can you see with this strategy? 

Classroom Improvements 2015-2016

Each summer I work to improve and update my classroom. I've never felt that my classroom was "wrong," but there are always ways to increase student engagement and develop organization in your classroom. You can checkout my 2014-2015 classroom under the classroom tab above. I will update my classroom after my classroom is set up again!

There are a few question I ask myself (and my students) when I am planning my classroom redo:

1. What did my students enjoy?
2. What did my students not interact with?
3. What problems arose in my classroom this year?
4. What fun ideas have I found on Pinterest?
5. Is there a goal I'd like my students to reach during the next school year?

Here are my answers for the 2015-2016 Classroom Plan:

1. My students enjoyed the reading corner with beanbags, the timeline and they enjoyed the graffiti wall we used while reading Uglies.

At the start of last year, I had a reading corner with bean bags and a tree created in the corner. My 8th graders loved the beanbags, but the tore up the tree by the end of first quarter. I will be keeping the corner, but using inspirational quotes to decorate the area instead of a tree. Each year I've taught, I have kept a running timeline around the top of my room. We always cover at least two walls! I update it at the end of each month with photos and comments about what we have covered, field trips taken, and ideas we've shared. 

The graffiti wall was something I saw on Pinterest from Katie's blog. It was such an engaging activity! Each time a student found something in Uglies that brought something to mind - they wrote it on the wall (black sheet of butcher paper hung on the wall). It could be something they felt foreshadowed something that might happen, something with positive or negative connotation, something they connected with in their real life - anything the student felt was important! It added to conversations and discussions on the novel and had a strong impact on how they remembered and connected with the story. 

2. My students did not interact with my Info Board.

I have one small bulletin board in my classroom. I have been using this board for school/class information: schedule, uniform policy, lunch menu, upcoming events, ETC. The only thing the students actually look at is the lunch menu. This year, I am going to post this general information on the wall behind my door and using the bulletin board for exit slips.

3. Problems: Students randomly grabbing (and taking) books from the bookshelf, trash inside the tables, and missing exit slips.

I am building my classroom library, and I love to see my students reading! Unfortunately, students have been taking a book from my library when they are finished with work and randomly flipping through it instead of reading. When class ends, they put the book in the book bag, inside my tables, or on the floor - rarely back on the shelf. Since my students are required to have a book to read at all times, this year I am going to put a sign in/out log at the book shelf. Students will only be allowed to go to the shelf if they would like a book to completely read or have finished the book they had. I will ban picking one up because they forgot to bring their book to school or did not check one out on library day. 

I love, love, love my tables! They bring students closer together and work wonders for grouping. Unfortunately, my tables also come with a hole in the top middle for cords to go down and a tray underneath to run the cords out the side of the table. My students have a bad habit of putting trash, crumpled paper, and their belongings inside the table. Talk about aggravating! This year I am attaching boxes over the holes to hold classroom supplies and cover the holes! I'm so excited about this new addition. 

Sadly, I have numerous students who refuse to complete exit slips and will just leave the classroom. I'm busy collecting those being turned in, and I often miss those who slip out the door. This year I am going to turn my small bulletin board into an exit slip board. Each student will have a specific thumb tack to put their exit slip under. I will be able to glance and see who should and who should not leave my room.

4. Pinterest ideas: Cute red/white/blue nautical theme, meme rules, early finishers poster, and boggle.

Pinterest ideas are always fun! I have heavy red curtains that I love and blue cabinets I can not change. I've been searching for a theme that would tie these two colors together and not be too 'childish.' I'm excited to have found a fun nautical theme! 

5. As a staff, we have decided we would like to see our students take more accountability for missing/unattempted school work.

Our elementary school has a no zero policy that allows students a great deal of time to turn in late work. Our high school has a no late work policy that requires students to turn in their work the day it is due. As the middle school, we have to take the students from what they are used to and prepare them for what is to come. This year I am going to implement a missing work binder. Students will sign if they did not complete an assignment, and I will assign the time which the student will show up to complete the work. This will be a structured system moving through break detention, working lunch, and before/after school detention.

I'm thrilled to have plans for the next school year, and I look forward to seeing how they improve my classroom! What are you changing this year? What goal do you want it to accomplish? Share!

Periscope

Have you heard of the new Periscope craze? It is hitting the ground running and getting attention from around the world! I first heard about it through Instagram from teacher friends. Periscope is an app in both the App Store and the Play Store. It links from your Twitter account. You can watch live streams on your computer if you find a link from a twitter post (you can't watch directly from the Periscope site).

Yesterday I watched the sunrise in Miami, church clips from three different states, waves rolling on the shores of California, the sunset in Australia, and several teachers chatting about many different things! Just this morning I have walked the streets of New York, swam in Puerto Rico, watched others swim in Lake Placid (I've seen that movie - I'm not swimming there!), driven down a country lane in Europe, got stuck in traffic while listening to the radio in Moscow, and ended up in too many bedrooms. 

The premise of Periscope is to explore the world through someone else's eyes. It is a lot of fun seeing life happening anywhere around the world. 

Lucky Little Learners streamed this morning and posted about a blog with 25 Periscope tips. I joined her stream too late to comment (she filled up really fast!), but I did enjoy watching it and following along on her blog. She has wonderful tips on kicking your Periscopes up a notch. I posted my first Periscope last night, and it didn't go well - but I look forward to implementing her tips and trying again soon!

Will I be using it in my classroom? -No.

Periscope is a wonderful experience, but it is a live experience. There are too many things that could go wrong (inappropriate comments or images) to display or "let students loose with" periscope in the classroom. There are also many student privacy rights that must be considered if you display your classroom on periscope.

I've heard several other teachers discuss working closely with another classroom/person to do private periscopes. I use Skype for this, and I don't see any reason to fix what isn't broken. 

Are you using Periscope? Who is your favorite person to follow on Periscope? Post your Periscope name below! Follow me at @ReevesintheMiddle.

What happened to June?

Whew! This summer is FLYING by! I can't believe it's already July. Only five weeks until school starts!


I've been working on my MA in Gifted/Talented Education since August 2014. I was identified as gifted in elementary school, and I absolutely loved the program. I was constantly bored in the regular classroom, so gifted pull out time was always a blessing! (Plus I probably wasn't the easiest kids to deal with when I was bored and the teacher wanted me to sit - or Lord forbid - help a student that refused to pay attention to directions!). I always wanted a degree in G/T; even though, I've never been sure I wanted to teach it. This program has been incredible, and I have SO MANY things I'm excited to implement during the 2015-2016 school year.


Part of the G/T MA program is teaching a gifted workshop of the summer (Summer Enrichment Workshop). Since the university is five hours from home, my son and I have spent the last month living in dorms with two cats and getting the full college experience. I taught a Kindergarten - 1st Grade class and a 2nd Grade - 3rd Grade class on Medieval Times. I'm a SECONDARY teacher. Young children scare me. They're tiny. They hide well. They cry. *shudder* Thankfully, I was able to work with a magical undergrad student who is getting a degree in multiple abilities! She was incredible with these little people and kept us from crying several times (and by us - I totally mean me).


The G/T program focuses on Renzulli's Schoolwide Enrichment Model and Schlichter's Talents Unlimited. For those unfamiliar with these two gifted pedagogy models: SEM uses three types of activities to introduce students to information and possible interests (Type I), teach students to process knowledge and delve deeper into a topic (Type II), and create their own project that results in a solution to a real-world problem / TU uses six talents to teach students to process knowledge and build their critical and creative thinking skills (academic, productive thinking, communication, forecasting, decision making, and planning). (TU activities are Type II SEM activities.)


Talents Unlimited is something I will absolutely be utilizing in my classroom this year! I teach inclusion classes (lower level learners), but I see the potential in these talents helping all students with their thinking skills!


During the summer workshop, we used both SEM and TU. We explored medieval clothing, medieval foods, medieval weaponry, medieval sumptuary laws, and medieval castles. In spite of my fear of the children, we had a GREAT TIME! It was a lot of fun. The students were motivated, interested, and always ready to go! You can download my menu of activities here if you're interested in teaching a medieval unit!



We spent the first week introducing the different areas of medieval times (the type I activities) and week two allowing students to explore areas they found interesting. The students designed their own medieval weaponry, made ink from berries, learn to weave, wrote in calligraphy, and so much more! It always amazes me the creativity of students. During the last week, the students created a Medieval Faire to present to their parents on the last day. They had a king and queen who ran the show, and they presented their parents with artwork, clothing, weaponry, food, and jousting!
This experience was a lot of fun and very educational, but I will greatly enjoy getting back to my middle schoolers in August!

All my other photos have students in them, so these are the only photos I can share.