Sunday, September 28, 2014

Pride Tickets

Our school has implemented new parking requirements this year. To help promote the rules, I made these tickets for the administration to place on the students' cars that were following the rules. This was a great way to reward the students that were doing what they were supposed to be doing, as opposed to just providing negative reinforcement to the students that weren't following the rules. 

Students turned in the tickets the following day and were rewarded with a treat. 

I am planning on changing the wording on the tickets to use for positive behavior in my classroom as well. 


Monday, September 1, 2014

High School Classroom Decorations

My new classroom: 
I continued to use my past Twitter theme. I also added a Facebook bulletin board that highlights the theme and essential questions each grade level will focus on this year in our literature. I added pictures of the authors and books we will read at the beginning of the year in the status update section. I will continue to add authors as the year progresses. 

All of the Twitter posts run around the top of the classroom. I used recite.com to create the quote images. The kids love the styles. 


The bulletin board at the front of the room has an Instagram theme. I will post pictures of the students and allow them to bring in pictures to post on the board. 

I filled in empty spaces with posters I made on bulletin board paper. I found most of the poster quotes from Pinterest. 



Here is a list of the quotes I used for the Twitter theme...
“I keep my ideals, because in spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart.”
 @AnneFrank

“An eye for an eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”
 @MahatmaGandhi

“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.”
 @DalaiLama

“Nothing will work unless you do.”
 @MayaAngelou

“Don’t worry when you are not recognized, but strive to be worthy of recognition.”
 @AbrahamLincoln

“Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you without leaving happier.”
 @MotherTeresa
  
“Even in darkness, it is possible to create light.”
 @ElieWiesel

“It is our choices, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities.”
 @JKRowling

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”
 @Oscar Wilde

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”
@MahatmaGandhi

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
 @MayaAngelou

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
 @MayaAngelou
  
“The man who does not read has no advantage over the man who cannot read.”
 @MarkTwain

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who’ll decide where to go…”
 @DrSeuss

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.”
 @RalphWaldoEmerson

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” 
 @DrSeuss

“Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.”
 @AlbertEinstein

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” 
 @WinstonChurchill

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” 
Mark Twain

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” 
 @HarperLee

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.” 
 @AnneFrank

“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.”
@Plato

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” 
 @WinstonChurchill

“Whether you think you can, or you think you can't--you're right.” 
@Henry Ford

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” 

 @MartinLutherKingJr
   

Monday, August 25, 2014

Attitude Poster

Saw a picture of this poster on Facebook today. It will fit perfectly in my classroom. I just wrote the message with a Sharpie on a piece of colored bulletin board paper. 

Thursday, March 13, 2014

ACT Reward Cards and Treats

90 cookies, 45 cupcakes, and 40 brownies later, I have enough rewards for my Juniors taking the ACT test tomorrow. To determine which treat is their reward, I made these simple scratch-off reward cards. 

I found an ACT logo and copied it 9 times on a document. Underneath each logo, I typed, Congratulations! You put forth 100% effort today. Thank you for your time and commitment.
Reveal your reward below:

I wrote brownie, cookie, and cupcake on the sheets of paper. I covered the name of the treat with contact paper. 

Then I made a mixture of 2 parts gray paint and 1 part Dawn dish soup. I painted over the contact paper. 

Here are the treats...

When the students are done testing, they will each get a card. Then they will scratch off the paint to reveal their "reward". 


March Madness Short Story Bracket

For my high school English classes, this is the March Madness Elite 8 Bracket I came up with. There are a couple of ways one could go about setting this up. 
I plan on sending a digital copy of each short story to my class Google Group.

If technology isn't available, one could have 5 copies of each story for the students to take turns reading and analyzing. They don't have to follow the bracket in any certain order. 

Or, one could do a combination of the two methods.