#Love Teaching Week

Last week was #Love Teaching Week...A week dedicated to showcasing the positives about teaching. The media does a great job showing many of the negatives that come along with teaching, but rarely highlights the reasons we went into this profession to start with. 

Don't get me wrong, this career is difficult and definitely has its challenges. There have been times in my ten years of teaching that I have questioned my career choice and contemplated starting over in a new career. There have been many times that I have felt quilty about working outside of the home in a career that demands so much of my time at home too.  However, whenever I am having my doubts, something always happens to remind me that I am making a difference. 

For instance, as I thought about all the little things I could share for #LoveTeaching this week on social media, I realized that I can find something positive about my job every single day. 

I noticed, in this one-week time frame, that what really makes me love teaching the most is the connection I can make with these students on a daily basis. I can make a difference in their lives. Here is a list of some things that have happened in one week of teaching.

I love teaching because...

* After sharing a chapter from Kid President's Guide to Being Awesome, written by Brad Montague and Robby Novak, the kids in one of my classes were so moved by the message, they broke out into an applause. This reminded me that there are so many students out there that are moved by the idea to treat people more awesome. The line that ended the chapter was,  "Maybe our goal as people shouldn't be to become a celebrity, but to live in a way that makes everyone around us feel celebrated." If I can help these students understand that their actions make a difference and if I can show them that I celebrate them and believe in them, then I am doing the job I set out to do.

* A senior from the school I used to teach at contacted me to tell me that he got accepted at the college of his choice. Why did he contact me? Because he knew I would want to know. These moments in teaching are so important because it tells me that I have made a connection with a student. They know that I care about them and want them to succeed in life. 

* After school (on the last day of the school-week), two students came and asked me to take a picture with them. We were wearing the new shirts our group, Here 2 Make a Change (H2MC), had made. They are helping to spread a positive message throughout our school and community. To see students go out of their way to make a positive impact shows me that with a little reinforcement through me, these students feel comfortable about making a difference. 

* Over the weekend, I opened my email to find a letter written by a freshman in high school. This student took time out of her weekend to send me a message about the impact I have had on her and how much she respects me. It is times like these that make every negative thing about teaching just disappear. These moments keep teachers going for a very long time. 

* Last week, I went to my mailbox in the school office to find a hand-written note from a student facing something that could potentially keep him out of school for a long time. While reading this letter, tears filled my eyes. This student knew I saw potential in him and thanked me for believing in him; he was very sad to say that this letter might be his last good-bye.  This letter reminded me that my teaching can impact all students. Just showing students you believe in them, care about them, and want them to succeed will carry them through some of their toughest moments. 

* While reading a nonfiction piece about refugees, students in every one of my classes shared their concerns and talked about ways people throughout the world could offer help. These moments give me so much hope. High school students often get stereotyped as the "Me Generation". I see on a daily basis that there are so many students that just want to do something to help others, even if it doesn't get them anything. Not all students fit this stereotype...

These moments are just a few that stick out from the week. Like I said before, there is always something, every day, that reminds me why I love teaching.  

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. 

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

   

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. 

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. 

Cyber Bullying Showcase

October is Bullying Prevention Month. Our community is also dealing with the suicide of a local senior that was cyber-bullied. In our English classes, students read an article (http://www.tolerance.org/magazine/number-38-fall-2010/feature/cyberbullying) about cyber bullying. We then discussed the reading and any student that wanted to take a stand against cyber bullying could trace their hand and write their name.

The support materials were found on MTV's website: athinline.org, a website dedicated to drawing a line between digital use and digital abuse.