Skip to the bottom if you're only here for the Mint Bag ;)
I co-facilitated another science instructional leadership seminar today. The seminar is made up of the science instructional coaches and department chairs from our high school campuses. I haven't had the chance to blog about instructional rounds; however, this was the second one of the year.
I'm sure you've had a group of suits in your classroom, poking around, asking questions, providing cold stares, not providing feedback etc. during an observation. I did not want this to be that. I know that observations can
be frightening for many teachers.However, I think a paradigm shift is
needed if we truly want to develop our pedagogical skills, increase
student performance and close the achievement gap. From what I've seen and experienced,
teaching is an isolated profession. Yes, we have PLCs but I can easily say one thing in a PLC and then go about my business behind a closed classroom door.
To make a long explanation
short, my teaching program encouraged the observation of other teachers.
As a full-time teacher I always wanted to observe my peers, but for one
reason or another I never had/made time to do so. My current position
has provided hundreds of teacher observation hours and I feel I have
grown tremendously as a result. I now am working with other
instructional leaders/current teachers to:
(1) develop our capacity as science leaders
(2) visit and assist host campuses with self-identified challenge areas, and
(3) bring ideas and/or new learning back to the home campus to share with colleagues
I wanted to make sure that our leaders were providing appropriate / descriptive feedback to teachers at their home campus. For example, instead of saying that the students were engaged, I might say 17 out of 20 students could be seen looking at the teacher and writing notes as s/he talked. The first description is judgmental in nature. I don't know if the students are engaged - perhaps they're just compliant for whatever reason. The second description is specific and, for the most part, objective data a teacher can use to gauge his or her instruction. A teacher and I can interpret the second statement in many ways; however, the point is to provide the teacher with as much data as possible in order to help improve his/her instruction over time.
Okay, I'm getting off track. The main reason for the blog was to talk about the Mint Bags. :)
I wish I could say this awesome idea was mine but it's not. I saw a picture similar to this on Pinterest when I first joined a few months ago. Actually, the mints were tied in pretty ribbon and wrapping paper. Unfortunately, these teachers were getting the $0.99 Ziploc baggie bargain deal. It's the thought that counts, right? I created Mint Bags as a way to say thank you to the host teachers for allowing the science leaders to observe their classrooms today. I personally delivered each one. I even heard one teacher (who had his blue tooth microphone on) reading it to his class - I chuckled as I walked by.
Looking back, this time of year was hard for me as a novice teacher. I found strength and renewed commit-"mint" to press forward through the encourage-"mint" of students and colleagues. :)
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
Thursday, December 5, 2013
Facebook Frenzies...
Do you know what a Facebook Frenzy is? If so, have you participated in one as a member and/or a participant? If not, let me briefly explain what a Facebook Frenzy is so that you are up-to-speed and can join in on all the fun and great items.
The Facebook (FB) Frenzy idea was created by Heather (Creation Castle) a few months ago. Since then it has taken off and become a fun event to obtain free items and follow great FB pages. Since I was a co-leader in the December 6th-12th group, I will use this group as an example.
The 6th-12 grade group hosts educators from all background and content areas - math, science, social studies, ELA, technology, etc. Everyone in the group offers a FREE product that you can obtain by liking their FB page. Once you LIKE a page, you receive a free item and access to a link that will take you to the next person's page. You repeat this process until you've gone through all the pages. This is a great way to find new pages and be alerted to future sales and/or free items from that particular individual.
Groups are: K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th-12th, Music, and Clip Art (starting links are below)
A PDF of the image with clickable links may be found here.
Make sure to look for this tab (located on the top right) of each page. Once you click it, LIKE the page to gain access to the free item and link to the the next page.
Remember, the December Frenzy occurs for a limited number of days (December 6th-9th, 2013). I hope you LIKE a lot of pages and stay with them. Many of the pages offer flash freebies or other great ideas.
THE DECEMBER FRENZY HAS EXPIRED - ALL LINKS HAVE BEEN REMOVED
The Facebook (FB) Frenzy idea was created by Heather (Creation Castle) a few months ago. Since then it has taken off and become a fun event to obtain free items and follow great FB pages. Since I was a co-leader in the December 6th-12th group, I will use this group as an example.
The 6th-12 grade group hosts educators from all background and content areas - math, science, social studies, ELA, technology, etc. Everyone in the group offers a FREE product that you can obtain by liking their FB page. Once you LIKE a page, you receive a free item and access to a link that will take you to the next person's page. You repeat this process until you've gone through all the pages. This is a great way to find new pages and be alerted to future sales and/or free items from that particular individual.
Groups are: K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th-12th, Music, and Clip Art (starting links are below)
A PDF of the image with clickable links may be found here.
Make sure to look for this tab (located on the top right) of each page. Once you click it, LIKE the page to gain access to the free item and link to the the next page.
Remember, the December Frenzy occurs for a limited number of days (December 6th-9th, 2013). I hope you LIKE a lot of pages and stay with them. Many of the pages offer flash freebies or other great ideas.
THE DECEMBER FRENZY HAS EXPIRED - ALL LINKS HAVE BEEN REMOVED
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