Bond with James: 2018

Saturday, November 17, 2018

Teaching at Title 1 Schools | A Week in the Life of a Teacher



This week's vlog includes a 7-minute teaching warm-up and transitions into my reflection of the week; as well as my feelings about working and teaching at title 1 schools. 



When I first started A Week in the Life of a Teacher vlogs (17-18), I filmed and incorporated teaching clips in my videos. I did this because there had not been, to my knowledge, another teacher vlogger that had (consistently) done so. I also wanted to use my vlogs to share ideas and also reflect on my own teaching. I've spent a majority of my career working with or teaching at title 1 schools and I wanted to see where I could develop to support all students.

However, teaching Pre-AP chemistry for the first time in 8 years combined with teaching at a Title 1 school and daily vlogging and editing for a weekly vlog release began to take its toll on me mentally and physically. Therefore, during the spring semester, I continued to record my lessons for self-reflection, but I didn't stress about editing hours of lessons for the A Week in the Life of a Teacher vlog.

This school year (18-19), I decided to scale back the amount of time I spent vlogging. For the most part, I record on a single day and reflect on the week or some topic that people have asked me about. I feel this schedule allows me to rest, relax, and not stress about additional work.

Although, I have made the decision to try and incorporate small segments of instruction from one lesson taught during my weekly vlog release. I this will allow me to support my original goals and provide a lens to anyone who is interested in teaching, especially at Title 1 schools.

For the record, just in case this needs to be stated, I do not believe Title 1 schools are terrible. There are multiple challenges that make teaching at a Title 1 school difficult. However, I enjoy working with the population of students that I serve and understand the commitment and dedication it takes to support them academically and emotionally.

Monday, August 20, 2018

First Week of School (2018-2019)

The Facebook post can't even describe how tired I was after my first week back to school. However, I had a great first week. 

You can check out a bit more through my 2018-2019 First Week of School vlog.

Sunday, August 12, 2018

7 Tips for New Teachers

Did you hear that?  It was the sound of summer vacation speeding past us like a race car on the Indy 500! Many teachers started or are about to begin their 2018-2019 school year.  If you weren't aware, check out Facebook or Instagram for hundreds of posts about classroom hauls, makeovers, and tours. Don't worry, mine will be coming soon!

With that said, my latest video is centered around new teacher tips because it is one of the most common requests that I receive. I also thought it would be great to release this New Teacher Tips video along with the BIG 2018 Secondary Science Giveaway that I am participating in. [...more below the video]




I am fortunate to have an opportunity to collaborate with a fantastic group of secondary science teacher-authors.  We have come together to give away four (4) $100 Teachers Pay Teachers gift cards.  Additionally, many of us are hosting our own giveaways. Therefore, you the chance of winning hundreds of dollars worth of prizes.

I will be giving away two (2) of my Chemistry Blended Learning Stations Bundle. You can check out several of my vlogs on YouTube where I've shown and talked about the implementation of the stations in the classroom.  Students are engaged and challenged throughout each stations activity set; they're all great activities to use during a formal evaluation.




Here are the rules: 

  1. Hop from blog to blog (links at the bottom). Each blog has a secret word.  
  2. Gather the secret words to create a sentence. 
  3. Correctly type the sentence in the right order to enter the collaborative giveaway (it does not matter which teacher-authors blog you submit).  My secret word is: 12. torch 
  4. For my giveaway, follow the instructions in the KingSumo Giveaway.

Bond with James Giveaway


Secondary Science Collaborative Giveaway 
a Rafflecopter giveaway