Join me as I vlog about my Day 1 classroom prep for the upcoming 2017-2018 school year. I also talk about student group bins!
This vlog highlights a 3-hour time period when I went up to my school to start organizing my classroom. Teachers have 1 week of summer left (after the shooting of this video) before we have to return. Based on my experience as a teacher and administrator, I know that I would not have enough classroom preparation time once we returned. Therefore, I made a trip up to the school to allow myself sufficient time for setting up my classroom.
I also take some time to discuss my student group bins (boxes). I showed these in my End-of-Year tour video last year. However, I forgot to come back around to explain what I actually had inside. I've used group bins for a majority of my career and believe that the bins are one of the many awesome classroom organizing ideas for teachers.
If you have any great ideas for organizing my classroom or general classroom organizing ideas for teachers, then please leave them in the comment section below. I would love to hear from you, as would other teachers! Thanks for watching!
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Chembridge is a dual-credit course offered through the University of Texas at Austin. The program is part of the Pre-College Academic Readiness Program (through a division that oversees diversity and community issues on campus and throughout the state). The course is taught online by a University of Texas professor. High school teachers co-teach in person at their respective campus. Students also receive 6 hours of college credit upon successful completion of both semesters.
I inherited the course from a teacher that had left at the end of last school year (and she had inherited it from a teacher that had left mid-semester last year). I had previously co-taught the course approximately 10 years ago. Chembridge has undergone faculty and programmatic changes since then.
The workshop served as teacher professional development over a 4 day period (originally scheduled for 5 days). Teachers received professional development credits at the end of the workshop. Additionally, individuals will return in the fall for 1.5 days of teacher professional development
In the video, I share my experiences over the week of July 24th - July 28th - everything from traveling to campus, to fighting and surviving allergies, and working problems that my students will work on throughout the school year.
Join me as I participate the in the #iteachtoo Teacher Tag, created by my fellow teacher YouTuber, Too Cool For Middle School. The #iteachtoo teacher tag is a series of 10 questions, posted below, that participants answer about themselves to help their audience get to know them better. Play along and share a little about yourself in the comments section so that I get to know a bit about you; especially if you are a secondary teacher.
How did you get involved and can I join?
--I came across the #iteachtoo Teacher Tag through the YouTube recommended list. I noticed a lot of videos with the #iteachtoo tag and wondered what was going on. After watching a few, I realized that it was a collaborative opportunity, created by Megan, of "Too Cool For Middle School", that allowed people to participate in voluntarily.
Prior to this, I had not really shared information about myself similar to the info that I shared in my #iteachtoo video. So, hopefully, you were able to learn a little more about who I am as a person and a secondary science teacher!
#iteachtoo Teacher Tag questions
1. What do you teach and where?
2. How long have you been teaching?
3. Did you always know you wanted to be a teacher?
4. What is your typical #teacherootd?
5. What do you usually bring for lunch?
6. What is one of your favorite books about teaching?
7. What is one of your favorite teacher movies?
8. Who was your favorite teacher?
9. Who are some of your favorite teacher YouTubers/instagrammers/snapchatters, etc?
10. What is one of your best classroom management tips?
11. What is one reason you decided to become a teacher?
Join me as I share my student teaching experience, as well as my experience as a collaborative teacher (host) for student teachers. What was your student teaching experience like? [See below for additional info]
Additional insight:
While my student teaching was 15 years ago, the experience is still fresh in my memory. Perhaps I remember it so well due to my anxiety and the fact that I basically taught the two courses unsupervised. Regardless of that particular situation, it still was a great experience. I was fortunate enough to complete student teaching assignments at various primary and secondary schools; however, my semester-long experience is the event that I speak about in this particular video.
I also had a few stints as a (host) cooperating teacher for several student teachers. I shared my last experience - which was 7 years ago before I left the classroom for various instructional leadership positions. In all cases, I made sure to allow my student teachers the opportunities to experience the life of a teacher (or at least as close as possible in order to make their transition a little easier).
If you're thinking about becoming a teacher or about to start your student teaching assignment, then, as I repeated SEVERAL times in the video, take advantage of all the opportunities and commit yourself to the experience. Best of luck on your teaching journey and I hope I was able to provide an alternative insight to a topic you may have already come across. Have a great day!
-James-
Feel free to share in the Comments section (here or on my YouTube channel). Also, if anything in the video resonated with you, then make sure to Like and/or Subscribe so that you can receive weekly vloggin updates!
I decided to make this video because people always ask me why I made the decision to leave higher positions and return to teaching. I returned to the classroom during the 2016-2017 school year and taught science (biology and environmental systems) at a Title 1 high school. Prior to that, I was a campus assistant principal (at the same school) and prior to that, I was a district-level science instructional specialist for high schools.
Join me as I discuss my poor curriculum design process as a new teacher and how I eventually developed those skills; which helped me later on in my career (as a district instructional specialist and campus assistant principal).
If you are unfamiliar with the Backward Design process or wish to advance your career as an instructional leader (administrator, department chair, or instructional coach/specialist), then I recommend reading the book, Understanding by Design, by Wiggins and McTighe. Furthermore, the framework serves as an excellent curriculum model to assist you in the development of your yearly curriculum.
The book goes into much more detail than what I shared in the video. For example, the book describes how teachers should unpack (and repack) their learning standards. It also talks about mistakes of curriculum development - coverage and activity-oriented design; which is referred to as the "twin sins" of traditional curriculum design. The book is also packed with K-12 examples and a few templates (additional templates are available in supplementary UbD resources).
Purchase the book, Understanding by Design, by clicking here. Subscribe, and Bond with James, so that you don't miss updates!
Join me as I begin my YouTube teacher vlogging adventure! The purpose of my vlogs will be to share with others the weekly life of a high school science teacher. Whether you're looking to become a teacher, or you're a novice teacher or a veteran teacher, hopefully, you will find something of value from each vlog. Perhaps with enough time and experience, I can turn it into a daily vlog. Subscribe, and Bond with James, so that you don't miss updates!
