What Makes An Outstanding Teacher?

As I have been recently going through the job search process, time spent filling out applications has provided me with an opportunity to reflect on what I truly believe about teaching.

Many applications ask questions like, "How do you provide differentiation in your classroom?" or "What is your teaching philosophy?"  I've realized that my responses are looking quite different than five years ago, when I was a brand new teacher with little to no experience under my belt.  And I'm sure they would look even different five years from now.

One question asked was, "What makes an outstanding teacher?"  It's always beneficial to pause and think about the answer to this question.  In my opinion...

I believe that an outstanding teacher needs to be creative, flexible, skilled, willing to continue learning, and truly care about the well being of his or her students.  

A great teacher is creative and flexible.  Often I have noticed that my best ideas come while I am in the midst of teaching a lesson.  While I always have a lesson plan, sometimes I deviate from it if my teaching is not reaching students and I can see a better way to engage them in instruction.  It is important to be open to creativity and flexibility at all times. 

I believe that outstanding teachers should also be lifelong learners.  I am constantly searching for ways to improve my teaching skills through attending conferences, workshops, following good blogs, reading professional articles online, as well as continuing to take classes towards my masters degree.  

Finally, a teacher should truly care about the well-being of the students. At the end of the day, we are forming people and that is an immense and humbling task. We have to be able to see the person in front of us with their individual personalities and needs, to be able to reach them through forming a personal relationship with every student in our classrooms. Only after forming this trusting relationship can more effective learning take place.

As I look at my students and realize we only have nine days left, I see how far we have come in our short time together.  We've truly become a community.  We've learned together; even at their young age, they have taught me many things and made me a better teacher.  Even though I may not be coming back to kindergarten next year, I will remember every single one of them and the lessons they taught me as I continue to strive to become a better teacher.

End of the Year Countdown

Last time I wrote, I talked about how I really want to make the last few weeks of school special for my students.  I also want to make it manageable and not too stressful for me.  I've been bouncing around end of the year ideas in my head for a few days now and trying to decide on the best thing to do.  There are so many fun ideas out there and also fun ideas that I wanted to incorporate but I just haven't gotten organized yet.

While searching online, I came across a few Pinterest and blog ideas that solved my problem...an end of the year countdown!  Every day my students will find out what special activity they will do for the next day.  I plan to reveal it to them at the very end of the day.

Confession:  I may have a slightly teeny-tiny ulterior motive in mind.  Clean up from centers has gotten  S  L  O  W  E  R and  S L O W E R R R R every day.  And no matter how hard I try to get them to clean up after themselves, it seems as if I put the kids on the bus and come back to bigger disaster every day.  Case in point:  Someone just walked away from the blocks center and out to the bus today.  Just like that.  So, I plan on revealing the next countdown activity AFTER they have all come to the carpet packed up and cleaned up.  Which is how the end of the day is usually supposed to run, but anyway...I think having this to look forward to will make clean up time even faster!  And, I think they will simply enjoy the activities themselves.

My version is most likely going to consist of envelopes on a clothesline.  I'm a little worried that if I hang balloons, a balloon will pop or a student will "accidentally" pop it.  :)  I think it might be fun to pick a different student every day to open the envelope...another incentive for good behavior!

Here is my list of activities.  They will start when we come back from Memorial Day Break.  There are so many ideas out there, but this is what I know will work for my class and also not require too much running around for prep and setting up on my part.  With the possibility of moving out of the room at the end of the year, I've got to keep it simple for my own sanity.  

15.  Bonus Day (this Friday, the first envelope will explain the countdown)
14.  Make Your Own Nametag Day (thanks Kickin' It In Kindergarten for this idea!)
13.  Double Recess Day (which means we'll go outside at centers time)
12.  Use a Pen Day (I took away several that showed up last week, so they'll be excited about this!)
11.  Bubbles Day (every student will get their own bottle and we'll play for a few minutes)
10.  Bring a Toy to School Day (see #12)
9.    Use Markers Day (we have VERY specific guidelines about when to use markers)
8.    Science Experiment Day (I wish we had more time for experiments, so this will be fun!)
7.    Lunch in the Room Day (again, something I've wanted to incorporate all year)
6.    Mystery Reader Day (right now it's a mystery to me too...)
5.    Make A Class Gift Day (for our room mom and helpers/volunteers)
4.    Visit 1st Grade Day (going to work with 1st grade to plan something fun)
3.    Pick Your Own Seat Day (I figure if this backfires, we're almost done!)
2.    Beach Day (their teacher is super excited to plan this one.  I'm thinking something along the lines of them bringing a beach towel to sit on and wearing sunglasses and leis listening to beachy music while we work/clean up)
1.    LAST DAY OF SCHOOL!  (perhaps a movie or simply awards/end of year gifts and helping clean up the room...I'm not too clear on what will have to be done on this day, so I'll wait and see.)

So that's the plan.  I'm excited to make some fun memories before I send my kiddoes home for the summer!

Unexpected News

My teacher appreciation week did not end on a high note.  Getting the news last week that I might be laid off has turned my days upside down and taken a lot of the "wind out of my sails" so to speak.     

Just as I was finished my masters courses, I received news that my position will probably be included in upcoming cuts to our district budget.  Thus, my computer time this weekend was spent updating my resume and working on job applications.  As much as I would like to hope that I can stay where I am at, I also know that I need to prepare for the possibility that I will not be staying where I am at.  I just hate the uncertainty of not knowing where I will be and how to pack up this school year.

As I was reflecting/mourning the potential loss of my current job, I felt as if all the excitement I had for the end of the year was fading away.  Then I went into work and looked at my 19 little faces that depend on me every day.  I will have other teaching years.  They will not have another kindergarten year.  They will not have another kindergarten teacher, or another kindergarten class. 

So after I stopped moping about, I started looking for ideas on how to make the end of THEIR kindergarten year memorable.  I've started freshening up our centers with new materials, playing more circle games, and getting out new supplies and activities that I was "saving" for "later" (uhhh...we have 5 weeks left so I'm pretty sure "later" is now).  We've got a field trip coming up this week and other events in the works.  I'm looking forward to ending THEIR year with a bang.

Any suggestions???

It's May!

It's a busy weekend with a family party and finishing my two masters' degree classes (by midnight tomorrow?? hopefully?) but I do have a few things to share... 

 

We had a PD day yesterday.  It was a nice little reprieve as we push towards the end of the year.  Don't get me wrong...I love my students and I am loving the fact that most days now we are following routines (mostly), but a day to reflect and connect with coworkers is always nice.  One of the sessions was teacher-led and I loved it.  It was great to hear from teachers in our own district and get a peek into the great ways they are implementing curriculum and organizing their classrooms!

 

We had an exciting math lesson this week...the best sort and count activity ever!  To end our sorting unit, the kids each got a bag of M&M's or Smarties.  We don't use a lot of food for lessons in my classroom, but I figured a little sugar once in a while can't hurt.  :)

 

They emptied their bags, sorted by color, and counted.  They had to look at each other's plates at their tables and talk about which groups had the most and which groups had the least.  Then, they could eat the group with the most first, on down to the group with the least.

 

 

 

 

Smarties sorting was a little hard.  Some students were putting reds and oranges together, but I grabbed an extra bag and modeled the colors they should have on the document camera. 

 

(I just discovered how to connect my IPEVO document camera to the Promethean board, by the way.  It has been sitting there all year, but I finally took the time to figure out how to use it.  Now modeling is SO much easier.  And according to the kids, the best part is looking at my hand move on the screen. :)  I am pretty fortunate to have good technology in my classroom!)   

 

Anyway, you could hear a pin drop as they sorted their candy.  And NO ONE ate their candy before they sorted!!  They even asked several times, "Is it okay to eat them now?"

 

If I had to do this over again, I would have used white paper plates so the kiddos could write the numbers next to each group.  Duh...  I had intended to use white paper for "placemats" but switched to some sturdy leftover birthday plates I had in the closet so the candy wouldn't roll around on the floor.  But kids were having a hard time keeping track of each number as they counted the groups. 

 

 

Now we're moving on to shapes.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm super excited because while researching activities for my annotated bibliography project, I found Mrs. Unger's Unbelievable Elementary Experiences!  Her post on how to use this book to teach shapes sounded fun, so we are going to try this on Friday.  I've placed my Amazon order and the book is on its way!  I'm always looking for ways to integrate reading and math, so this will be a perfect way to extend our 2D shapes week.  (And possibly make a cute hallway display!)