The Cornerstone For Teachers Blog

February’s best teacher freebies

Angela Watson — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 05:00:15 +0000

Exciting news–I’m now blogging over at Classroom Freebies Too! It’s a continuation of the collaborative Classroom Freebies blog started by Charity Preston. Since it’s inception less than four months ago, Classroom Freebies has hit over 1,000,000 page views!

100 educators from grades PreK-12 post links to free printable activities on a daily basis. I am honored to be among the second group of 100 educators continuing that great work on the Classroom Freebies Too site. You can follow both of the Classroom Freebies sites in one feed via Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

This is a slightly different avenue for me, but I’m looking forward to be involved. Until I joined Teaching Blog Traffic School a few weeks ago, I honestly had no idea that there are thousands of teachers creating amazing activities for their classrooms and then sharing (and selling) them online. The majority of these materials are just as good, if not better than, the products being sold commercially by education publishers. So I figured, if there is high-quality stuff out there for no cost to teachers, why not share it with you all?

On the first day of every month here on The Cornerstone blog, I’ll feature a handful of the best teacher freebies I’ve found. These are no-cost activities and printables that you can use in your classroom right away. At the bottom of the page will be a linky party, where you can explore and share links to other great freebies that I’ve missed.

So, here’s my round-up of some of the best free teacher resources for this month. I’m organizing them by grade level, with a separate category just for cool classroom management resources (of course!). If your resource is featured, feel free to grab the button below and show it off on your site.

Early Childhood (Gr. PreK-K):

Valentine Mailbox Letters by Jeannie Partin: “This is a great activity to review letters in a fun, motivating way – your kids will be beginning to play! “Mailman, mailman – you are good to see./Tell me, tell me – do you have a letter for me?/I do have a letter for you./You better read your letter too!”

Heart Alphabet Match by Amanda Myers of A Special Kind of Class: “Here is a simple upper and lower case alphabet matching game. You can also make two copies and have the children match lower case letters or upper case letters.”

Primary Grades (Gr. K-3):

Printable Valentine Set: Silly Homophones and Flying Friends by Erin Wing: “This free download includes two sets of printable valentines.Use the Silly Homophone Valentines as a fun way to play with words and compare the meaning of different homophone pairs. Give them to students as valentines, or include them as an activity in your February writing centers. Flying Friends Valentines are basic valentines to print and hand out during your class celebration.”

Instant Words eBook by Joy Hall of Joy of Teaching: “Here is a FREE sight word eBook that includes teacher-friendly forms and flashcards that correspond with the first 300 words from “The Reading Teacher’s Book of Lists”. The first 300 words make up about 65% of all written material, so it is crucial that students have this foundation when learning to read.”

Upper Elementary (Gr. 3-6):

Calendar Math for the Upper Grades by Stephanie Moorman of Teaching in Room 6: “Calendar Math is usually reserved for the primary grades, but it is BY FAR the most useful thing we do in math all year. Students practice fractions, decimals, division, place value, algebra, graphing, prime and composite numbers, and many more upper grade standards. This standards based program is THE thing that I will shout out across the rooftops, hoping all teachers within earshot take heed of. It is just that good.”

Show Not Tell Writing Prompts by April McNair of A Modern Teacher: “Stop the boring sentences! Here are over 30 writing prompts that encourage students to show, not just tell while writing. Students practice using their senses to describe.” Works for primary grades, also.

Valentines Hearts Math Investigation by Laura Candler of Teaching Resources: “Are all boxes of candy hearts the same? This Valentine Hearts Math Investigation engages the class in collecting data from 10 boxes of colored valentine heart candies to answer this question. As students work, they apply statistical concepts such as range, mode, median, and mean. This activity comes with a Smartboard Notebook 10 file, but the Smartboard is not a requirement for teaching the lesson.”

Middle School (Gr. 6-8):

Partner Picking Cards – Middle School Math by Michelle Lundy of Making It as a Middle School Teacher: “Here’s a set of 30 Partner Picking Cards using Middle Grades Math content. The math content is basic enough for most students to be able to use. These work great as a quick, easy way to randomly pair up students for a task or activity.”

Classroom Management:

Reward Coupons by Melissa Dillard of Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations: “I created these coupons for something new this year. These coupons have been extremely popular on my blog & I am very proud to share them with all of you. My students L.O.V.E these coupons! They will pick a coupon over a piece of candy any day of the week! I’m so glad I implemented this system.” Note: All rewards are intangible!

Muffin Supply Caddy Winter Labels by Charity Preston of The Organized Classroom Blog: “This blog post has a video which shows you a fun way to create classroom supply caddies that can be changed out each month for fun and novelty! There is also a freebie winter label sheet included which will get you started off in style! Enjoy!”

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Have you recently created something fabulous for your classroom? Share it below!

Here are the rules for the linky party:

1) Link directly to the blog post you’ve written about a free activity idea or printable. Don’t link to your homepage; people don’t want to click around to find what they’re looking for. Also, please don’t link to sites that require a login, like TeachersPayTeachers. Help visitors get to their freebies easily!

2) Your freebie can be on any topic, for any grade level, but it must be free now and forever. Teachers who come across this post a year from now should still be able to visit your site and get the item for free.

3) Link back to this blog post or include the Linky Party button (below) somewhere on your site. You can embed the button in your sidebar or just put it directly in your blog post: this way YOUR site visitors know about the teacher freebie round up and linky party and will be encouraged to share their ideas, too! Feel free to also spread the word on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Pinterest, etc.

4) Check out some of the other linky submissions. The linky party is ultimately about sharing ideas and creating conversations, so please leave a comment on at least one other blog. Let the person know how you found them and your thoughts on their ideas.

Did you add your link above? Grab this button and embed it in your blog post!

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Protecting yourself (and the kids) from bureaucracy

Angela Watson — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:31:48 +0000

It’s disconcerting to realize that being good at teaching is not necessarily a requirement to be successful in the field of education. Individuals who possess little or no instructional expertise can somehow land extremely powerful positions. And for those who are in the classroom, being an effective instructor is only a small part of being an effective teacher. There are political games that must be played. There are interpersonal protocols to follow and administrative pet peeves to avoid. There are things to document on paper that defy common sense and basic reasoning.

Yes, the person at Very Demotivational who created this image made a typo. Someone should probably create a system whereby there are three proofreaders, each of whom fill out a form documenting that they've checked for errors and then...oh, wait. Never mind.

What makes this so baffling and infuriating is that we’re constantly reminded of how we don’t work in the dog-eat-dog business world. If we were attorneys or ad executives, we would expect the need for “working the system.” But teachers are repeatedly told, It’s all about the kids! We’re all here for the kids! The implication is that we’re on the same team, and if we each put the kids first, things will work out great for everyone. After awhile, we discover that this is patently untrue! No wonder we get frustrated and disillusioned.

The truth is, teaching is NOT that different from most other jobs. Like every employee, part of our role is to make our bosses look good. We also have to do certain things to please our “clients” (students and parents.) Additionally, we have to make things appear a certain way on paper, and make other things happen in practice.

This is not fun. It is not fair. Often our students suffer the most. But upsetting yourself about these things changes nothing! Getting mad is a reaction, not a solution.

Many teachers resent having to “play the game.” The key is to stop viewing it as game playing. Think of it as a strategic approach to being successful in your school and/or district. Dealing with unfairness is part of the job; it’s not a personal affront to you, and you are not the only one affected.

Practice letting nonsensical demands roll right off your back; comply with them as needed but don’t brood and complain incessantly. Train yourself to see favoritism and inconsistent expectations as part of working in almost any job. Be patient with bureaucratic limitations and misplaced priorities.

None of these things are right or acceptable, but thinking about how bad they are is not helpful. If you constantly lament these issues as major problems, you will get frustrated and burned out. Keep your mind focused on your students and not on the behind-the-scenes stuff that wears you down.

If you find yourself resisting this perspective, keep in mind that you are resisting reality. It’s like getting mad about high gas prices or a long line in the grocery store. If you stubbornly insist, “No! I do not accept this ridiculous practice! I will not make peace with this!” you are harming yourself and causing more suffering. In addition to the practical problem, you’ve created an emotional problem. Detach from the situation so that it does not cause a stress reaction in your body.

Remember, the ultimate goal is to maintain healthy thoughts and enthusiasm for teaching. Work to produce positive change whenever possible, but keep your mind set: I will not be offended, I will not take things personally, I will not frustrate myself by trying to control things I cannot control. I accept that sometimes things are unfair and do not make sense. I refuse to lose my peace over something inane.

If you really want to shield your students from the inequities and absurdities of the educational system, enter your classroom each day with exuberance and positive energy. Don’t let bureaucracy wear you down so that you are too discouraged to give fully of yourself to the kids.

This post was an excerpt from my latest book, Awakened: Change Your Mindset to Transform Your Teaching. You can read sample chapters and reviews, or purchase. The discount code NEWYEAR allows you to buy the eBook (for Kindle, Nook, iPad, etc.) from my site for only $2.99 throughout the month of January 2012.

How do you maintain your enthusiasm despite bureaucracy, favoritism, paperwork overload, and other stuff that detracts from good teaching? Any tips for coping with ridiculous expectations that are enforced inconsistently or unfairly?

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Win a free year’s subscription to BrainPOP!

Angela Watson — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:49:37 +0000

Many of you know that I work part-time as an Educational Editor for BrainPOP. My job entails outlining and editing BrainPOP Jr. scripts and making sure features/activities are developmentally appropriate and aligned with state and common core standards. I also work with the BrainPOP Educators community, managing the lesson plans and contributing to the blog.

If you’re not familiar with BrainPOP, here it is in a nutshell: animated, curriculum-based for grades K-12. We create short movies (just a few minutes long) which can be used in whole class, small group and one-on-one settings. BrainPOP is used in numerous ways in classrooms, at home, and on mobile devices, from introducing a new lesson or topic to illustrating complex subject matter to reviewing before a test. Content is mapped to Common Core, aligned to academic standards, and easily searchable with our online Standards Tool. All the products are fully compatible with interactive whiteboards, learner response systems, projectors, Macs, and PCs. No downloading, installation, or special hardware is required. It’s a subscription-based service that’s currently used in 25% of U.S. schools! I used it when I was a classroom teacher so I know firsthand how much kids love it and how well it helps them understand key concepts and skills.

I hear from many blog readers that you all loooove BrainPOP, but aren’t able to afford a subscription. So, I’ve gotten permission to give away a one-year subscription to one lucky blog reader! The winner can choose to have access to BrainPOP, BrainPOP Jr., BrainPOP ESL, BrainPOP Espanol, or any combination thereof. The subscription will be good for 365 consecutive days in one classroom (or one home, for parents who want their kids to use BrainPOP and homeschooling families.) The complete combo subscription is a $395 value!

Here’s how the contest works:

1) Create a lesson plan using any of the BrainPOP resources. You can check out the full selection of what BrainPOP has to offer by signing up for a free trial, or write your lesson for one of the free movie topics that are available (no subscription required.) Use this form to submit your lesson: just explain how you as a teacher integrate the BrainPOP movie and related activities/features into an innovative classroom activity. You can look over some sample lesson plans to get an idea of what we’re looking for. If you have handouts or printables you want to include, just indicate that in your lesson plan submission and I’ll contact you via email to get the attachment.

2) Leave a comment on the BrainPOP Educators Community forum. Click on the lesson plans message board topic and add a reply–just to introduce yourself and give a super short summary of what the lesson plan you submitted is about. You will need to create a profile for yourself in our community, which is free and takes about 2 minutes. That will give you access not only to our message board forum, but to all kinds of great FREE stuff like graphic organizers and webinars. If your lesson plan is published to our database of lessons, I’ll add the link to your comment so you can view and share it. Be sure to add a gravatar (if you don’t already have one) when you create your BrainPOP Educators profile. This way, if you win, we can share a photo of you (or an image you select as your avatar) when we feature you and your lesson plan on our site.

At midnight on January 31st, the contest will close, and I’ll select and announce a winning lesson plan the following day.

Hey, you’ve got to write lesson plans, anyway…why not win a whole year’s worth of access to BrainPOP in the process? If you have a blog or website you’d like to link to, you can include that in your lesson plan to bring more exposure to your site (we currently have 165,000 members in the BrainPOP Educators community!) All high-quality lesson plan entries will be published on the BrainPOP Educators site. I’m looking forward to reading your submissions!

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CONTEST CLOSED. UPDATE FEBRUARY 1st:

Thank you to everyone who submitted lesson plans! We got some fantastic entries–every single one met the BrainPOP standards for publication on our site, and will be featured in an upcoming BrainPOP Educators blog post!

WINNER:

We Love Nouns! by Jana Wilson

RUNNERS UP:

The Columbus Exchange…Cause and Effect by Stephanie Moorman

Capture the Angles! by Joy Hall

Hibernation by Crystal Radke

Money Mania by Kathy Keith

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Changing routines and procedures mid-year

Angela Watson — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 07:28:31 +0000

I recently received this email from a reader of The Cornerstone book: “I purchased your ebook today and am really enjoying reading it. I have one question…much of the book so far concentrates on establishing procedures and routines at the beginning of the year. Do you have any suggestions for implementing your program now that we have already been in session for 4 months? How can you effectively help your students transition into this new routine without spending TOO much time introducing and reinforcing?”

I thought this was a great question worthy of it’s own blog post, because many teachers are wondering about this issue in the middle of the year. Plus, it gives me a chance to repeat one of my favorite mottos:

It’s NEVER too late to change something that’s not working. You don’t have to wait for next year and an entirely new group of kids. You can–and should–modify your procedures, expectations, and teaching strategies ANY time they are not effective, at ANY time during the school year.

Don’t worry that making changes to the way you run your classroom will confuse the kids or cause them to question your authority and expertise. The key is to articulate to students what’s not working and how you plan to fix it. Tell the class your observations about the problem and share your solution.

First do some brainstorming about what you’d like to change and how you’d like things to run. Post a question on my Facebook wall or share it with the members of The Cornerstone message board forums if you need suggestions. Then have a conversation with your class about it. Don’t try to sneak in a new procedure and act like that’s the way you wanted things done all along. (Yeah, I’ve tried that. They weren’t fooled.) Just level with the kids.

There are two approaches you can take to the conversation. The first involves a 5-10 minute discussion with the class, the second takes less than 2 minutes. I use the more in-depth method for big stuff, like changes to the homework routine, centers and small group rotations, or the class reward/reinforcement system. If it’s something that the kids really care about and that you’ve spent a lot of time training them to do and getting their buy-in, then it’s worth taking the time to involve them in creating new expectations.

For big or important changes, you could tell them:

I’ve been thinking about how we manage __ in our class. I’ve noticed a problem with ___. Have any of you noticed this happening? Why do you think this might be a problem? I’ve been trying to think of good solutions. What are your ideas for fixing this problem? That gives me an idea…you’ve touched on something I was considering over the weekend. What if we tried ___? It would work like this: ___. Would you be willing to try that out for a week or so? Let’s practice it, and then we’ll have another conversation soon to talk about how it’s working. We can always make changes then. Thanks for working together to come up with solutions. I know that our class is going to run more smoothly now that we’ve had this conversation and decided to try something new.

For minor classroom procedures–getting drinks from the water fountain, passing in papers, pencil sharpening, etc.–I don’t spend that much time, because the kids don’t care as much. I’ll just say:

I noticed that our procedure for ___ isn’t working very well these days. Sometimes I see ___ happening and ___ not happening, and that causes a problem with ___. So I’d like to try this instead: ___. Does that makes sense to you? Let’s practice right now. Team One, can you model how to follow this new procedure for us? Everyone, let’s watch Team One as they try this out.

If needed, I’ll narrate what I see and provide feedback.

Here’s an example. Once during my second year of teaching, I became completely fed up with students writing down the wrong page numbers for homework or forgetting to copy all of their assignments. I considered lecturing them. I considered punishing them. And I considered revising my homework routine. I realized I wasn’t really setting students up for success, and came up with some ways to improve the system. The next day I told the class:

I’ve noticed that many people are copying their homework assignments incorrectly. I want to change the way the assignments are displayed and copied in order to help you. From now on, the list of assignments will be on this poster, instead of on the transparency, so even if you come late to class, you can see what needs to be done. I will also be giving you five minutes instead of three to write everything down and have a partner check over what you wrote. Here’s how that’s going to work.

I modeled exactly what I wanted, and guided the kids through it. And instead of having 5 kids miscopy their assignments each day, I started having 1 or 2.

One last really common scenario I want to address: when kids seem to be forgetting procedures and getting sloppy with them. You know what I’m talking about: the supply bins have things missing from them, the coat closet is a disaster area, and the books in the class library are being misused.

There are a few different approaches I’ve used to get the kids back on track:

Point it out: “Hey, I’m noticing that ___ isn’t going as smoothly as it was at the beginning of the year. Who can remind us what the procedure is for that?”
Give a verbal reinforcement when kids do things the right way: “You remembered to __! Thanks for taking care of our classroom.”
Show the kids that I’m paying attention to the way they handle classroom routines and appreciate their efforts by giving a now-that reward: “The entire class did ___ exactly the way we have been practicing! I didn’t have to give a single reminder! Since we didn’t have to stop to wait for people to do the right thing, we’re going to have a few extra minutes before recess. I think I’ll take you outside early. Thanks for being such responsible students.”

If it seems like ALL of our procedures have fallen by the wayside, I have a heart-to-heart with the kids about why the procedures are in place and how we rely on one another to keep the classroom running smoothly. Then I play a procedure review game to go over the expectations and make sure we’re all on the same page. Often I realize I’ve had a bunch of new students transfer in and they’ve never been properly taught our routines. So, I grit my teeth and provide lots of modeling, practice, reinforement narration, and performance feedback.

I’ve found that my attitude has the biggest effect on how smoothly our routines and procedures go. If I’m mentally creating a list of all the things the kids have done wrong, predicting how many ways they’ll screw up next, and bemoaning how poorly they listen and follow directions, I get discouraged and take it out on the class. When I choose to be patient and take the time to involve kids in creating and practicing expectations, I reconnect with the feeling that we are a team. My thoughts create my feelings, my feelings affect my behaviors…and my behaviors determine whether students feel stressed out or capable of doing their best.

So, that is my advice to you: recognize what’s not working and choose to create change. Be supportive of the kids as they adjust and keep an optimistic attitude about the outcome. Each year you teach, it will get easier to find what works and what doesn’t. Don’t be afraid to experiment! Take the kids along on the journey with you, and learn together.

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Why I don’t believe that school is a child’s most important job

Angela Watson — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 06:08:52 +0000

Sometimes the things kids pursue outside of school are even more valuable than the assignments we give them in school.

I used to think it was. In fact, I remember sharing that truism many times in those serious, heart-to-heart conversations with kiddos who were slacking off. I’d put on a disappointed face and use my calm, serious tone: “You didn’t do your project because you were playing? Homework is more important than playing. School is a child’s most important job. Being a good student should be your top priority. It has to come first.”

Who knows where I got that idea–from another teacher, I think, or maybe even a parent. Every adult I said that in front of would nod in solemn agreement. It was a conventional piece of wisdom that we all believed and were trying desperately to persuade the kids to buy into when sports and video games and playing with friends became their focus.

My feelings have changed over the years. Slowly I have come to believe that kids have a right to their own time outside of school, and that we as teachers have no more right to control their evenings and weekends than our bosses should have to control ours. Kids need time to be kids and enjoy their childhood. Now I believe that a child’s most important job is not school, but learning. And these two things are not one and the same.

Learning takes place through play and exploration. Learning comes from following one’s passions and developing one’s interests and hobbies. Learning happens when we talk, wonder, question, daydream, and experiment. Sometimes it comes through worksheets and research projects. But not always. And the things learned through schooling are not necessarily more important than the skills developed apart from school.

I’m not opposed to homework altogether. And I want students to take school seriously. It’s critically important that kids give their schoolwork 100% during the hours of 8 and 3. But school is not the most important thing in their lives. Even if learning is a student’s most important job, children are more than just students, and life is about more than our jobs. Life is about relationships: family, friends, and a connection to God and spirituality. The beauty of life is experienced through play and rest, movement and relaxation. I want to help students create a work/life balance from a young age so that they grow up knowing how to enjoy and appreciate every moment they are given. And that is why I want my interactions with students to demonstrate a shift in perspective. I want my own priorities to reflect that that school is not–and never has been–anyone’s most important job.

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