1. Alexa Smart Plugs

“These little guys are simple but one of our best purchases lately. They allow you to set up custom timers for all your plug-in lights and they also connect to your Alexa. Say goodbye to crawling out of bed after you realized you left a light on. Just tell Alexa to do it!” – Jessica

2. Smart Outdoor String Lights

“This string of lights can be controlled from your phone and there are also so many color customization options.” – Kim

3. Avocado Tool

“Cut, pit, scoop, and mash! This is an all-in-one tool for having sliced avocado or guacamole, and it’s dishwasher safe!” – Ashleigh

4. Fly Fans

“We love to spend our dinners outside as often as Texas will allow us, and these fly fans are a literal game changer. They actually work and are great inside or outside. They can be especially helpful when setting out food to host an event, etc. Maybe consider keeping one on your desk and seeing if they work on middle school students, too? Jk.” – Kim

5. Sink Splash Guard

“My sink is located on the island, and I am a sloppy dish washer. Water inevitably ends up running behind the faucet making a mess all over the counter. This sink splash guard keeps the water contained and drains back into the sink.” – Tyne

6. Lip Glowy Balm

“This is my go-to lip balm for a long day of teaching or just going about my day-to-day life! It adds a tiny tint of color, but is also super hydrating. I stick it in my pocket or in my purse for on the go application!” – Jenna

7. Weighted Heating Pad for Neck and Shoulders

“This feels like a warm hug after a stressful day. Grab some hot tea and a good book and feel the tension slip away instantly!” – Angie

8. Under Eye Patches

“It’s not really accurate to say these are my favorite things because I’ve never bought them…but someone did send me these after I had a baby and when I finally got around to using them, they felt pretty amazing. There’s no tired like teacher tired, and I bet there are some teachers out there who would feel seen by these eye patches.” – Kim

9. Quarter Zip Pullover

“Being from Texas, I am acclimated to the heat and when that first cool breeze comes in, I need to stay warm. This pullover is my go-to on a Saturday morning of children’s sports or errands.” – Noelle

10. Best Ballpoint Pen

“While many people are fans of gel pens, I have forever been loyal to ballpoint pens. The TUL ballpoint pens are the perfect size and write smoother than any pen I have ever used. In fact, they write so well that my wife, who only used gel pens, has fully switched as well!” – Michael

11. Plum Paper Planner

“I love that this planner has customizable layouts to create “to-do” lists that meet your needs. For each day of the week, I have a to-do list for both work and personal life and then a section to write my dinner meal plan. I use the monthly calendar to keep my 4 kids after school activities straight. This planner has been a life saver for my brain!” – Sara

12. Retro Sneakers

“Cute, cozy and helping me reach my step goals… what’s not to love? There are so many sneaker color combinations now that it can also be a fun way to show school spirit!” – Rachel E.

13. No Show Socks

Fun colors, but don’t show when you wear your cute fashion sneakers.  Grippy on the heel so they don’t fall down during the day!

14. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow is my favorite book I have read this year (and I have read over 60 so far). This story is told over the 30 year friendship of two video game designers. My husband has read a single book this year and this was it. He loved it!

15. The Dutch House by Ann Patchett

Do me a favor and listen to Ann Patchett’s The Dutch House immediately. Tom Hanks is the narrator and should probably narrate all audiobooks. The story is about a set of siblings and the house of their childhood. You can read about how Tom Hanks got the reading gig here.

What are some of your favorite things from this year?

The post MTM Team’s Favorite Things appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

1. Use a Scope and Sequence (grab ours!)

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. If you aren’t provided a scope and sequence by your school, or if you haven’t made one yourself, the task of organizing 50+ math standards into 180 instructional days can be daunting.

Download our free pacing guides for 6th, 7th, 8th grade math, and Algebra 1!

You can see how our Maneuvering the Middle curriculum organizes the standards. From there, download a calendar on Google Sheets, fill in district holidays and professional development days, and work backwards from your state test.

2. Give Yourself Some Cushion

When planning for a unit, give a minimum of 3 days for cushion. No new material is introduced on these days. You can use these days for review, extra practice, or reteaching content that the majority of your students did not master prior. 

In a unit that is 15 days long, I would have one day for reviewing before the unit test, one day for an activity followed by a short quiz, and one additional day for an extra challenging skill that required more practice. That means that out of 5 days of the week, on average, I am only teaching new content 4 of those days. 

3. Be Familiar with Vertical Planning

The first year I taught 6th grade math, ordering rational numbers was in my first unit. My district provided a unit plan that gave me one day to teach this very complicated concept. When we got to ordering decimals and fractions, I modeled how to divide in order to convert fractions into decimals. My highest students raised their hands in protest – “You can’t divide a smaller number by a larger number!” Students lost their minds. That didn’t even include all of the students who forgot the standard algorithm for division. I was trying to cover too much in one lesson!

The lesson I learned that day was this – you need to know what your students already know and don’t know to successfully introduce new concepts. This will come in time, but take a moment to read vertical planning documents (provided in our All Access curriculum). This will prevent you from wasting entire days because you have to pivot on the fly.

4. Formative Assessments Keep You On Track

Knowing how your students are actually doing with the skills they are learning is paramount to staying on schedule each year. I recommend a daily formative assessment on the material covered that day while it is fresh. This can be a 2 question exit ticket or it can be as simple as collecting their classwork and checking problem #5. I like to keep these open-ended (why do students love to just circle multiple-choice answers?!). These are not always graded assignments; they are simply problems that tell me if I can move on to new material the next day or if we need to spend an extra day on the material.

What you are trying to avoid is students making it all the way to the unit test only to bomb spectacularly, and then you are bewildered and overwhelmed trying to plan next steps. 

5. Save the fun stuff for the alternative schedule days

I love when you can make math applicable to the real world! Projects or performance tasks are awesome! I like to save these types of assignments for days where the schedule is already a little crazy. This usually falls before holiday breaks, after pep rallies or on early release days. This is also when there are various field trips, students are more likely to be absent, and it doesn’t really make sense to cover new material. (Which leads me to a side rant that Fridays are also a bad day to cover new skills.)

Projects and performance tasks are a great way to spiral previous learned standards, so it provides a fun way to review.

6. Don’t Waste a Day for Absences

Don’t waste a single day! With an All Access membership, your students don’t have to lose an instructional day because you are sick or need to take a personal day. The student videos cover the student handouts. Instruction can continue even when you are absent! 

7. Consider a Self-Paced Classroom

If your students have a wide range of abilities, you may want to consider a self-paced classroom. We have two blog posts and podcast episodes that I highly recommend checking out if you are interested in letting students work at their own speed (What is the Grid Method? |  The Self-Paced Classroom). 

Students who need more time to master a skill can receive more of your attention since students who have already mastered a skill can move on without you. 

8. Sometimes You Need to Move On

As teachers, I believe that the ideal state is for 100% of students to master 100% of the concepts that we teach. This is not the reality we live in but we can work toward it. However, 100% of our students will master 0% of the concepts that we don’t teach.

Teachers have to cover all of the material in roughly 180 instructional days. I know it can feel impossible some days, but you can do it! If you find yourself stuck in a unit and the majority of your students are truly struggling, then maybe you need to revisit the material at a later date. Maybe your students are fatigued by the skill and moving onto something new will give them the mental clarity to try it again. 

How do you stay on track with your scope and sequence during the school year?

The post Staying on Track with Your Scope and Sequence appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

TIPS for Teaching FROM A CART

The idea is simple. Instead of rotating hundreds of students, rotate the teachers. This makes sense from a logistical standpoint, but it does add 16 more things for teachers to think about on a daily basis. (Did you know a teacher makes more decisions than a brain surgeon in a single day?) Or perhaps, lack of classrooms mean some teachers have to use classrooms that were previously empty during a planning period?

So let’s figure this one out together, teacher friends. How are we going to run a middle school math class from a cart?

Which cart is best?

I think the cart you choose says a lot about the class you run. Do you use technology and need to be able to plug in easily when you get to a new room? Will your cart be moving from one room to another next door, or will you be running across the school – possibly outside and over curbs or need to fit in and out of an elevator? Will you have some kind of home base in the classrooms you are traveling to, so not every single item has to be on your cart? Or will you literally only have your cart for the entire school day?

After searching and reading reviews for the top recommended carts, I found my top picks. My top criteria involved something that can be pushed or pulled without hunching over because if you are teaching from a cart, you are going to need to be comfortable.

*Note: The teal cart (from Ikea) that I used for the above photograph is not a cart recommendation from me. It is too short to push around comfortably and is too small to fit  necessities.*

OPTION #1 – $149.98

Pros

• Large wheels
• Push handle
• Plastic/Sturdy
• 2 shelves

Cons

• Lip on top would make it challenging to work on your laptop from the top shelf would need to raise it up some way
• Lack of storage space

OPTION #2 – $159.00

Pros

• Large wheels
• Push handle
• 3 shelves

Cons

• Lip on top would make it challenging to work on your laptop from the top shelf would need to raise it up some way
• Shelves are not adjustable

OPTION #3 in 42″ – $120.95 Available in 36″

Pros

• Attached power strip so you just have to plug in the cart 
• 3 shelves 
• Locking wheels
• There are many other varieties; see more here.
• I used this cart in my classroom for 4 years, and I can vouch for its quality.

Cons

• No lip on the top, so maybe items could slip off.

OPTION #4 – $199.95

Pros

• Locking cabinet
• Attached power strip
• 2 shelves

Cons

• Pretty expensive

OPTION #5 – $46.57

Pros

• Inexpensive
• Sturdy
• Better than carrying around a milk crate
• Easier to travel around school

Cons

• You will have to pack/unpack your computer between classes

OPTION #6 – $89.96

Unfortunately, I don’t think the perfect cart exists. However, I think teachers will find a cart and perfect it through their creativity and ingenuity.

I would take advantage of velcro strips to keep supplies secure or from tipping over. 

What do I need?

Now that you have your cart, let’s fill it up! But which supplies are most essential for making their way on your cart? I recommend thinking through what happens in a class period — what are you reaching for? What is a student missing that you are typically supplying? Things like a stapler or tape might be something that would live on top of your teacher desk, but if you aren’t using those items actively during a class, they might not make the cut. If you are my favorite coworker, Leah, you will probably find a way to fit a Keurig on yours. You do you!

Here is what would go on my cart (check out my favorite supplies here):

• Top Shelf – Laptop, clicker, charger, any cables to connect to doc cam or projector, possibly a doc cam if classrooms aren’t already outfitted with them.
• Middle Shelf – My pink supply caddy (similar here) filled with binder clips, band aids, stickers, etc. My pen caddy filled with highlighters, Mr. Sketch markers, pens, and pencils. A small file folder box or accordion folder for any scratch paper or handouts.
• Bottom Shelf – Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer, and empty space for anything else that might come up. And my purse/wallet in some kind of secured or hidden space. Most likely, I would stuff those items in a milk crate and cover it with a cardigan. Oh yeah, a cardigan because you know all the different classrooms will be freezing.
• Sides – I would utilize the sides of my cart with some hooks. This could help wrangle cords. Adding a shoe organizer (using zip ties) to the side could give you so many pockets!

When I chatted with teachers about making a cart work, we all came to the unanimous decision that going as digital as possible would alleviate many of the space issues that come with having a cart. If students receive and turn in most of their assignments online, then you will not be carting around hundreds (thousands) of pieces of paper.

Leaving Class Checklist 

Teaching from a cart will require a leaving class checklist. The leaving class checklist would be a mental, digital, or physical list you are responsible for going through before leaving a classroom to move to another classroom. This isn’t just for your sanity, but for the sanity of other teachers about to use the room. Perhaps, you could create a Google Doc and ask your colleagues to contribute to the list to prevent any future discord. Here are a few questions I brainstormed:

• Did I gather all of my materials?
• Did I leave communal items in an easy to find place (projector remotes, hall pass, etc)?
• Did I hold students accountable to cleaning up after themselves?

Shared Spaces

Agree on a designated space in each classroom where you can keep some of your things. This is important for two reasons: physical environment and extra materials.  In my classroom, I pointed to my word wall or anchor chart everyday. It is important for content, but I believe that if a student is going to be in the same classroom for most of the day, it should look loved and cared for. I think extra supplies are inevitable and should be planned for. As a math teacher, I would want a few choice manipulatives, calculators, and pencils at my disposal no matter where I am.

Be Mindful

Do a run through before the first day of school. Wheel your cart to each room you will be traveling to. Make sure your cart can handle turns and that none of your supplies topple over.  In each classroom, plug in your computer and make sure you can connect to the projector in a few moments. Tip: I think connecting technology can be a huge time waster for teachers, so make sure students have started working on a bell ringer before you spend time connecting cables. 

Teachers, any other ideas out there? Teaching from a cart will not be easy, but if I know anything about teachers, it’s that they are resilient and CAN DO ANYTHING.

The post Tips for Teaching from a Cart appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

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20 Must have teacher supplies under $20

I have rated each supply with its necessity in my classroom. 

*One Star = It will get used but you could settle for something less convenient.

**Two Stars = Nice to have

***Three Stars = BUY NOW!

1. Stapler**

This handy dandy Paper Pro Stapler is my favorite.  It has endured daily abuse use by middle school students for five years.  That is 935 days!  It opens up easily to punch into bulletin boards and is less likely to jam than others.  It makes a pretty loud pop when it staples, which provides some entertainment to new users.

2. Clipboard**

Clipboards are the perfect teacher supply- cheap and with multiple uses.  I always loved having one that held my grade sheets and seating charts at my desk.  You can utilize wall space by hanging them around the room.  Next to the door, I hung several for the following purposes:  tutoring sign in sheet, tardy sheet, and fire drill/emergency documents. Update: dry erase clipboards are now my favorite! This class set has held up great for three years.

3. Manual Pencil Sharpener*

My personal opinion is that all electric pencil sharpeners are worthless.  I know, probably a little harsh.  However, my thought is this — at $8.00 a pop, I can buy four manual pencil sharpeners for the price of a decent electric one.  Manual sharpeners are quieter, can be placed anywhere in the room, and require some work on the students’ part, making sharpening their pencils not quite as much fun.

4. Dry Erase Markers***

A teacher can never have enough dry erase markers.  If you have PTA money or any sort of school funds, I would recommend spending it on markers.  Then, ration them throughout the year so that come May, you are not left high and dry.  I kept several boxes for my use on the whiteboard and then utilized the remainder for student whiteboard use.  As a math teacher, I loved using student whiteboards to formatively assess, play games, and in general, just make practice a little more interactive. Update: don’t go off brand. Expo markers don’t stain and wipe off clean. 

5. Mr. Sketch Scented Markers***

These are my favorite markers!  If you make anchor charts and haven’t used them, you are going to fall in love.  Not only do they have a great chisel tip, but they come in great colors.  They don’t leak through the page either.  I keep these markers under lock and key because I love them so much! 

6. Poster Board***

Never buy chart paper again. Poster board lasts longer, looks nicer, and is WAY less expensive. Make your own anchor charts by using your projector to trace. 

7. Sticky Post-It Notes*

Post-it notes are kind of a given, but I want to challenge traditional post-it note thought.  Have you tried the full back sticky?  These are perfect for labeling things, sticking to the walls, and they aren’t going to lose their “sticky” after a humid weekend with the air off.

8. Colored Card Stock + Matte Laminating Sheets***

Another favorite item that is great to have on hand is colored card stock.  It’s versatile and so nice to have an extra pack or two.  I use them for task cards, classroom management cards, “I Can” statements, letters and posters, decorations, dividers in my binders, and in general, to brighten things up.

BONUS (UPDATE JULY 31, 2023): Matte Laminating Sheets

Laminating a poster increases its longevity but also causes a significant glare.  Not with these matte laminating sheets! You can use them with our new Middle School Math Word Wall  or our Classroom Poster Pack.

Save

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Let’s chat about why every math classroom can benefit from a word wall. You can also read more tips about implementing a word wall here.

What are the benefits of a math word wall?

1. BUILD A COMMON VOCABULARY BANK

Word walls are a necessity for math. In middle school, each unit introduces (on average) around 5 new vocabulary terms. If new terms are necessary for success in a unit, then your students better know them!

What better way for students to internalize these words than to see them, reference them, and then use them? A word wall makes this process accessible.

When you have trained your students to find new or unfamiliar words on the word wall, then you are setting them up to use their resources and promote independent thinking. 

For the most useful word wall, include the term, the definition, and a visual. It is inevitable that your students will need the occasional brain break and may need to stare off; if that is the case, I find it a good use of time if they can be staring at math words. You can read more about math vocabulary here.

2. SUPPORT BILINGUAL STUDENTS

All students benefit from easy access to frequently used words, their definition, and an image, but for bilingual students, it can be especially helpful! Word walls provide a visual aid for students who are learning English. 

For your Spanish speaking students, our new Middle School Math Word Wall Resource includes the Spanish term and Spanish definition to support your bilingual students even more!

3. INTRODUCE NEW TERMS AND REVIEW PREVIOUSLY LEARNED WORDS

Update 7/28/2023: Maneuvering the Middle now has a Middle School Math + Algebra 1 Word Wall.

As you can see in the video below, our Word Wall includes 190 essential math terms, their clear-cut definitions, and their visual representations.

We’ve included Spanish translations for all terms and definitions, ensuring a supportive and accessible learning experience for English Language Learners.

They were designed to be minimal prep and flexible to customize the formatting to suit your students’ unique needs.

That is a copious amount of words for students to know and use, which makes a word wall even more necessary. While they may only learn around 50 new words each year in math, they also will need to access words from previous grade levels. 

While students may be introduced to the term “product” in elementary school, that term will continue to appear in later grades. This is also true of words like equivalent, volume, area, difference, expression, and well, so on and so on. Math vocabulary terms continue from elementary to high school because math builds with each subsequent year. 

TIP: Don’t start the year with a complete word wall. Either add to your word wall as the vocabulary term is introduced or display terms unit by unit. 

The phrase “out of sight, out of mind” rings true. When students don’t see something every day, they tend to forget it. How does your classroom benefit from a word wall?

The post 3 Benefits of Math Word Walls appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

Here are a few tips I have for creating, maintaining, and maximizing the use of a middle school math word wall.

Keep reading to check out Maneuvering the Middle’s new Middle School Math Word Wall.

1. Structuring Your Word Wall

A word wall that includes the math term, the definition, and a visual representation will make the most impact.  The text should be visible from across the room, and should be in a place where a majority of students can see it.  I have many English Language Learners in my classes, so word walls are especially helpful for them.  Some of my fellow teachers even use the Spanish translation as additional leverage for students. (Keep reading to learn about a new resource from Maneuvering the Middle!)

I like my words to stay up all year as we learn and review the words.  This helps students use academic vocabulary and make connections between the different units.  I love when a student can see how a proportional relationship and a linear equation are connected!

At the beginning of the year, I only have the categories posted at the top of the wall.  I then include the words as they are introduced, then move on to the next category of words included in the next unit. 

2. WAYS TO USE

Incentivize Academic Vocabulary

While word walls make a classroom beautiful, their ultimate function is to be used.  This means that you need to make students aware of its existence and its usefulness.  

To do this, incentive using vocabulary terms from the word wall by rewarding students who use the vocabulary correctly when answering a question or explaining an answer.  When students are about to begin practicing a new skill, I ask students to point to the word that will help them if I am unavailable. 

During mad minute exercises, I include vocabulary that they can provide a definition with one word (example: quotient=division).  If they don’t know it, they can take an extra second to look up at the word wall.  

Flyswatter Game

If you want students to get familiar with your word wall, use the Fly Swatter Game.  This is a very engaging review game. If you are like me and don’t bother to cover up anything in your room before a test, this will help remind students where to look when they are stuck.  Two students face off with fly swatters in hand.  You give them a prompt such as “2, 4, 6, 8” are examples of ______”  And the first student to swat the word ‘multiples’ earns their team a point.

Non-Content Words

Word walls do not have to be specific to your content area.  I have character terms like tenacity, curiosity, courage, and community on my wall too.  These are our school values, and it is important that these words are referenced by students and me daily.

Flashlight Game

This game is great for those last few minutes of class as a sponge activity.  Turn off the lights and use a flashlight to point to a word on the wall.  Students can then shout out an example, the definition, or even a counterexample. 

3. Making a Word Wall

Knowing that teachers have more to do than hours in the day, creating the word posters is a task easily assigned to students who finish early or those students in your homeroom who are always asking how they can help. 

After a unit test, I would have early finishers complete this as an activity for the next unit.  I would give the word + definition + example + picture that I wanted them to use, and choose the best ones to go on the wall. I did this for several years before I wanted a more uniform look. 

There are also lots of resources on Pinterest or TPT to choose from. My advice is to batch this task during the summer. Print everything you need, laminate, and decide how you will store them. Then you can post the new words for each unit to your growing word wall. 

Update 7/28/2023: Maneuvering the Middle now has a Middle School Math + Algebra 1 Word Wall.

As you can see in the video below, our Word Wall includes 190 essential math terms, their clear-cut definitions, and their visual representations.

We’ve included Spanish translations for all terms and definitions, ensuring a supportive and accessible learning experience for English Language Learners.

They were designed to be minimal prep and flexible to customize the formatting to suit your students’ unique needs.

At first a word wall might seem excessive or more like an “extra” thing to do, but now that I have seen how my students use it, I am sold!  How do you use your word wall in your middle school classroom?  

Maneuvering the Middle has been publishing blog posts for 8 years. This post was originally published in November of 2016. It has been updated for relevance and clarity.

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Student data tracking helps drive instructional decisions.  I’ve been using daily exit tickets for years, and they would help me decide if I needed to reteach a skill, but I wasn’t tracking the data in a way that motivated my students and doing it daily seemed impossible when I tried.  This year I have a system that I have managed to tweak, maintain, and really push my students and me!

My Data Tracking System

Each week, my students take a 5 question multiple choice quiz over the standard(s) that we learned that week.  When students finish, they show me the done sign and I grade it in front of them.  If students earn a 100, I collect it; if students miss any questions, I mark the problems incorrect, and students must rework the problem.  The goal is that 80% of students earn an 80% or higher.  This tells me that as a class we are ready to move on to another standard.  

I write the percent mastery on the board and use the data from my first class to motivate my second, third and fourth classes to beat the previous classes’ mastery.  There will be a collective cheer if they are able to beat the previous class which is pretty awesome.  It motivates students who rush through their work to slow down and it does not shame individuals who don’t hit the 80% because it is anonymous.  Then I color in a bar graph to track the standard on my mastery wall. Each class has a bar and it takes about two seconds to color in. You can get this freebie below! 

We’ve had teachers ask for this mastery template, so I made one for you! Grab it here. It also includes a small group progress monitoring tracker and assessment analysis. To see how I use those documents, check out my Tips for Organizing Math Intervention.

Data tracking does not have to be an advanced teacher move.  Start small and focus on positive data only!  What student data are you tracking?  What has worked in your classroom?

Maneuvering the Middle has been publishing blog posts since 2014. This post was originally published in March 2018. It has been updated for relevance and clarity.

 

The post Student Data Tracking You Can Keep Up With appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

Note: These tips are more general in nature. Please follow any guidelines provided to you by your school or district.

Inside of the Classroom

Be Inclusive

My first experience in co-teaching was when I was hired in the middle of the year to support an Algebra 1 class. The Algebra 1 teacher made sure I felt like it was also my classroom the day I arrived. My name was on the board, and she ended each lesson by asking, “Mrs. Brack, did I miss anything?” It wasn’t her classroom; it was our classroom.

Try New Methods

There are 6 methods of co-teaching: 

1. One Teach, One Observe – The observer is gathering information to be analyzed together at a later time.
2. One Teach, One Assist – The assistant circulates to provide additional help.
3. Parallel Teaching – Both teachers are teaching the same information, but to two different groups simultaneously.
4. Station Teaching – Both teachers teach different information to a different group and then repeat instruction to the subsequent group of students.
5. Alternative Teaching – One teacher takes on the large group while one teacher works with a smaller group.
6. Team Teaching – Both teachers are delivering instruction at the same time together.

While it can be easy to fall into One Teach, One Observe or One Teach, One Assist, I recommend trying each method at least one time. My personal favorite was Station Teaching. Specifically, for skills with multiple ways to solve. For example, one teacher models solving equations with algebra tiles while the other demonstrates solving equations with the algorithm. Additionally, this creates opportunities for grouping students in a way that can target specific needs. 

Here are a few ways our MTM Team Members co-taught:

“We planned a lot of small group instruction so we could each take a few groups, instead of one person taking all of the groups (not enough time). We would each try to have a “low, medium, high” group in an effort to finish at the same time.” – Marissa

“We planned a few days where the co-teacher got to teach the entire lesson.  She would also walk around and help all students. That way they felt there were 2 teachers in the room, not just one teacher and someone else they didn’t really have to listen to or who was only there for certain kids. When either of us were teaching we would ask the other if they had anything to add.” – Ashleigh

“During independent work time, we would often sit at different tables in the room (teacher table and small group table) and pull small groups of students (low, medium, high) to do a reteach if necessary or assist in any way. We would each take turns walking the room and checking on students working independently.” – Jenna

Align Yourself on Classroom Expectations

Everyone runs a classroom differently, so upfront communication about expectations, routines, and procedures is non-negotiable. I recommend going through this Routine and Procedure blog post to discuss how you want your classroom to look like, sound like, and feel like.  Students need consistency, and both teachers must agree on expectations and how to follow up if expectations aren’t met.

Outside of the Classroom

Meet Weekly

With both of my co-teachers, we had a scheduled sit-down time once a week. We used this time to plan for the upcoming week, divide responsibilities, look at student work, and discuss student progress. While I did the bulk of the lesson planning, it did give my co-teacher opportunities to give me feedback about the lesson or provide additional ideas. 

Build Your Relationship

Building relationships with your students is vital! Building a relationship with your co-teacher is just as important. Go to Happy Hour! Find out their coffee order! Learn their dog’s name! Building that rapport will be seen and felt by your students.

Do you have a co-teacher? What tips do you have for co-teaching?

The post Tips for Successful Co-Teaching appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

These of course are guidelines; sometimes albeit often, in a middle school classroom, things do not go according to plan, but it is always a good idea to have a structured routine for both yourself and your students.

**Be sure to check out our posts on structuring a 45 minute lesson and a 100 minute lesson. 

Do First/Bell Ringer/Warm-Up 5-10 minutes

A bell ringer is a great way to start off your class period! This really sets the stage for a productive class period and communicates every minute is valuable.  No matter if you have 60 minute class period or a 200 minute class period – include a warm-up.

Homework Check (if you assign homework) 2 Minutes

If you assign homework, make sure that students have a moment to receive feedback in some way, so they know if they are practicing correctly.

Instruction 10-15 minutes

Keep direct instruction short and sweet.  The rule of thumb is that notes should not take longer than 1 plus your students’ age, so if you teach 12 year olds, your notes should last no longer than 13 minutes (12+1).  Students are only capable of active listening for so long.

If you need more than that recommended amount of time for direct instruction, that is ok! Give students the opportunity to practice and engage in a meaningful way before returning to direct instruction. Another idea is to assign our student videos, since they adhere to this time recommendation. 

Remember that direct instruction isn’t your only option to teach a lesson. You could:

• Have students explore using manipulatives
• Think aloud or model
• Ask students to build upon previous knowledge
• Use the Building Thinking Classrooms approach

Lastly, I think it is important to note that if you are using our curriculum, you do not need to go over every single problem on a student  handout. Work the problems ahead of time, decide which are the most important, and then save the rest for small group work time. 

Activity + Small Group Instruction 20 minutes

After the lesson, comes the practice! This can be a card sort, matching activity, scavenger hunt, white board practice, a game, or station work. If you have a worksheet, then be sure to check out these ideas to make any worksheet an engaging activity.

Now that everyone has something to do – let’s start small groups! You can pick the unused problems from the lesson or use the same activity being used by the rest of the class. The key is that students receive immediate feedback, and you can catch those misconceptions in real time.

What is important here is that you have more work than what can get done in the time period or you have an extension activity that students can grab without support.

Independent Practice/Exit Ticket 15 minutes

The goal by the end of class is that students can practice the skill independently. This is the work to check as a formative assessment and decide whether the class needs more practice.

Flex Day

Flex days are a great way to allow students to digest what they have been learning. A minimum of one per week is a good starting point – it allows you as the teacher to button up any misconceptions and for students to explore a skill or topic more fully. Structuring a flex day is very similar in structure to a typical lesson:

• Warm-up (5 minutes)
• Mini-lesson (10 minutes)
• Stations (30 minutes)
  • Station 1: Activity (10 minutes)
  • Station 2: Small Group (10 minutes)
  • Station 3: Technology – Quizizz is great for fluency practice. (10 minutes)
• Formative Assessment (10 minutes)

Self-Paced Classroom

60 minutes is a great amount of time to implement a self-paced classroom! Students have time for a warm-up, to get out the needed technology, to work at their own pace, and you have time to implement mini-lessons (if needed) and small groups!
We have an entire blog post devoted to the self-paced classroom.

Whew! I hope these suggestions help spice up your weekly routines! How long are your classes?  How do you structure your 60 minute class period?  

The post Structuring a 60 Minute Class Period appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

We will be attempting to cover everything that will set you up for success in your first year. This is part 3 in our series, so be sure to go back and read the last two posts to get caught up.

• Part 1 – How to Teach Middle School Math as a New Teacher
• Part 2 – Cultivating a Strong Classroom Culture 
• Part 3 – What To Do When Everything is Urgent and Important (You are reading this one now!)
• Part 4 – Our Favorite Practices

Today’s post will be all about how to overcome being an overwhelmed teacher and how to manage your to-do list. Let’s do it!

Feeling Overwhelmed

In my first year teaching high school math, I remember receiving a weekly update email from my principal on a Sunday night with many deadlines and tasks (on top of planning and preparing content for two preps), and I started to panic. How was I supposed to get all of this done? 

My husband, Taylor, asked me, “How do you eat an elephant?” I looked at him with a this-is-not-helpful stare. His response? “One bite at a time.”

In your first year of teaching math (or teaching at all), you will feel overwhelmed with the sheer number of tasks ahead of you. It is inevitable. The only way to overcome this sense of overwhelm is to start. Not sure of where to start? Make a list of everything you have to do for the next day and start with the easiest task. Use that momentum to knock out the next task and then the next. When you are feeling overwhelmed, any progress (even progress on peripheral tasks) will help you overcome your stress. 

Plan Your Work then Work Your Plan

When I have a written plan (in this case, a to-do list), I am efficient and I can knock things out. When I sit down to work with no plan, I am literally and figuratively listless.

No minute of your planning period should be wasted. Especially since planning periods tend to be commandeered by meetings or (possibly, but hopefully not) covering other classes. When you do have a full planning period ahead of you, take advantage of every second.

So how do you take advantage of every second?

• Make sure students are gone. That means that when the bell rings you are dismissing students, not asking them to start cleaning up.
• Know ahead of time what you need to accomplish during that planning period. This process is unique to each person, but personally, I liked to dedicate a day to the same tasks. Monday was for planning for the next week, Tuesday was for making copies and answer keys, Wednesdays was for grading and entering grades into the computer, Thursdays and Fridays were for miscellaneous or unfinished tasks. 
• Close your door. This sounds unfriendly, but if you are often interrupted or slow to recover after an interruption, then this gesture will keep visitors at bay. You can always chat with teachers in the workroom. 

If you want to read more about saving time during your planning period, check out these posts:

• Teacher Planner Printables (comes with free planner pages)
• 6 Time Saving Tips for Your Planning Period

Focus on What is Most Important

Teachers don’t just teach. Teachers do everything. They host clubs, they organize fundraisers, they plan field trips, they coach other teachers, and so much more. Nothing makes an overwhelmed teacher feel more overwhelmed than taking on more.

You may be tempted to take on an extracurricular or host an after-school club. If your heart is set on that, then go for it!

However, I do believe your first years in math should be dedicated to familiarizing yourself with your content and developing strong mathematical practices.  Give yourself permission to decline taking on additional roles, so you can participate in math professional developments or stay updated with new pedagogical practices. Being a lifelong learner of math and instructional practices is the sign of a great teacher!

If you haven’t read part one of this series, How to Teach Middle School Math as a New Teacher, you can read more about getting to know your math content.

Done is Better than Perfect

Since you will have a very full plate, sometimes we have to finish a task at a B- level. We want to strive for our personal A+, but when we have 900 things to do, done is better than perfect. 

If a B- has the same result as an A+, then don’t waste your time making it an A+. For example, bulletin board displays. Some teachers go all out with a theme and change the look each month – good for them, but not for me. I put one bulletin board display up in August, and only switched up the student work when it was required. 

Another example was something I saw an Algebra teacher do at my school. Since typing formulas and various mathematical symbols into the computer slowed her down, she would hand write problems for her students to complete. She would handwrite the problems, scan it to email it to herself, and then make copies. Would the worksheet look better printed? Sure. Did it matter? No. Done is better than perfect. 

Become an All Access Member

The best thing you could probably do as an overwhelmed teacher is to find and use a reliable, standards-based curriculum. If you can save yourself the time that it takes to scour the internet for worksheets or starting from scratch, you will already be so many steps ahead!

Veteran teachers, how do you tackle your to-do list? New teachers, what questions do you have?

The post Are You An Overwhelmed New Teacher? appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

Today, I am sharing what student organization system has worked for me and how other teachers have students organize notes and other papers using Maneuvering the Middle materials.

Many of these approaches will depend on a variety of factors:

• Does your school have lockers? (mine did not)
•  Is your class period short?  (no time for gluing)
• What is your budget?

COMPOSITION NOTEBOOKS

Composition Notebooks are cheap and light enough to live in a student’s backpack. Students can take them home everyday so they can refer to their notes for homework.  Also, if students need scratch paper, they have a ready supply.  

For Maneuvering the Middle student handouts, you can print the student handouts and homework page using 1 single, folded-in-half, piece of paper glued into a notebook. To print the student handouts and homework using this method (pictured), here is what you do in Adobe Reader or Acrobat Pro: 

1. Type in the page numbers that correspond to the white blank page, the front of the student handout, the back of the student handout, and the homework page.
2. Select “Multiple” under Page Sizing & Handling
3. Pages per sheet – 2
4. Page order: Horizontal
5. Select “Print on both sides of paper”
6. Select “Flip on short edge”
7. Do a test print (and fold it) before making 150 copies

The downside to using composition notebooks is the time spent gluing or taping materials into the notebook. Also, inevitably, there will be no less than 10 glue sticks that need replacing everyday. For teachers with longer class periods, composition notebooks will help students hang onto those notes for reference for most of the school year!

BINDERS

Binders with dividers are a great way to keep your students organized! They are spacious, and if your copier hole punches, you are golden. It is also large enough to hold graded work and extra papers. 

SPIRALED AND BOUND MATERIALS

This method is recommended by many teachers in our Facebook Group. Print and bind one unit at a time for students. You can add a cover sheet in colored paper so that it stands out. This will save you from visiting the copier on a Monday morning and is truly the best example of batching!

Tips from the Group:

• Tell students that it is like a textbook, in that you cannot rip pages out willy nilly.
• Spiral binding lasts longer than comb binding.
• You can get your own binding machine or hire it out to Office Depot or OfficeMax if your district does not offer this service.
• Print a few extra copies for when a student loses their copy.
• If you are doing this yourself, solicit help from parents and students.

PLASTIC BRAD FOLDERS

This is the organization method that I landed on after years of trying something new each year. Essentially, I purchased the plastic folders with brads for the handouts. The plastic was durable enough to handle the abuse of a middle schooler’s backpack. 

They were slim, which meant that the folders could stay in students’ backpacks. (Remember, we didn’t have any lockers.) The folders held one unit of student materials at a time. Each day, students would pick up a stapled packet:

1. Page 1 – warm up on front and exit ticket on back
2. Page 2 – student handout
3. Page 3 – independent practice

Students would rip off page 1 and turn it in at the end of class (for me to look at their exit ticket) and the student handout and independent practice would go into their folders.

I printed the Study Guide (or anything else I wanted students to never throw away) on colored paper, and after each test, we would recycle all white paper. Study guides remained in their folders so they could reference a summary of the unit if necessary. (You could also do this using Maneuvering the Middle’s cheat sheets, found in the Test Review unit.)

Streamline your planning with an All Access membership!

OTHER TIPS

• If you want your students to stay organized, you will have to give them class time to do this. During the warm up, give them instructions to add their work to their binder/folder and then walk around and check that it was done.  If you are passing back graded work, give students time to put it in the correct spot.
• If you are going to print one unit at a time to distribute, make sure to add page numbers before making copies.
• I like to keep tests and quizzes. Students would get a class period to look at their feedback and make corrections, then the tests would be turned back into me, where I would keep them filed in case I needed one for a parent conference. 

RECYCLING BIN

The recycling bin is my best friend.  I do not keep anything that is not graded.  Everything else goes into the recycling bin.  We do not have the capacity to hold on to everything our students touch.  I throw away exit tickets after I have looked through them and establish who I need to pull for a small group.   My first year of teaching I tried to keep everything.  Why?!  I spent hours filing and moving papers around and making piles and being insane. Recycle that clutter and marvel at how clean your classroom looks!

What student organization systems do you have in your math classroom?  Do you have any students with backpacks that look like there was an explosion at the paper factory?  I only had a couple once I began to collect and recycle the papers that weren’t necessary for students to keep.  Here’s to hoping that this student organization system will work for everyone next year!

The post Student Organization in Middle School appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

With that said, there are some things that we can do to manage and prioritize our to-do list, so that we get what we need done, done.

Have a Weekly Meeting with Yourself

In order for us to be able to prioritize our to-do list and get stuff done, we actually have to know all of the things that we need to get written down. If you think it, ink it. (quote from Laura Stack blog)

Putting every task that needs to be accomplished in one place – both personal and professional – can free the mental load of trying to remember what needs to get done next. 

You can’t prioritize tasks until you understand the full scope of your week. Write down everything that needs to be accomplished that week – include appointments, deadlines and tasks. 

• If you notice you have a light week (hooray), you can use that extra time to get ahead or focus on long term goals.
• If your week is full, you can give yourself permission to say “no” to extras that may pop up during the week. Remember no is a complete sentence. No, I cannot cover that duty for you. No, I cannot chaperone that dance. No, I can’t organize that fundraiser. You get the picture.

These planner printables may be the solution you need to start your weekly meeting with yourself.

Look at Your Goals When Prioritizing Tasks

When I mention goals, I am talking about the goals that I had for myself and my students professionally. Now these goals were provided to me from my administration based on my students’ scores from the year prior + the number of years I had been teaching. 

Maybe you have something like that, maybe not. If you don’t have a goal for the school year, I would recommend setting one, so that it will help you focus on what matters. Because when you are a teacher, it feels like every single thing matters.

• If you are in your first years of teaching, I would recommend setting a goal around classroom management, organization, or time management. 
• If you are a veteran teacher, I would set a goal around students’ academic progress.

While I had several goals, one of my goals was that 85% of my students would pass the state standardized tests with certain percentages scoring within the exemplary range. 

Working backwards, this goal helped me focus on tasks like making sure I had higher level questions to push my high students. It also made me realize that I needed to focus on my small group instruction.  It kept me analyzing student data often to see if my students were making the progress necessary to pass. 

Since I was focused on that goal, I wouldn’t stress so much about updating bulletin boards or grading everything that wasn’t a true test of mastery. 

So let’s say that you have a goal to build stronger relationships with your students this year, then you would want to make sure that you are allocating some time to writing encouraging notes or inviting students into your classroom for lunch. While these actions may not fulfill immediate needs, they will serve a greater purpose later on.

Urgent and Important Matrix

Have you ever heard of the Eisenhower matrix? This is a really good framework to use when thinking about how to prioritize your to do list.

Quadrant 1: Important and Urgent 

These are going to be tasks that have an immediate deadline.  Having your materials ready every single day for students probably falls into this quadrant for just about every teacher. Communicating with parents via email is another one. 

Do these tasks. Get them done. If you feel like every single one of your tasks is in this quadrant, then you will need to start on this list using a tip in our next point. But most likely, some of these tasks can be eliminated or at least delegated. Make sure that these are tasks that only you can do!

Quadrant 2: Important but Not Urgent

These are tasks that are important to your long term goals, but not immediate. In my case, this would be doing a data analysis on the most recent unit test. It is aligned to my goals, but no one is waiting on me to do this.

These are tasks to schedule. Block off 30 minutes during one of your planning periods, shut the door, and set a timer. Devote time to it. If you don’t schedule it, it most likely will continue to be pushed to another week again and again because it is competing with more urgent tasks.

Quadrant 3: Not Important and Urgent.

These are tasks to delegate. Oh man, good thing teachers have hundreds of students (see our post on student jobs here) to help with this one. And in some cases, parents! This is how I delegated making copies and laminated task cards to parent volunteers. In addition, I had a few students who were responsible for putting stickers on mastery trackers throughout the year. 

Quadrant 4: Not Important and Not Urgent 

Eliminate these tasks! I’m not sure what this is for you – but for me it was putting so much effort in keeping my students notebooks organized. One year I tried to grade student notebooks and that wasn’t for me. 

Build Momentum

If you are looking at your to-do list and everything is feeling important and urgent, then you have lots to do. Looking at the list can feel overwhelming and then lead you with decision fatigue on where to get started. 

Here are two very conflicting tips on what to do, so try them out and see which works better for you. 

• Tip #1 – Eat the frog. While you have most of your energy, tackle the hardest and most pressing thing on your list first. After you climb that hill, the rest of the tasks will feel pretty easy in comparison. And if it takes longer than you think and you get nothing else done, at least you got the most pressing item taken care of.
• Tip #2 – Build momentum by knocking out some easy tasks first. You will feel accomplished crossing off those items. You will feel like you made a dent in your to-do list. 
  • This is where I would also suggest (tip from The Together Teacher) to write down your to-do list into small actions. So don’t write down “Lesson Plans for this Week,” Write down – “Monday’s lesson plan” and “Tuesday’s lesson plan”

Another tip to think on what you should start doing first is to think about your current mental state. Are you feeling mentally fatigued? Maybe you should work on a task that is pretty mindless. Are you feeling alert and fresh? Then knock out something complex.

At the end of the school day, I was beat. If I chose to try to write a lesson plan, it would take me 3 times longer than if I did it in the morning. I would instead use the end of the school day to clear out my inbox.

How do you prioritize your to-do list?

The post How to Prioritize Your To Do List appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

Tip #1 – Start with a Clean Slate

We all know how impossible it is to start a task or be productive when you are working on top of a mess. For me, I can’t start working until everything in my view is mostly tidy. When I would grade, I liked to have a completely clear table. 

Think about where there is always a perpetual mess that would take less than 5 minutes to clean up, allowing you to be more productive each week.

• Your teacher desk that’s covered in papers to grade.
• Your car that’s filled with coffee mugs or tupperware.
• It could be that you just wipe down your whiteboard on Fridays, so you have a fresh board on Monday.
• It could be your email inbox.

These may seem trivial, but I always thanked myself when I would show up to work on Monday with a clean desk.

Tip #2 – Have a Weekly Planning Meeting with Yourself

Do you ever show up on Monday morning with 900 things to do and you feel immediately pulled in a bunch of different directions? As you start trying to knock out tasks, you know you are forgetting things, and oops – it turns out you should have been at your morning duty? 

You will benefit from having a meeting with yourself. This is time management for teachers 101. I do this every Sunday. I look at my calendar – write down meetings and appointments, decide our meal plan and make my grocery list. Then I might write a few personal goals in my notebook – anything from reading a couple chapters of a book to exercising. I used my weekly worksheet to do this which is included in our planner printables. Grab yours below!

The benefit to this is that it is no longer floating around in my head. If you think it, ink it. (brilliant quote from Laura Stack’s blog)  If it isn’t written down or on my digital calendar, then it is likely not getting done and will most likely be forgotten.

A weekly planning meeting with yourself will help focus on what is important to you that week, what you have to prioritize and what you can let go. For example, by looking at your whole week, both professional and personal, you can set your future self up for success. Let’s say you have parent teacher conferences after school on Thursday – you know that dinner for Thursday has to be EASY and quick. Now you can make adjustments to your meal plan. 

Now what if your plan goes out the window? My week was planned beautifully, and then my children’s daycare sent us an email stating that my daughters would need to be quarantined for the entire week. Not a great moment for me, but because I had already planned for the week, I was able to look at what had to be done, and remove the extras. After prioritizing, I knew exactly what I needed to knock out as soon as nap time came around. 

Tip #3 – Rest 

When I taught, I couldn’t trust myself to lay down on the couch on a Friday. I would immediately fall asleep – even at 5 pm! Time management for teachers means giving yourself the rest required to be effective.

Rest looks different to every teacher. If you are childless, sleeping in on Saturday is totally possible. Some of you haven’t slept in since 2010. Your life stage will dictate when and how you can rest.

Rest could mean leaving school by 5 or not working every evening or giving yourself permission to take a nap on Sunday. Maybe go on a walk and listen to some music. 

If you are looking for a sign to do something restful, relaxing, and joy filled, then let this be your sign.

Tip #4 – Enter Grades

Talk about something that often gets put off and off and off. Since grades are only due a handful of times a year, it is SO easy to get behind on grades. 

I made myself enter grades before I could leave for the weekend – student papers were something I did not want to bring home. I knew that I could grade student work in my classroom twice the speed it would take me to grade at home. I benefited from batching my grading once or twice a week. 

Tip #5 – Don’t Leave a Friday Task for a Monday Task

This goes back to starting with a clean slate each week. Don’t leave things that should be accomplished one week for the next week. Let me give you an example – making copies. 

It’s Friday, you are tired, your students were exceptionally chatty, and you just want to leave school right after the bell. You don’t have your copies printed for Monday yet, but you can just do that Monday morning. I only did this a few times before I learned that using the copier on Monday is a fool’s errand! The copier will inevitably be occupied by 10 other teachers and most likely the toner will need to be replaced and something will be jammed.

You want to know when no one is using the copier? Friday afternoon.

The caveat is that there is always work to be done and yes, many tasks will need to be moved to the following week, but those time sensitive tasks that happen every single week – plan for them!

What time management teacher systems do you love?

The post Time Management for Teachers: Productivity Tips appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

This month we are tackling everything organization and time management! If you didn’t read last week’s post, check it out: Time Saving Tips for Your Planning Period and be sure to check out other organization posts here!

Decide When You Are Going to Check Your Email

This is key. Every time that you glance at your email or open it because you see a notification, you are letting your inbox rob your focus. This can hurt your productivity.

When you decide on a block of time to check your email and actually process the information, rather than continuously checking it throughout the day, you are taking control of your inbox. 

Turn Off the Faucet

Maybe you receive hundreds of emails everyday, but only a small percentage of those emails are even worthy to be opened. It’s time to do something about that.

Since I am primarily talking to teachers about work emails, I am going to assume that you aren’t using your work email for social media notifications or Old Navy sale alerts. But maybe you once needed a Wayfair 10% coupon so you had to use a different email to get one and oops… you used your work email. 

Spend ten minutes going through your inbox and unsubscribe! Quick tip: search “unsubscribe” in your inbox to pull up all emails that can be unsubscribed to.

Maybe you need to change your preferences in your Learning Management System, so you aren’t receiving 250 emails a day from Canvas. In fact, I found some helpful directions for how to change this:

• Manage your email notifications for Canvas
• Manage your email notifications for Google Classroom
• Manage your email notifications for Schoology
• Manage your email notifications for Edmodo

Create a System that Works for You

I had a coworker who was obsessed with email organization – specially a folder for everything and inbox with 0 emails. That’s great and all, but I couldn’t really make something like that work. Especially, since for the most part, I could use the search function to find an email I really needed to reference later on. 

If you think about it, you really only have 4 choices to make with an incoming email:

1. Trash – it isn’t something you need to ever reference, then say goodbye!
2. Unsubscribe – Being on the email list is no longer serving you and the absence of that email is more valuable than the email itself.
3. Take Action – Needs a response! This includes emails from those on your team, your principal or parents and students. 
4. Save for Reference – You could have a folder dedicated to emails that you may need to reference later. Examples would be directions for grade submissions or state testing reminders. My school sent out a weekly email with all the important information for the week. I didn’t need to reply to that email. I read it and sent it to my saved folder.

To batch successfully, let’s say you have 20 emails in your inbox. Check off those that you know are trash. Send them to the garbage. Anything you need to take a moment and unsubscribe to? Your future self will thank you. 

Read whatever is left. If you can reply to a “take action” email in 2 minutes, do it. If you need to reference something or grade something or check in with another person about it, leave it unread and move on until you have processed the remaining emails. Then come back.

Anything that doesn’t need a reply but needs to be saved, move to your saved folder. 

Setting a timer will help speed up this process and keep you from spending 30 minutes replying to a single email. 

If you haven’t had a chance to download these planner printables, grab them now!

Create Canned Responses

I don’t know what it is about emails, but they take me so long to craft! What saves so much time is creating 5 or so canned responses. 

Create a document in your drive or on your desktop with generic responses to your most common emails. Here are some ideas:

• When you input grades
• When you grade late work
• What students can do to bring up their grade
• Websites to help students practice certain skills

Will these canned responses be perfect? No! But it is SO much easier to copy, paste and edit than it is to start from scratch. In fact, you probably have all of these emails already in your sent folder. Remove the specificities and you have your generic response.

What email organization keeps you sane?

The post Email Organization for Teachers appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

Note: No school is the same, you may have one 90 minute planning period or two 45 minute planning periods, or maybe you have 1 prep or 3 preps. And using these tips will not necessarily mean you will never have work to take home, but hopefully, these tips will help you use your time wisely.

Be sure to grab our printable planner pages down below!

Tip #1: Use Every Minute

If you want to make use of every minute of your planning period, then you need to start about 5 minutes before dismissal of the class that precedes your planning period.

That means, give yourself a nice buffer for any type of clean up. One of my coworkers had an alarm set to five minutes before each of her classes ended Monday through Friday, so she never let the bell sneak up on her. 

Make sure you are using class time for clean-up and set-up for the next class that comes after your teacher planning period. I would get into the habit of letting students who were still trying to finish up an assignment take a few minutes of their passing period to work on it. Or I would clean up after students – push in chairs and tidy papers. This was wasting my time!

When that bell rings, students should be leaving. They should all be out of your classroom in like 20 seconds. If I knew I needed to make copies, I would try to follow students out of the classroom. If I needed to have a conversation with a student, then I would try to walk and talk. If I needed that intentional face to face, then I would make it happen, but I tried to limit it to only when necessary.

Tip #2: Know Yourself

Ask yourself: what do I need from my planning period? 

Yes, you have a lot of work to do, but what does your mind and body need from this time?

• Do you need a mental break?
• Do you need to talk to another adult or have some meaningful interaction with another member of your team?
• Do you need silence?
• Do you need to eat, rest your feet, or go to the bathroom?
• Do you need to feel sunshine on your face? One year, I had a windowless room, so I made an effort to go outside during the day.

Since we are humans that are pretty contained with small humans for most of our day, you should definitely consider your physical and emotional needs along with your work needs during your planning period. 

Whatever it is you need, give yourself a timeframe, and fulfill your needs. Then you can get back to work!

Tip #3: Plan Your Week then Work Your Plan

Take 15 minutes to look at your calendar for the week. You can do this Sunday evening or Monday morning. Pencil in anything that is scheduled that you have already committed to – ARDS, grade level meetings, bus duty.  Make sure to include upcoming deadlines – like a grade submission. 

When you have a clear picture of what needs to get done and what time you have left to do it, you can better plan your tasks like planning, prepping, and grading. 

If an ARD on Thursday was going to use up most of my planning time on that day, I needed to know how I should structure Monday through Wednesday’s planning periods to make up for that lost time.

Tip #4: Batch Process

Does this sound familiar? You plan a lesson two days in advance of when you teach it, and then prepare the copies and materials the day before you would teach it. Since this system is so time sensitive, any small change can really throw it all off! If a planning period is now devoted to an unplanned fire drill, it might put you behind exponentially. 

This is why I recommend batch processing. Batch processing is essentially doing all similar tasks in one sitting rather than spreading them out. To correct our previous example, I recommend planning lessons and gathering materials for an entire week during a single planning period (or two). Then I would make copies (or ask a parent volunteer) for the entire week on another planning period. Grading and entering grades would take place the following day. As a teacher, this saved my planning periods!

Switching up tasks can be inefficient! This allows there to be a little bit of breathing room.  This might seem really hard to get started, but that is why we have All Access to take some of the burden of lesson planning and gathering materials off of your plate. Not to mention video lesson for each student handout – perfect for absent students!

 Tip# 5: Assign Time Limits to Tasks and Time Yourself

This tip changed my life when I started to implement it. I believe I learned this from The Together Teacher.

On your to-do list, either write down the number of minutes a task will take you. Or, on my to-do list, I have 3 columns – small, medium, and large. 

• Small is anything that will take less than 5 minutes to complete.
• Medium is anything that will take between 5-20 minutes to complete.
• And large is anything that will take longer than 20 minutes to complete.

As soon as I have a task to write down, I categorize it based on the number of minutes I think it will take. Then when I am waiting for a meeting to start or I have only five minutes left in my planning, I can look at my small task list and complete something off my to-do list in that time. No minute is wasted!

As for timing yourself, I find that a timer works on me just as well as it works for students. It keeps me focused and urgent. I wasn’t doing a great job using my phone as the timer because of the obvious distractions, so I recommend using a classroom timer – this is the one I used!

Grab our printable planner pages to keep track of your weekly schedule and task list on one page + even more pages to keep your organized.

Tip #6: Limit Opening Your Email/Work Chat

Checking your email is a huge time thief. Check back next week because we will be addressing this topic more fully, but I couldn’t talk about making the most of your planning period without addressing email. 

For now, I will just leave you with this. Decide when you will check your email – maximum two times a day. Maybe you check it in the last 10 minutes of your teacher planning period or only at lunch. 

If you are constantly stopping what you are doing every time your phone lets you know there is an email, your brain loses focus and the momentum you had built up is now gone. Turn off email notifications.

What tips do you have for making the most of your planning period?

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Unpacking math standards helps teachers build the foundation for what content they are teaching to students. Subsequently, unpacking math standards provides a framework to create actionable lessons. Essentially, unpacking math standards helps us answer these two questions:

1. What are students learning?
2. How will they learn it?

This is part 1 of our Instructional Design series. Come back to read more about higher level thinking and the CRA framework. And make sure to grab our free lesson planning template down below!

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WHY DO WE LESSON PLAN?

Much like creating a to-do list to alleviate the mental load of upcoming deadlines, lesson planning keeps all of our thinking about a topic or skill in one place where it can be shared, referenced, and revised. 

When we are prepared intellectually to deliver a lesson, we allow for real-time adjustments and instruction to the depth the standards require. In addition, the physical plan allows a space for collaboration and feedback.

Not ready to lesson plan quite yet? Need the bigger picture?

Grab our FREE Middle School Math + Algebra 1 Pacing Guides.

MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT MATH STANDARDS

• Standards do not need to be taught sequentially or in isolation. They do need to be organized with purpose though!
• Standards are not so rigid that there is only one way for them to be taught. 
• Standards are not to be interpreted in a vacuum. The more math teachers you can have in the process, the more likely you will have a full picture of the scope of the standard.

HOW TO UNPACK MATH STANDARDS

Let’s talk about how we go about unpacking math standards using a 6th grade TEKS standard. 

• 6.7D: generate equivalent expressions using the properties of operations: inverse, identity, commutative, associative, and distributive properties
• This comes from the strand 6.7 “The student applies mathematical process standards to develop concepts of expressions and equations”

Step 1 – Read the standard (and related standards) in its entirety

• There is a related standard that asks students to determine if two expressions are equivalent using concrete models, pictorial models, and algebraic representations. (6.7C) 
• This is helpful because I can support my instruction of that initial standard with concrete and pictorial models. It gives me more information about how I can teach it.

Step 2 – Create a T chart listing the knows and the dos 

• The Dos are the verbs. What the student is expected to do.
• Examples include: apply, solve problems, represent, determine, calculate, predict, write, model, compare, convert, and describe. 
• Make sure that whatever the student is doing in class is the same as the verb in the standard or that the lesson will eventually support it.

• It is crucial to understand what the verb means. Oxford dictionary defines generate (in the math context) as producing (a set or sequence of items) by performing specified mathematical or logical operations on an initial set. The lesson should be focused on the student creating equivalent forms of the expression using the properties.
• The Knows are the content. The knowledge that the student must have to execute the verb.  Typically, this is going to come from the nouns. So in our case, students will need to know how all of the properties function in order to generate equivalent expressions. 
• One other best practice to unpacking math standards is to determine if the standard is more conceptual, procedural, or application. If the standard is very procedure heavy, I am going to want to make sure that there is some conceptual understanding introduced and application type of problems too. We want our lessons to be well rounded.
• If you have done this and are still unsure what the standard means, then I recommend looking at a state test question to see how the standard is assessed. 

Step 3 – Look at the vertical alignment

Texas teachers, grab yours here. I like to read the math standards that are connected from the previous year to see what my students should know already or more likely, what I will need to refresh them on before they can be successful with the new standard. 

Step 4 – Write a learning target or lesson objective

Lesson objectives should be measurable and they should be student friendly. Different schools follow different guidelines – your school might use “I CAN statements” or “student will be able to” language. My preference is below:

Remember that whatever question, problem, or activity your students are completing, it should support your learning target or objective.

Step 5 – Write Big Ideas and Essential Questions

Big ideas are the concepts that transcend your unit and connect the content to their real lives and make it relevant. Perhaps students won’t walk away from your data and statistics unit remembering exactly how to find the median, but they will take the big idea that data can be represented graphically in order to solve problems and draw conclusions. 

Essential questions support your unit’s big ideas. These are recurring questions that can be asked all unit long that are designed for students to have that lightbulb moment. They allow open ended discussion from your students and to stretch the thinking of your students. Use them at the beginning of your unit to pique student interest and/or at the end of the unit to summarize or synthesize their learning over the last few weeks. 

How do you unpack math standards? What is your lesson planning process?

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Math Stations, when done correctly, can solve many classroom challenges. Math stations can meet the needs of various learners, provide practice on spiraled concepts, and it puts the responsibility of learning on the students. Seems like a win-win! In addition, technology has made personalized learning easier than ever!

You may be eager to try math stations (or math centers), but are unsure of where to start. Hopefully this post will give you a little confidence to try them out.

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Stations Wouldn’t Work in My Classroom

If you just thought those words to yourself, then let’s get all of the roadblocks to stations out and in the open:

• You may not think you have the bandwidth to create or find multiple activities for a single lessons
• Your class periods are too short
• Your students will be off task
• You don’t have the space or your class sizes are too big
• You might not know where to even begin – how do I start this? 

Starting Small with Math Stations

In that case, I will remind you to start small. No teacher should commit to an entirely new approach to teaching without dipping their toes in the water first.

Small Groups: Start with just pulling a small group while the rest of the class works on something else. Get used to the practice of using data to lead small group instruction or intervention to students who need additional support. Not sure where to start with small groups? This post and this post are great places to start.

Weekly Stations: Introduce stations as a once a week activity for the entire class period. For example, every Friday is Station Friday. On that day, students get to practice what they learned that week with stations. Whether you have 40 or 90 minute class periods, students can work on what they learned from Monday to Thursday. Station 1 is Monday’s skill, Station 2 is Tuesday’s skill and so on. You can make your small group one of your stations that every student visits, or pull specific students for small groups while they are participating in stations.

Keep Transitions Easy: Students don’t have to actually move. If students out of their seats or managing a transition sounds overwhelming, then perhaps, the tub or folder rotates instead. 

Keep the Station Group Small: Maybe you have 30 students but only 3 activities for stations. Ten kids in a station will not work, right? Well, you can always have 6 stations with repeated activities. You get to keep the groups small but not double the amount of work to plan. 

Once you and your students are more comfortable with the processes put in place, you can consider these ideas.

Framework for Stations

The framework of M.A.T.H. is a great jumping point for a math teacher. It’s memorable for both students and teachers.  

• M – Meet the Teacher
• A – At your Desk or Assignment
• T – Technology
• H – Hands On

You may be familiar with student choice boards or playlists that would work in a station setting. In fact, one of our MTM teachers reached out this morning and shared her playlist using our All Access videos and MTM materials. It was phenomenal to see her utilize the All Access resources and allow her to provide small group instruction and support.

Best Practices for Math Stations

• Visuals and timers are your friend! Set a big, loud timer that all students can see and hear to keep everyone on track. 
• If you are having students move, practice! Set a timer for one minute and set high expectations for how you want this done. 
• Simplify your groupings at first. Groups can be homogeneous or heterogeneous learners. The groups can stay the same for an entire unit or few months. Since I had tables, my groups were their table groups. On the other hand, I am reading Building Thinking Classrooms, and the author, Peter Liljedahl, encourages teachers to group students randomly.
• Change it up, but also keep the routine. For example, there is always a tech station, but what program they use changes each week.
• Have a plan for students needing help or checking their answers. If necessary, provide students with something self-checking or an answer key that they can look at. Maybe they input their solutions into a Form or scan a QR code to check their work. 
• Think about the amount of time it will take to complete the activities and try to make them equal or longer than the length of the station. What you don’t want is one station that takes 5 minutes and another station that takes 20 minutes to complete. 
• The Maneuvering the Middle activities that best lend themselves to stations are: card sorts or card matches, She Said He Said, Find It Fix It, a Maze or a Puzzle Train. You can find our activity bundles here.

All of our hands-on activities, digital activities, student video library, and standards-based curriculum are included in All Access. Implementing Math Stations is attainable when you aren’t creating all of the materials from scratch!

Have you started implementing math stations in your classroom?

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Preparing for a substitute used to be so easy! Ha – I am joking, of course. We had no idea how easy it used to be. Now with COVID, quarantining, and technology, it is pretty complicated. 

Schools have a variety of procedures regarding substitutes, and I also know that you might be lucky to even have a substitute. There are schools out there that rely on teacher’s planning periods or non-classroom staff to cover other classes. 

Since our control is limited, let’s focus on what we can do to make a substitute’s job manageable and to make your absence not disruptive to your students’ learning.

Note: I have heard substitutes be referred to as guest teachers. I love the term “guest” because it implies that this is a person who deserves our respect and our help. Language matters. Moving forward, I will likely use them interchangeably.

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Preparing for a Substitute before You Need a Substitute

1. Prepare a Guest Teacher Binder

Our mantra at Maneuvering the Middle is go slow now, so that you can go fast later. Take the time to create a guest teacher binder before you need one. At most, it will take about an hour to prepare, and even less time if you grab ours.

Everything mentioned in this post is included in the Substitute Binder pages.

Why a binder?

• It can be used year after year (with a few revisions). I highly recommend that you place these pages in page protectors and organize them with tabs that would help a guest teacher navigate quickly.
• It needs to be a binder that is clearly labeled and huge! Small folders get lost, thrown away, or accidentally taken home by guest teachers. 
• If you wake up sick, you will be able to send an email with a description of where the binder is. You won’t be writing a long email with a ton of directions at 3 am.

What should be included in the substitute binder?

• Contact information for office, team lead, and/or the assistant principal
• Bell schedules and all alternative bell schedules that may exist
• Daily routine explanation
• Short list of the most important routines and procedures – think bathroom, technology, tardies or dismissal
• Information regarding procedures for drills or actual emergencies
• A variety of student information that we will expound on later in the post
• Necessary computer login information (guest logins over personal passwords)
• Random information like how to turn on the projector
• Lesson plan with materials

Now ideally you were able to do this at the beginning of the year for the entire year, but maybe you are working on the fly. Stick with the essentials and keep things brief. Guest teachers don’t have a lot of time to acclimate themselves before students arrive, so bullet points and essential information is key. 

2. Include Relevant Student Information

Guest teachers will need:

• Class rosters
• List of students who may need additional support and any accommodations they may need – I would star these students on the seating chart too
• List of student(s) who can be trusted to answer questions – Typically, if a guest teacher asks the entire class a question, it will just turn into a lot of talking or disagreement on the answer. If I give one specific student to ask, then chaos is avoided.
• Seating charts – or a note of where the seating charts are located  

3.  Prepare an Emergency Lesson Plan (or Two) with all student materials printed or posted online

We need something for our students to do! 

I love to share stories of my mishaps. My first year teaching I  had a very strict pacing calendar that I was expected to follow. I was part of a program that required me to be pulled for a two day professional development. According to my pacing calendar, I would be out when subtracting integers would be introduced, so I created lesson plans and student materials for subtracting integers. This is no doubt, one of the most challenging middle school math concepts for students to master. 

Obviously, I returned to my students being utterly confused, I had wasted two days of lessons and lesson plans, and I had to change all of my plans when I returned on a dime. 

So learn from my mistakes! When you are out, plan on students reviewing and practicing skills you have already taught. (Obviously, this applies only for shorter absences.)

Here are some ideas that might work well for you:

• Solve and colors — coloring tends to calm students and can be just enough incentive to keep working
• Mazes – again, coloring and the self-checking aspect without being a multiple choice situation

Now make those copies (you may consider leaving a key with your work shown) and place them in an identifiable location within your guest teacher binder. 

We have heard from so many All Access members that All Access makes being absent a breeze. The video library is the perfect way for students to keep moving ahead even if you are out.

“The BIGGEST win, is when I needed to be out for several days, the curriculum was perfect with the warm-ups, videos, and activities.” – All Access Member

4.  create accountability

Next, you want to create some sort of incentive!

I would leave a Class Rubric for the guest teacher to complete for each class — things like maintaining a reasonable voice level, staying on task, being respectful, etc. The substitute would then rank them using the rubric. (This rubric is also included in the Secondary Substitute Binder.)

Then from there it’s up to you — do you reward every class with a 10? Does only the best class get a reward? If you are looking for easy, cheap incentive ideas, click here.

Extended Absences

Hopefully, if you are going on maternity leave, you will have lots of runway to prep your guest teacher. Ideally, your guest teacher has spent a few weeks in your classroom prior to your due date. We actually have a whole post about returning from maternity leave that you may find helpful.

This is where you can really utilize technology to best maintain your class. You may need to utilize pre-created content like our All Access Videos or YouTube to minimize your absence and continue with the content. Keep a very strict routine that students are used to following like: log in to their LMS, watch video, complete online assignment. Routines are crucial for guest teachers to implement.

But essentially, organization is key, whether you prepare paper copies for maternity leave, or digital copies that you are sharing with a department head, or an organized LMS where students can easily find their assignments.

Additionally, I think in cases like this, it is worthwhile to add your department head or administrator to your LMS or Google Drive, so that they can access and support the guest teacher without you being present.

What tips do you have for preparing a guest teacher?

All the mentioned things above are included in my Editable Substitute Binder for Secondary Teachers.  It is simple in design, easy to use, and most importantly ready to go.  I also included additional binder covers, classroom procedures, emergency procedures, seating charts, a lesson plan template, and a printable hall pass. This substitute binder can be edited in Google Slides.

Editor’s Note: Maneuvering the Middle has been publishing blog posts for teachers for nearly 6 years. This post was originally published in September of 2016. It has been revamped for accuracy and relevancy.

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Teachers spend 8-10 hours a day at school. We need to be prepared for anything and everything. We also want to keep students from having to make unnecessary trips to the office for things that we can easily store in our classroom. These teacher desk supplies will save you!

Maybe you will use these items never or 100 times. It doesn’t hurt to be prepared! (Check out the comments for some more great suggestions.)

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Things that You (the Teacher) Will Need

1. Extra set of clothes – If you haven’t spilled an entire cup of coffee on your shirt at school, are you even a teacher? If you don’t have the space to store them in your classroom, consider an extra set (and pair of shoes) in your car. You will thank me later! Also, deodorant is never a bad idea. And go ahead and have some extra hair ties too.
2. Medicine – Contact Lens Solution and Case, sore throat lozenges, allergy medicine, Emergen-C, and headache medicine. Save yourself from having to ask the nurse or another coworker. I have never regretted having a small stash of my medicine cabinet in the locked drawer of my desk. 
3. Back-up lunch and snacks. Even a Post-it Note reminder on my front door didn’t prevent me from frequently forgetting my lunch. I loved keeping a few non-perishable snacks that would tide me over in the event I forgot — peanut butter crackers, turkey jerky sticks, trail mix, and protein bars. Helpful hint: keeping a handful of utensils in my classroom prevented me from wasting precious lunch time hunting one down in the teachers’ lounge or cafeteria. 
4. Tide-To-Go Pen or Shout Wipes – I liked to attach my pens to my lanyard so I would always have a pen on me. Well, I didn’t always click the pen closed and frequently allowed my shirt to be stained. This will keep all your clothes from becoming permanently stained. 
5. Fanny pack – I started with a Home Depot apron and eventually graduated to a cute and functional fanny pack.

While this may not fit in your desk drawer, an All Access membership will save your time and your energy. If you are a middle school math or Algebra 1 teacher, then this curriculum is for you. Click here to learn more.

Things Your Students May Need

1. Bandaids, feminine products, mints, ice pack – If I could prevent students from making an additional trip to the nurse’s office to get any of these items, I considered that learning time saved. Note: most of these you can even get from your school nurse by just going in and asking to have some handy in your classroom
2. Safety pins and a glasses repair kit – Ever have a wardrobe malfunction or a lost button…those safety pins can come in handy for you and students. The number of glasses that I have repaired in my teaching career is pretty impressive too! Parents will thank you! 
3. Ziploc bags or even grocery store bags – Ziploc bags serve 100 uses in the classroom, so just go ahead and buy some the next time you’re grabbing groceries, but their uses aren’t just for organizing supplies. In 6th grade, students are still losing teeth or needing a place to store their phone after a water bottle leaked in their backpack soaking everything. They will get used. I have saved the day when a student’s backpack has torn open and they needed a place to store their stuff for the day. 

Items that Will Help Your Environment

1. If you check the comments from this post, you will see one of our most recommended items is scent related.  Febreze! Scentsy pods! Candle warmers! You only have to be in the class after gym to realize these middle school students are still learning the ins and outs of hygiene. Some teachers recommended spray deodorant for students. I never did this, but a student might feel desperate!
2. Jolly Ranchers – I could never have chocolate because I would just eat it all. But a jolly rancher satisfies a sweet craving and lasts a long time so you can limit yourself to one.  Plus, they are one of my favorite treats for kids and can be purchased in a giant bag at Target or Walmart. They aren’t messy, are gluten free, and a little goes a long way. I did tell students that if I found trash, we would have to discontinue the use of jolly ranchers.  I used these personally, as incentives to begin the warm up right away (simply passing them out to students who were on task when the bell rang), and incentives for working well in groups. Win-win!
3. Blank notes – always be ready to send an encouraging note to a team member or a forgotten happy birthday to a student. If you are feeling down, writing something kind to someone else will always cheer me up!
4. Extra phone charger – This is the gift that keeps on giving. Once you become known as the teacher with an extra phone charger, staff will always need you to come to the rescue! Just make sure to label it with your name, so it doesn’t disappear. 

I hope this list gets you thinking, it has saved me lots of time and headaches (literally).  

If you love teacher supplies as much as I do, check out this post with 20 Must Have Teacher Supplies Under $20. 

Also, check out the comments (even if you don’t have anything to share) because there are many great ideas to round out ANY need you might have during your day of teaching! What teacher desk supplies do you rely on in your classroom?

Editor’s Note: We have been publishing content for the Maneuvering the Middle blog for over 7 years! This post was originally published in February of 2015 and has been revamped for accuracy and relevancy. 

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The beginning of the school year is when we have the best intentions for how the school year will go. Let’s keep this energy up by committing to stop doing these 4 time wasters. These time wasters lead to stress and burn out – I can personally attest!

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Point 1: Stop Bringing Your Work Home

This may seem like the opposite of a time waster since you are trying to get more work done, but hear me out.

You are going to have to prioritize what needs to happen each and every day during your planning time. Not everything is equally important. We have to prioritize the important things and let go of some of the smaller things. 

Maybe you take work home, but leave it on the table only to bring it back to school the next day. All this does is add a mental burden to the time you should be resting, and you feel like you failed at something you wanted to accomplish. 

Here are some ways to turn this ineffective and exhaustive practice into something productive and sustainable. 

Choose one night to stay late at school. I would stay on Thursday nights to get everything prepared for the week ahead. Throughout the week, I would lesson plan very briefly so that I had a start on what we were doing and what I needed to accomplish on Thursdays. I would then delve into any creation of activities and lesson plans. By Thursday, most of the other staff members were tired, and I wouldn’t have any interruptions. 

When I left on Thursdays, I had all of my pages ready for copying, my keys worked for the next week, all of my bell ringers, and any assessments needed. I felt ready for the next week.

If you don’t have the capacity to stay late, then I would suggest batching by day of the week. Example: Mondays are for grading, Tuesdays are for lesson planning, Wednesday are for copies, and so on. 

Point 2: Stop Trying to Grade Everything

While students need feedback and grades, they do not need you to personally grade every single assignment that they touch. But, just like anything in life, they also need practice…practice for the sake of practice. 

So here are a few ideas that don’t require a lot of time spent grading. I go into more detail here.

• Choose a single problem to grade — place it on a slip 
• Roll a dice — my high school teacher rolled a dice every day with whether she would take up a homework assignment for a grade.
• A Friday activity that allows you to grade and circulate for feedback
• Trade and grade

Point 3: Stop Trying to Do It All Alone

Working with colleagues is a privilege, so if you are able to work with someone, find a way to work together, so that you can stop trying to do it all alone. I was the only 6th grade math teacher at my school, so I reached out to other teachers in my district to split up some of the planning workload.

Additionally, utilizing ready-to-go resources like our All Access Membership or other resources instead of reinventing the wheel is going to be something that frees up your time for other things — remember your time is valuable and finite!

Another few suggestions for you to consider:

• Ask for help from parents — copies, cutting lamination, extra supplies
• Ask an instructional coach — their job is to help, so try and give them plenty of time to help develop the lesson — but be specific about what you need — “I am looking for a bank of 10 questions on standard _____ that I can use in a class activity”. If you aren’t specific, then you may end up with something that you don’t necessarily want to use. 

Point 4: Stop Checking Your Email Frequently Throughout the Day

If you do not have the time and energy to respond to an email at that exact moment, then do not check or read the email.  If you receive a negative email, it can throw you off. If you are in the middle of being productive, an incoming email can mess with your rhythm.  Turn off email notifications. Notifications are such a distraction and your phone is a huge time waster.

This also works similarly in the evenings. So I have a few very practical tips.

1. Set up an out of office response — If you aren’t going to respond to email after a specific time, set an out of office with a positive message, and a link to your LMS or wherever else a student/parent could access the needed work. This could be set in the evenings, on the weekends, or whenever else. It prevents parents from sending 6 emails because you haven’t responded, and establishes a boundary of when you respond to the emails.
2. Set a timer when checking emails. Set a 15-30 minute timer and focus solely on that task.
3. Create a Google Doc with common questions and responses. This seems like a lot of work up front but if you keep adding to it, you could save yourself hours over the period of the school year and even be able to update it for the next school year! Take the time to go slow now so you can go fast later. Copy and paste is your friend!

What time wasters are you trying to avoid this school year?

The post 4 Time Wasters to Stop as a Teacher appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

Classroom set-up is my favorite back to school task!  It is time to deck out our classrooms!  Easily one of the best and most stressful parts of being a teacher. I have some tips on how to make classroom set-up efficient and stress free.

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1. Prioritize 

If you want to do something magical in your classroom to make it homey and special, great! Do it. But get your room ready for students first. Unpack the boxes, set up the library, organize the supplies, get the desks in the right configuration first. Do what has to be done before you do what you would like.

Here is a priority list for classroom set-up:

• Set up furniture first. The placement of student desks, your teacher desk, small group table, doc cam, etc will help you determine where you should place your word wall or turn in bins. Even if many of these things (like the doc cam or the bins and supplies) are in boxes, having a layout in mind will give you a frame of reference. From there, I think you can be flexible. As you open boxes, determine what areas of your classroom make the most sense to set up. 
• Set up your technology. It may require asking your campus technologist, but I always loved to do that first and usually they were happy to get started on my classroom. 
• Organize your spaces. Do you want a student supply area? Where will you keep missing or absent work? How will papers and material be distributed? These are all things that aren’t necessarily furniture, but spaces in your classroom that when well organized and thought through, will help your classroom to run smoothly. 
• Bulletin boards. If you are allowed, I highly recommend ditching butcher paper for either fabric or paint. And then when you do get to decorating your classroom, leave space for anchor charts or student work. I always loved to have an agenda board on one of my whiteboards that I would mark off with masking tape.

2. Come Prepared

Here is what you need to be successful on classroom set up day:

• Stapler, glue dots, etc
• Scissors – opening boxes, cutting bulletin borders, etc
• Toolbox (screwdriver/hammer) – tighten loose legs on desks or to hang trays
• Wipes/dusting cloths – everything will be filthy
• Step stool – a student chair doesn’t always provide the support or height you need
• Wear overalls or something with pockets to keep track of your stapler and scissors

We actually have a classroom poster pack that will make classroom set-up up a breeze. All you need is colorful cardstock, a printer, and a laminator (optional) to get your classroom ready for students. I was able to get most of my classroom prepped while watching Netflix since I was able to prep the posters at home. You can see them in action here:

3. Ask a friend for help

You can get help from a non-teaching friend, a teaching friend, or a kind husband/wife or mom/sister/child.  Yes, two people make it go faster, but with two people, you can hang posters and your helper can tell you if it is straight or not.  Too often, I hang posters that are not level AND IT DRIVES ME CRAZY ALL YEAR. An extra friend can also complete tedious tasks that don’t require a lot of direction, so you are free to use your brainpower elsewhere.  My teacher friend had her mom set up and organize her classroom library, so she was free to set up her teacher desk space and files. My sister helped laminate and cut while I worked on setting up the word wall area.  One year, a teacher friend and I took turns.  We spent the entire day at my school and then traded and spent the entire day at her school.  The amount you can accomplish with two people is exponential.  Plus, it’s a good excuse to catch up and you can always treat them to a yummy meal as a thank you!

4. Make lists as you go

While you are working in your classroom, you will encounter tasks that you will need to complete.  For example, I realized that I was missing the glue and sticker labels for my supply bins.  Instead of stopping the task of classroom set up to make these two pesky little labels (these labels required printing/laminating/cutting), I added it to my to do list.  This way I catch everything that I still need to do, but I can complete the tasks at a more appropriate time with other tasks that might also need to be printed/laminated/cut.  In addition to a to do list, make a shopping list of items that you need to purchase.  My sister and I were meticulous this year in planning and preparing for decorating, but I still ran across items that I wanted to replace or items that I forgot to purchase.

5. Purchase with Purpose

I like to also call this avoid the Target Dollar Spot! First, the dollar spot now has $7 items which quickly add up, but also you will end up with a bag of goodies that cost $30 and really has no impact on your classroom or your organization. Please learn from my mistakes:

• Unless you are confident you will use it, you may want to avoid an expensive paper planner. 
• You will be cleaning out your cupboards and find a target sack with various junk from the dollar spot…just keep walking unless you know you need it!
• Just because something is very cheap at the beginning of the year — doesn’t mean you will actually use it 
• Don’t be afraid to ask for a few things at your open house or via an Amazon list. As a parent, I love to grab a set of white board markers or a few boxes of tissues at the store for my sons’ teachers. 

Keep a running shopping list on your phone while you work in your room and make one trip to the store. The more often you have to walk through the store, the more likely you are to spend money.

I have learned that if my classroom is not ready before students arrive, it becomes a cumbersome task to complete throughout the year.  It doesn’t have to be perfect and there should be blank spaces on the wall, but you also want to enjoy being there, you spend at least 8 hours a day there.  So take heart!  What systems do you have in place for your classroom set-up?

Maneuvering the Middle has been publishing blog posts for 6+ years. This blog post was originally published in the summer of 2016. It has been updated for context and clarity.

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If you are a teacher who is seeing the online teacher community buzzing with words like “grids” or “centers” and feel a little overwhelmed, then this post is for you. Oftentimes, we see other teachers implement new strategies or techniques, and think to ourselves, “Should I be doing that too?” Making changes in your classroom needs to approached with thoughtful consideration.

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What is the Flywheel Effect?

In its simplest form, the Flywheel Effect is what happens when an organization knows its mission and is committed to making small tweaks to reach greatness. You can learn more about it Jim Collins’ book, Good to Great.

The Flywheel Effect is “A quiet, deliberate process of figuring out what needed to be done and then simply doing it.” 

In contrast, the Doom Loop is when you try something for a little while, you hope for big results, and then change course when the desired result doesn’t happen quickly. In schools, this might look like a new principal, a new teaching practice that the entire school is going to implement, or some other new initiative. 

How is this done well in schools and classrooms?

We want the Flywheel Effect in our classrooms and schools, and we want to avoid the Doom Loop. 

To achieve the Flywheel Effect, ask yourself:

• Was there something that went pretty well this year that I can keep implementing with some minor modifications?

Example: Maybe you liked hosting everything on a Learning Management System.  It kept you and your students organized. Keep doing it! Just because you are back to in-person teaching doesn’t mean you have to abandon it. 

The key to the Flywheel Effect is knowing what needs a small change in the same direction and what needs a new direction completely.

For example, when I first started incorporating hands-on activities in my classroom, I noticed that the benefits were numerous: students were engaged, motivated, retaining the information, and I felt less tired. Here is what I could do to improve upon it:

• I could plan to include more activities when I made my unit plan
• I could plan different activities that might meet a different need
• I could be more intentional in my grouping structures 

The Doom Loop would have me eliminate all other classroom structures to do as many hands-on activities as possible. This is like one big experiment, and if you change too many variables, then you won’t have a true test.

Why is the doom loop common in education?

The Doom Loop is common in education because you start over each year with a new group of students. You can fall into the trap of thinking a fresh start is the time to change everything you did the year prior. Even the structures or practices that were working well. 

The education world tends to be on either end of the swinging pendulum. This happens because there is such a wide variety of students with different needs, backgrounds, and experiences that need a good mix of a lot of things!  

Have you ever taught somewhere where you have a big initiative for one year and then it fizzles out after September? 

Trust yourself and your judgement to do what is best for you and your students. If it is time to change course, do it! If you are feeling pressured to abandon what works for something trending, pause and think about whether you may be falling into the Doom Loop.

How do you know if it is time to make a change?

First, we acknowledge that something is not working well. 

So ask yourself: 

• Is this a pain point that is worth my time and energy to improve? 
• Can I commit to changing it?

Change is a result of consistency and if you try to change too many things at one time, your likelihood of being consistent decreases tremendously.

Years ago, Noelle wanted to stop staying at school until 6 pm everyday, so she compromised with staying late only once a week. If it wasn’t Thursday, then she made a plan with her time after school, so she would leave at a reasonable time.  The plan wouldn’t have worked if she decided to leave by 3:30pm everyday.  Noelle made a small change in the right direction instead. Set a timer and keep pushing that flywheel forward, so that eventually you gain traction.  

Maybe that means a change in the way you plan, or a more concerted effort to divide and conquer with your team. Maybe it means that you are going to invest in something to support you with your goals. Maybe it means you are going to ask your administrators for support.

Whatever your goals are, I am confident with small steps towards them you will be able to gain momentum and harness the Flywheel Effect in your classroom.

The post Making Changes vs Staying the Course appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

Most teachers juggle multiple preps. No matter your content or grade level, if you have been teaching for any length of time, it is inevitable. We asked our Facebook group how many preps they taught, and one teacher said 7! Wow! Let’s talk about some of the ways we can manage teaching multiple preps.

Keep scrolling to learn about something HUGE that Maneuvering the Middle is launching!

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1. Stagger Hard Things + Batch Easy Things

When I was teaching multiple preps, one of the best things I learned was to stagger hard things and batch easy things.

For example, a science teacher is going to stagger labs. Running two or more different labs on the same day will cause obvious confusion with supplies and instructions. Not to mention that it sounds exhausting. A writing teacher might stagger due dates (by a few weeks) for essays to allow plenty of time for grading. Personally, as a math teacher, I staggered using manipulatives because it helped me keep my supplies organized.

For batching the easy stuff, I liked to run all the same types of activities on the same days when there were few supplies needed. If we were doing stations or a scavenger hunt, it was easier for me to do that with all of my classes. I could easily put the stations on different colored card stock, and let my students work while I pulled a small group.

2. Create an Organizational Zone for Each Class

One of our MTM teachers shared that she color codes EVERYTHING. She showed me a cut and paste activity where the pieces were color coded so that unit 1 was blue and everything in unit 1 was going to be blue – scavenger hunts, task cards, everything. It made me think about doing that across your preps. 6th grade is always green. If I find a green task card, I know it’s 6th grade. My students know to use the green scavenger hunts around the room, etc. I think if I could go back and do this, I would utilize color coding to the extreme. 

This could be part of the organizational zone for each class. If you can clearly label a certain part of your room for each prep, then that can help to cue your students. Anchor charts on the green bulletin board are for 6th grade. 7th grade material is always pink or on the right side of the classroom. 

3. Share the Workload

In most cases, if you are teaching multiple preps, it is usually because you are at a smaller school with a smaller student population and staff, so there usually isn’t another math teacher to share planning with, but you could reach out to other teachers outside your school. 

Think: in your district or even someone you meet in a Facebook group. Though you may have different teaching styles, or different lesson planning requirements, it should help to cut down on the workload.

4. Ask for Help

Which leads me to my next idea, ask for help. The worst thing that can happen is they say no, right? And if you don’t ask, you don’t even give the opportunity to be told yes!

You may consider asking for a student aid or an extra prep period or no duty — anything that might help balance the time required to prep for multiple different classes. One year, I was the only teacher at my school to teach multiple preps, so I asked my admin if I could not be assigned lunch duty – and guess what?  My admin said no problem!

5. Streamline Everything Else

If you have multiple preps, you will inevitably have to devote more time to planning, so look at everything else you have to do as a teacher, and see where you can optimize your time.

• Self-grading assignments
• Utilizing student jobs to complete some of those tasks that a student could easily do – update trackers, file papers, prep activities
• Utilize technology for lower prep activities
• Come up with a plan on how to batch various parts of your workload
• Use every single second of your planning period effectively by having a plan for your planning period

6. Try Maneuvering the Middle All-Access

While that has been the primary project for the spring of 2021….we couldn’t be more excited for our project for the fall of 2021…Maneuvering the Middle All Access!

This beta program will allow you to get the resources you need and want! Plus, it will allow our curriculum team to think outside the box of student handouts and activities.

Instructional videos for students, professional development videos for you, and ready-to-use math resources that are beyond the scope of a PDF.

We are excited to share more details with you and welcome you into our MTM All Access.

Click here to Sign Up For All Access Notifications

The post How to Juggle Multiple Preps appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

Not setting enough boundaries is potentially one of the reasons that educators feel so burnt out early in their careers. I am going to share with you some ways we can put healthy boundaries in place so that we can thrive in our roles as educators, family members, and friends.

Why we need boundaries

As educators, I think we are prone to struggle with setting healthy teacher boundaries for two reasons:

• We are high achievers – we want to do our best and give our best to our students each and every day. We take a great sense of pride in the work that we do. This is a great thing!
• Teachers also tend to put others (in this case students) above their own needs. Selflessness and caring for others is so admirable and something to be respected. However, I think the unique combination of high achieving + selfless people + the demands of the profession can lead to burn out + resentment + stress really quickly. 

Professional boundaries provide longevity in our educational career and help teachers function at their best long term.

Choose Your Teacher Boundaries

So what teacher boundaries should you put into place? I can’t tell you what to do, but I can give you some examples for myself.  I think it is fair to say that boundaries are pretty nuanced based on your situation and your personal capacity.

Remember: what you allow is what will continue.

But how do we decide on what we will allow?

I first heard about the idea of juggling different balls in the air from a favorite food blogger of mine. She heard it from an author Nora Roberts, and upon further research, she may or may not be the original source. You can read the thread here.

First, imagine you are juggling… and some of the balls are plastic and some are glass. 

The glass balls are those most important parts of your life. For me, my relationship with my husband and our sons are glass balls. They cannot be dropped. They will shatter. There are even certain aspects of Maneuvering the Middle that are glass balls. Continuing to produce high-quality resources for teachers is a glass ball. As a teacher, showing up ready to teach was a glass ball. Personally, doing what I say I am going to do is a glass ball. 

Now some of the balls being juggled are plastic. They can drop and be picked back up again and again. In fact, you can drop a ball for a period of time and pick it back up when you have time for it. Realistically, most responsibilities fall in this camp.  Joe Mullican says, “Allowing ourselves to strategically drop the plastic balls gives us the space we need to truly invest in what is glass.” 

As a teacher this might look like certain aspects of your job. Here are a few potential plastic balls I brainstormed.

• Volunteering to plan a field trip
• Taking on an extracurricular
• Hosting students in your classroom during lunch
• Having a Pinterest classroom
• Updating your bulletin boards
• Grading everything your students complete

Life is a constant juggling act. You have to choose what to juggle and what to drop.

How to Set a Teacher Boundary

Now that we have thought about the different roles and responsibilities we have, we need to actually set a boundary that will help us in this juggling act.

First, identify what the boundary is. Here are some examples that I brainstormed as it relates to teaching:

• I will leave at ______ time each day.
• I will not bring work home on the weekends.
• I will only work between 2-4pm on Sundays.
• I will only grade _____ assignments each week.
• I will go to bed by _____.

Make your boundary meaningful by stating the WHY behind the boundary.  For example, “I will leave by 4:00pm so that when I pick up my kids I will have time to spend with them before bed.”

Next, we want to actually share this boundary with a friend, family member, or colleague. Maybe you can loop your colleague in on your boundary, and you can both work on it together.

Technology Boundaries

Lastly, we need boundaries with technology. The barrage of notifications and the immediate access we have to others and that others have to us makes it feel like we never left work.

Turn off your notifications on your email when you are at home. You do not need to respond to that email. In fact, the most productive thing you could do is batch your emails and respond to them when you have time during work hours. 

Your mental health is important! It is a glass ball! What teacher boundaries are you putting in place this school year?

The post Setting Teacher Boundaries appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

It is almost summer! Can you hear the angels singing? Summers are exactly what a teacher needs to refresh their minds and to fill their tank back up. 

Here are some things you should definitely do this summer as a teacher, as well as things you should definitely not do. 

DO: Reflect and audit for next year

DON’T: Stress about next year

You survived the year that will go down in history as the most challenging time to be an educator. You likely taught remotely, at some point you likely taught students in person, you may have taught both students remotely and students in person…at the same time. You lived in the uncertainty of being sent home at a moment’s notice. 

It is 100% normal to feel anxious about next year. 

You likely have had thoughts or concerns about what next year will look like. 

Take a moment to reflect on the year preferably in the first days of summer while everything is still fresh. I like to use the framework of “keep doing, stop doing, start doing” as a form of reflection. 

• It might be … you want to keep using your LMS as a way of organizing your content.
• You want to stop hunting down missing work.
• And you want to start using The Grid Method.

You don’t have to do anything immediately, but it is good to reflect on and make a plan to fix some of the things that bothered you throughout the year, so you aren’t stressing about the impending challenges that await you in August.

DO: batch your productivity

DON’T: FEEL BAD FOR “WASTING” A DAY

If you are a teacher, you most likely have never had a doctor’s appointment during the school day. There just isn’t an easy way to make that happen. I called these types of appointments summer chores – things like doctor appointments, dentist appointments, eye appointments, car maintenance or repair, your children’s appointments, a hair appointment, and renewing a license in person. 

These are all things that must be done, but they are so time consuming to do within working school hours and it really can be challenging to take part of a day for a regular appointment. Enter: teacher summer homework.

Now, my super tip here is to actually batch these! Just like you may mark out a week on the calendar to go on vacation. Mark a week on your calendar and try to squeeze as many appointments into that week. You will want to give yourself some margin since things like these go long. You will feel so accomplished at the end of that week, and it leaves so much more time for rest. 

Now that you have batched some adult responsibilities, it is time to rest. Don’t feel like you are wasting your time if you want to read a book in one sitting (I almost did that with The Invisible Life of Addie Larue — so good!) or binge watch The Crown.

I think as teachers we are used to making the most of every single minute in the classroom. This is a good thing, but it is also good to give yourself the freedom to rest.

Do: Think through some of your lessons

Don’t: Spend the entire summer focused on your classroom decor

I have spent hundreds of hours decorating my classroom – shopping the Target dollar spot or scrolling Pinterest and Instagram for ideas.  I want the space that I spend a majority of my day in to feel inviting, organized, and visually appealing. If you aren’t careful, you can head back to school with your classroom decor ready to go and have not thought through anything else. 

One summer, I revised my unit on rational numbers. It was a tough unit for my students, it was at the beginning of the year, and I knew that my future self would be grateful that I was able to leisurely rework that unit. It paid off! It made August and September feel less stressful, and I was able to get ahead of my lessons. Teachers getting ahead of their lessons in the summer is a very ambitious goal, but it can make a huge different during the school year.

Do: schedule time to treat yourself!

Do you love going to lunch with a group of friends? Do you find getting a pedicure a great treat? Maybe you want to take time to visit some family you haven’t seen in a while.

Be sure to treat yourself to something that you enjoy! Make this the best teacher summer yet!

How are you spending your summer?

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This post is sponsored by Post-it® Brand. All opinions and ideas are my own.

Math Specific 

1. Real number system diagram

Whenever I taught the real number system, I struggled with a way to make it hands-on. Using Post-it® Notes would have been a perfect solution! After defining a whole number, integer, rational number, and irrational number, students practice placing the types of numbers in the appropriate spot on the diagram. This would make a perfect ‘living’ anchor chart that could continue being added to as students encounter more types of numbers.

2. Combining like terms

Students really struggle with this concept, and I think Post-it® Notes can help make this process more organized. When introducing students to combining like terms, teach students to write down each term and its preceding sign onto a different Post-it® Note. Students can rearrange and group like terms together. Instant activity with hardly any prep!

3. Substitution

Post-it® Notes can provide a clear visual for what is happening when a value is being substituted (or an equation is being checked) in an expression. Using a Post-it® Note, cover the variable in the original expression with the substituted value and have students calculate.

4. Order of operations

This idea could serve as a brain teaser or extension idea for your early finishers. Post a few complex “order of operation” problems and use Post-it® Notes to serve as an answer bank where the answer choices will only be used one time. I like that students can interact with the problem. In my example, I used a red Post-it® Note to signal that those are numbers that shouldn’t move.

5. Ordering numbers

This idea is as simple as it sounds. You or your students write down a variety of rational numbers on Post-it® Notes (you could even color coordinate the types of numbers – green for whole numbers, pink for integers, yellow for rational numbers) and students place them on a number line. 

6. Dot Plots

Dot plots are perfect for Post-it® Notes. Provide each student with a Post-it® Note that will act as a dot, and ask a statistical question like, “What size shoes are worn in Mrs. Brack’s 5th period class?” My Data and Statistic units were always more successful if I incorporated students’ specific data into my examples. Students come up and place their Post-it® Note dot in the appropriate spot. They help keep the size of the ‘dots’ consistent, so that students can have an accurate picture of data that skews right or left or is symmetrical. And they are sticky enough to be reused by the next class period which is a total win.

7. Graphing points

Write down different parts of the graph (y-axis, origin, quadrant IV, etc) and a variety of coordinate points on individual Post-it® Notes and distribute them to students. Project a coordinate plane and have students take turns placing the parts of the graph and points in their respective location.

General Classroom

8. Thankfulness Campaign

This was a schoolwide initiative that brought so much joy to our school but could also be done in an individual classroom. During homeroom, students wrote down one thing they felt thankful for on an individual Post-it® Note. They were collected over the course of several weeks, and eventually went on to create a Post-it® Notes mural in one of the main hallways. 

9. Summarizing a daily lesson

Post-it® Notes provide the perfect amount of space to force students to synthesize their learning from that day into a bite-sized chunk. As teachers, we might equate copious notes as higher-level learning when, in actuality, the opposite can be true.

10. Bookmark for interactive notebook

A Post-it® Note is a perfect bookmark for interactive notebooks. They can be repositioned daily, and the variety of colors can indicate important sections of the notebook – vocabulary, previous units, etc.

11. Visual indicator a student needs help

If you have a student who will not ask questions during a lesson (but frequently has questions), a Post-it® Note could provide a perfect solution. Provide a few and come up with a system that makes sense for you and your classroom. For me, the student would write her question down, hand it to an assigned buddy, and that buddy would ask the question for her. We came up with that system one-on-one when we brainstormed ways for her to take more ownership in her learning and for me to better clarify misunderstandings in the moment. 

12. Daily must-do list

I would be remiss to not include the power of a Post-it® Note when it comes to writing down my must-dos each day. This list helps me quell that overwhelmed feeling when I look at a VERY long list of to-dos. I take the 3-5 most important and urgent action items and put them on my must-do list. The day instantly feels more manageable!

This list just scratches the surface of all the ways Post-it® Notes can be used in a math classroom setting. How do you use Post-it® Notes in your classroom?

The post USING POST-IT® NOTES IN MATH appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

When I was a student, I was highly motivated by grades, so when I first stepped into the role as teacher, I was shocked when one of my students threw away a graded assignment that I had just handed back. He didn’t look it over or ask me any questions; he just put it in the trash can. I had expected him to care that he had just failed. Lesson # 643 that I learned that first year: grades do not motivate all students.

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Let’s talk about the difference between feedback and grading, and why you should be giving more feedback. Grading is the act of taking something and holding it to a scale or rubric. Feedback is evaluative or corrective information about an action, event, or process to the original or controlling source. 

Grading an assignment tells a student which problems were done incorrectly. Feedback explains why problems were done incorrectly.

When I say that at first, it sounds like feedback is a lot more work! And I think it can be if you are trying to correct every little thing…so let’s see if we can dispel this idea and construct a plan to give more feedback and grade less. 

What to Grade

If you love managing papers and tracking down missing assignments, then grading everything is for you. With all of the internet tools available to students, you may be looking at assignments that lack academic honesty.

Generally speaking, grade the most valuable work. Here are some guidelines:

1. You do want to make sure you are following your school’s guidelines. Some schools have consistent values, weights or requirements like two test grades per grading period. That is something out of your control and boundaries that you should work within.
2. What formative assessment… like a quick check, mini quiz, or exit ticket…can you grade for mastery on a specific concept? I like these types of assignments because they are typically short and can be both graded and returned to students quickly, plus they reflect a demonstration of mastery.
3. Can you consolidate grades? I know some schools have a grading system that accounts for classwork or homework. Can you consolidate those grades from several per week to one per week? I used a homework agenda that allowed me to not only consolidate my grading but also the time I spent inputting grades into a grade book.

How to Give More Feedback

Feedback can be a variety of different things from a quick conversation, to writing notes on a paper, to pulling a small group. What is important about feedback is that it is specific. I implemented a Criteria for Success. I outlined 3 expectations I had when students worked on a specific skill. It was a way of catching a mistake before students arrived at their final answer. For example, if students were working on finding the area of various quadrilaterals, my CFS might be:

1. Identify and write down the formula needed 
2. Label parts of the shape with given values
3. Solve using substitution

I could take laps around the classroom quickly, telling students that I was just checking for CFS #1. Another lap could be dedicated to CFS #2. My goal was to catch the misunderstanding before students arrived at their final answer.

A few other ways to give feedback:

• Whole group error analysis – project a commonly made mistake and have students discuss
• Use a video to repurpose your feedback! One of our MTM teachers, Marissa, teaches a hybrid model shared with me this summer that she used Flipgrid to make short videos of herself solving the problem. Then she just cuts and copies the link as feedback to the students — talk about working smarter not harder and sooooo much easier than trying to type a comment.

Missing Work Woes

Do you have more missing assignments than graded assignments in your grade book? Here are some questions to consider:

• Evaluate how many assignments you are trying to grade and keep track of. Can you reduce that number? 
• What is a reasonable amount of work for students to do and for you to grade? 

Here are a few ideas

• Everything due on the same day of the week. Those who have completed their work get to do something fun. Those with missing assignments must finish them before they get to participate.
• Utilize things that auto grade with Google Forms or a software like GoFormative.
• Consider a replacement grade? One thing that I hated was finding missing papers or assignments for students towards the end of the grading period. If you have a replacement activity then it will save you trying to locate the specific page they are missing. I would do this with the test review. Test reviews would replace any missing assignments which highly motivated students to get it done and done well!
• Consider dropping the lowest grade of the grading period that gives students some grace and is beneficial to all students who did the work on time. 

These are all simple solutions to the missing work woes that you might be facing.

If you are an All Access member, then Unit Test and Unit Quizzes have a Google Forms version to make grading quick!

Learn more all about All Access here.

The post How to Grade Less Student Work appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

Lesson planning is like cleaning the kitchen. You are never done. As teachers, we are both proactive and reactive in planning lessons. We plan ahead, then execute, then go back to our plans to edit when students are not mastering concepts. We. are. always. lesson. planning. It might sound like a complaint, but it is just a reality of instruction – you must always have a plan. A plan for your lesson, a plan for your students, a plan for your planning period! 

The purpose of this post is to give you my four step planning process. Ideally, when you plan… you are making a plan for many lessons at once. You are not planning a lesson from top to bottom and then starting over again to start on lesson 2, but I am getting ahead of myself.

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Why should you lesson plan?

First, a horror story to teach us a lesson, ha! I was in my third year teaching, but it was my first year teaching 6th grade math. The 6th grade teacher I replaced was considered a legend. I received a flash drive with all of her lessons and materials that my A.P. instructed me to use. I thought I was set. I treated the materials as print-and-go. My district provided a summative assessment that we were required to use at the end of the unit. Fast forward to the week of the test. I am making copies of the test when I realize there were many skills I had not taught! After some digging, I realized that the 6th grade standards had been updated. I was teaching students the old, outdated standards! 

So let’s talk about what I should have done and what I changed moving forward.

Step 1: Backwards Plan AKA Understanding by Design

Lesson planning starts with the standards. Do you ever read a standard and go, “huh?” Standards are a helpful guide, but they can be vague and unclear. To better understand the standards, I like to look at examples of how these standards are tested.  This helps me see what is required by a student to show mastery of a concept AND it helps me see the rigor in which the standard is tested. If you teach in Texas, I highly recommend Lead4ward and Achieve the Core for teachers in other states.

6.7(A) generate equivalent numerical expressions using order of operations, including whole number exponents, and prime factorization

This standard says that I need students to create equivalent expressions using order of operations, right? But it doesn’t indicate just how complex these problems are. When I look at past STAAR tests, I see that the problems include all rational numbers, so I need to make sure that I teach this with negative numbers, with fractions, and with decimals. 

I look at the test questions and ask myself, “What does a student need to be able to do to solve this problem?” I make a list and then start on step 2.

Step 2: 30,000 Foot View AKA The Unit Plan

Either create a calendar in Google Sheets or print a calendar with space to write. It helps to use a calendar of the grading period, so your major assignments can fall in line when your grades are due. Also, reference any scope and sequence that has been provided to you or do some research to see a natural progression of skills. Don’t expect to teach an entire standard in one day.

Don’t forget to include the following in your unit plan:

• A flex day — there will be kids out, there will be a field trip, or an alternative schedule, or a pep rally, so the flex day keeps me on track and I don’t have to rework everything when a change happens.
• At least 1 reteach day – they are inevitable, so you might as well plan for one.
• Your grading requirements — whatever your school requirements are, keep them in mind. If you are supposed to have two tests, then make sure they are on the calendar. While you are at it, make sure there is not an assessment in the last week of grading. It will literally save you so many hours of scurrying around trying to get absent students to take an assessment. Last thing, if you test students on a Friday, you will have more missing tests due to absences to manage.

Step 3: Start with a Reliable Curriculum AKA Maneuvering the Middle

If you are the type of teacher who likes to write problems and plan lessons from scratch, that is incredible! I was not that type of teacher. Teaching was already SO all-consuming that I could not imagine adding the role of curriculum writer to my workload. That is why I encourage you to find a reliable resource to use.  Obviously, I recommend Maneuvering the Middle curriculum because it is standards-aligned, student-friendly, and constantly being updated. I used the resource daily, and while I did need to make tweaks to benefit my students, most of the prep work was off my shoulders which allowed me to use my energy differentiating, pulling small groups, scaffolding, and giving feedback.

Or maybe your district has something for you…great! Try to make tweaks and changes without starting from scratch.

Step 4: Batch AKA Be Efficient

Once you start batching, you never go back! Instead of planning everything required for Monday – warm up, hook, questions for your lesson, an activity, answer key, putting it on your LMS or make copies – only to repeat the cycle for Tuesday, batch! While you are looking for, or writing Monday’s warm up, go ahead and plan the whole week’s warm ups.  While you are already online finding an activity for Monday’s lesson, go ahead and find the activities for Wednesday’s and Friday’s lessons too. Remember batching saves us time because our brains aren’t having to change what it is doing over and over again. And let us celebrate that we can reuse problems over and over again! Don’t expect for an entire unit to be planned in 20 minutes, but expect batching to make you more efficient with your time.

Lesson planning can be easier. Not easy, but easier. What do you do when you lesson plan? 

The post 4 Things I Always Do When Lesson Planning appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

Teacher productivity is a topic I could talk at length about. I love optimizing my time, building routines, and checking off a to-do list item. Check out some of these methods that will save your time and your sanity.

LISTEN ON: APPLE PODCAST  |  SPOTIFY

1. GO SLOW NOW TO GO FAST LATER

Teachers live in a very cyclical world. Most of the things that we do on a daily basis are repeated over and over again –  daily attendance, planning a lesson, grading an assignment, creating a Google Form, giving feedback to a student, setting up a Google Classroom assignment. Since you will be doing so many repeated things, optimize! 

For example, I took the time this year to organize and set up my Google Chrome bookmarks. My bookmarks were a mess! I often didn’t use my bookmarks because the important ones were out of sight. I had Google Drive bookmarked, but I would have to click though several folders to get where I needed to be, and sometimes I would forget where I was going. Sound familiar?

This year, I created bookmark folders that open the correct websites for the specific task I was working on.  You could have a folder for grading assignments, creating a video, creating assignments in your LMS, or the websites you need to open when you first sit down to work.

So for example, let’s say that the task is “inputting grades,” you need to have your LMS open, your school grade book software, your EdPuzzle account, and Khan Academy. By using the Google Chrome bookmark folder, you can very quickly select the folder you created called “inputting grades,” right click, and select open all. In just a few clicks each website that you need open is there ready to go!  You can see how to create a bookmark, create a bookmark folder, and how to open them all in the video below.

While we are talking about websites, I would be remiss to not talk about Lastpass. Lastpass acts like a digital vault and saves all of your passwords so that you can set up secure passwords, but you don’t have to remember them all! I cannot tell you how many times I had to click that terrible “forgot password” button and go through the process of getting a new password when I came to a website that I didn’t access regularly. Not to mention, I would usually need to create another new password that I would definitely forget again next time!

Once I set up Lastpass, it is so easy to use. Each time I visit a new website where I need a login, it helps generate a legitimate secure password and then saves the information. I just have to remember one secure password to log in to my Lastpass account. Super easy!

2. Batch Your Work

Batching is grouping similar tasks that require similar thinking in order to streamline completion. 

Our brains work much harder when we are constantly switching between different tasks! If you sit down for your planning period to grade, input grades, plan the next day’s lesson, and make copies, then your brain switched gears 4 times. 

Here are things you can batch:

• Choosing your bell ringer – do this for the entire week
• Recording all of your videos in one sitting – think about what you would need completed before recording all of your videos
• Grading on the same day and in the same sitting 
• Batch your copies, lamination, and cutting – or find a parent to help!

3. Plan Your Week & Work Your Plan

When I was teaching, my weeks looked very similar and I had a really nice rhythm in place! I would grade on a specific day, I would plan my lessons on another day, and I would stay late on Thursday afternoons to make sure that I was ready for the next week ahead. I was even strategic about the activities I planned for Friday’s lesson, so that I was able to leave ready for the following week.

It’s important to not only have a to-do list, but have a plan for when those to-dos will get accomplished. That way, at the end of a long Monday, you don’t spend another 15 minutes thinking about what you need to do. You are able to take a look at your plan and work the plan!

Our Google Hub is the tool that you need! It is a weekly plan that we designed for your students, but in reality it can totally work for you, too! You can use it to create a plan for yourself and then you can upload it to your Google Drive so that you have your plan wherever you are.  Next week, we will chat about how you can use the Google Hub with your students.

What teacher productivity methods do you live by? What can you put into place this week to help you have a more productive week?

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Rookie Mistake: Grading ALL STUDENT WORK

What is wrong with grading everything?

The problem with grading everything is twofold. On one hand, it is tedious and time consuming to grade 150+ papers/day, but let’s not forget that even after you grade the assignments, the real work is just beginning.

• You have to manage the files or papers for students who need a redo or who were absent
• You have to return the assignment to students quickly enough that the assignment is still relevant
• You have to enter them in the grade book.
• Let’s not forget grading all of the make-up/redo work and putting those loose assignments into the grade book.

It feels like cleaning the kitchen – it is never finished! On the second hand, grading everything does not further motivate students who would already lack motivation to do the work. Students who are highly motivated are going to complete their assignments regardless of whether or not the assignments are graded. While grades are meant to hold students accountable for completing their work, for some students, it creates numerous “incompletes” that are overwhelming for both student and teacher. 

Grades = Most Valued Work

My first year teaching, a veteran teacher told me – only grade what is important to you. That seemed like great advice, but I didn’t know what was considered important. I was just trying to survive each day. I took cues from other teachers — Ms. Horton was grading students’ interactive notebooks, so maybe I should too?  Ms. Mattingly didn’t grade homework, so maybe I shouldn’t either? My assistant principal made the decision for me. Grade what is standards-based for accuracy. Graded work is demonstrating their proficiency with what they have already learned. Students should not be graded for something that they are still learning. I took one grade a week on a short quiz that covered the week’s material. Then I would typically take another grade on a spiraled standard that students would complete during the bell ringer. Sometimes I took a grade on a test or a performance task. You can find more alternate assessments here and a link to some free performance tasks for middle school here. 

Giving Feedback on Practice Work or Homework

I think the most valuable feedback is the kind that is immediate. After students complete an assignment (or even if it isn’t completely finished), here are some ways they can get feedback on the work they did without you having to collect and grade it.

• Ask students to share answers as a class.
• Project the answer key on the board for students to check their own or a teammate’s assignment. Give students the time to ask questions.
• Have students write their answers on white boards and raise them up – check for any common misconceptions.
• Use a platform like GoFormative that will give students feedback after they enter each answer.
• Check answers as you play any of these activities found in this post: How to Turn Any Worksheet into an Activity (with almost no prep).
• Check answers as you circulate. Make a note on your clipboard/mobile device if you would like to enter it in your grade book.
• Teach students how to use a student accessible answer key as they work on problems (these can be at table groups or on a wall). Mine were inside manilla folders.
• For homework, students can check their homework as part of their warm-up.

If you are an All Access member, then Unit Test and Unit Quizzes have a Google Forms version to make grading quick!

Learn more all about All Access here.

Exit Tickets

Exit tickets were a requirement at my school, so I implemented them every day. I didn’t take them for a grade, but I gave them a quick look during the passing period or had students check their own before dismissal. This helped me inform my content delivery for my next classes and gave me valuable data on which students were completely lost.  You can read more about how I use exit tickets here.  I am so curious… What assignments do you grade? How many grades do you take per week? Is there anything else you would add? You can see our other rookie mistakes here:  Rookie Mistakes: Talking over Students 

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Are Digital Interactive Notebooks Right for You?

Digital INTERACTIVE notebooks might be right for you if…

1. You would have done an interactive notebook in class anyway

Interactive Notebooks are wonderful for teaching students how to utilize classroom content in a systematic and useful way. Digital interactive notebooks are even better because they are under the control of the teacher. No loose papers. NO GLUE STICKS! If you love interactive notebooks, I think you will love digital interactive notebooks even more.

2. You Hold Students Accountable for their Organization

I am all about keeping students accountable for their actions and their work ethic, but I could only control so many things. Managing students’ notes and doing binder/notebook checks was something I tried, but quickly learned was not within my capacity.  Maybe it would be easier to do digitally, but I would prefer to spend my time in small groups (now office hours for invited students) or giving feedback. To be clear, I do love a beautifully organized notebook as much as the next teacher — I’m not a monster.

3. You want students to easily reference material digitally 

If you know that students will not be printing anything during remote learning, I can see why digital interactive notebooks are enticing. Everything is accessible in one spot! Students will be able to study the correct material for an assessment with little direction from you. You can also make them accessible to parents who can support that studying effort.

Digital interactive notebooks might not be for you if …

1. You already have a plan or system in place for students to reference materials

Many teachers were already using a flipped classroom model or assigning work through technology in a variety of ways before the pandemic even started. Maybe your students can take notes on their own notebook paper at home and submit their work using EdPuzzle or GoFormative.  Perhaps, you liked your system in the spring just fine. “Doubling up” on systems used for students to access or organize their work might cause confusion. You do not have to do something because other teachers are doing it!

2. You aren’t a teacher who plans several weeks in advance

From what I have researched, creating a digital interactive notebook requires A LOT of work before students even see it. If you share it with your students via Google Classroom or your LMS, making any changes to your master will not change the students’ copies. Not a huge deal, but it does mean you can’t make any edits after students have their own copies. Fortunately, there is a Google extension called Slip in Slide that can add slides to the end of a student copy. You can watch a video on how to do that here. Consider that you might need to correct an error on an existing page, add something to an existing page, or delete a page, you will not be able to do that. (As of now – please comment below if this gets updated!)

3. You feel overwhelmed by all the technology and changes with the school year

If you are someone who is still trying to figure out how to post an assignment to an LMS or how to record or teach a lesson digitally, then check out some helpful videos here. You do not need to add anything else to your already full plate. You can always implement a notebook in the future.

Do you use a digital interactive notebook? Do you prefer “traditional” (ha!) online learning? If you haven’t heard, Maneuvering the Middle’s notes and homework have been turned into Google Slides to help transition to remote learning. (This does not mean it is a digital interactive notebook!) Check out our curriculum bundles here. 

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1. Hue Doc Cam

Crystal clear picture and super easy to use. One cord to plug into your computer and to charge! 

2. Wireless Doorbell

From the feedback I received in our Facebook group, wireless doorbells are not just for elementary classrooms. If call and response or attention getters feel awkward, this is an easy way to quiet a loud class. One teacher even pointed out that because she teaches from the back of the room, that the doorbell was able to replace her “teacher stare.”

3. Clicker

If you are a teacher who likes to be mobile during a lecture, then you probably love your clicker. This one is simple, well reviewed, and inexpensive. 

4. Color Changing LED Lights

These are my favorite! The string of lights comes with a clicker that changed the color of the lights. If a student had a birthday, I would let them choose a color for the day. You could even use them more strategically — assigning a voice level to each color of the light. Green = group work voices. Yellow = Whisper. Red = Silent. Technology gadgets that help with classroom management are the best.

5. Printer

The year I had a printer in my classroom was the most convenient year ever. Walking all the way down to the staff workroom to collect one piece of paper only to realize that it didn’t print would usually send me to a dark place.  (I know, I know… always bring your computer to the workroom.) Printers are usually cheap and the ink will be your big expense, but have you heard of this ink program?

6. Alexa Dot (3rd Generation)

I use my Alexa to set a timer or play music. Here is a list of other ways you can use your Alexa Dot in the classroom. 

7. Timer or Timer with Clip

Oh, timers… what would I do without you? A good timer must be wearable, magnetic, and VERY LOUD. My phone wouldn’t be loud enough during group work and setting timers on my phone was a sure way to kill its battery. 

8. Portable Battery

Maybe this is super specific to me, but one of my worst days of teaching was when I took students on a field trip with a cell phone on low battery. I must have not charged it the night before, and I didn’t notice until it was too late. After my phone died, I felt so helpless! No emergency required the use of a cell phone, but it was stressful enough for me to remember a portable battery on every field trip I have been on since. 

9. Visual Timer for Students

Back to timers for a moment. I believe that timers are useful to keep a teacher on pace, but they are even more important to keep students moving at an appropriate pace.  This timer is wonderful for your visual learners and can be seen from across the room. My teacher friend, Colleen, (see her classroom here) loves hers.

10. Laminator

If you don’t have your own personal laminator yet, this is the year! This one only jammed one time in 4 years of use, and it was super easy to fix. Don’t forget to grab some lamination sheets while you are at it.

11. Extra Sets of Headphones

Most students will use their own headphones, but teachers should always plan for students who don’t bring required supplies, right? These technology gadgets are well reviewed and colorful! 

12. Remind App

With parents possibly in the teacher role this upcoming year, an easy way to communicate is going to be vital. 

13. Fluorescent Light Covers

If you have ever had an ill-placed fluorescent overhead light, you know how hard it can make reading your board. It drove me crazy! I would have loved these. 

14. Wireless Mouse

I love my wireless mouse. This one comes in a variety of fun colors and can make using your computer for long stretches of time more comfortable. 

15. iPad or Drawing Tablet

Remote learning has made iPads and drawing tablets a necessity. 

16. Good Notes App

An app for taking notes. I use it now as my planner.

17. Stylus or Apple Pencil

This is a budget friendly stylus that was recommended by a teacher in our Facebook Group. The Apple pencil is what I use and love. 

18. Apple TV

I was a little skeptical about an Apple TV in a classroom, but then I stumbled across this article. If you and your students have 1:1 access of iPads, then having an Apple TV allows you to showcase student work and record content from multiple devices. 

19. Rechargeable Batteries

Many items in a classroom require batteries (graphing calculators come to mind) and not having spare batteries will drive you crazy. These are rechargeable and come in AA and AAA. 

20. UV Portable Light Sanitizer

This might give you peace of mind or help with the shortage of disinfectant wipes. 

What technology gadgets do you use and love? What tech tools do you plan on investing in this year? 

The post 20 Technology Gadgets for Teachers appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

We were amazed to see how many teachers adopted various technology tools to make digital learning optimal for students. Our Facebook group became a mecca for sharing ideas, feedback, and resources. Teachers truly can do anything! There isn’t a barrier a teacher won’t try to overcome on behalf of their students.

We interviewed 3 teachers asking them how they used Maneuvering the Middle resources while remote teaching, and they agreed to share their knowledge with us today. Since the future is still very unknown, we thought this toolkit could help teachers better prepare for the fall. You can click through to watch the videos of these teachers modeling what tools they used and how they used them, or you can read the highlights below.

DISTANCE LEARNING WITH MANEUVERING THE MIDDLE RESOURCES

Go Formative

Lauren Casias has a B.S. in Secondary Mathematics Education and M.Ed. in Teaching & Learning. She has taught 8th Grade Math & Algebra 1 in Texas for 5 years. She is passionate about using technology in her classroom to foster student growth, confidence, and engagement. You can find her on Instagram and Twitter at @mrscasiasmath

What is Go Formative?

Go Formative is an online tool that allows you to upload a Maneuvering the Middle PDF, add question boxes (or a variety of other tools), and monitor as students work in real time. Most features that you would use for math are available on the free version of Go Formative. The free version limits the number of PDFs you can upload. It can also be used with Google Classroom.

(Dialogue has been edited for brevity)

Noelle: What is the best thing about Go Formative?

Lauren: The instant feedback it gives the kids. There are many features that you can turn off and on. It eliminates the “did I get this right?” Students can check for themselves. It makes classroom management easier.

Noelle: Tell us how you have been using this in distance learning.

Lauren: Before distance learning, I had students work out problems on scratch paper. Obviously, you can’t do that, but Go Formative has a show your work feature. Students can type out their answers, use a mouse to write out their work, or upload a picture of their work from paper.

EdPuzzle

Whitney Phillips has been teaching for 7 years. She began her career as a special education math teacher and made the switch to general education 3 years ago. “Flipping my classroom has been the best decision I’ve made for my students. Thanks for allowing me to share with others.”

What is Edpuzzle?

Whitney: EdPuzzle is a video sharing app that I use in the classroom. EdPuzzle can tell you if students watched the video, when they watched the video, and whether they needed to rewatch a video. It is also Google Classroom friendly.

I wrote a detailed post (with video) explaining the many features of Edpuzzle here.

Noelle: Any video that you create is out there on a public library for anyone to see or make a copy of. This means that other teachers can find copyrighted Maneuvering the Middle resources or students can find videos from other teachers and get answers. Can you tell us how you solved this problem?

Whitney: I have ESL students and students with IEPs who could really benefit from closed captioning. EdPuzzle is working on closed captioning and a privacy setting, but they have not added those features yet. To make the closed captioning available and to work within the copyright, I upload my videos to Youtube, and I put the video as unlisted (so you have to have the link), and it won’t show up in the Youtube search.

Noelle: Can you tell us about your flipped classroom when you were in the classroom?

Whitney: Students received their Maneuvering the Middle guided notes to fill out as they watched the instructional video at home. When they came back to class the next day, students would complete a Google Form warm up (or entrance ticket), so I could have immediate data on who needed to be pulled for a small group or who could lead groups that day.  Then we would engage in a Maneuvering the Middle activity like scavenger hunts or He Said, She Said Error Analysis. I really like the digital activities because of the instant feedback.  Instead of spending 35 minutes giving a lesson, students could engage with one another, learn from another, and engage in meaningful dialogue.  

I also implemented a help queue as a Google Form. Students submitted what question they needed help on, and their name would populate on the board, so students could see where they were in line and when I would be able to check in with them.

The students really loved it.

Noelle: Can you talk about grading and feedback?

Whitney: The grade book will show a student’s grade after watching a video and answering questions. You can find out if the student needed to rewatch the video or if they watched the video late. It puts the power of learning in their hands and takes so much of it off of us. 

Note: All Access student videos are not compatible with Edpuzzle.

One Note

Kristi Barajas has been a middle school math teacher for 12 years. This year she is teaching 6th grade GT and Algebra. 

WHAT IS ONENOTE?

OneNote is a digital version of a physical notebook. Teachers and students can capture and organize digital notes, add images, diagrams, audio, video, and related content. 

Noelle: What do you like about OneNote and how has it been helpful to you?

Kristi: I like that I have everything here. Instead of doing lots of scrolling to see all of my assignments, I can use sub pages to stay organized. Students can access links or videos from the same page as their assignment.

Noelle: Do you find that students reference these materials because they are so organized?

Kristi: Yes. They tell me they like it!

Noelle: How did you use OneNote in the classroom before distance learning?

Kristi: I send out the file to all of the students. It gives me a status bar telling me that all of my students have received it.  I would instruct students with my iPad (traditional notes) and then students would take notes on their iPads. Next year, I plan on using Go Formative for their practice problems.

Noelle: What did you do to adjust to distance learning?

Kristi: I included an instructional video (linked at the top of the notes) and students would have to upload an image of their completed notes for me to check. One great feature is that when a student’s name is bold that shows me that a student has worked on the assignment.

Noelle: Will this all be here for next year?

Kristi: Yes! They will be able to keep everything they did on their OneNote in their iPad. 

We hope these videos and highlights will help you to either improve distance learning, implement a flipped classroom, or utilize technology to make time for small groups. How do you use Maneuvering the Middle resources remotely?

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6 IDEAS FOR Bell RingerS

Skill Drills + NUMBER SENSE FLUENCY

The length of a bell ringer caters perfectly for math fact drills.  Think multiplication facts, division facts, fraction-decimal-percent conversions, geometry formulas, and other skills that will strengthen students’ automaticity in math.  Why does it work?  Students can feel successful completing problems that they already know how to do and can do quickly.  Skill drills make it near impossible for students to sit there blankly or complain that they don’t get it.  Set a timer, tell students to try to beat that time, and watch them go to work.  I usually use skill drills every day for the first 4-6 weeks of school.  While practicing number operations is valuable, it can be even more impactful when a quick discussion of strategies takes place.  Our Number Sense Starters provide discussion questions for each slide to prompt student thinking. The goal is to facilitate a quick discussion where students are able to articulate their thinking process. 

Spiraling Content

Some of the best teachers don’t require “review days”.  Why?  Because they are reviewing every day by making it a part of their routine.  I hope to reach that status soon, but in the meantime, I use bell ringer time to practice previously taught skills.  I have found this to be most successful by working on the same content for an entire week.  Due to the repetitive nature of the same skill for 5 straight days, students at varying levels have several opportunities to relearn or practice the material.  

For example, in my 6th grade classroom, I teach order of operations, prime factorization, greatest common factor, and integer operations in our first unit.  While we are in the midst of unit two, I would spiral in at least one order of operations problem for a whole week on the warm ups.  The next week, students would solve a prime factorization problem in the same manner.  Monday and Tuesday, I might go over the skill to provide a refresh for  my struggling students.  By Wednesday, I would have a higher level student teach the class how to solve the problem.  At the end of the week, most students can practice the skill correctly and independently.  These math warm ups are easy to implement, ready to print, and aligned to CCSS or TEKS. They include a paper version for the student, a daily slide for your projector, and a standards guide.

They are also included in our All Access membership! Click the button below to learn more about joining All Access.

Logging Onto Tech

Are you amazed at how long it takes students to grab a computer, log in, and get started on an online assignment? Yes, me too! If you plan on using technology for any part of your lesson, you can make logging in their bell ringer. While it might not seem as purposeful, it still has to get done. If you don’t want a huge group at your Chromecart, I would stand at the door and only let students into class as space around the Chromecart opens up. Then I would challenge each class period to beat the previous class period’s log in time.. Students loved the challenge and their competitive nature made logging in take only a couple of minutes. Teacher win.

Previewing Material

Previewing material helps many different types of learners and there is literally no better time to preview than the very beginning of class.  Because students should be completing the warm up with little assistance, this should be the type of skills that students have practiced before, but additional steps are going to be required to complete the objective for that day.  For example, on a day when students are going to be simplifying fractions, the warm up might be listing factor pairs of a number or finding the greatest common factor of two numbers.  I have found that incorporating vocabulary can be another way to preview material through bell ringers.

HOMEWORK PROBLEMS

When I was in 8th grade, my Algebra teacher had an area on her board where students could write down problem numbers they had trouble with from the previous night’s homework. Sometimes Ms. Eckles would not go over any of the problems and jumped straight into the lesson. Other times she reviewed many, many problems. I don’t do this myself, but it did seem to work.  We were engaged because we wanted a good homework grade, and since classes were only 40 minutes, it combined the warm up and the homework check. If I could call this teacher up right now, I would ask her when she took attendance. (She was probably like me and forgot). This is how Noelle grades homework.

Error Analysis

Error analysis allows students to think critically and reflect on mistakes.  It promotes a culture that allows students to feel okay making mistakes because they are then able to learn from those mistakes.  If I see a common error on an assessment or homework, I will use a student example or recreate the error myself, and ask students to work out the problem on their own, identifying where the mistake happened.  Positive culture idea: have students correct the mistake of a celebrity.  Example: Miley Cyrus was working with Ms. Brack on adding fractions.  Did she solve this problem correctly?  If not, explain to Miley how to fix her mistake.

Editor’s Note: We have been publishing content for the Maneuvering the Middle blog for over 6 years! This post was originally published in June of 2016 and has been revamped for accuracy and relevancy. 

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GOOGLE DRIVE & GOOGLE CLASSROOM TIPS

1. Create a Daily Assignment HUB

This Google Classroom tips comes from a member of our Facebook group – create a daily assignment HUB for students to look at each day with numbered tasks to complete. If you have ever created assignments in Google Classroom, it can get a little disorganized in a student’s Google Classroom feed (see tip 4). Instead of creating 3 different assignments on one single day, create a single assignment that links to multiple activities. This won’t work for every type of assignment you might want to create, but it will work if you are linking to videos you want students to watch or Google Forms you would like for them to complete. 

I’ve included a free Google Slides template for you to copy and use, including both a weekly and daily template.  Watch the video below to learn how you can integrate our free remote learning resources, digital activities, or any of your own curriculum into this file. And if you noticed a spelling error in the video, it has been fixed!

SHOP DIGITAL ACTIVITIES BY GRADE LEVEL BUNDLE

2. Color Code + Number Code + Naming Format

This tip is specific to your teacher Google Drive. If you have used Drive, you know that it can end up looking like a mess pretty quickly. 

Take the time now to create folders, a naming convention, and color code to make it pleasing to the eye.

I like to organize my Drive according to units, and I number them so they are also grouped together. You can add emoji numbers or icons by visiting this website.  You probably already have a file naming convention, but here is what works for me. My files are titled Unit Number.Day in the Unit.Skill Name, so 04.09 Adding Integers refers to what I am teaching in my fourth unit, on day nine. This keeps files in order and reminds me what I will see when I open the file. 

3. Convert Uploads to Avoid Duplicates

Raise your hand if you like to work in Microsoft Word because of the equation editor. Both hands up over here! I could never quite get on board with using Google Docs to create assignments or notes because I had become so proficient typing equations in Microsoft Word. However, I just learned that there is an easy fix for that. Upload your Microsoft Word documents and convert them into Google Docs in one easy step…one time for all future files. 

Go to settings icon > click on Settings again > under General Tab > click box that reads “Convert uploaded files to Google Docs editor format”

If this is clicked, anytime you upload a Word document, it will automatically be uploaded ready to be edited in Google Docs or ready for Google Classroom. No more duplicates and no more being asked if you want to convert your Word document to a Google doc.

4. Organize Your Google Classroom Assignments by Using Topics

Head over to Shake Up Learning right now to learn how she recommends organizing your Google Classroom assignments. Topics allow you to create “units” inside your Google Classroom. The only downside is that the newest created topic automatically populates at the bottom of the page.  Kasey discusses 6 different ways you could organize your Google Classroom by topic in light of this downside.

5. Link Directly to Assignment on Google Classroom

Sometimes you just want to link directly to the assignment. You want a student to click and “poof” there the assignment is!  Maybe you need to post it to another platform or you just want the darn link because giving directions to find an old assignment is too cumbersome. 

Click on the ellipses next to the assignment and click on “Copy Link.” That was easy!

I know that there are some expert Google Classroom teachers out there, and this is just skimming the surface. If you have any tips, please share in the comments. How do you organize your Google Classroom and Drive?

The post Google Drive & Google Classroom Tips appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

TEACHER PLANNER PRINTABLES

Scroll down to the bottom (or click on any image) to receive your free download.

Three years ago, I shared this post about my Flexi.  We received MANY requests for the pages I used within my Flexi. And now I am here to give the planner printables to you!

Please forgive me for the delay, because I don’t know how I would have survived teaching without these organizational planner printables.  Now that I am no longer in the classroom, I still use a slightly modified version of this.

I am going to just give you a quick overview of how I use/used each worksheet. 

Weekly REVIEW

As you can see, the weekly review is:

• a snapshot of my week
• complete with a calendar
• to-do lists
• a daily task list (things that are not changing week to week)
• a parent contact section. 

I created three versions that might appeal to different styles. The top half of the weekly review is a glance of my week. The top row is dedicated to reminders for that day. If I get an email with a reminder that we have a fire drill on Thursday, then I would write it in at the top, so it doesn’t get lost amongst the other to-dos. Before school is where I might write something that has to be done before students arrive.  If you don’t have a handy dandy first period planning period, then you know what I mean – perhaps you still need to print off modified versions of a unit test, or like me, you needed to pick up attendance clipboards.  

Then, my calendar space gets more flexible.  I have a section to place any meetings or commitments that occur on specific days during specific conference/planning times.  I have a category for lunch, too, because I would always forget that I had lunch detention duty on Tuesdays. Because meetings and duties are often scheduled after school, I have a section for that,  as well.   

On Monday mornings, I look at my Outlook calendar to check to see if I have any ARD meetings or any other commitments during my planning period or after school, and then I write those in for the week.  

Are you a math teacher trying to get your time back? Learn more about how All Access can help!

Daily Tasks List

Since preparing lessons and making copies will always be items on my to-do lists, it seems bizarre to write them in each day.  And, for two years, I wrote this as a to-do every. single. day. Instead, I can now just check off when I have accomplished it.  This is where you might include grading, updating mastery trackers, or responding to emails.

ToDo List

There is no task too small to place in this section.  I write anything down that I think to do. I write down any people I need to follow up with, supplies I need to request, items I need to remember to bring home, teachers I need to observe, and students I need to whom I need to write notes.  Anything that can be accomplished during that week goes on the list. And anything that doesn’t get accomplished gets added to the next week’s list until it is done.

Parent Contact

Simply put – which student needs a positive phone call home?  What parents need to be updated concerning their students’ grades or behavior?  Since I filed all of my weekly reviews, it was an easy way to track parent contact.

Weekly Tasks (Sticky Note Method) + ANNUAL Big Picture

Do you need a place where you can just dump out your daily to-dos? Then this is Weekly Task worksheet is for you. 

If you do not want your Flexi, planner, or ARC to become really thick with 12-month calendars, then this annual big picture page is also for you.  I would record school-wide testing dates, my birthday buddy, and field trip dates. 

DON’t FORGET + Meeting Notes

As grade level chair, I meet with my grade level team every week about various cultural and logistical needs in sixth grade.  Things would always pop into my brain that I needed to bring up to my team, but always in another meeting where it would have been inappropriate for me to open up my laptop and add it to my online agenda.  This worksheet allowed me to keep those thoughts from being forgotten discreetly. Maybe you want to discuss something with your department head, but it is not worth writing an email, so on to the thought keeper it goes. 

Monthly Calendar

I don’t use this often, but maybe you will. I provided it in the freebie just in case. And I included blank pages without any of the titles, so you can edit to your heart’s content.

Get your planner printables here. Includes all pages pictured. 

How to Store + Tips

• You can always use a clipboart! However, I love the ease of using this Report Cover with Tabs.
• I would print like 20 Weekly Overviews at a time, so I could grab a new one Friday afternoon or Monday morning without another trip to the printer.

Use What Works

These planner printables are a la carte.  Pick what you like, use what you need; do not feel like you need to use them all.  What I like about these is that they are pretty flexible just like our needs.

Here is to a very organized 2020! 

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During CAMT, we met so many teachers who shared creative ways they use our activities (ways we had never thought of), and it really made us think that teachers who use the curriculum each and every day are truly the experts in how to execute the daily lessons.  Often we get asked questions, and we do our best to answer, but what’s better: one answer or several answers? 

Benefits of Online Teacher Collaboration

More Teachers = More Student Achievement

I love this quote by Lauren Davis: “The beauty of collaboration is not only the ability to tap into various perspectives and ideas, but also to share responsibility for our students’ learning. The more people invested in a student’s education, the better the chance that student has to be successful.” 

Even the largest schools are limited in the number of teachers who can collaborate together. My school consisted of one math teacher per grade level, 2-3 special education teachers, and a math assistant principal. If I wanted input on how to approach a skill or a concept specific to 6th grade, there were always people willing to help, but they were not always able to provide the expertise I needed. 

However, when a teacher posts a specific question in a Facebook group, they could receive answers from multiple teachers with varying levels of expertise and perspectives. Not only that, but unlike just Googling for ideas, asking a question in a Facebook group allows the questioner to give the context and specifics so that teachers responding can be as helpful as possible in tailoring their response to meet the questioner’s needs. 

In our Facebook group, we have many teachers who have taught for more than 20 years and a few who have taught for more than 30 years.  All of this teaching expertise in one space can impact students all over the world. Technology allows teachers from Texas to learn from and implement practices that teachers from Ohio suggest.  

A Positive Community

We have teachers who reach out to us to say that they are grateful for this online community because they don’t have any positive community at school, which is great to hear but is also a real bummer.  We wish all schools had happy teachers that worked well together (for the sake of other teachers and students), but that is not the world we live in. If you do have this at your school, that is so great!  Please share what makes your school a great place to work. But if this does not sound like your school, then you can receive encouragement in our Facebook group.  

Each week, we post our wins and cheer for other teachers’ wins!  If no one has told you that you are doing a great job at your school, we will!  

Personally, I used to get so discouraged year after year trying new things with my students only to see my students’ mastery in certain skills stay stagnant. 

I would get so discouraged wondering why my students were not following directions. 

I would think, “I’ve been doing this for seven years; why am I not better at this by now!?”

When I read the posts from teachers all over the country who were asking for help for the very same things, it would remind me that TEACHING IS HARD, and I am not giving myself enough credit.  

Share Ideas

Like I said earlier, our Facebook group has only been around for a little over a month, and in that short time, I have read SO MANY GREAT IDEAS that I would have never thought of.  Teacher collaboration at its finest. I am going to just drop some of them right here:

In response to how they teach decimal operations:

In response to how to teach Pythagorean’s Theorem:

On how to stay organized with the curriculum:

On their wins for the week:

We would love for you to join our Facebook group – Maneuvering the Middle VIPS. Remember to answer all the questions and agree to the rules so that you can get in.  What groups have helped you in your teaching experience?

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1. On Students Copying Notes Down

Julia says, “Color-code the material on your PowerPoints.  In my classroom, anything in red is written in kids’ notes, blue is for sentence stems kids should use when they speak, and purple is for anything they have to both speak and write.”  Julia teaches reading, but this is so applicable to all subjects. Students often ask, “Do we have to write this down?” Or students try to write EVERYTHING down, often keeping you from moving on.  If changing color in the moment is a bit of a hassle, then consider starring the most important points as you are writing.

2. On Morning and After-School Routines

Leah says, “Normalize your morning routine for what you need to do each morning.  Create a checklist. Same for the afternoon. What things do you need to do before you leave to ensure you are ready for tomorrow?”  You can see my after-school checklist here.  I called it my closing routine: objective on the board, copies made, desk (mostly) clear, and parents contacted. 

3. Fanny Pack or Teacher Toolbelt

Amara says, “Wear a teacher tool belt/fanny pack so there is never any need to walk all the way back to your desk.”  Yes, yes, yes! I don’t know about your teacher apparel, but too many of my dresses and skirts do not have pockets!  The fanny pack was my ultimate pocket. It is where I clip my timer, keep my cell phone and school keys, and house all of my pens/markers/highlighters.  Mine can be found here.  I wore this fanny pack every day for  five years. Want something less expensive?  Amara uses a Home Depot apron.

4. Chromebook Organization

This is by far the most beautiful Chromecart I have ever seen.  I use rainbow tape on Chromebooks, Chromebook slots, and the chargers to keep things organized, but  Sally holds students accountable by also putting students’ names in each slot.  This might seem like a huge project, but it might be the perfect job for a student teacher, a teacher’s aide, or a parent volunteer. And, it will save time and headaches in the long run.

5. Scan and Save Completed Answer Keys

This is my favorite hack from most recent years.  I spent hours each week making answer keys – the type of keys where you work out every problem without a calculator and exactly how you would want a student to do so  with no shortcuts. That way, when I circulated, I could spot errors within students’ work – not just their incorrect answer. Each year, I would complete a new key, even if the lesson did not change. Then, finally, my assistant principal made it a requirement that my answer keys had to be uploaded to our shared folder for her to review.  At first, I found this to be a huge time waster, but when a parent asked for the notes one day, I was able to just email her a PDF. Then, the next year rolled around, and I didn’t have keys to make anymore. Sure, I had some changes to make here and there, but for the most part, my uploaded completed keys saved me HOURS!

Any go-to time and sanity savers? Share in the comments. Want more teacher organization ideas? Check here and here.

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A few things to note:

• Ms. Henry has been teaching math for 15 years, so she has quite a collection of supplies!
• She brings her two dogs to work, so it’s their classroom, too.
• She is in a portable, so she has her own restroom. So much teacher jealousy!
• Her classroom is tiny, but it is mighty! She uses every square foot strategically.

CLASSROOM IDEA #1: MANAGEMENT STARTS WITH SET UP

To help with classroom management, Ms. Henry has tables set up so that students (for the most part) are facing the board and not each other, though they are still able to collaborate with their peers during group work. She has situated her document camera in the back so she can SEE the whole classroom. Remember, you do not have to be at the front of the classroom to see all of your students. Here is a view from the document camera.

Her small group table is also strategically placed. When she pulls students later for differentiation or stations, she can still see every student.

Floor Tape

She uses floor tape to keep her furniture in the correct place and to help guide students for when it is time to line up.

CLASSROOM IDEA #2: PERSONAL TOUCHES AS DECORATIONS

Ms. Henry is an all star when it comes to creativity. She can sew (she sewed her team matching fanny packs one year as a back-to-school present), and she is handy with tools. She built that pencil-holding pencil! I shouldn’t be surprised that she can also make her own classroom art. Because our advisories are named after the colleges the teachers graduated from, Ms. Henry uses university pride to decorate, as well. And the prize wheel that she uses to sort students into houses and later to give students bonus points can be found here.

Prize Wheel | Letter Board | Pencil Sharpener

CLASSROOM IDEA #3: VISIBILITY IS KEY

Ms. Henry uses a similar behavior incentive system as Miss 5th. She keeps the House points where students can see them updated daily. Her mastery trackers are also visible — empty but ready to be filled with student mastery! You can read more about mastery trackers here.

As a school, we have a standard way to set up our front boards so that students see the same information in each class. I like how Ms. Henry added some twinkle light flair to hers.

Board Signs | Lights

I spy some of our Board Signs from our Classroom Poster Pack.

Lastly, this timer is something I still cannot believe I do not have yet! You can find one here. Middle school students not only need to know how much time they have left, but also the visual of the time remaining helps support their understanding of fractions!

Timer

CLASSROOM IDEA #4: Have a place for everything

On our campus, if the work room doesn’t have it, Ms. Henry’s room does! In fact, one time I texted her asking for a very specific pink-colored card stock. Turns out, she was absent that day, but she could tell me exactly where to find it. I popped in, said hello to the substitute, and found the card stock in seconds. She uses Ikea shelves to hold all of her supplies: clear containers for items she needs to see and fabric containers for the not-so-pretty supplies.

Ikea Shelves

Ikea Shelves | Fabric Cubes (similar)

Another great teacher hack from Ms. Henry — label exactly what goes where. She knows what she is taking out to recess each day and what should return. 

CLASSROOM IDEA #5: LITTLE THINGS MATTER

As teachers, we practically live in our classrooms. So, it makes sense to have many items that you would have at home. I love that there isn’t just one broom in her classroom but two! I have had three instances of breaking glass in seven years of teaching, and it was only this year that I had a broom to save the day.

Ms. Henry also made her document camera set up super functional. She will never have to unplug something to plug something else back in thanks to her power strip. Any pen or marker that she might need is also accessible. And so are her speakers!!! They have a spot in her writing utensil caddy so she doesn’t have to detangle or frantically try to set up speakers as students watch a video with no sound. Am I the only one?

Last but not least: Ms. Henry’s dogs, Whiskey and Bella, have their own space to go rest after they have completed their math work. My school is a dog-friendly campus. As long as your canine is sweet and up-to-date with vaccinations, your dog or dogs can join you in your classroom. Does anyone else get to bring their dog to work?

 Thank you so much, Ms. Henry, for allowing us to enjoy a classroom tour and learn from all your teacher wisdom!

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We have all taken those surveys after a professional development workshop asking us to provide feedback.  Most likely, you completed that survey in Google Forms. Google Forms does not just have to be surveys. Google Forms exists for any form of data collection, which makes it a perfect tool for teachers!  Many features allow you to use it for your math classroom.  

Maneuvering the Middle has some exciting things in the works using Google Forms.  Keep reading to find out what they are and why we love Google Forms!

Google Forms 101

Pros of Google Forms in the Classroom

1. Google Forms makes grading easier.  After a student takes their assessment, they click Submit.  Google Forms grades the assignment based on your answer key.  You can choose to allow students to get their grade right after submission, or you can choose to email out their scores at a time of your choosing.
2. Different answer options can vary the types of questions you ask.  You do not have to just use multiple choice in Google Forms. 

For short answers, you can also put a variety of answers into the answer key so you do not have to manually review each submission.

3. Visuals help you see trends.  This is an upgrade. Google Forms used to give you a spreadsheet of responses.  Now you can toggle through the results of individual questions or the results of individual students.  After your students have been assessed, you can base your reteaching on your most missed questions. Or, better yet, assign students who got those questions correct to reteach the class.

Cons of Google FORMS

1. It makes showing work even more of a struggle.  Anyone else have a hard time making certain kids show their work?  Add a computer, and it gets even more difficult. You could combat this with a required scratch sheet of paper that gets turned in with your Google Form assessment.
2. Does it make cheating easier?  I’m not sure about this. The only thing to prevent a student from opening another web browser and doing some Googling to help them is vigilant monitoring.  With a regular paper-based assessment, students are somewhat limited in their cheating.  Did you see the new update that is coming in August 2019?  You will now be able to limit the windows in which a student can view during an assessment.  Check out the new features here!

Anyone have any tips on this?  Google Forms does not always have to be for assessments, so students using the vast knowledge of the internet is actually resourceful.

Getting Started

To get started using Google Forms, you will most likely want to have Google Classroom set up.  This is a great video to walk you through those details. 

While you are on your teacher dashboard in Google Classroom, you can create a Google Form from scratch to share with students, you can insert an already made Google Form using your Drive folder, or you can choose from a variety of templates. 

You will also need to download the extension Equatio.  It is a free resource for teachers, and it is a must! If you want your students to be able to use Equatio, then they do charge a fee to the school/campus. 

Since it can be difficult to type in a radical or complicated fractions, Equatio will help students (and teachers) using their predicting text feature, or students can write in the math symbols using their handwriting tool. There is even an option for students to say the answer, and the program transcribes.

And here is the best part!  All Maneuvering the Middle unit assessments are being made now digital!! 

We have taken our existing paper-based unit tests and made them DIGITAL!

• self-grading
• time-saving
• paperless
• immediate feedback

I am thrilled about this because I think it could potentially save you hours of grading and provide you with the data to better differentiate for your students.

Step-by-step written directions and a video walk-through are included. All of the heavy lifting has been done for you!

If you own the curriculum bundles, then please download the newest version to access your digital unit tests. These upgrades have been included for you. If you do not own the bundles, you can find them here!

This means that they will be available for Back to School for you to use from Unit 1 all the way until your final exam!  You may already use our end-of-year assessments in Google Forms, but now you will be covered throughout the year, as well!

SHOP DIGITAL ACTIVITY BUNDLES

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The next year, I saw a teacher who had bought those small drawers, and I was so impressed.  It looked so much neater and was far better for storage!

So, here are five ideas for teacher organization that you may or may not have considered for your classroom.

1. Tardy sign in clipboard

Some schools have tardy slips or other various passes, but those tiny papers are just asking to get lost on a teacher desk.  So, I put a nail (or Command hook) into the wall right inside the door and hung a clipboard. When a student was tardy, they simply signed the tardy sheet.  It was easy, it required nothing of me, and I had all documentation in one place.

2. Binders for unit planning

Oftentimes, I get questions about how to best organize all the different types of resources in your classroom.  Some people have a file cabinet and prefer the hanging file folders. I did try that one year and found that what actually happened was that it held a giant stack of papers to be filed.  #teacherfail

I really loved when I started using binders for unit planning.  I tried it two different ways and would say that I really enjoyed both.

•    Binder for each unit – I used dividers to keep student handouts separate from my answer keys and assessments.  I also liked including a calendar at the front of the binder, where I would make any notes about the lessons or the materials I needed to prep.
•    Binder for each grading period – My last two years in the classroom, I switched to a binder per grading period and upgraded to the 2” binder.  I liked how I could still separate out my copies and student versions, but it was super nice when looking for missing work, make-up work, or pulling anything that a student had missed.  

I think both worked great!

3. Storage cases for activities by unit

This past year, I picked up a few large storage boxes at Costco and quickly fell in love.  They stack, they can hold an 8.5”x11”, and they even stand up for storage purposes. They are just the right size to hold all of the task cards, card activities, scavenger hunts, etc. for an entire unit.  I picked up a set of six on Amazon, but I have also seen them at Michaels where you can work a coupon and sale together.

We used these at CAMT last summer to display and organize all of the various activities.  So many people stopped by to see the storage and loved how it held everything together. I am a huge fan!

4. Computer file storage

Again, you learn by experience here.  My suggestion would be to become a master of all the folders:  a specific folder for each grade level prep with various unit folders inside.  Now, the hard thing is remembering to save things that have been emailed to you or that live in your downloads folder.  But, I do think you will thank yourself the following year, when you can easily locate your materials.

I discussed the various ways to save items with Tyne, and we both discovered that we used different systems.  She created a number system for herself to keep track of the unit and the day. For example, 3.2 would be the third unit, second day.  

I tried this and hated it when I switched grade levels two years in a row, and when I came back to my numbering system, I really couldn’t remember.  Now when I create resources, I keep all of the documents in one file for each type of activity. For example, all of my student handouts for an entire unit are in one file; a cut-and-paste would be a separate file, etc.

5. Teacher reflections

Earlier I mentioned my unit binders – well, I also loved to do a simple sticky note reflection on each set of handouts, assessments, etc.  I would jot down a few notes about the lesson – whether that be something a student asked or a really great example or even if the lesson needs more time.  I slapped that sticky note on the corresponding page and then put it on the shelf. The following year, when I would go back to the unit to plan, I would pull out my unit binder and look over my notes.  It helped me to keep from making the same mistakes again and to continue to improve my craft with just a simple reflection.

Classroom organization can be time-consuming and a task that is easy to put off.  But, when your classroom is organized, you enjoy it better, you feel calmer, and-let’s be real-you spend 8+ hours a day there.  What other tips do you have for teacher organization?

P.S. Read 5 more organization tips here and here.

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Teaching Interview Tips and Best Practices

1.  DEMONSTRATE PREPAREDNESS

What does it look like?

Preparedness is an all encompassing term to describe simple yet effective best practices for an interview.

• Dress professionally – You likely don’t need a suit, but a nice pair of slacks, a dress, and/or a professional top goes a long way.
• Do your research – Dig into the data of the school you are interviewing with by looking at their school-specific initiatives.  Find out what unique programs they are offering and what goal they are trying to meet.
• Bring a sample lesson plan or student work – If you have teaching experience, then bring a lesson plan or lesson materials for something that you have planned and taught.  If you are a new teacher, then consider writing up a lesson that you would be excited to teach.  Be sure to include standards and student objectives.  Did you implement an outstanding PBL at the end of the year?  Bring a student sample to share with the committee. 
• Know your data – While data is NOT a full picture of a teachers’ effectiveness, if you have great data, then show it off!  Did your students perform well on a district benchmark?  Bring the summary sheet.

Why does it matter?

The interviewer (or committee) is looking for someone who will take initiative.  This person will see that one of their students is struggling and seek out options for assisting them, this person will look for the best lessons to convey a more difficult concept, and this person will take the initiative to be a contributing part of their team.    

2.  ANSWER THE QUESTION BEING ASKED

What does it look like?

This seems simple, but as you interview and begin telling stories, it is easy to get off topic or not fully answer the question.  If you are unclear of what is being asked, then you might consider restating the question or asking for clarification.  When answering, try to be specific to the question and provide specific examples.  

Why does it matter?

These specific and clear responses are much more helpful and memorable than something generic or theoretical.  When many candidates are being interviewed, you would be shocked as to how many say that their strength is being a perfectionist or that they want to be a teacher because they love students.  When you are specific and can provide a short example, you set yourself apart from the other candidates.  

3.  CONSIDER YOUR NON-NEGOTIABLES

What does it look like?

Before going to an interview consider the type of school you would like to work at.  What programs and values are most important to you?  What type of leadership would you like to work under?  Do your research and be prepared to ask questions so that you leave with a better understanding of the school’s values.  Look around the hallways and pay attention to what you are seeing; there are countless non-verbals that are communicated.  Do teachers look generally happy?  Do students look generally happy?  How do people talk to each other?  Are the hallways structured?  I always loved when a principal would give me a school tour because I was able to see the interactions of the staff, students, and the expectations of their teachers.  

Why does it matter?

Remember that while you are interviewing for the job, you are going to be most successful in a place that is a good fit for you.  If you are passionate about STEM, then working at a school that is focused on a different initiative might leave you frustrated.  If you are set on being a 5th grade teacher, then consider if an 8th grade position is the best fit.  There are always things that you will be able to move past, but in general know your non-negotiables.  

4.  DEMONSTRATE THAT YOU ARE TEACHABLE

What does it look like?

Being teachable is an incredible quality and can be conveyed in an interview through a few simple phrases.

• “I haven’t experienced that before, so I would be sure to ask about how the school handles situations like that…”
• “When I am uncertain, I am quick to ask for help…”
• “I really like when feedback is provided because it helps me to improve my craft of teaching…”

You might have a different opportunity to demonstrate that you are teachable, there is not a right or wrong phrase. 

Why does it matter?

A principal would much rather someone not know and ask a question, than not know and make an assumption.  Team members who are willing to learn, willing to ask for help, and willing to take feedback and make improvements are excellent members of a team and highly sought after.  Sometimes in an interview, we feel the need to have the right answer to every question, but when we are unsure, an interview committee can typically see right through it.  

What other teaching interview tips would you suggest?  If you have participated in a committee interview, then what suggestions do you have for those interviewing?  

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TIPS FOR CREATING SEATING CHARTS for middle school

In a perfect world, all students would be successful no matter where they were sitting in your classroom.  We don’t live in a perfect world or teach in perfect classrooms, so we have to be proactive in creating seating charts to set students up for success.

Why Should You Have a Seating Chart

You must have seating charts for middle school on day one.  Students need to see that you are prepared, and that you aren’t willing to waste a minute of time in your classroom.  It is much easier to give freedom gradually (like giving them a reward of seat choice) than to try to tighten things up after your class has gotten a little wild (because they can sit wherever they want).

It also helps students who are new or uncomfortable to feel more confident about walking into class and not worrying about where to sit.  I mean they already have to do this at lunch.   

My recommendation is to have students sit in alphabetical order; this way you can learn names a little faster as you take roll for the first week or so, and it requires little effort on your part.  Noelle always used a deck of cards.  She would tape a card to the various desks and then pass out matching cards at the door.  Some teachers allow students to sit wherever they want for a couple of days to see who they can or can’t be with.  These teachers clearly have a higher level of calm and patience than I do, seeing as it would likely give me a heart attack.

Creating the Seating Chart with Students in Mind

Here are the thoughts that I think about when I create a new seating chart.

1. Students with IEPs and 504s that receive preferential seating are the students that I place on my seating chart first.  I have less flexibility with where their seats can go, so it is easiest to write them down first.
2. I used to place students who struggled with behavior in the front of the classroom without much thought.  What I realized is that I am not usually standing in the front of my classroom. I am usually moving through the aisles.  Proximity wasn’t working because they were not that close to me.  For behavior needs that are attention seeking, consider what/where students are facing and how much of an audience they might have.  This also works with talkative students.  Obviously, best friends shouldn’t be at the same table or next to each other but make sure that they are also not facing each other from across the room. 
3. For academic needs that are not relating to an IEP or a 504, I like to place those students where I can see the entire classroom when I go to check on them.  This is usually in the outside aisle spaces or near the front.  
4. My students sit in tables of four.  I put higher need students on the aisles (where it is easier for me to get to them) and higher students on the inside (because I check in with them less).  I try to make sure that each high student is partnered with a student who can use additional peer support.
5. Then, I color code students based on their support need, so at a quick glance, I remember to check in with Student C, D, E, and F.

Easiest Way to Create a Seating Chart

Too many times I have been assigning new seats when I realize at the end that I forgot a student or two and have the same student in two different places.  Not anymore!  The best time to create a new seating chart is when students are taking a test.  You have to monitor anyway, and this allows you to see your students and classroom in context.  

After I finish creating the seating chart, I read the seating chart aloud and ask for students to raise their hand if I said their name twice or not at all.  Then, I can go back and make changes before I actually have students move seats, and I am not doing it on the fly. (Always use a pencil!)

I have tried other methods like crossing names off a list, but this saves me my planning period time.  One other thing that I have found helpful is to have a very mature student check the seating chart for any oversights. I confess that I don’t know that Student A and Student B just broke up, so I probably should move them away from each other to prevent any drama from entering the classroom.  

*Breaking news: According to Noelle, creating a seating chart in PowerPoint as a shape means that you can just move the students’ names around.  I still prefer paper and pencil.

I have had some serious seating chart fails over the course of time that I have been teaching, so remember that seating charts are not permanent.  At any time you can move one student or multiple students.  Do you have any tips or tricks for creating seating charts for middle school?

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The best analogy I have heard lately about work-life balance is to think of it as a pendulum.  At various points throughout your career you will be more consumed by work than life and vice versa.  The true challenge is to recognize that there is no perfect solution, but if you aren’t striving to maintain a balance it is easy to be consumed 24/7 by teaching.  

These four strategies have been helpful as I have struggled to attain a happy medium between the two.

Work life balance for teachers

1. Make the Most of Your Work Time

The bell has rung, students are dismissed, and you are exhausted whether it be the end of the day or the start of your planning period.   You putter around your classroom aimlessly or chat with your coworkers!  We have all been there.  

To combat this waste of time, have a plan for your planning period.  Sit down and make a to do list of what you need to complete before your next class.  

I assign a task for every day, so that I can maximize my time.

• Mondays – Grading (because grades are due on Tuesday)
• Tuesday – Planning for the next week
• Wednesday – Answer keys for what I planned
• Thursday – Copies for the next week
• Friday – Everything else/other deadlines

Additionally, know your most productive times and maximize what you can get accomplished.   I leave my most mindless tasks for the end of the day because my brain is fried.  I am the most fresh in the morning, so that is when I knock out my planning.

2. Make Life a Priority

If you keep bringing your work home, you will keep doing work at home.  I know that I work much slower at home.  

Grading in front of the TV?  That’s a great way to make a 30 minute grading task turn into a 3 hour grading task.  At home, you are distracted and things take 10 times longer.  

Yes, it is nicer to be in the comfort of your home, but home should be for relaxing.  Don’t leave school until you have accomplished everything you need for the next day.  If you are tempted to work at home, then leave your laptop at school.

My first year of teaching I chose to work when I was home because it gave me a sense of control in a chaotic year.  I “worked” but did not accomplish much of anything.

I was not making life outside of school a priority.  I was too busy (with school) and too tired to make any commitments to my social life or health.  It wasn’t until I joined a small group and made some friends that I began to put restraints on my time spent working.

3. Say No Thank You

This month’s Real Simple magazine’s front cover broaches this topic.    Saying no or simply not volunteering to do more work when it is presented is challenging.  We feel bad and just want to help.  Plus, there is always a need for a committee leader, team leader, field trip organizer, etc.  

Saying no is perfectly healthy because it means you have boundaries.  If you want to maintain balance in your work and your life, then you must be comfortable saying no.  You shouldn’t  say no to everything, but before you say yes, evaluate your schedule and circumstances.  

“I can’t help with _________ right now, but please ask me next time you need __________.”

I recently heard a statement that really resonated.  “No is a complete sentence”.  So, often we feel this need to justify our response.

Sometimes, “No, thank you.  I appreciate you thinking of me” is a perfectly acceptable response.

4. Understand that the balance will take time

This is my fifth year as a teacher, and the first year that I have not brought any work home.  Over time you become more comfortable with your curriculum, the processes at your school, and more confident in your classroom management, which all save you time and energy.  

According to this Washington Post article, teachers spend on average 53 hours a week working. There was a time when I would have said that 53 hours seems like a vacation!  

You will not achieve balance if you don’t even know how much time you are spent working to begin with.  Like someone who is trying to lose weight, start tracking how much time you are working daily.  Make it a goal to work a little bit less each week. 

I use timers for my students to move faster, and it has the same effect for me too.  I set my timer for any task if I want to stay focused, and it keeps me motivated to finish.  

Whether you are in your first or twentieth year, in order to have balance, you must be taking steps to in the direction of balance. To start off the new year, commit to spending a couple hours less working in each week.  You can do it!

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It’s September!  And with that, the initial shock of THERE IS SO MUCH TO DO AND THE CHILDREN ARE COMING has ended.  Since we are no longer in panic mode, it seems fitting to discuss how we are going to accomplish tasks on our to do lists in the most time saving, efficient, productive, helpful, organized, and prettiest fashion.  I have finally landed on a system that works for me, and it might work for you too.  I like to casually refer to it as my teacher planner alternative.  If my system is archaic and not up to snuff, Noelle is going to share her very cool system later this month.

You can now download printable planner pages. Click here or scroll to the bottom of the post! See this post to learn how I use them. 

TEACHER PLANNER ALTERNATIVE:  The flexi

The Flexi + Weekly Worksheet

Oh, flexi, where were you my first year teaching!?  I didn’t get introduced to the beauty of the flexi until my third year teaching.  Years 1 and 2 were spent triaging my to do lists and plate spinning all of the schedules and documents I had to keep up with.  Flexi, you solved all of those problems for a mere $10.  I was introduced to this system by Maia Heyck-Merlin who lead a professional development, The Together Teacher, at a conference I attended.  

You should check out her website for more amazing organization tips or grab her book, The Together Teacher, where you can read more about her organizational ideas!  Anyway, the flexi is a planner that you can customize, hence teacher planner alternative.  It is similar to an Arc, but the cost is substantially less.

adapted from The Together Teacher

Here is my organization breakdown :

• Front page:  Weekly worksheet
• Under 1st tab:  Monthly calendars for the school year
• Under 2nd tab:  Lists, lists, lists – paper for making lists
• Under 3rd tab:  Class lists with a breakdown of student data
• Under 4th tab:  Thought catchers for meetings and people
• Under 5th tab:  Flexible

In the training, book, and course Maia shares great examples and templates that you can edit to suit your needs, and spends a chapter on each of the sections of the flexi.  I used her structure to make a worksheet that fits my schedule, but she offers a free download here that might be a great starting point.  Update: check the bottom of the post to get a free download of teacher planner pages. It was so helpful to see her break down her organizational systems because she was a teacher and really knows what we need.  Who else can better relate to all the parent phone calls, copies, lessons, meetings, paperwork?

Weekly Worksheet.

I customize it each year because I CAN, and because my schedule and responsibilities change each year.  The top half of the worksheet is a glance of my week.  The top row is dedicated to reminders for that day.  If I get an email with a reminder that we have a Fire Drill on Thursday, I would write it in at the top, so it doesn’t get lost among the other to dos.  Below that, I have a section with reminders of items that I need to accomplish before students arrive.  These will never change, so they go into the computer version of the worksheet.  I have to check my email each morning, so there is no point in writing that in daily, but I need to check off that I did it.  If you have a homeroom or advisory where you have 90 tasks that have to be accomplished, put it in your calendar section too.  Students office folders go home Wednesday and dress code has to be checked daily, so it goes there for the year.  The weekly worksheet is great because it only focuses on the week at hand, which is a simplified alternative to a teacher planner.

adapted from The Together Teacher

Then, my calendar space gets more flexible.  I have a section to place any meetings or commitments that occur on specific days during specific conference/planning times.  I have a category for lunch too because I have lunch detention duty on Tuesdays.  Because meetings sometimes gets scheduled after school, I have a section for that too.  I don’t have bus duty every week, so it is not typed in, but I write it in once a month when I have that duty.  On Monday mornings, I look at my Outlook calendar to check to see if I have any ARD meetings or any other commitments during my planning period or after school, and then I write those in for the week.  If it is a regular occurring event, I type it it.  Anything handwritten applies only to that specific week.  

adapted from The Together Teacher

Lessons to Prep and Copies

Since preparing lessons and making copies will always be items on my to do lists, it seems bizarre to write them in each day.  And for two years, I wrote this as a todo every. single. day.  Instead, I can now just check off when I have accomplished it.

Closing Routines

These are the responsibilities that I have committed to completing before I leave school for the day.  These are tasks that make the next day much easier.  All of these tasks ensure that if I were to get stuck in traffic or arrive exactly when my students do, I would be prepared for that day.  I never leave work knowing that I still have to prepare the next morning for that day’s lesson. I say this now.  I didn’t say this year 1, 2, or 3.

Grade Level + Course Leader

I have taken on some more responsibilities this year that don’t necessarily require an action step daily, but are commitments nonetheless.  I have this on my weekly worksheet, so I don’t forget that I need to be doing them.  For example, I have a big deadline 3 weeks from now for my role as course leader.  This area allows me that I need to be making small strides toward that larger task.  I have seen people use a small section on their weekly worksheet for personal reminders too.  Remember, this can be personalized!

To Do Items

There is no task too small to place in this section.  I write anything down that I think to do.  After 3 weeks, I have yet to need more space.  I write down any people I need to follow up with, parents I need to call, supplies I need to request, items I need to remember to bring home, teachers I need to observe, students I need to write notes to.  Anything that can be accomplished during that week goes on the list.  And anything that doesn’t get accomplished gets added to the next week’s list until it is done.

Monthly Calendar

This is my second most referenced section of my flexi, so it is under the second tab. I refer to it often in meetings when a date is brought up that is further out and I need to record, but do not necessarily need to do anything else.  I record birthdays, deadlines, no school days, end of the grading period dates, and field trips here.

Lists, Lists, and ListS

This section is a mish-mash of lists.  For example, I made a list of students who still owe me homework last week.  When I was setting up my classroom, this is where I kept a list of all the items that needed to get done.  Since setting up my classroom spanned several weeks (it is still ongoing), I used this section for recording.  Sometimes, I use this space to work out a math problem.

Data

This is the section that I dedicate to students.  I keep an updated roster and seating charts here.  This has come in handy so many times.  I also keep a data sheet that I use to keep track of my students STAAR and MAP results.  (There is no pictures because there is confidential information in that section.)

Thought Catchers + Meeting Notes

I meet with my grade level every week, and my AP every other week.  If there is something that comes to mind in the off time that I need to bring up at either of these two meetings, I record them on this page.  That way I don’t get stuck saying, “there was something I wanted to talk to you about, but I can’t remember.”  This is also where I record meeting notes (though I rarely do.)  Confession:  I have only been doing this for a few weeks.  The jury is still out of its necessity for me.

adapted from The Together Teacher

Flexible Section

This section has changed depending on the time of the school year or what project I am in the middle of.  I used to keep a list of all of our state standards on hand, but then I didn’t reference it very often.  I am still trying to decide on a useful system for this tab.  Right now, I usually stick meeting agendas in this section until I can record any action steps and then I recycle the meeting agendas.  I have also put any one pagers that are helpful at the beginning of the year – staff directories, classroom assignments, student locker combos.
The flexi is awesome!  I print out a bunch of weekly worksheets at the beginning of the year, so that I don’t have to worry about running out or reprinting.  It is perfect because it isn’t big and bulky, it’s easy to slip into a bag or take to a meeting, it’s inexpensive, and a catch all.  The perfect teacher planner alternative.  What system do you use to stay on top of your to do list?  Check back later to see what Noelle uses!

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4 Tips for Effective Parent Communication

1. Prioritize Who to Contact First

I just wrapped up my first two weeks of school with no major behavioral problems!  Celebrate!  With that said, l have been able to identify the students that might need future support behaviorally.  I do not want my first contact with parents to occur when something bad has happened or after a consequence has been issued.  Therefore, I contact those students’ parents first to express how glad I am that their child is in my class.   It is my goal that my first parent contact is positive.

2. Make It Part of Your Weekly Routine

My goal is to contact 2-3 parents per week.  I simply work through my rosters alphabetically.  I identify what students’ parents I will call at the beginning of the week then I am able to watch those specific students for a week making notes of great things that they did.  There is a difference between telling a parents that their child is doing great and that their child made a 90 on their fraction-decimal-percent quiz.

3. Have Your Students Make the Call With You

I teach a predominantly Spanish speaking population. Most of the parents speak Spanish only which can make communication challenging.  My first few years of teaching, I didn’t communicate with parents at all due to this fact.  Finding a translator was difficult, so I only made calls when someone was in trouble.  It finally occurred to me that the students can help translate the positive phone calls.  I would use my small Spanish vocabulary to introduce myself and then have the student tell their parents what amazing thing that they accomplished.  This is a win because it takes finding a translator off my plate and students get to feel pride in communicating their accomplishments with their parents.

Update: The app Talking Points is a multilingual text messaging app perfect for solving this problem.

4. Be Proactive When Calling About Grades

Similar to calling about behavior, grades can also be a tension point for teachers and parents.  As a parent, it is understandably frustrating to have the first contact be that it is too late, the grading period is over, or that nothing can be done to remedy the situation.  As a teacher, you know that you have been hounding little Johnny to turn in his work, attend tutoring, retake the test, etc.  Mark your calendar about two weeks before the end of the grading period and take the time to get in touch with parents.  Let them know of their child’s situation, any upcoming deadlines, and how they can support their child.      

Effective parent communication is helpful to parents, teachers, and students.  If it feels overwhelming, start small and remember that any communication is better than none at all.  Lastly, remember that parents with kids in middle school are keeping up with 6+ teachers.  Give some grace if parents don’t call you back right away (or at all).  What are ways that you effectively communicate with parents?

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If you are like me, you have a planner or to-do list that says, “call home – _________” and it is hard to keep track of when you left a message or when you were able to speak to someone.  This post is only going to address how to keep this all organized, not necessarily when or if you should call home.  We will save that hot topic for another day.

ORGANIZING PARENT COMMUNICATION

Note:  This idea worked for me.  If you are super techy, you might prefer a spreadsheet, Google doc, or Evernote.  The same principles should apply.  Personally, I liked making notes by hand.

 1. Take the time to set up a binder before you actually have to call

I really liked having a 1.5” binder with a set of tabs for each class period.  A binder kept everything together and made my life easier when I needed to call.  It also made it easy to provide records when the time came.  No more flipping through your planner or to-do list or looking for sticky notes when you need to submit documentation.

2. Print a one-page sheet for each student

I liked to include this form at the beginning of the year when I passed out my syllabus.  I would create a simple form with the student’s information on the top.  Be sure to include their full first and last name and even student ID number, if that applies.  This will make looking them up in your school management system easier.  I would ask students to jot down any extra-curriculars as well as how they got to and from school.  You will appreciate knowing this when scheduling tutoring or making up work.  

Students took this home and had their parent/guardian complete the bottom portion.  This included their phone, email, etc.  Likely, your student management system has this information, but I liked getting it from them because sometimes the system is out of date or has seventeen wrong numbers.  Oh, just me?  

On the back of the page, I include a blank table that is ready for my notes.  

3. Info sheets are stored in parent communication binder

Simply collect the pages, hole punch them, and add them to the appropriate section based on their class period.  This is perfect when they change class periods at semester or because of electives.  Just grab their sheet and move it to the correct section.

4. Communicate and Document

Now you are set, the next time you need to make phone calls or send an email simply grab your binder.  Find the student info page, contact, and make a quick note in the table on the back.  Let’s say that the numbers are wrong or info has changed, just make a note on that page, so you can save a few minutes the next time.  

Any time you are required to submit documentation or perhaps in the event of a meeting (parent, ARD, behavior, etc) just grab the page for that particular student and make a copy.  

Before this system, I had a running list in a spiral and while it did the job, it was a huge pain to reference at a later date.  This binder makes parent communication and documentation easier and more effective.  What great ideas for you have for organizing parent communication?       

The post Organizing Parent Communication appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, David and Goliath, he conducts research from classroom teachers around the country as well as a study of a school district over several years.  The bottom line of his findings is that classes can be too small or too large. For more details, see this article.  Since I rarely hear teachers asking for more students to be added to a class,  I am going to focus on tips for managing large classes.

Tips for Managing Large Classes

1. Maintain high expectations but be reasonable

In order for a large class to function, it is important for you to maintain the same high expectations you would for a ‘normal’ sized class.  If you ask them to do something a certain way, make sure that they do. Ask them to do it again if it has not been done to your satisfaction.   It is even more critical in large classes that your expectations be met.  However, certain procedures will take longer.  It is going to take longer to check homework.  It is going to take longer for station activities.  It is going to take longer to instruct because you are answering more questions.  

Think of ways to maximize your time, so that class time isn’t wasted.  Think: passing out papers.  Maybe students collect the papers they need for the day on the way into class, or they have already been distributed to tables for the entire day.  This will free up class time.  In my experience, I have found that it is during transitions like passing out papers that students will start talking, and I have to get their attention back wasting valuable time.

During any cooperative learning activity, it will get louder.  It can feel like students aren’t learning when they are talking (because it is so easy for them to talk about the weekend or their shoes or how to make their pen explode) but as long as the conversation is on task, 32 students talking is going to sound louder than 25 students talking. Set the expectation that you should not hear anyone’s voice above anyone else’s voice.

2. Seating charts and strategic grouping

When you have a large class, the ratio of students to teacher is higher.  Managing large classes on your own is going to be a challenge.  Teach students to utilize each other.  You cannot run around to every ‘I NEED HELP’ when there are 39 students.  I suggest creating a seating chart that spreads out the highest achieving students and/or students who lean towards being helpful.  (Sidenote: you will likely have to teach students how to be helpful.  Helpful does not mean to just give someone the answer.)  In addition, when you have seated them according to a seating chart on day 1, you will learn their names faster.

It is also important to implement a system that students have to ask three students and/or refer to their notes before asking the teacher how to do it.  I have heard this referred to as ‘three before me.’  While this may make you a bit nervous, remember that students comprehend the material, and are able to apply it at a deeper level when they can teach another.  Plus, sometimes a student needs to hear it in a different way before it sticks.  

3. Give Clear Directions and Check for Understanding

More students means more students who may not be listening to your VERY IMPORTANT directions.  Make sure directions are visible and after giving directions ask students to repeat the directions back to the class.  I would pick the student who you know will ask ‘what are we doing?’ approximately 6 seconds after you release them to work on their own.  

Converting teacher directions to student directions is just what they need.

4. Up your organization game

Because everything takes more time, you will need to be more organized or say goodbye to your Saturday mornings.  Utilize student graders.  Have a plan when it comes to what you are grading and what can get recycled.  Absent students should know what to do.  In fact, give that job to a student.  If anyone is absent, that student is responsible for collecting all the material for them.  If you have a large class, most likely you have more students willing to help.  

Has anyone gotten their rosters for this year yet?  My largest class is 29.  I’m also curious– what has been your largest class?  Any additional tips to add?

The post Tips for Managing Large Classes appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

This year I started completely fresh.  My school repaints the walls and waxes the floor during the summer, so I have to pack everything up before I leave for the summer.  This always feels like a pain, but it gives me the freedom to start completely over each year.  And for me, I love that.  Decorating my classroom is my favorite thing to do at the start of the year.  Ask any teacher in my school– I am all over middle school classroom decorations. I love them so much I made my own. You can get them here and check out all of the details of our new Middle School Math Word Wall.

Update 7/28/2023: Maneuvering the Middle now has a Middle School Math + Algebra 1 Word Wall.

As you can see in the video below, our Word Wall includes 190 essential math terms, their clear-cut definitions, and their visual representations.

We’ve included Spanish translations for all terms and definitions, ensuring a supportive and accessible learning experience for English Language Learners.

They were designed to be minimal prep and flexible to customize the formatting to suit your students’ unique needs.

Here is what my classroom looked like when we started.  Heaping piles of boxes and furniture? Check.  Sad and in need of color? Check.  Wonderful sister who drove 3 hours with a car full of items she bought for my classroom?  Check.

Here is the floor plan of my classroom.  Room observations: my room is tiny.  It is smaller than the other classrooms by 5 feet width wise.  However, I have large windows that look out to trees and a large field.  I have had classrooms with no windows before, so I will take all the vitamin D that I can get.  I have lots of white space that can be stapled right into.  I have also had classrooms with concrete walls, and there was nothing I could do to keep things on the wall, so I love that all I have to do in this classroom is use a stapler.

Before I start decorating, I make a plan for the space.  Where is my small group area going to be?  How are students going to enter and exit?  Where are they going to pick up handouts?  Where are students facing a majority of class?  I use those questions to guide where I might place my anchor charts, word wall, and other pertinent information.  You can see more tips on decorating your classroom here.  Then, I add it to my floor plan.

Let’s see the afters, shall we??!

It is my best classroom yet!  Alright, let me walk you around. Form follows function in my room, so although it is pretty, I spent all last year making mental lists about what would fit best and where things should go.  I am eager to see how well routines function in my new class set up.

The wall trays are a change in my room from last year.  I have used trays in the past, and they require a horizontal surface to live on. That was too much space wasted in my tiny room, so now work gets turned into the wall folders.  I have one for each class period (my classes are named after the colleges that the teaching staff attended).  This area also houses no name papers and extra homework copies.  If a student loses their homework, they do not need to ask me for an additional copy because they can help themselves.  Winning.

The RESPECT posters are an idea that my grade level chair suggested that we post.  It positively states all the behavioral expectations I have for students, so up on the wall it goes.

Growth mindset is all the rage right now, which it very well should be.  There is no subject students struggle with a fixed mindset more than in math.  Mathematical Mindsets was a summer read that had lots of research on the power of a growth mindset.  I wrote about it more in detail here.  This poster set will stay up all year!  Below, Ikea shelving holds math manipulates, teacher supplies that I don’t regularly need, and students supplies. Update: I wrote an entire post on classroom supplies from Ikea.

This is the most colorful area of the room.  I love my objective board area set up.  The homework section is high enough for every student can see it.  I have plenty of space to write one or two objectives. And my opening routine section is on point. Everything should be printed on neon card stock.  Amiright?!  Also, let us not forget about my sentence stem speech bubbles.

Here is my small group space.  It is situated right in the center of class.  At this point, you should know that I love Ikea. These stools are from Ikea and are around $5 a chair. (Update: my coworkers uses these from Amazon.) I use an Ikea cart that is on casters to wheel around me.  I have reference charts and multiplication charts in page protectors and hooked onto the cart using binder clips and rings.  The cart also holds whiteboards, markers, and erasers.  Whiteboards keep small group students engaged.  Fraction strips and tiles are on the bottom shelf.

This area of the room is where I teach my introduction to new material.  I use this whiteboard space that is taped off with washi tape to record points for each class or any missing work.  My vertical number line is from Math=Love.  Also, this eraser is a game changer.  The hand signals can be found here and is one of the routines and procedures that is a must teach for middle school.

My teacher desk area is a work in progress.  I like being able to look out the window while I work during my planning period, but it feels too available for students.  We will have to see how it goes.  You can see that my desk doesn’t have any storage, so I rely on the Ikea shelf and plastic drawers to house many things.  I think open storage keeps you more organized and clutter free, so I am a fan.  Also, loving my light box from Michaels.  You can find a similar one here.

The pockets are holding pictures that I printed out.  I grabbed the pockets at the Target dollar section too.  It is also what I used to label my supply bins.  They are amazing.  I can switch out the pictures really easily too.  I have also chosen some of my most memorable student art to hang here.  Also, the black and white picture of me teaching was a Teacher Appreciation present that my principle gave to all the teachers last year.  She hired a professional photographer to take pictures of us in action.  And the clipboard holds my rosters, but I prefer to hang it cute side face up.

Hello, word wall!  I put up new words as we learn them, and I place them under the appropriate category.  By the end of the year, this wall is completely covered.

My bulletin boards are painted navy.  They appear black in the photos.  The borders are from the Target dollar section.  I stocked up, so that I can replace them if they wear out over the course of the following years.  That is how much I love them!  I plan on posting relevant anchor charts based on our current unit on the blank center board.  My mastery trackers will go on the third board.  Our campus tracks student mastery of each state standard.  It is hard to not fill up all the bulletin board space right now, but I need space to allow my classroom to grow.  Remember, your classroom does not have to be ‘done.’ Mathematical Practice Posters are from Everybody Loves a Genius and can be downloaded here.

This board satisfies many requirements made by my school.  I must have posted grades, enduring understandings, and essential questions.  For my essential questions/enduring understandings, I write them all out for the year, separate them by unit, and stuff them all into the page protector.  Another example of batch processing saving time and energy. You can read about my Pay Day tracker here.

This area is for my advisory.  I track weekly behavior on the pay day poster and the yellow chart is where I list classroom jobs.  The Team > Individual Posters help my students verbalize which sign means ‘less than’ or ‘greater than;’ I love when classroom culture collides with math!

For those of you wondering about student work, I like to display it on the bulletin boards outside my classroom for all to see.  Alas, we have made it all around the room.  Here is my door.  The file on the door is where students pick up handouts for the day on the way into class.  If this was MTV’s Cribs, I would escort you out and wave to you as I shut the door.

See, a middle school classroom can be bright and fun!  Who is excited to get started?  Who has already started?  Who has stock piles of goodies from Target in their car?

The post Middle School Classroom Tour appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

BUDGET FRIENDLY CLASSROOM DECORATIONS

Update 7/28/2026: Maneuvering the Middle now has a Middle School Math + Algebra 1 Word Wall.

As you can see in the video below, our Word Wall includes 190 essential math terms, their clear-cut definitions, and their visual representations.

We’ve included Spanish translations for all terms and definitions, ensuring a supportive and accessible learning experience for English Language Learners.

They were designed to be minimal prep and flexible to customize the formatting to suit your students’ unique needs.

I used to think a beautiful classroom could only be accomplished with several trips to Teacher Heaven and handing over some serious cash, but over time I have learned that the best classrooms can be accomplished by just a few things.  Links below are to Amazon, which comes to my house all too often, because let’s be real – who doesn’t love free two-day shipping?

Colored Card stock is All You Need

Great news!  If you have access to a printer and colored card stock, you can do ANYTHING.  There are so many resources that you just need to print, laminate (or put in page protectors), and staple to your wall.  For example, these I CAN statements require only a trip to the copy room, and don’t forget this resource for the little things that need a label. The best part of using colored card stock is that streamlines storage.  If everything is the standard letter size, that means everything can fit into a page protector, and then can be stored in a binder during its off season.

I also love that you can buy the variety packs or choose a handful of specific colors that creates a color story for your classroom.  My favorite is this bright variety pack.

Make Your Own Letters

While these little letters are super cute, you can accomplish the exact thing with colored paper and a computer using the specific letters you need.  I purchased these letter packs in years prior, and melted down halfway through realizing that I had run out of all the Es.  Download a favorite font from dafont.com or fontsquirrel.com, (my personal favorite is this one) and use Power Point to format the desired text you need.  If you are feeling extra creative, cut out letters, use washi tape for added color, and laminate them.

Poster BOARD Instead of Chart Paper

I learned this genius trick from my sister!  Chart paper is convenient for anchor charts, but is quite expensive.  Each paper comes out at about $1 apiece which can really add up as someone who ruins about 5 pieces before satisfied with how the anchor chart looks.  In addition, chart paper is quite thin and cannot be stored without being damaged.  Poster board can be purchased on Amazon and comes out to around $0.65 apiece, or possibly even cheaper at WalMart.  It is thicker, can be moved and stored around without having to be too delicate, and you can use the backside because markers will not bleed through the poster board.  For best results, use these markers.  Bonus points: they make anyone’s handwriting look much better. Check out this post to learn a trick to hanging posters and documents.

STUDENT WORK AS DECORATIONS

The most meaningful yet overlooked way to decorate your classroom is with student work samples.  It cost nothing, will boost classroom culture, and can serve as an example of what you would like to see when students turn in their work.  Work samples can also communicate to your students that this is not my classroom but our classroom.  This means that you must allow space for you to show off your amazing students’ work, so try and resist covering all your walls in August.

Classroom decorations on a budget force you to flex your creative muscles. Don’t panic if your room doesn’t look like Pinterest in August– it really shouldn’t. Leave space to hang student work, put up new anchor charts, and shop the Target dollar section. What great ideas do you have to decorate on a budget?

The easiest way to get a jump start on your classroom decorations is to use our classroom poster pack.  See them in action in my classroom here! 

The post Budget Friendly Classroom Decorations appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

5 Teacher Organization Tips for Middle School

Daily Agenda Board

I personally utilized a weekly agenda board in which I made a grid because of my three different preps.  I had days of the week on top and the different classes down the side.  I would jot down the topic and homework in each box.

Mrs. Brack only teaches one prep, so she has created this fabulous daily agenda board to keep organized. It is super easy to set up with Scotch Expressions tape or any type of colorful painters tape. The homework, agenda, and big idea portion will change each day depending on the objective and lesson, while the weekly goals and opening routine remain the same. You can get these board labels and opening routine posters here. Update: To see my updated classroom, check out my classroom tour.

I love the weekly goals area because it can be content specific or not.  These goals can be everything from “85% mastery on the unit test” to “all students working on the warm up when the bell rings”.

Opening Routine

The opening routine is another organization tip that I think is so genius!  Don’t we all have a desired expectation for how students enter the class and begin working immediately.  That is a teacher’s dream come true.  There would be no more students at the pencil sharpener or wandering the classroom.  She posted these expectations and is able to quickly refer to them without even saying a word…beautiful.

“Take the most direct route to your seat” is a game changer for me.  How many times do you have students wandering the room “on their way to their seat”?

File Folder on Classroom Door

I loved standing at the door and greeting my students.  It was multi-purpose:  I got to build rapport with them, ask about football games and club events, see who came in together, and what each person’s attitude was for the day, plus I was able to monitor the hallways as instructed.  I was fortunate to have a table near the entry and taught students to pick up any materials as they entered.  In my sister’s case, her classroom is tiny.  She installed a metal hanging folder to her door. She used two nails, but command hooks would be less invasive. She places any handouts for the day in the hanging pocket. A win-win, being able to greet the students and have them pick up materials in a small space.

Binder Clips for Hanging Forms

One of my favorite school supplies is the LARGE binder clip.  It is big enough to hold an enormous amount of papers, easy enough to spot on a messy desk, and in general, gives off the impression, “don’t touch this”. ????

Mrs. Brack took her most frequently used forms, copied them on colored paper, and used a binder clip and push pin to hang them in an easy-to-reach location.  Common forms might include:  hall passes, tutorial passes, classroom incentive slips, detention slips, etc.

Desk Caddy at Document Camera

The document camera area can be such a mess with the various supplies and papers to keep organized.  We used this simple desk caddy from Mardel’s and plastic cups to keep everything together.

In case you can’t see it all, here is what we deemed essential for having within reach:

• projector remote – incredibly valuable, easy to misplace
• stamps and/or stickers – walk around the class and provide positive feedback, even middle school students love stamps
• Post-it notes – the possibilities are endless
• calculator – quick math, some might prefer the trusty TI-83 plus
• small ruler – to use when graphing or drawing number lines
• polyhedron die – these come with numbers up to 30, perfect for calling on students by rolling the die
• markers and/or flair pens – use for color coding any math process
• timer – keep class moving by timing everything
• fraction equivalency chart – this likely depends on your grade level, but is a useful visual
• student popsicle sticks – great for calling on students at random

I love how these are super easy to set up and make use of items you likely have lying around the classroom. If not, Amazon Prime will come to the rescue.  I’m not sure what I would do without free two-day shipping.

What other great teacher organization tips do you have?  I love seeing others teachers’ classrooms and discovering new ideas that work!  Leave a comment with your ideas.

The post 5 Teacher Organization Tips for Middle School appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

Benefits of Creating a Unit Plan

• Content gets adequate time upfront
• Gives direction for planning time
• Prevents standards from being left off or forgotten
• Plan for spiraling in content
• Clear direction for assessments
• Provides a varied approach to activities and teaching strategies

What Does a Unit Plan Consist of?

1. Standards
2. Mathematical practices or process standards
3. Scope and sequence of what is taught each day
4. Teaching strategies and models to be incorporated
5. Assessments

Keeping Unit Plans Practical

Planning is time-consuming; I think we are all aware of that.  It seems that a unit plan is just more work on top of actual lesson plans, but I really like to think of this as front-loading the work.

What is the difference between watching a cooking show and actually cooking?  It’s the prep work.  You rarely see Rachael Ray or The Pioneer Woman chop anything.  The ingredients are all set out and ready to go.  When I cook, it looks much different.  I am reading the recipe, trying to grab the ingredients, and realizing that it takes much longer to chop all of the vegetables than I have allotted.  Frequently, I am missing a spice and improvising.  Why?  Well, I haven’t given myself enough time to prep.  Everyone is usually hungry and irritable as I am willing the food to cook faster.

A unit plan is like cutting the veggies, measuring the portions, and preheating the oven.  It makes for the actual lesson planning to be faster and more efficient.  However, don’t go over board and spend too much time on this unit plan.  Keep it practical, by going through the process I outline below.  Some official education articles will extend unit plans to include additional pieces, but we all know that there are only so many hours in a day. Let’s keep it real.

How To Create a Unit Plan

Sometimes school districts will provide a detailed unit plan, but other times they provide something more vague, like the title of a unit and the number of days you have to teach the content within the unit.  I have found unit plans to be incredibly effective in maximizing my planning and scaffolding the learning for my students.

1. Break Down the Standards

I like to begin with the standards and break down the various skills and concepts.  Some districts require these to be written as “I Can” statements and used as daily objectives. Even if you are not required to have them, it’s a great idea to post them and share the daily objective with your students throughout the lesson.  The idea here is to pinpoint what students should be able to do at the end of the unit.

2. Determine a Summative Assessment

Whether you enjoy giving performance tasks or a written test, determine which way you will assess students.  Once you have determined the type of assessment, it is a good idea to write the questions or task.  Obviously, this is sometimes impractical.  I would love to say that this happened before each unit, but the reality is that it was always a goal.  When I did, I was always pleased and more prepared to teach the unit.

If you can’t muster getting a test together at this phase in unit planning, it would be beneficial to have an idea of the types of questions you would like to use or to have looked at an example test or released assessment. In Texas, they release the state exam every few years.

The main point here is that by understanding what the assessment will look like, you as the teacher will be able to better prepare your students.  You may be familiar with the lesson planning framework, Understanding By Design, to which this is the core concept.

3.  Scaffold the skills from basic to complex

At this point, I grab a calendar and a pencil and begin putting skills on paper.  Consider what skills have been learned in prior years and where gaps may exist, so that you can place emphasis and additional time on those areas.  Make note of lessons that may be more difficult so that you allow adequate opportunities for students to become familiar with the content.  I also include summative and formative assessments on the calendar.

4.  Incorporate Mathematical Practices

At this point, I really like to look at the different objectives and skills and brainstorm how I can incorporate the mathematical practices (in Texas we call them process standards) through activities.  This might mean stations where students are analyzing for the error or a lab on constructing triangles.

Tip- I really love incorporating one flex day per unit if possible.  If not, many teachers shoot for one flex day per month.  This helps when an unexpected assembly occurs and the schedule is thrown off or when a concept is really a struggle and you need more time.  It allows you to have a little breathing room and gives permission to take the time necessary without ruining the plan.

If this all seems overwhelming, then you can easily pick and choose a few of the things mentioned and work towards incorporating those.  If you are short on time, you might be interested in my middle school math curriculum units which incorporate the things mentioned in the post.

The post How to Create a Unit Plan appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

Back in 2006 when I started in the classroom, I used Outlook, our email provider, to create different lists for each of my classes.  Each Friday, I would send a quick email recapping the week and sharing any announcements regarding assignments, projects, grades, etc.  I did this for several years and loved it!  Parents would respond that they appreciated the communication and that it helped them to be more informed and helpful at home.  Unfortunately, it took several hours to get everything organized and set up.  MailChimp is super user-friendly and can be set up quickly.

What is MailChimp?

MailChimp is a free email service provider that allows you to send formatted email for free to less than 2,000 subscribers.  Let’s all hope we have less than 2,000 students.

The reason MailChimp is so great is that you can easily set up an account and have parents join your list through a link or QR code.  This would be perfect for advertising at Meet the Teacher, Open House, through a course syllabi, on your class website, and in parent information packets.  Below, I am going to show you how to create a really nice-looking template that you can easily customize in a few minutes.

How Can Teachers Use MailChimp?

We know that when students go to middle school, parent involvement is more of a struggle.  More classes to keep up with, more teachers to keep straight, electives, and a growing independence are factors that can lead to a more disconnected relationship.  I have found that parents often do want to be in the loop, and they appreciate the extra communication whether it be about grades, what we are studying, or volunteer opportunities.  

A few Ideas for When to Use a Newsletter:

• weekly updates
• progress report announcements
• end of grading period announcements
• project details and deadlines
• field trip information
• PTA newsletters
• UIL and club information
• fundraising details

1.  Create an Account

You can easily set up an account using your school email address, as well as your schools’ physical address.  MailChimp will require a physical address, just FYI.  This address will show on each email sent, so be sure you put your schools’ physical address.

2.  Create a List for each class that you teach

I would recommend creating a different list for each prep, activity, club, etc.  You could also create a list per class period, depending on what you plan on sending.  Don’t go list crazy, because each time you send something, you will have to send it to the specific list.

3.  Ask Parents to Sign Up for Your List

Each list is going to create its own sign up form, so you will want to ask parents to sign up for the specific list.  As mentioned above, you could share the link on a class website, at Meet the Teacher or Open House, in a course syllabus, and in parent information packs.

Tip:  You might consider creating a short link or QR code for parents to scan to make the process go more smoothly.

4.  Create a Template Newsletter

If you plan on sending information regularly, I would suggest creating a template.  You need to Create a Campaign, select which lists to send it to, and then create the message.  The key is to hit “Save as a Template” once you are happy with the set up.  This way, you just have to find the template each week and change the information.

5.  Send Newsletters whenever you Choose

Once you have done all the set up, just login to MailChimp and send emails whenever you like.  You can schedule the email in advance to make your life easier, too!

Video Tutorial

If you are anything like me, it is so much easier to follow video tutorials.  Erin Wing was so kind as to allow me to share her great You Tube tutorial.  She shares all sorts of great parent communication tools and ideas on her blog.  Click here for a great tutorial on MailChimp for teachers.  She will walk you through it all.  Thanks Erin!  Best of luck with MailChimp!

Teachers, do you have any other great ideas for parent communication?  Share them in the comments below.

The post How to use MailChimp for Teachers appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

I love composition notebooks, I used them in my classroom all of the time. My own personal composition notebook traveled to parent conferences, team meetings, professional developments, and home.  Everything changed when I started using my phone for reminders and appointments.  I found that I always had my phone and somehow that composition book was MIA. A colleague of mine always mentioned Evernote and months later I decided to try it out.  I have been using Evernote for several months now and even though I am no longer in the classroom, I have brainstormed 5 Evernote Tips for Teachers.

What is Evernote?

Essentially Evernote is a catalogue organizing your information in one location that is available on all of your devices.  Remember the notes from PD or the to-do list you jot on a sticky note?  Evernote allows you to keep all of the information in one place and features a quick and easy search feature for finding it.

What can Evernote do?

Evernote offers three versions with different functions.  I am on the free basic version and believe that 90% of teachers would need no additional features.  The basic version allows you to sync all of your devices and clip different pieces from the web. I currently sync Evernote on my desktop, laptop, and phone.  This is perfect for an idea that comes to you first thing in the morning or when you are at dinner.  My favorite part is that all of the information can be sorted into different notebooks with multiple notes.

5 Evernote Tips for Teachers

There are quite a few ideas for personal use with Evernote or using Evernote with your students.  Today, I would like to focus on ways for teachers to use Evernote to stay organized.

1.  To-Do Notebook

My Daily To-Do Notebook is by far, my most utilized notebook.  Within the notebook, I create a note for each day of the week and jot down what I need to accomplish.  When I was in the classroom, my list consisted of Before School, Conference, and After School headers and you could set it up the same.  If you don’t get to something you can easily copy and paste it to the next day.  This is great for when you are sitting in a meeting and they mention that grade sheets are due back by Friday.  You can think about you week and determine what day to add them to your to-do list.  I also love that it has checkboxes!  I still get the sense of accomplishment without having a paper list.

If you like to think of your life in weeks, you could create a note for each week instead and then have headers for each day of the week.

2. Snapshots for Specific Lessons

I hate taking things off my wall when testing comes around because I have to decide what to do with it.  Save it or toss it.  With Evernote you can snap a picture and assign it to a lesson or notebook.  It is so nice because it doesn’t take up space in your phone and you don’t have to go searching for it in your hundreds of photos. This is perfect for saving anchor charts, bulletin boards, or student work!  Unfortunately, you can’t save all of those student work examples but you can take a picture!

3. Student Documentation

You know those students who need a little extra attention and maybe even a little extra documentation?  Create a notebook with their initials and then keep a note with anything relevant.  This would be handy in a parent conference or for RTI purposes.   You could even use tip #2 and snap a picture of student work for documentation purposes.

3. Notebook for Meetings, Committees, and PD

Create a notebook for faculty meetings, team meetings, committees, and various professional development.  Within each notebook, just title a note with the date and any pertinent information.  If you get a handout, take a snapshot.  This will keep everything together, cut down on the clutter on your desk, and will be easy to reference at a later date.  At the end of the year, you can delete what doesn’t apply anymore.

4. Saving Lesson Ideas and Websites

The post 5 Evernote Tips for Teachers appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

When I hear the phrase classroom management, I often think about how a teacher might handle an off-task student or a school wide behavior pyramid.  However, more often than not, classroom management boils down to the systems in place that encourage students to be on-task and engaged in their learning.  Today, I am sharing 4 Helpful Classroom Procedures for Middle School.  Easy tips and tricks you can begin implementing tomorrow, including a free printable.

I think we can all recall a procedure or system that lends itself to trouble.  My first year, it was the overabundance of papers.  Students would ask where the late work went, if they had a missing grade, there would be a congregation of students at the turn in tray, and I couldn’t get class started on time.  I didn’t have a procedure and over time it became a management issue. (I figured it out thanks to my Homework Agenda.)

2. Labeled Student Supply Station

3. keep the Pencil sharpener in the back

The post 4 Classroom Procedures for Middle School appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

One thing is for sure, papers do not bring a teacher joy.

For further reading, check out these posts about homework:

• The Homework Agenda Part 2 (Grading Math Homework)
• Should Teachers Assign Math Homework?

I am also aware that homework brings on another conversation:

• grading
• what to do if it is not complete AKA missing assignments

Any teacher will tell you that a missing assignment is a giant pain.  No one enjoys seeing the blank space in the grade book, especially a middle school teacher with 125+ students. (Side note, my first year I had 157.  Pretty much insane.)

Grading Homework, Yes or No?

Goodness, this is a decision you have to make for you and the best interest of your students. In my experience, I would say I graded 85% of assignments for some type of accuracy.  I am not a fan of completion grades.  The purpose of homework is to practice, but we don’t want to practice incorrectly.  Completion grades didn’t work for me, because I didn’t want students to produce low quality work.  

Students had a “tutorial” class period (much like homeroom) in which they were allowed 20 minutes a day to work on assignments.  I always encouraged students to work on math or come to my room for homework help.  Yes, this often led to 40+ students in my room.  But, that means 40 students were doing math practice.  I love that.

I also believe that many students worked on it during that time because they knew it was for a grade.  This helps to build intrinsic motivation.  

Grading math homework:  USING THE HOMEWORK AGENDA

During the warm up, I circulated and checked for homework completion. Students would receive a stamp or my initials on their Homework Agenda. Essentially, the Homework Agenda (freebie offered later in this post) is a one-pager that kept students homework organized. As a class, we quickly graded the homework assignment. Then, I briefly would answer or discuss a difficult question or two.  To avoid cheating, any student who did not have their homework that day were required to clear their desk while we graded.

I would then present a grading scale.  This is where I might make math teachers crazy, but I would be generous.  Eight questions, ten points each.  Missing two problems would result in an 80.  I tried to make it advantageous to those who showed work and attempted, yet not just a “gimme” grade. 

Students would record their grade on their Homework Agenda. They would repeat this for every homework assignment that week. A completed Homework Agenda would have 4 assignments’ names, with 4 teacher completion signatures, and 4 grades for each day of the week that I assigned homework.

Later in the class or the following day as I circulated, I was able to see on the front of the Homework Agenda how students were doing and discuss personally with them whether or not they needed to see me in tutorials.  I was able to give specific praise to students who were giving 110% effort or making improvements. 

This is why I love the Homework Agenda.

On Friday, I would collect the Homework Agenda.  If during the week you were absent, had an incomplete assignment, or didn’t complete one, Friday was D day.  It was going in the grade book on Friday.

Here is my weekly process:

Friday:

1. Collect homework agendas
2. Have frank conversation with students who did not have it
3. Record grades on paper (mostly to make putting it in the computer faster because they were ordered)
4. Record grades in computer
5. Send the same email to parents of students that did not turn in the agenda – write one email, then BCC names.
6. List names of missing assignments on post-it note next to desk (official, I know)

Monday:

1. Pull students from tutorial time (homeroom) who owed me the homework
2. Follow up with any students who were absent Friday and still needed to turn in their homework to me

All Access is complete with Independent Practice (which can be used for homework) for every single lesson. If you want your time and energy back, then check out All Access for your math curriculum needs.

What About the Missing Assignments?

Yes, there will be missing assignments.  Yes, students will come to Thursday and have lost their precious agenda.  However, it won’t happen often to the same kiddo.  My least organized student, who carried everything in their pocket, could fold that agenda up and hang onto it for a week.  It was too valuable.  Too many grades, too many assignments to redo.

We all know that it is much more work when students don’t complete their assignments.  It would be a dream world if everyone turned in their work everyday.  Unfortunately, we all live in reality.

We can vent our frustrations over students not doing work, which is legitimate.  We can also work towards solutions. 

The reality is that not every student has a support system at home.  I would love for us to be that voice of inspiration and encouragement.  Sometimes that voice sounds like tough love and a hounding for assignments and just being consistent that you value their education and you are not willing to let them give up on it.

They will appreciate it one day and you will be happy you did the extra work.

This post is part 2 in a two part series.  To read part 1, click here.

The post Grading Math Homework Made Easy appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

On my Facebook page, I have shared a few various viewpoints to homework: homework vs. no homework and a parent’s perspective.

Today, I am sharing a few tips for  math homework and how I have utilized it in the past at various different schools. I like to call it practical or the “minimalist approach”.

What is the purpose of Math Homework?

I view homework as math practice. I make this illustration frequently to my students. Much like anything we want to succeed in, it requires practice. Basketball practice, football practice, video games, drawing, theater, even babysitting requires practice. As an adult I practice cooking, reading, blogging, exercising, teaching and parenting. There is always room for practice.

Homework is one way we practice; it keeps it fresh in our minds after a new lesson and helps us to keep it in our memory, so we don’t forget.

What is a Practical Amount of math Homework?

This is definitely up to you to choose what is best for your students.  I personally limited homework to a maximum of 10 questions that students were capable of accomplishing within a 15-minute window. Depending on the concept, I would include roughly 6 skill-based problems and 4 or so word problems.

I firmly believe that consistency is key.  Students should not have to think about whether or not they have homework; they should think about how much they have or what is yet to be accomplished.  If you can train students to expect homework, then you have already worked to fight the struggle of getting it back completed.

How to Communicate Homework?

Communication is essential, it goes back to that famous saying, “it’s not what you say, but how you say it”! At the beginning of the year, you want to communicate the homework expectations to both parents and students. Students are provided with a weekly homework agenda and the corresponding handouts attached. I send a sample one home in my parent packet for parents to review, as well.

Then I give the same spiel for several weeks. “Homework is math practice just like any other sport. I care about your success in this class and your future success in life and believe that math will help you be successful. We work hard Monday through Thursday and then we take the weekend off.”

After a few weeks of being consistent, the moaning and groaning of homework dissipates.

How to keep up with homework?

The papers!!! They used to be the bane of my existence. 28ish papers flying at you, six different times a day, it is simply impossible to keep up with.

Then, I introduced the Homework Agenda. My life was revolutionized. The purpose of the agenda was three-fold:

1. This eliminated the paper craziness and allowed me to only collect it once each week.
2. Students were well aware of the expectations for the week and could keep everything together.  At this age, there are students who are involved in many extra-curricular things and they loved knowing the assignments and what to expect at the beginning of the week.
3. Parents knew what to look for and what was expected of their students.  I am well aware that by middle school, students are more on their own and need to take responsibility for their assignments.  I am a huge advocate of responsibility.  However, there are students who need more support at home and whose parents are happy to help.  This made it easy for them.

How to Use the Homework Agenda?

Each week I determined and prepped the assignments for the following week.  I used my homework agenda template to update the dates and information, along with any class announcements.  Then on Thursdays, my parent volunteer, would come in and copy the assignments.

On Monday, students received the Math Homework Agenda with subsequent assignments attached.  I would aim to finish the lesson with 8-10 minutes of class, students would begin their assignment, and then whatever was not finished was to be completed by the following day.

The next day, students were to have their homework agenda out during the warm up.  I would circulate and initial or stamp the Homework Agenda if it was complete.  I created my own key that indicated whether the assignment was incomplete, late, or a student was absent (the day prior).  This was written on their Homework Agenda, so I could see it on Friday when I entered grades.

At this point, you could go over the homework, answer questions, grade it as a class, etc.  More on that later.

The same process was repeated on Wednesday. If Savina had her late work from the day before, I would make a note on her Homework Agenda.

Why the minimalist approach to homework works?

• You only have to collect the homework agenda once each week.  Hallelujah.
• You only have to record grades (if you so choose) once each week.  Sign me up.
• Excellent communication tool for parents, students, and teachers.  Happy parents, happy teacher.
• Everything is together, students do not need anything else to complete the assignments.  Let’s not make it harder than it needs to be.
• Students know what is expected of them each week.  I firmly believe the vast majority (95%) of students want to meet expectations.
• It is consistent and predictable.  Students thrive in consistent and predictable environments.

For further reading, check out these posts about homework:

• The Homework Agenda Part 2 (Grading Math Homework)
• Should Teachers Assign Math Homework?

I know this is a heated topic in education.  I welcome respectful comments and questions in the comments. If you have something else that works well for you, I would love to hear it.

The post Practical Math Homework appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

Note: I am aware there is a large discrepancy in the amount of parental support a school receives.

parent volunteers in middle school

I think that middle school gets a bad rap.  Teachers feel like it is difficult to connect with parents, and parents go from having one point person to communicate with to upwards of eight.  I admittedly forgot it was Western Day at school last week for my 20 month old son, and I only have one child.  Thankfully he will not remember; it will be our little secret.  Alas, there is a lot of keep up with and as a teacher, you feel that pain.  If you would like to increase your the parent involvement in your classroom, I think you will be surprised with the response.  Some parents are grasping for ways to connect to the school.  And research shows that schools with increased parent volunteers have students who are more successful.  So much so, that it is one of the Critical Success Factors of a School in Need of Improvement.

make volunteering easy

I would suggest creating a quick and easy way to sign up to volunteer.  Keep things simple and manageable for parents (and yourself, let’s be honest).

Think about different tasks that would be helpful for you that a parent could do while at school.  Here are some suggestions:

• making copies
• organize and sort supplies
• decorate bulletin boards in the hallways
• assemble bulletin boards in the classroom
• decorate door
• hang student work
• text book inventory (if you are responsible for your own books)
• special projects – these will come up as the year goes on, I left it open ended
• use a special skill to assist with a club
• updating mastery trackers

Think about different tasks that would be helpful that a parent could complete at home.  Here are some suggestions:

• help with the class website
• solicit donations within the community
• assemble snack bags for testing
• do research for class field trips (pricing, availability, etc)
• assemble data folders (blank, of course)
• assemble games/cards
• cut lamination

Asking for help

I simply organized a little check list form with the different options.  This was part of my First Day Packet that students returned.  You might consider asking at Open House, on your class website, sending an email with a Google form to complete if they are interested, or personally asking parents that you have interacted with before.

I then created two separate email lists (on campus vs. at home volunteers).  When I had lamination that needed to be cut, I would send an email out to my at home volunteers and tell them that I had an opportunity to help by cutting lamination and the date in which I needed it returned.  A sweet parent (or two) almost always volunteered.  I would get the everything laminated and then send it home with the student with baggies and instructions.  It meant so much!  It was one less thing for me to do and it meant that I didn’t plan a lesson around the fact that it would require too much prep.

The Copy Mom/dad

To me the most valuable and time saving volunteer I had was a copy mom.  This was essential and literally saved me hours each week.  It also forced me to be prepared for the next week before she came.

Once I was able to see who was interested in making copies, I contact them individually and organized a rotation.  Ideally you could get four volunteers, one per week of the month, but if you have two or even one that would still be a big help.

Here is how it worked:

• I would send a reminder earlier in the week and ask them to confirm they would be available.  This helped me to better prepare.
• I created a copy slip with all the details (number of copies, single vs. double sided, stapled, etc).  If you have a copy code include that as well.
• I used a pocket folder that I kept next to the door in my classroom.
• As I planned throughout the week, I would attach the copy slip and place it in the folder.
• On Thursdays, my copy moms would grab the folder, make the copies, and return them to the room.

Disclaimer:  These volunteers will likely need to fill out a background check, FYI.  Also, to keep everyone happy be sure to let the school secretary know what you are doing and ask her to show you the ins and outs of the machine, so you can train you volunteers.  You might even introduce the volunteers to the secretary.

Showing appreciation

I would recommend a thank you note and a small gift at the end of the year for these kind parent volunteers who are busy too!  A thoughtful note and something small goes a long way.

Middle school is a time when kiddos are stepping out on their own; parents appreciate a way to stay informed and involved in their kids’ lives.  Connecting with parent volunteers builds rapport, opens communication lines,  and positions parents as important stakeholders in the school community.

Just remember – It doesn’t hurt to ask.

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Back to School Prep

There are a million things to consider when preparing to go back to school.  If you are a new teacher you are likely thinking about all the different things you have learned and how you will implement everything.  You likely want everything to look nice and cheerful.  More than likely you have a somewhat idealistic view of what is up ahead and can’t wait to get into your classroom to get everything ready.

If you are a returning teacher, you likely are thinking about things you want to do different or things that worked well.  I remember scouring the internet for ideas on make up work, missing work, and in taming the paperwork before my second year of teaching.  I am fairly certain I was solely responsible for deforestation in 2006-2007.  Thankfully, I pulled together some various ideas and came up with the Math Homework Agenda.  It was a keeper and a great use of google.

So amongst all the “things to do”, what is most important?  In thinking back to my seven years of back to school, here are a few (of many) areas that your time is valuable.

1.  A well organized plan for day one.

What do you want students to do when they enter?  Where will they sit?  What information do you want to collect from them?  What will you share with them about yourself?  How can this be fun and engaging?  How can you prep to have a successful first week of middle school?

I would suggest some fun activities to get to know your students, but also a few that would allow you to get that much needed paperwork done.  Personally, I liked assigning seats as students entered the door.  It allowed me to interact with them one on one, hear them pronounce their name, and I was able to personally welcome them to my class.  You can also tell quite a bit about a student by the way they introduce themselves, wink wink.

2.  Copies for the first week

The first week is crazy and the copier WILL stop working.  It is inevitable, it is almost like a teacher truth.  The copier will break, will not be set up correctly, will not recognize your username, will run out of paper.  With an average of 50 teachers on campus trying to make copies for an average of 100 students, even if they only make one copy, the machine is making 5,000 copies.  Multiply that times way more than 1 copy and you get roughly, one million (give or take:))

Every teacher in your building WILL be trying to prepare their materials.  You WILL be tired and have ONE MILLION better things to do than stand in the copy line.

Shhhh, a little secret of mine: I always came back to school with my first week of materials ready to copy.  I would even print them at home, so I wasn’t dependent on the network printers or technology to get something set up for me.  Then, I would sneakily stay late when almost every teacher went home after the first long PD day.  Copies, check.

3.  A well thought out classroom

When I say thought out, I mean organized and planned.  I do not mean decorated.  I know there are differing opinions on how “decorated” a secondary classroom should be.  At one school I taught, teachers were not allowed to post anything that was not on the small 4’x4′ bulletin board.  At a different school, I covered all of my walls with fadeless butcher paper, borders, anchor charts and the like.   I don’t think the level of “decor” should be the priority, as much as the functionality.

Do you enjoy entering it?  You will spend a lot of time there.  Does it feel inviting, warm, and safe?  Your students will spend quite a bit of time there, too.  Do you have a “place” for everything?  Technology, papers, supplies, space to walk.  Do students have to traipse across the front of the room to sharpen their pencil?  Move that sharpener to the back, quick.  Can you clearly see the board/screen/projector from each and every seat?  This is a must.

So think through your day one (I may or may not have had a clipboard in which I typed every single thing I needed to accomplish), get your copies ready, and think through the functionality of your classroom.

Is the dark cloud dissipating?

Maybe just overcast?

Take a look at your to-do list.  Is there something that can wait?  Or something that may not be as necessary?

The post Back to School Prep appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

In the day and age of assessment, we are all familiar with the concept of disaggregating data.  Often, we attend trainings or are asked to do this for our benchmark/state assessment/cba/quiz/homework.  After one such assessment desegregation, I was determined to focus on the areas in which students were performing low.  I then had a few choices to make:

• Reteach the content
• Move on
• Figure out how to make more time

I determined that I had to create a system in which I could hit the lower concepts, while still moving forward with the new material.

And thus, I began strategically reviewing through my warm up procedure.

1.  Dig into the Data

This is the most time consuming process, but be assured this gets easier with time.  Hopefully, your assessments have some sort of data desegregation software.  I know that Euphoria is popular, but there are other great ones out there as well.  It can be tediuous, so start with a narrow focus.  For example:

• I want to know which standards my students need the most improvement
• I want to know which standards my students have mastered

I am a visual learner, so I take the actual assessment alongside the data and write the percentage correct next to each problem and/or answer choice.  This helps me to see everything together.

2. Put it on a Calendar

From there I put the different standards on a calendar.  However, how I organize this depends on the data.  In general, if students did poorly on a standard, I know I am not going to be able to reteach this in one quick warm up.  Here are a few general thoughts:

• If they didn’t get it – I am going hit that concept in a warm ups everyday for the week.  I will be looking for improvement and really question them through the process.
• If they “kinda” got it – I am going to plan that concept for every other day for a week or two.  I want the students who “got it” to practice and see it again.  I want to narrow in on the students who didn’t.  During the warm up focusing on the process and specifically helping them through any roadblocks.

3. Have a Plan

So you know what you review and you have put the standards on a calendar.  But, how will you review?  I use my Daily Math Warm Ups to make this smooth and seamless.  All of the standards are included along with a quick reference table of contents.

The post Implementing a Strategic Math Review appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

teenager sitting on skateboard with tablet pc

The tricky part is how?  During my second year of teaching, I was assigned one remedial math block of 8th grade students.  I had no clue what to do with them and so I did what any other sane person would do, I asked my other teacher friends.  Unfortunately, I took their great advice and attempted to do the same things with 8th graders as they did with 3rd graders.  Tragic mistake.  In my well intentioned efforts of building their confidence, I missed the mark by treating them like babies.  I won’t humiliate myself and share what terrible activities I planned for them, but I will say that I never fully recovered.  They didn’t trust me, they didn’t even think that I cared for them.  Because surely if you cared, you would know what 8th grade students like and dislike.

Here are three reasons why every teacher can build rapport with their students through meaningful activities:

Because it will give them an idea of what to expect in your classroom.  Middle school students are self conscious and insecure.  They are walking into your class nervous and unsure.  They are worried about who they will know and what others will think.  They need to feel secure in what to expect in your classroom.  Use questionnaires and short get to know you activities to open up the dialogue and preview what they can expect from you each day.

Because it communicates that you value them.  When you copy their handouts on colored paper or use a fun game in class, they notice.  They notice when you are prepared and have spent time ensuring that class will run smoothly.  Just like when we as teachers enter a meeting where everything is ready to go, efficient and valuable, we take note.  We definitely take note when it isn’t.  Your students notice too.

Because it gives you an opportunity to teach a procedure.   As teachers we often worry about teaching the procedures.  Sure, you can stand at the front of the class and describe all of the ways you want them to enter, leave, turn in papers, get supplies, get into groups, give you their attention, etc.  Or you can do something fun and engaging while you teach the procedure.

It sounds a lot like this, “ We are going to do this activity called Quick Questions.  When I say go, you are going to find a partner who is wearing a different colored shirt than you and stand back to back.  By the time I count to five, everyone should have a partner and be silent.  Sammy:  Who are you finding?  Jamie:  What happens when I count to five?  Ready go.” You just taught your attention getter and expectations for how to find a partner.

Building rapport with your middle school students is essential.  Don’t take the first week lightly or rush into content.  Your students are learning about you, themselves, and how to interact in your classroom.  

If you are interested in meaningful activities for the first week of school, I have created a pack of 11 ready to go activities.  Click HERE to check it out in my TpT store.

The post How to Have a Successful First Week of Middle School appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

First and foremost, I support best teaching practices, which involve monitoring your students throughout the year, consistently spiraling older material, and in general striving for high mastery.  However, there is still a test and we want our students to go into the test feeling confident and prepared, with the material fresh on their minds.

Determining What to Review

Everything.  Well in a dream world, everything.  But, we all know that there is not enough time to review everything.  And, we know its not wise, good for kids, or good for us to be reviewing forever.

There are three things I consider when determining what to review:

1. Most Frequently Tested Items/Concepts

Each test has a different focus.  Some equally weigh each concept, some emphasize certain concepts.  Carefully take a look at the areas in which are most frequently tested.  This would be an area of focus and where I spend a larger portion of my review time.

Most of the standardized tests do place emphasis on certain standards or concepts.  In Texas, the STAAR exam has readiness and supporting standards.  Two-thirds of the test come from the readiness category, and one-third from the supporting standards.  Mathematically, it makes more sense to focus on the readiness standards, and incorporate supporting standards as you are able.

2. Lowest Benchmark Standards

I gathered the data from my benchmarks throughout the year.  The lowest standards (which I am sure are not surprising) are not something that I would just review.  These concepts are in need of reteaching.  One suggestion that worked well, was designing short mini lessons over these low standards.

For example, one concept that was difficult for my students was determining the pattern of a sequence.  I planned a short mini lesson that addressed sequences at the beginning of class.  In that same class period, the activity would also incorporate equivalent representations, coordinate planes, and proportionality.

3. Highest benchmark standards/easiest for students

Lastly, there are always those standards that are easy for students.  They perform well with the concept and truly grasp it.  Though easy to ignore, my philosophy is that I wanted students to be confident and not caught off guard.  These questions are perfect for a quick warm up to get class started or to incorporate in homework, if you see fit.

There is no perfect science to review, but preparing ahead will allow you to put all of those precious minutes to work for you.

The post Determining What to Review appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

standardized test review, yes or no?

I believe it is safe to say by the time our students reach middle school they are familiar with the testing environment.  In Texas they have been taking standardized tests since the third grade.

This is not to say there isn’t a place for assessment, I believe strongly in assessment and the value it provides to my students and the impact on my instruction.  However, there is a fine line that the education world seems to be towing right now.

With numerous school days allotted to assessment, teachers often wonder if a review is necessary or if there is time for review?

I have found great value in standardized test review to prepare students for upcoming high stakes exams and I would like to share some reasons why I believe review can be valuable.

brings several math concepts together

Throughout the year, our calendars are typically organized by unit.  We teach proportional reasoning, then the number system, then geometric concepts.  Ideally we want to show students how it all comes together and applies to our everyday life.  We want students to understand how a proportional relationship is also linear and how a ratio and a fraction are on in the same.  The reality is, that is hard.  It is tough in 50 minutes to teach a new concept and make all of those connections.

Review is a perfect time to bring it all together.  You can incorporate the different standards and really allow students to make those connections on their own.  Students will surprise you with what they remember and how they go about solving a problem when it is not specifically in a unit.

individualized for each student

If structured well, a standardized test review has great potential to be individualized for each student.  This involves, quick pre-assessments and a lot of “teacher gut” knowledge.

When I structured my review, I gave short pre-assements that covered specific standards on each day.  Each question was labeled and quickly allowed me to see who needed work with what concept.  Based on the results of the pre-assessment, students moved on to various activities.  In my class, I had activities for the following groups:

• mastery – 90% or higher:  typically hands on activities requiring more application
• keep practicing – 75% to 89%: often activities with extra practice like task cards or cut and pastes focused specifically on the content
• work with me – less than 75%:  you know these students, this is where the “teacher gut” comes in, we did a lot of analyzing the question and really processing the information work with whiteboards*

relieves anxiety for students

I would put my money on the fact that most students are nervous about testing.  They may act all big and bad, but there is often quite a bit of pressure.  In Texas, students are retained at certain grade levels if they do not master the content on the exam.

By throughly reviewing the content, students gain confidence in what they are able to do.  They feel more familiar, are able to ask questions, and in emotionally feel more prepared for the exam.  Emotions have a lot to do with performance in a testing environment.  That is why we encourage students to get a good nights rest, eat breakfast, and arrive early.  Yes, their brain works better when they are rested and well fed, but also they emotionally feel more prepared.

it can be fun

It well organized with engaging activities, standardized test review can be fun!  I know my students enjoyed the predictability of the review, the activities, and the fact that everyone was doing something different.  A few ways we made it fun:

• lots of cooperative learning activities
• at least one large class competition
• we set individual goals for the review material (not the test grade, but their mastery of the review material)
• we used stickers!
• we discussed meeting goals and celebrated when students did
• we used technology
• I gave out tons of praise
• I emphasized the class as a whole and the role each student played

I want my students to be successful

The truth of the matter is that I am not ashamed to say I want my students to be successful!  Not so that I might receive accolades over a test score, but so that they gain a sense of accomplishment in working hard and grow their love of math.  Students who are unsuccessful are more likely to give up over time.  I don’t sing because I am tone deaf, it is not a gifting of mine.

As a teacher, the things we do in the classroom are much more about growing character and work ethic and thinking skills, than it is about the specific math skill.  Math is the means in which we learn those things.  We practice, we struggle, we are tenacious and keep at it, we think about other ways in which we can apply the content.

We become problem solvers who press on, those are the life lessons.  That is what I want for the next generation.

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To the teacher, we know better.

Each name comes with a distinct expectation and amount of flexibility.  I have worked in each of the settings below at a different point in my career.  In certain situations I was fortunate enough to have a conference and planning or team meeting time.  In other situations I had one conference, that was frequently filled with meetings.

Conference:  insinuates time you are to work on what you need, make copies, etc

Planning:  time for lesson planning, planning with grade level or departmental team

PLC (professional learning community):  meets regularly to share expertise and works collaboratively to improve student learning

Team Meeting:  discuss various student needs, plans events and incentives for students, meets with parents

Far too often, meetings, parent conferences, test training and other events interfere with planning time.  Or possibly you receive daily planning time, but it is ineffective due to circumstances out of your control.

How do you maximize planning time?

1.  Be prepared

Like the boy scout moto, always be prepared, it is essential that you have everything you need readily available and within arms reach.  I personally recommend a binder with heavy duty plastic pocket tabs.

There is nothing like missing some of the right pieces when it comes to planning.  I think we can all relate to traipsing back to our classrooms for specific items, it is the antithesis of maximizing your planning time.

Here is what I kept in my planning binder:

• blank calendars with district holidays
• testing calendar
• standards and district planning guides
• notes from previous years (this was not my strength)

You might also need a cup of coffee and snack, if you are anything like me.  Lessons flow better with caffeine.

2.  Be knowledgeable

I taught many different grade levels and multiple preps at any given time.  It was difficult to keep up with all the intricacies of the standards.  Do they need to know how to subtract decimals to the tenths or hundredths place?  Is the coordinate plane introduced the year prior?  Simple questions like that can take previous minutes away as you delve to find answers.

I used a quick reference guide with all the different standards in one page.  I placed them in page protectors and referenced them daily.

If you are working with a team, it also helps to familiarize yourself before and ask others to do so as well.  There is nothing more infuriating than consistently having to get someone up to speed.  It wastes others time and everyone starts to zone out.

3.  Be structured

Especially when planning with others it is essential to be structured.  If not, it is so easy to chase rabbit trails, i.e. discuss problems with lesson, discuss problems like Johnny, discuss problems at the faculty meeting, discuss problems… you get the idea and we have all experienced it.

One of my favorite apps that brings structure to my work time is the Pomodro app. It counts down for 25 minutes and then gives you a five minute break.  This is perfect for accomplishing a specific task and gives you a few minutes to chat, a perfect solution to maximizing your planning time.  I love using when I am working on my own as well and after completing four cycles, it gives you a 30 minute break.

I also suggest beginning with a calendar.  Not a monthly calendar, but a calendar by grading period.  When planning a new unit, start with reviewing the standards and allocating a time frame to those standards.  If someone mentions a great lesson that goes with it, jot it on the calendar, DO NOT begin looking at the lesson.  You can then add it appropriate places for assessments, projects or any other event.  This will give you a good reference point to follow throughout the grading point.

Bonus:  In the comments below, Teresa shares about using post-its!

The post Maximizing Your Planning Time appeared first on Maneuvering the Middle.

Not the best instructions and consequently my students were unlikely to complete their work, it was almost like a waste of a day.  Can anyone relate?

Along the way, I realized that the more clear instructions I left, the more likely I was to return to peace, calm, completed work, and a good report.  That’s the goal, right?

Now, my binder looks like this:

I use a simple 1/2″ binder and spend an hour or so getting it set up for the year.  I complete all the information that will remain constant and place that in page protectors.

Then, when I will be gone, I simply fill out the Lesson Plan page, print and place it in my binder.

My favorite page is the one where the substitute leaves a report, the Class Ratings page.  In my classroom, we set up an incentive system.  The substitute is asked to grade the class on a scale of 1 to 10.  Classes that receive a 10 earn a reward.

My most favorite reward is a computer/iPad day.  No, we don’t just get a free for all on the internet, though they would love that.  I simply rework an activity to incorporate the computer/iPad.  It can be as simple as practice on a math computer website or more in depth like QR codes.  If you already have an incentive system, this could fit right in.

I am all about making my life easier and streamlining all the paperwork.  Be sure to check out my

Secondary Substitute Binder in my TpT shop

The best thing:  It is fully EDITABLE!  You can print and write in the information or you can type into the editable powerpoint version.  Wahoo!  Who doesn’t love a timesaver?

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