I became a teacher because I wanted to work with students, and I am sure a lot of you are teachers for the same reason. Teaching is the best part of the job. It's why we do what we do. But, in order to teach, we have to plan and prep. And unfortunately, this usually means several hours of work after the kids have gone home. Planning was one of my least favorite parts of being a teacher. Planning can eat away your time if you let it, especially for new teachers. So, here are some things that you can do to help yourself have a life outside of teaching.
1. HAVE ROUTINE LESSONS Now, what I mean by routine lessons is that you follow the same basic layout for the weekly lessons in a certain subject. Look at your weekly schedule and decide what subjects you can have a routine for. Some easy subjects to do this for are phonics, writing, and vocabulary. Here is the routine I had for phonics: Pre-Assessment: Each Friday, I give a reading quiz to assess the phonics sounds for the coming week. Day 1: I introduce the sound and we work on reading isolated words with the pattern. The students do a word sort on their own. Day 2: We review the sound and practice identifying the sound pattern in sentences. Day 3: We read a short story and highlight the sound pattern in the story. Day 4: We play a game involving the sound pattern to review what we learned that week. Post-Assessment: Each Friday, I give a reading quiz to assess whether or not the students have mastered the sound pattern for the week. And this is what phonics looked like in my class every week. I had a routine, so I could easily and quickly plan the week of phonics lessons. If you have a routine for a couple of your weekly lessons, it will greatly reduce your planning time, and you will have one less things to stress about. If you try to come up with an original idea for each lesson, you will go insane. Having a routine for some of your lessons is okay. It will save you so much time, and students actually like to have structure. Now you don't always have to stick to the routine. If you come up with a fun activity for one of the subjects that you follow a routine for, use it! It is good to spice things up occasionally. But, don't kill yourself trying to constantly come up with new activities. 2. GET YOUR MATERIALS READY EARLY There is nothing worse than rushing to school to make your copies for the day only to find that the copier is out of toner or is broken (this always seems to happen when you need it the most). So, get in the habit of getting your materials ready for the coming week on Friday. I had a drawer in my class were I had 6 folders: 5 folders were labeled with each weekday, and 1 folder was labeled "Extra Materials." I would make copies for my coming lessons and gather any other materials, like picture books, or game boards, and put them in the corresponding folders. Then, all I had to do, was come to school, and grab the folder with all of the materials for the day. I used the "Extra Materials" folder to put copies and materials for lessons we didn't have time for. If something with another lesson went wrong, or if we had extra time, I had these lessons to turn to. I rarely had to use this, but it was worth it to have peace of mind. Now I realize that it can be unrealistic to have your whole week of lessons completely planned because things change, and some of the time you have to change your lessons depending on how the kids are doing with the content. But, you can at least gather the materials for your routine lessons like we talked about above and you can surely get everything ready for all of your Monday lessons. Trust me, putting in a little bit of extra work on Fridays will save you so much time and stress during the week. 3. SET A TIME LIMIT It is so easy to spend hours and hours getting your lessons perfect. But the thing is, your lessons don't need to be perfect. So, allot yourself a certain amount of time to spend planning each lesson, and if you need to, set a timer. And be sure to stick to it! If you want to spend time making one of your lessons amazing, that's great. Give yourself more time to plan that lesson, but then spend less time on the others. Once that timer goes off, it is time for you to go home. Don't let teaching consume your life. I know it is hard because you get attached to your students and you really want to help them, but you also need to remember that this is still a job. And just like any other job, it is only meant to be a part of your life, not your whole life. So, if you had a goal to be out of the school by 5, when 5 o'clock rolls around, you'd better be on your way out the door. Teaching can be the greatest job in the world if you let it be. But, spending all of your time prepping won't make you love your job. In fact, it will burn you out quickly. Be the best teacher you can be, but also know when to stop. It's okay if every lesson isn't exactly perfect. I promise, your students will be just fine. Happy planning, Mackenzie
When I was teaching, I tried to avoid using worksheets as much as I could. Don't get me wrong, they occasionally have their place, but let's face it, worksheets just aren't the most fun thing. Engaging students is one of the best ways to help them learn. If they are motivated to learn, they will learn so much more. So, here are some easy ideas you can use to replace worksheets in your class.
Teacher vs. Students This was one of my students favorite activities, and it's super simple. Simply post a problem on the board and have the students answer it on individual whiteboards. Then, when you say, "Boards up," students hold their boards above their head and you can easily see who is understanding. Randomly pick a student; I used name sticks to do this. When you check the boards, be sure to check if this student is correct. If they are, the students get a point, if they aren't, the teacher gets a point. I only said the student's name if they were correct. If they were incorrect, I would say "Oh, our secret student wasn't quite right." This keeps students from getting embarrassed. This activity is also one of my favorites because it allows me to build the confidence of my shy or low students. Some of the time I would disregard which name stick I had drawn if I saw that one of these students had got the question right. Then, the whole class got to celebrate this student, which really helped to give them more self-efficacy. Plickers Plickers is such an awesome technology resource you can use in your class. Plus, it's free! Plickers is a way to allow your students to respond to questions using a QR response card. Write multiple choice or true/false questions on Plickers' website. You can then project this onto a screen. Give each student a QR code that you print out from the website. Each side of the QR code is assigned a different letter (A, B, C, and D). The students respond to the questions by rotating their card to have the side with the corresponding letter at the top of the card. You can then scan the room with your phone and it will read all of the QR codes. The students' responses are displayed on the screen so you can discuss what people thought the answer was and why. All of this data is saved, so you can go back and review it to see how each student performed. It takes some training to get your students used to it, but once they get it down, it can be such a great resource for you. Task Cards I love task cards. They are so versatile so you can use them again and again. They can accomplish the same objective as a worksheet, but they can be so much more engaging if you use them in the right way. Paper Bag Questions Tape tasks or questions to the front of brown paper bags. Place the paper bags around the class with small slips of paper next to each bag. Have students walk around to each bag and answer the question on a slip of paper and place it in the bag. Once the students have answered the questions, you can go over each question and some of the solutions that students gave. Graffiti Wall Many students love art, so a great way to address the multiple intelligences in your class is to let them show what they learned through art. Place large pieces of butcher paper on the walls around your class. On each paper write at the top what you would like your students to draw a picture about. This activity is great for vocabulary, phonics or reading comprehension, but can also be used in other subjects. Once students have drawn pictures on each poster, you will have your own graffiti wall in your class that the students can reference. Foldables I used foldables a lot in my class. The students love to make them, and they actually want to keep their work when they finish. Pick the type of foldable you are going to use, and walk through how to create it with your students. I would switch up the kind of foldables I had them make (flip books, 4 folds, etc.) and this kept them engaged. Then, give your students a problem or task to complete in one of the sections or pages of their foldable. While they work, this is a great opportunity for you to scan and see who is getting it and who isn't. You can have a student then come up to the board and show how they completed the task or problem. Snowball Fight Give each student a piece of white paper. Give them a problem or task to complete. When the class is finished, have the students crumple up their piece of paper. Then, they get to throw their "snowball." Each student goes and finds a piece of paper and opens it up. They look at the answer and see if they agree or disagree. This can make for a great class discussion. For a more controlled snowball fight, draw a target on the board and have the students aim at it. Then, have the students come up a few at a time to get a "snowball." Comics Have your students create a comic to explain the concept that you covered in a lesson. Your students will surprise you with how creative they can be. Then, allow some of your students to read their comics, or do a gallery walk around the room so the students can see all of their classmates' work. Pass the Poster Write a task, problem, or topic at the top of pieces of butcher or poster paper. Have the students work in groups, or individually to add information to a poster for a given amount of time. When time is up, rotate the posters. Once each group has been able to add to each poster, go over the posters as a class. Mind Maps Mind maps are a unique way to assess what your students learned during a lesson and they are so fun for the kids. Give each student a piece of paper. I recommend at least 11" x 17" to give your students enough room. Have your students put the topic in the center of the paper. They can write it in bubble letters, or draw a picture of it. Then, they create a web from this topic by drawing pictures that go along with the topic. For younger grades, it can be helpful to have them write notes next to their pictures so you don't have to spend forever deciphering their picture. By the end, their mind map should be a good representation of what was covered in the lesson or unit. I hope that you found some activities you can use in your classroom. If you have activities that you use in your class that work great, please comment below. Happy planning! Mackenzie Writing is such an essential skill in life, but I feel like it is often one of the most neglected subjects in schools. I think this is in a large part due to students' aversion to writing. I don't know about you, but for my students, writing was a tough subject. It was often like pulling teeth. But, when I made some changes to how I ran my writing block, it became the favorite part of the day for some of my students. So, if you find that your students (or even you) are dreading writing block, try some of these ideas. Establish a routine of writing This seems simple, but I know teachers who thought of writing block as the period they didn't really have to plan much for or as a lesson they could leave out if they were pressed for time. I am guilty of this myself. But, establishing a routine of writing in your class is one of the best things you can do to help your students love it. Students become writers by actually writing. They need the practice. So, expect your students to write regularly, and plan the time for them to do so! The more they practice, the easier writing will become for them. When writing starts to come more naturally, they will enjoy doing it more. Integrate writing Writing can be applied to any subject, so use this to your advantage. Have your students write not just during the writing block, but during reading, math, and science block. Have them write about how they solved a problem, or what they observed in an experiment. Have them write about their thoughts on a book or an issue in the news. It is easy to integrate, and it will help your students to see the importance of writing. Help them see their growth Writing can be a difficult subject to track growth in, but it is vital for the students to see that they improve. Have the students produce a writing piece at the beginning of the year and use this to show growth in the future writing that they do. Hold regular writing conferences with your students and give them positive feedback. Point out the things they have improved on since the beginning of the year. You can even pull out that first writing sample they wrote and show them how they have grown. This much needed encouragement will give your students the motivation to keep writing. Play to their interests Knowing your students and their interests is important not only for building a close classroom community, but also for helping your students to learn. When students are motivated, their reception of the content skyrockets. Let your students write about things that interest them. You can assign topics to the whole class that involve a general interest of the class, or you can have the students perform more self-directed writing tasks. Encourage reading Reading and writing are intertwined, and when a love of one is developed, a love of the other often follows. The more they read, the more ideas they have to write about. Reading also shows your students how writing should look, so as they read more, the skills will transfer over to their writing. Carefully choose mentor texts Mentor texts can be a great tool for developing writing skills in your students, so thoughtfully choose them. The mentor text should not only be well-written and exhibit the writing skill or concept you are teaching, but it should also be engaging. Choose something goofy or funny every once in awhile. Show students that writing can be fun! Giving students an example that they want to work towards will give them something to aspire to. Let them be creative Kids are so creative, but they are also so impressionable. It is critical that you help your students to grow their creativity and not to lose it, because if they lose it now, it will be so much harder for them to get it back. Having overly structured writing time can impede this creativity. Give your students time to be creative and write what they want. Maybe this means starting each writing period with a short free write to get your students thinking, or maybe it means giving wacky prompts. Picture prompts are one fun way to get your students thinking originally. Simply show the students a picture; the more random or uncertain the better. Have them write about it and see what they come up with. Your students will never cease to surprise you. Another fun activity to encourage creativity is word dump. This will keep your students from saying, "I don't know what to write," or "I can't think of anything!" Have your students pull out their writing journals. You can have them write about a topic you are working on, or you can leave it up to them. Set a timer and have them write for the whole time. During this time they can't stop writing. They write whatever comes to their mind. Remind students that this is just to help them get ideas. It doesn't need to be perfect, in fact, it isn't supposed to be. Once the timer goes off, they put down their pencils. Your students will have written a rough draft without even knowing it. Now, this will be a very rough draft, and a lot of it will probably even get scrapped, but there will be ideas in there that your students can use to fuel their writing. Provide time for them to share their writing Sharing is one of the most forgotten steps of the writing process. Along with publishing your work, comes sharing it with others, yet we often neglect to let our students do so. Allowing your students to share their writing with others will help them to take ownership for their work, and if you establish a supportive classroom community, it will help them to keep writing. Make sure that the expectations for sharing are clear, though. Your students need to know that when people share their work, it is not a time to make fun of them for their writing, it is a time to encourage them and compliment them for what they did well. Don't force your students to share their work. If you consistently give your students time to share their work, eventually even some of your shy students will want to share. When I regularly provided time for my students to share their writing, it became their favorite part of writing. Writing can be hard for students, but it can also be hard for teachers. I know that some of you don't feel like you write well, so teaching it is even worse. But, as you invest the time in planning your writing time and acting excited about writing to help your students love it, you will also grow a love for it. Teachers, I know that you have plenty of great ideas, so tell me, how do you instill a love of writing in your students? Happy planning! Mackenzie I love task cards. They are so versatile so you can use them again and again. Plus, many task cards on TpT come with an answer sheet or QR codes, so it makes it really easy for students to get immediate feedback.
Here are 7 ways to use task cards so you can use them frequently without your students getting tired of them.
Happy planning! Mackenzie Summer has flown by! I can't believe it is already time to head back to school. It's crunch time and I know a lot of you are rushing to get everything prepared for your new class. There is just so much to think about: setting up your classroom, creating management plans, prepping for meet the teacher and back to school night, and on top of all of that, planning lessons.
I also have a pack with morning work for every week of the year!!! The pack has writing prompts for both lower and upper grades and helps your students to keep a journal about their weekends. Each Monday (or the first day of the school week if there was a holiday), I had my students write in their journal about their weekend. Then, we would have a morning meeting and each student got to share one thing they wrote. The kids LOVED sharing what they did and it helped to build my class' community. Starting this routine from the very beginning helps to build your classroom community and your students' writing skills! And to further alleviate the stress on you and on your wallet, here are TWO freebies that you can use in your class! Freebie #1: Hall Passes Hall passes are a great way to keep track of your students, and there are so many ways you can use them. Here are just a few ideas:
Freebie #2: Fast Finisher Posters If you're tired of being asked "What do I do now?" these posters are perfect for your class. You can hang all of them up on your wall for your students to refer to, or your can use a magnet to hang the ones you want your students to be doing up on the whiteboard, so they are easy to change when you need. I hope that these will help you to spend less time setting up your class, so you have more time to mentally prep yourself for the coming school year!
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AuthorHi! I'm Mackenzie. Teacher, wife, and Washingtonian. Check out my blog to get ideas and products for your class. Archives
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© Mackenzie Allen 2016.
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