One thing I like to do the night before every new school year is look back through letters I've received over the years from students I've had in the past. Tonight I looked back through the past three years of Teacher of the Month recommendations and letters written to me from seniors during their last week of school. I even stepped it up a notch this year and put each letter into plastic protectors (something that should have been done a long time ago), and putting them into binders. Looking back through the hundreds of letters I've been lucky enough to receive over the past few years always helps to remind me that what I do in the classroom is incredibly important, and can have huge impacts on the kids that walk through those doors. I always tell students that letters like these really make a difference for us (whether or not they know it), because it tells us that we are making a difference for them. And for teachers who are always nervous and excited about going in that first day, small gestures like that can mean all the difference in the world.
Moving on from the serious stuff, I wanted to show off some of the AWESOME new additions to room 250 this year. I've decked the place out with new QR codes on posters, posted more social media instructions for Twitter and Remind, and updated the American flag charging station. I've also added some fun stuff, like way too many (but simultaneously not enough... it makes sense if you don't think about it) awesome history/government memes, and I FINALLY finished off my Presidents Pez Dispenser collection (seriously... when I got Presidents 31-35 (a murderer's row of Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and LBJ) from Amazon Prime, I was WAY too excited for any 30 year old man to rightfully be about inanimate objects). Anyway, here are some of the updates.
Moving on from the serious stuff, I wanted to show off some of the AWESOME new additions to room 250 this year. I've decked the place out with new QR codes on posters, posted more social media instructions for Twitter and Remind, and updated the American flag charging station. I've also added some fun stuff, like way too many (but simultaneously not enough... it makes sense if you don't think about it) awesome history/government memes, and I FINALLY finished off my Presidents Pez Dispenser collection (seriously... when I got Presidents 31-35 (a murderer's row of Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy and LBJ) from Amazon Prime, I was WAY too excited for any 30 year old man to rightfully be about inanimate objects). Anyway, here are some of the updates.
The biggest change that was made was finally shifting away from rows and moving my desks into pods. Hopefully that will make it easier for group work, creation and collaboration, something that I am going to really focus on this year.
On top of adding more variety and mind-blowing awesomeness to my classroom this year, I've decided to make it a goal to blog more. A good chunk of our online activities, classroom projects, and instructions for DBQs and essays will all be found on blog posts here. However, I'm also making it a goal to show off the awesome work that kids in my classes will be doing in here this year. Seriously, the work they do blows my mind every year, and it deserves to be shown off to more than one person who is assigning them a grade on a project. I wholeheartedly believe that parents, staff, and the community as a whole needs to see what we do in our classrooms on a day to day basis. Looking back at the great things my students have done for me in the past (such as Teacher of the Month nominations) always motivates me to do better things in the future, and I'm happy to say that going into year seven, I'm more passionate about this job than I've ever been. Here's to an awesome 2015-2016 school year!