Beginning 1:1 - Starting the New School Year

I am sitting here trying to prepare for the new school year, which begins on August 18th for me.  Last year, I piloted 1:1 laptops for the district beginning in March so you would think I would be better prepared to start the year out with 1:1 right? Wrong!   I am looking over my first day presentation and am realizing all the changes I need to make to include my rules and procedures with the laptops. I am thinking about how I am going to introduce them on the first day and how much the kids are going to get to use them. It is so overwhelming! The difference is last year I began 1:1 with students whom I had gotten to know over the course of three quarters of school, some of them I had even had in my class the year before. So I knew my kids pretty well and what to expect out of them. This year I am getting a brand new class with students who I have never met in a classroom setting, so I have no clue what to expect!  All I know is that I will be allowing the students to use the laptops on the first day. The entire school knows I have them, so why not jump in? The kids will be expecting it. I have always been a planner, but I feel like this just needs to be a little less planned than normal and to be quite honest, that drives me crazy. Before I can plan any technology based projects, assignments, or anything I need to know where my students stand with it. It's the same idea with anything, you are going to gauge your students abilities before you jump in to something with them. So here I go... jumping in again. :)

Never, Ever Give Up!

Back in February I was asked to implement 1:1 laptops in my classroom as part of a pilot program. I was told that there were only 2 classrooms in the entire district piloting this, myself and a junior high class.  My heart fluttered and I thought it was going to explode in excitement. With no hesitation I agreed. This turned out to be a life changing decision.
From March until the end of school in May, I had teachers, administrators, and district office staff (including the superintendent) coming through my classroom to see what was going on.  There was a lot of hype about my class and about what my kids and I were doing in it with the laptops and projects the kids were working on. My kids were amazing during all of this and rocked it like champs! They answered questions so well that it blew me away.  At the end of the year, I thanked my students for all of their cooperation and hard-work with this implementation. It was because of them that people around the district and in the district office now knew my name. It was because of them our class became famous in the district.
I have never been the type of person to 'show-off' or promote myself in anyway. Even now when I receive compliments, I smile and get very embarrassed but graciously thank them. I take everything to heart, but I do not let it go to my head. I work my tail off and make my classroom and the learning as exciting as possible. I am always looking at the next thing to do and what I can always change.I push the limits with my teaching and the projects I do (especially with materials I have received from DonorsChoose).
For so long I was frustrated because I was passed over on opportunities, or it was the same person who did it every year and it didn't change. I knew no one outside of my school site and had not grown up in the district as many of my coworkers, had so I felt at a disadvantage since I could not network with as many people as others could.
Finally a couple of years ago, I took a position as a Model Technology Teacher. I helped with software and hardware issues, troubleshooted what I could, and did trainings on new programs that were coming out. Of course I didn't just stay with that, I kept exploring new avenues and finding new technology and programs to use in the classroom. Finally, I began to shine and slowly... ever so slowly people began to take notice.
I will be beginning my 9th year of teaching this year and will be starting it in a whole new fashion. I will be starting this coming year as a teacher, but also someone who the district office knows (the superintendent knows me! Crazy right?!), someone who was qualified to apply for a job at the district level (I didn't get it though because God has other plans for me right now. :) ), someone who will continue to teach other teachers at a higher level with integrating technology in the classroom, and someone who people are coming to for help with technology, projects, lessons, and classroom management ideas. I am blown away and overwhelmed with joy at everything that has transpired in these past 4 months.
I know there are more people out there just like me. People who work their tails off and go unnoticed for all the amazing things they do. People who, once they find their niche, will take off and shine!  My message to you is to keep doing what you're doing. Keep pushing yourselves to the next level and moving on. No matter how hard, frustrating, or how many tears you cry... keep going! You can get there. It took me 8 years and I am not done yet! I am planning to keep growing. My next step is to become a Google Certified Educator. :)
My favorite quote is from U.K. Prime Minister Winston Churchill:

"Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, give up. Never give up. Never give up. Never give up."

Under Construction

Happy Sunday!

It is quite obvious that there have been a lot of changes going on with the blog. Yesterday my amazing friend, Kristen, over at Teaching In A Nutshell took over my blog and began the redesigning process. During all of the construction my blog will remain fully functional and I will still continue to update it regularly.  The main design is completed and so now you will be seeing the template getting spiced up with design.

I totally forgot to take before pictures, but I did find what my old banner looks like so you can make some type of comparison.

Before:

After:

This new design reflects my personality so much more than the old one! I love the colors and the design of the banner; it's so much brighter and more cheerful!  I am so excited to see what else she comes up with. :)  Be sure to stop by her super cute blog and show her some love too at Teaching In A Nutshell. 

Luv ya!

*~Sarah~*

1:1 Implementation Preview - Before & After

Back in March, I was extremely fortunate to be asked by the district technology guy to pilot a 1:1 laptop implementation.

Before I get into more details about the 1:1 implementation let me give you a bit of background about myself and my experience with technology.

Before:

My classroom management was typically very structured. I liked my kids to stay in their seats, work quietly, and whisper if they were working in a group or with a partner. My room was anything always very quiet. Every now and again we would play a game or do something exciting and the class would get louder. My students always had a seating chart that was set up by me and they had to stay that way. I had desks that were either in pairs or small groups. This all changed when technology began to come into my classroom!

Before this implementation my experience with tech includes a small group set of laptops, iPads, and Nook Tablets as well as some other exciting things like a 3D Makerbot printer. At the beginning of this past year, I implemented a BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) which was very successful and got me one step closer to 1:1.

 After: 

Now my class is noisy with amazing collaboration between the students going on. My students do not have assigned seating but I keep mixing them up with other requirements so they do not get too comfortable with their groups. One day I may put on the board "Sit with 2 people you have not worked with before", this way it keeps my students mingling. Instead of desks I have had tables for 2 years now. I requested them from my principal the year before when I was starting to get more technology and doing more group work. My students are no longer confined to their seats and are able to get up and move to work where ever they feel comfortable.

People now walk into my classroom and see organized chaos. I still have my structure but I am a lot more flexible when it comes to projects, collaborating, and having fun. The work my students have been turning in is far better than any work I have received before and I owe it to their collaboration. Allowing the students to collaborate has helped me out tremendously so I am now only answering authentic questions, not "What are we supposed to do?" because my students put a stop to that for me.

My classroom projects have become a lot more hands-on especially with the 1:1 implementation. The resources are endless having the internet at their fingertips!

This is just a preview of my blog series that I am working on. Part one will be coming out soon and will be telling you about the first day we received the 1:1 laptops and the overwhelming, crazy, and exciting emotional roller coaster I was on as an educator.

Thanks for stopping by and reading!

Luv ya!

*~Sarah~*

Working on it Wednesday

http://kindergals.blogspot.com/

I have decided that I am going to follow through 100% with this blog! I am dedicated to it and have a partner to help keep me on top of things!

This is my first "Working On It!" Wednesday with the Kindergals and I am very excited about it.

I am working on my blog and getting it up and running again. This past year I had the privilege to a pilot 1:1 laptop implementation for my district and I know that a lot of people are interested and could possibly benefit from what I went through and faced during it. I will also be working with the 4th grade teachers at my school site as the technology teacher there to help them implement 1:1 laptops, meanwhile I'll be able to begin the year with them!

This summer is going to be a different type of preparation for school than I've worked on before. I am focusing on Project Based Learning as well as going full throttle into the Common Core ELA and Math standards.  My district just adopted Hought-Mifflin's GO! Math series, so there is also that on my plate. I will have PLENTY of Working On It Wednesdays throughout the summer.

Thank you so much for stopping by and keep checking in for my posts on 1:1 laptop implementation, Project Based Learning, my own personal blog posts about writing and photography, and so much more!

Luv ya!

*~Sarah~*

DonorsChoose Giving Page

Hi everyone! I apologize for the absence again, but this summer I'm going to be making a schedule and looking into a blog planner so I'm better about posting. :)

DonorsChoose Home Page

I was thinking about starting up my own giving page on DonorsChoose.  I've been on a big DC kick with donating, posting projects, and also teaching other teachers about it.

DonorsChoose is a non-profit organization that allows teachers to create projects with a materials list, which then gets posted on their website for people to go through and donate towards the cost.  It has been heavily supported by large companies and corporations such as Chevron, Chase, Townshend Press, Bolthouse Farms, and many more. Also it is supported by everyday people and teachers like us who want to help students!

Product update:
Soon on TeachersPayTeachers, I will be posting a handbook I created for the workshop at my school, which the teachers said was really helpful. :)

Leave a comment if you would like to see a Shutters & Scribbles giving page on DonorsChoose. :)

Luv ya!

*~Sarah~*

PS: I'm considering creating a Facebook page too to make quicker updates. :)

Finally back!

Wow, I can't believe I haven't posted in so long. I am so sorry about that... I had a lot of family stuff going on. BUT all is well now and I am back with exciting stuff for the new year! I can't wait to begin to share everything with all of you. I'm going to break it up into several blog posts to make it easier for everyone.

First off I hope everyone had a great holiday and enjoyed their well deserved break! I know I did and I received the best gift ever!!!! For a birthday and Christmas gift my wonderful mom bought me an iPad!! I couldn't believe it cause I had wanted one for so long and I must add that this first blog post is coming to you from the Blogger app on my new iPad. :)

Being a good teacher and a major dork the first thing I did was search for all the educational and teacher apps. Next thing I did was look up how to use it in the classroom. Well let me just tell you that I found some excellent stuff!!!

One of the first things I found was Class Dojo.  This is an amazing classroom management app, which is free - that makes it even better in my eyes. It links to the full website, which is where you will set up your account and everything.  Here's how it works. :)

First go to the website www.ClassDojo.com and set up your account.  Here you will be asked to add your students, which is very quick.  The program will assign each student an avatar.  You can choose the random option to speed up the enrollment portion.  That is what I did and then I used the avatars as a reward if the student reached a certain number of points they got to come in on their free time to choose a new avatar if they wanted.

After you sign up on the computer, go to the app store on your ipad or iphone and download the app for free.  The developers just did an update where the online and app version are more compatible.  When points are given or taken away a sound is made, so what I do is I walk around with my iPad adding and subtracting points, while I leave the sound on my laptop so the students can hear the sound of points being given or taken away.  This part works wonders in the room!  A sound will go off and the students will look to the laptop then get back on task.

What is also really cool about this is it comes preset with behaviors for positive and negative points, but everything is editable!  I added some of my own behaviors to be more specific according to my class expectations.

Now this gets even better!  You can email/print out weekly reports to send home to the parents. Parents and students can also log onto the site on their own to see their reports.  Honestly, I have not gotten this far into the program just yet, but I do plan to try it out before the school year is over.  Here is what the report looks like:

I just love how this breaks it down for the parents, so they can see exactly why their student earned and lost points.

Have any of you used this?  How do you use it? How do you have it set up?

I'd love to hear ideas of how else it is being used because I know I am not using it to it's full capacity right now.

Well I hope you all enjoyed my first blog post of the new year and please stayed tuned because I am fortunate enough to be testing an amazing piece of technology in my classroom for the next three weeks!!

Luv ya!

*~Sarah~*