My Goals

After a million years of trying to keep New Year's Resolutions, I know better than to write resolutions that I won't keep.  So instead, I am writing goals for myself.  Long range goals that will help me stay focused on what is most important.

PROFESSIONAL GOALS:
1) Put my students at the forefront of my teaching.  Not the mandates or even the curriculum, but the students should come first.  Enough said.

2) Read two entire books that will help me grow as a professional.  The key word here is "entire".  I have a HUGE library of professional books.  I have read a few chapters (or sometimes just a few pages - sigh) of each of these books.  But I get sidetracked and put the book to the side.  I have this mistaken notion that professional books are magical and all I have to do is open the book and I will become a better teacher.  But then I start to read the books and realize there is no magic, double sigh.  So my goal is to completely read COVER TO COVER two professional books in the near future.  I already know which two and have started reading them.

Look Me in the Eye

Book Number One:  Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison

This is not your typical PD book.  It is the autobiography of a man diagnosed with Aspergers at age 40.  It is the story of his struggles growing up and finding his way.  I am reading it because more and more Aspergian children are in our classrooms.  I want to become better at loving and nurturing them.  This book will help me do that.  In some ways it is a tough book to read because parts are heartbreaking.  But it is also humorous and sweet. I have read quite a few chapters already and know that I will want to finish this book!

Book Number Two: Teach Like a Pirate: Increase Student Engagement, Boost Your Creativity, and Transform Your Life as an Educator by Dave Burgess

Check out that sub-title; how could I not want to read this book?!?  Plus I put it on my Kindle so double love!  I have actually already read the first two chapters and am loving it.  Highly creative, engaging just like the title says!  Maybe, just maybe, even transforming.  Time will tell.  I am actually thinking of doing a series of blog posts on this book both to inform AND to hold me accountable.





PERSONAL GOALS:
1)  Keep my little family (my dad and sisters) at the center of my personal life, especially my dad as he deals with so many health issues.  I know our time on Earth is limited and I want to sit at my dad's feet and learn from his wisdom as much as possible.

2) Pray.  Not just quick one sentence prayers, but spend time in conversation with God.

3) Exercise.  I so hate it.  I mean really, really, really H.A.T.E. it!  My favorite physical activity is turning the pages of a book (or pressing the page turning button on my Kindle).  So my hope is to find a class that I can at least not hate and then commit to it.  (Oh, commitment is also hard for me.  Remember my issue with not finishing professional books?  It is true in many other places as well.  Once I make the commitment, I am very loyal, but actually making the commitment is soooooo hard.)

4) Eat healthy.  When I get stressed (which is a lot), I turn to food.  Chocolate especially.  Yum, yum, and yum.  The stress is still there, but chocolate makes me forget about it.  Hmmm ... I guess chocolate is like a mind altering drug for me... scary!!!!  My goal is to turn to fruits and vegetables instead.  (I think I am in trouble because I couldn't even type that with a straight face ... I started laughing hysterically.  But I will try!!)

5) Have some fun.  I tend to be very serious and gravitate toward work related activities.  I want to have a fun activity at least once a month this year.  (Which would be a HUGE change from last year!!! Oh, don't worry too much about me ... I do have fun in my classroom.  Teaching is my outlet for my humor and creativity and everything else!)

6) Blog at least once a week.  In some ways this is a professional goal, but it is also a personal goal because you all are my friends.

Whew!  Too many goals I think, but they are all doable (except the fruit and vegetable one).

Love to all,

Camille

Labeling My Library

This post is all about how I label my library.  If Blogger allowed for a subtitle it would be "How I Get My Students to Put Their Books Away in the Correct Bin".

Lately there have been a lot of posts about reorganizing classroom libraries.  Well, because I am moving to a new room, right now my library is a mess with books in two classes and tubs in no order.  Sigh.  It will get done!  It will get done!!

BUT ... I LOVE the way my books are organized and thought you might like to hear about a simple system that works.  This system is from The Sisters of Daily Five fame.  It took hours to set up, but that time was well worth it because now the effort to maintain my classroom library is minimal.

Here are my how to steps:

1)  Sort your books into like catergories.  You can sort by genres, topics, and/or authors.  You will probably end up with some of each.  Three of my book groups are:  Poetry, Reptiles, and Dr. Seuss.

2)  Put each group of books into a separate tub.  (Some groups may take two tubs.)

3)  Label each tub.  (Example:  Reptiles).  Make your labels as plain or as cute as you want.  Some bloggers have offered free labels.  (I used copyrighted images so I can't offer mine.)

4)  Place the tubs where you want them around the room.  Some teachers prefer all tubs are in the same area; others prefer the book tubs scattered through out the room; some teachers have enough storage that they are able to keep tubs put away and just bring out a few at a time.  The choice is yours.

5)  Number each tub.  Start with one and go as high as you need to.  I started in one corner of the room and worked my way around with numbers so the tubs would be in order, more or less.  (I have 48 tubs and some of my tubs are super crowded.  It is best to not overload each tub, but because I have so many books, my tubs are full so they take up less space.)

6)  Label each tub with its number.  I use round, white labels.  I write the tub number on the sticker and place the sticker on the front of the tub.

7)  Label each book in the tub with the same number.  (Once again, I use the round, white stickers.)  This takes FOREVER!!!!  You can get volunteers to help you with this - BUT make sure they will write the numbers neatly.  I had an older student help and I ended up redoing the numbers.  Not fun!

... and the end result is an organized classroom library!

I do NOT use any kind of checkout system with my students.  I want my students to be able to take books to their seats or anywhere in the room whenever they have time to read.  Then when they are done with the book, they look at the number on the front of the book and find that tub.  Simple!  Beautiful!  Really, it does work!  Sometimes my kinders do place books in the wrong tub, but that is rare.  (... and the most common mistake is placing a tub #12 book in the #21 tub or vice versa.  But that mistale always reminds me that we need to work on our numbers!!!)

Now it is back to moving classrooms for me!  I am so grateful that our days are a little cooler right now!

Love to all,
Camille