Cheers to the Weekend: #TBookC, Superbowl Sunday, and SNOW!

Happy Weekend!

I'm excited for the Super Bowl this weekend - even though my team isn't in it (but that's not a big surprise, unfortunately) - so mostly my focus is the commercials and half-time show! ;)

One day...one day

We're also supposed to get (dare I type it?) a FOOT of snow this weekend - holy moly! (And watch, now that I've written it, we're only going to get one single snowflake floating slowly to the ground and taking all my hopes of a s**w d*y with it - I will not jinx it!!)... but I digress!! I love my job, but hey, sometimes teachers need a break too!


To boost my personal and professional development, and to connect with other educators, I've joined the Teacher Book Club on Twitter for the month of February. Currently reading:

Snagged from Amazon :)

I've used the children's version of the book numerous times in classrooms that I've been in previously, but reading the adult version is really reinforcing my belief in the power of the positive! I am loving the book so far, and it seems like it will be a pretty quick and easy (yet totally powerful!) read. 

I also really love the power of social media, and the huge role that social networks are playing in my journey as an educator! And, if you're interested in joining, the book chat is on Thursday, February 5th - use #TBookC to join in the conversation! :)

Hope everyone in blogger land is having an enjoyable weekend - and here's hoping that you had or have at least one day this weekend where you didn't have to set an alarm! :)

Until next time, 

Teach Your Heart Out

Getting Into the Groove

Uh-oh...

I feel very neglectful of this blogging effort! Is it too late to make a New Year's resolution? ;)

Tomorrow will mark the end of my third week as a 'real' teacher, and boy have I been busy! My position as an intervention specialist is a bit of a mixed bag - inclusion support, co-teaching, consultation, and resource room - I do it all! My second day on the job, I held my first IEP meeting for two new students (twins) that would be joining me for resource room support, and since then I've held a total of 5 IEP meetings! (5/18 of my caseload in the first 3 weeks? Not what I was expecting, but I have definitely learned SO much!)

I love that my position encompasses so many different aspects of teaching, but that also means that I have to be super flexible and expect the unexpected. This has been quite a shift for me, coming out of a student teaching placement in a general education classroom!

The most rewarding and challenging aspect of my job right now is working with students in the resource room. I am the main teacher for ELA and math for these 7 second grade kiddos whose needs are extremely varied. None of the 7 are reading at grade level, and for math, the students are receiving a modified 1st grade curriculum.

To boost reading in my classroom, I LOVE Raz-Kids - and the kids love it too! It makes my teacher heart so happy to know that they love it so much! My favorite part is having the students record themselves reading so that I can listen to it later. They are SO funny - and all of them are working so hard!

We have been working dilligently on 'ee' words for our spelling list - and today we had a chance to read a special read-aloud with lots of 'ee' words. We read Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy Shaw, and the kiddos loved finding the 'ee' words in the story - and playing with the 'ee' chunk to make their own words. To give them some extra practice, we even made our own sheep with some 'ee' words written on them! Who says special education can't be fun?! :)

Our sh'ee'p!! 

Until next time,

Teach with passion

Teach with empathy

Teach Your Heart Out!

Drumroll, Please...

...because here was my first peek at what my new classroom will look like!

I'm hoping to switch up the room a little bit, so here are all the 'before' pictures. Now, get ready for the photo dump:

The Promethean board and six desks in the resource room. I have five second grade students in the morning for ELA, and in the afternoon for mathematics instruction. (I just found out that I am getting two new friends in my class - twins - so we're going to need another desk!)

Mailboxes and storage

Whiteboard and para's desk

Para's desk and more storage

Small back table for guided reading lessons (I need to get a small whiteboard for this area!)

More storage along the back of the room, windows looking out onto the playground, and my desk in the corner.

I am still getting used to the schedule that was set up by the previous teacher, but it's mostly a good mix of inclusion interventions, resource room teaching, and a bit of co-teaching (it seems mostly in phonics.)

There will definitely be a lot of work to do over winter break - getting IEP snapshots ready, re-organizing data into a system that fits better for me as a teacher, and figuring out what resources will be my go-to's in the classroom. So much to do, so little time!

Now excuse me while I dig into as much of those IEP's as I can handle before bedtime! :)

Until next time, 

TYHO

Good News!

I'm beginning today with both good news...and with BETTER news! :)

Good News: I just graduated this weekend with my Masters degree in Early Childhood Education (PreK-3) and Special Education (K-12)... which means that I am now certified to teach!! I am so ready to be in a classroom of my very own! While I am still waiting for my Early Childhood license, my Intervention Specialist license was completed through an alternative licensure path...which meant that I was able to get a head start on looking for jobs...

Better News: I HAVE A JOB! (PTL!) I was worried that I would have a very difficult time finding a job in the middle of the school year, and was preparing myself for day-to-day subbing. It seems, though, that the universe had bigger plans, and after only two interviews, I was beyond blessed to be offered a position as an intervention specialist at an elementary school for the remainder of the 2014-2015 school year! I am outrageously excited and ready to begin this next step in my journey!

However... this means that I need to get it in gear and prep for this new job! Between the end of my student teaching and graduation, I've had about 5 days to begin to collect resources, follow blogs, and Pinterest. Tomorrow, I get to meet the interventionist that I'll be replacing (she's retiring at the end of December), shadow her for a few days before the end of the semester, see my new room, and, most importantly, meet my new kiddos!

For the rest of today, I'm going to be building a collection of blogs to follow and gathering more ideas to help me along this journey. It's time - I'm finally a 'real' teacher! :)

-TYHO

Let's Give It a Whirl!

Alright, I'm new at this blogging thing, so bear with me. After being so inspired by all of the teaching blogs written by educators all over the world, I've decided to give it a shot and blog my experiences! More to come shortly, but I can't wait to share my passion for teaching with the world! :)

Until then, teach with passion, teach with courage, teach your heart out!