Class Management

Managing My Time With Checklists

Balancing teaching and a personal life can be hard. The lines begin to blur a bit on weekends, after school, and even during holiday breaks. It’s easy to get stuck at school for hours on end and still feel like nothing gets done. I personally can’t be in my room past 3:30 p.m. without feeling like I “live” there. To get out of my room in a timely manner without feeling like I haven’t accomplished anything, I use checklists to manage my time.

The Gist

  • A checklist of tasks for the morning and afternoon keep me on track.
  • Using checklists to check student work keeps grading from becoming unruly.
  • Organizing a “turn-in bin” and “drop box” keeps paperwork manageable.
Read more “Managing My Time With Checklists” →
Class Management

How To Post and Promote Donor’s Choose Projects

Many years ago, when I first started posting projects on Donor’s Choose, it was a tedious process and I didn’t do it very often. However, when I ended up in kindergarten a few years ago, I really needed new age-appropriate materials and I couldn’t afford all of it myself. When I logged back onto Donor’s Choose after a few years of absence, I was relieved to see how much easier and stream-lined the process had become.

The Gist

  • Donor’s Choose saves your first two basic “about my class” information paragraphs, making it easy to get started for every additional project.
  • Once you have the first two paragraphs, you only need to write about 500 words describing what materials you need and how they will benefit your class (not that much, really.)
  • Shopping is super easy and it now includes Amazon, Best Buy, and Staples (major retailers)
  • The “thank you” package due date can be changed to accommodate your schedule
Read more “How To Post and Promote Donor’s Choose Projects” →
Class Management

The Best Behavior Videos for Primary

When I was assigned a kindergarten class a few years ago, I didn’t know how I was going to set up my classroom management. I had just finished teaching at a middle school as a resource teacher, and had designed behavior lessons for that age group. I knew that those lessons weren’t going to work for kindergarteners, so I started doing some research.

The Gist

  • Kid friendly behavior videos teach expectations for young children
  • Wondergrove Kids is a great place to start
  • Heidi videos are also good
  • Modeling is really important
Read more “The Best Behavior Videos for Primary” →