Our Class Tweets!

One of the "new" things I'm trying this year is a classroom twitter account (@graysfifth).  Each morning I log into our class twitter account on one of class computers.  Then, throughout the day the kids can tweet about what ever they want, when ever they are moved to do so.  So far the kids have tweeted about what they are looking forward to, something they are interesting in, or their favorite part of the day.

We've also been able to connect with other classrooms near and far.  We even connected with a few classrooms from our school district.  When one of my students tweeted about our upcoming math test @FarrandRoom21 tweeted us back.  My kids were so excited that someone read their tweet and asked them a question!

Our classroom twitter feed is also on our class website.  Which gives parents another glimpse into our day.  A few of our parents are even following us and responding to our tweets.

Reading their tweets at the end of the day has become one of my favorite things to do.  It has been incredible to see what they feel inspired to tweet.  It definitely reminds me how important the little things are, even to 5th graders.

Pushing the Envelope

When I was in high school I was a member of the alpine ski team.  I remember before each practice our coach always said to push the envelope of fear each time you make a run on the course.  Get closer to the gates, take a more direct route to the gate, be more aggressive, etc.  There were times that I'd crash and blow out of the course, but there were plenty of other times that I had my best run ever all because I pushed the envelope of fear!

This year in my twelfth year of teaching I'll be pushing that envelope of fear.

1.  I'm doing away with rewards in my classroom.  I've done a lot of reading this summer and a lot of thinking.  In the past I've rewarded kids for just about everything: turning in homework on time, completing homework, being a bucket filler, etc.  But the thing I've found is that handing out rewards took a lot of time away from my teaching and they really didn't work in the first place.  This year I look forward to being able to spend less time managing rewards and spending more time with my students.  Am I scared a little? Um... YES!

2.  This year will also be the first time that I'll have a student teacher. And that scares me to death.  My biggest fear is will I be able to share my students?  Will I be able to share their successes, their funny stories, and their quirky sense of humor?

3.  Trying things I've never tried before.  Participating in the Global Read Aloud, Blogging, and creating a class wiki are just a few of the things on my list this year.

I strongly feel that in order to be a better educator I need to push myself to try new things.  Will I be successful?  I hope so.  Will I stumble? Probably.  But even if I do I will get up, brush myself off and give it another try.  This year I will push my envelope.  At times it will be uncomfortable but in the end I know it will be worth it.

It's Worth It!

The building I teach in is a K-5 building and being a 5th grade teacher it is rare that I get to see my students once school gets out.  Every once in a while I'll have some students come back to visit the next year.

About a month ago I was asked to come and speak at a volunteer recognition breakfast for one of our science units.  They also asked for some students to attend and speak.  Right away I sent out some emails to the students that just left my room in June.  Well, they all had orientation for middle school and couldn't come to the breakfast.  Since they were no longer an option I reached out to two former students.  Both of them were super gracious and took a morning out of their summer vacation to talk about a project that they had done two and three years ago.  

During their brief speech in which they talked to about 40 engineers this morning about the project I was blown away.  The students spoke from their heart about their experiences like it happened yesterday...not two or three years ago.  Spending the morning with them reaffirmed that all of the hours put into lesson planning, prepping, teaching, and building connections with the students are totally worth it!