Ms. M's Tales of a Teacher: My Personal Teacher Blog

 We're back from the co-teaching cave! Ok, perhaps we never left, but I am excited to be discussing all things co-teaching this week with my co-teacher Paul. Our presentation is cleaned up, adjusted and ready for action! This is why I am posting early this week. Information on the presentation to follow! To get us in the mindset of co-teaching, I want to first challenge you to think outside the box on what co-teaching is, and/or what it consists of. Many of you might say "this does not pertain to me because I am alone in the classroom." This may be so however, at some point in your teaching career you'll probably have a co-teacher in some capacity, and consider this idea; does a co-teacher have to be in the classroom with you all day? The answer here is clearly no! Most co-teaching situations are set up based on the schedule that one teacher will not be in the classroom all day. In our presentation we discuss this, and all of our points reflect on the relationship bet...

 Today I want to focus on a sensitive topic for me. If you've seen my inSpiration Sunday post, you already know where I'm going with my thoughts today.  Teaching is not easy- period. We have good days and bad days (sometimes very bad) like everyone else. The things that we are upset about or feel frustrated about all relate to us wanting to be the best we can be for our students. We want their experiences in school to be positive and safe. To do this, our work often requires us to go beyond the clock, think outside the box, and complete our own self-selected research and learning.  With this in mind, I get fired up when someone says to me "you put too much time into your work. You let it upset you too much, or you need to detach." (Cue the eyebrow raise...) Here I am, along with many other educators putting my heart and soul into my teaching, working around countless obstacles, and trying to support others along the way, and the answer when I feel upset is...to detach...

 Now that the first week of school is over,  I've been thinking about many things. I'm sure we are all feeling the emotions of the start of the school year, and we have many ideas floating around. I asked myself this weekend "what is a top priority at this time?" Immediately the word "routines" popped into my head.  The first few weeks of school are all about routines and classroom management. I'm noticing this year that many of my usual routines have to be altered in some way due to the size of my classroom, the number of students I have in my class, and my students' unique personalities and needs. My co-teacher and I talk frequently about adjusting, and how we can execute a routine more efficiently. This of course has come with some confusion to my class, especially if we tried a routine a few times and the students became familiar with it. At times I feel frustrated because I want the routine to fit and work perfectly. I have to constantly remind ...

 Welcome back to school everyone, oh and happy new year! As I've shared in previous posts, this year has certainly brought challenges already with the initial classroom set-up, however I've worked diligently on my own reframing of the situation, and I'm feeling more excited and positive then before! This year is a new opportunity to start fresh, and make changes! I know what you might be thinking- haven't we had enough of that? Yes! Of course! But these changes come from you! You're in the driver seat so steer your teaching life in the direction you want! Here are some things to consider:  Switch up your classroom theme: For me, this meant that I spent my set-up time adopting our Ferny theme even more into the classroom to truly transform it into our learning cave (I'll share pictures once we are done!)  Change the way you organize: This might mean coordinating and re-organizing your binders, going digital, a hybrid of both. The objective is to keep thinks org...

 It's that time of year friends! This year I'll be moving back to first grade so that means new students, new standards, new curriculum, lessons, and... a new classroom. This is my third move in my current school that I've had to make, and being a seasoned teacher I must admit... this is tough! It's true that we get comfortable in our spaces and the daily flow of the classroom we are in. I equate this to people who move around a lot, or even our students. The adjustment can be tough, and for me this is the most difficult one I've had so far.  Getting adjusted to a new landscape of a classroom always throws me off at first. I think I even walked into the closet door the other day because in my old room, that's not where the closet was! When. you're not changing rooms it's easier because you can always leave some things where they are, but this year I'm unpacking everything from my Home Depot bins, and frankly, I don't recall where anything is! Th...

 It's with great pleasure I can finally share with everyone some exciting news... It is an honor to announce that I will be serving as the 2022-2023 Middlesex County Teacher of the Year. This past year has been a whirlwind as I navigated through the application process. At the start of the process, I wasn't sure what to expect. Now I have a clear picture, and although the process required a lot of moving parts (essays, resumes, videos, etc.,)  it was well worth the effort.  I decided to share this news not just to explain the process or make the announcement, but to share my message. As I've shared, the three loves of my teaching life are special education, literacy, and teacher leadership. Literacy is the cornerstone of equity, and working with pre-service and early educators to learn best practices has been a highlight of my career. I feel that all three are truly intertwined, and teaching is not just a job, but a life's calling to a noble profession in sharing a love...

 In the summertime one of the things I enjoy doing is meeting up with colleagues. This could be a lunch date, phone call, FaceTime/Zoom, or even go back to school shopping together. The past few years I've selected summer reading books to read with colleagues or teacher friends, and we had informal book clubs (and we've also done this throughout the year too!)   Summer also provides time to attended professional development (or in my case sometimes, presenting at PD.) In my opinion, the best part of any workshop is the people with whom you share the time with. Last week I attended a two-day workshop summit that was just the ticket I needed to feel re-energized and ready to start the new school year. Although I would've enjoyed taking this workshop in any style or format because I enjoy learning about the topic, I realized the time spent with my grade level team talking about writing workshop, sharing ideas, and creating curriculum was the highlight of the day.  I adm...