katievale22

Six Activities to try with your students after the break!

Goodness, that teacher feeling before break feels full of rest, Netflix, and family, but when that alarm goes off at 5:30 a.m. on the January day you go back, well, reality sets in.  It is cold; it is the third quarter, and your pants don’t fit. (Well, mine don’t.).  Regardless, our kids are coming back, ready or not.  You may be the only person and school the only place some of our kids can’t wait to get back to because their breaks weren’t full of fun and rest.  So, remember that as you attempt to button that last button on your favorite teaching jeans or yoga slacks, and get back to this life-changing work.  

Here are SIX activities to do after the kids come back and you are easing back into the school routine.  

Activities for After Break: 

  1.  Have students mindmap their future goals.  It is an artistic expression and visual representation of their goals and future lives.  
  2. Have students write a letter to their future selves.  Have them reflect, make an end-of-year goal, a ten-year goal, a twenty-year goal.  Have them sign it and take it up.  You should write on each letter, and hand them back in May.  I love this activity because in May it is lighthearted, and they love hearing from their past selves.  
  3. Revisit procedures.  Every student, every grade needs re-practice on how we live this school life.  You could gamify it; group quiz; partner blooket, but make sure they remember how to behave in your space.  It won’t take too long before they are back in their routine.  
  4. Use Love and Logic when things start ramping up.  “Oh,” smile, “we don’t talk across the room in here.”  Smile again.  It is awkward and fun and EFFECTIVE, and I LOVE IT.  
  5. Have a choice board ready for the kids to pick an on-going project that they will begin working on throughout the semester. (Choice matters). 
  6. Have them do a comic strip of their goals for the semester or a comic strip of their favorite activities.  Something light.   

The January and the February in every school year is always my most difficult time of the year. The 3rd quarter is rigorous and cold and the heat in my room never seems to work right, but it won’t be long until Spring Break will hit, and you will begin feeling nostalgic over the year because the fourth quarter will fly by.  

Teach On, beautiful warriors!  I’m rooting for you!  

-Katie 

(Or you could have your students make a Greek and Latin rootword forest… always a favorite of mine).  

My mindmapping middle school cuties!
katievale22

Newcastle, OK… Where Innovation Abounds…

On the outside, it looks like any high school in Oklahoma.  The football stadium stands at attention, students walk to and from class, but inside the school is where innovation abounds.  And why?  The principal.  A man by the name of Adam Hull.  See, Adam is a Hallway Leader; he is constantly looking for ways to serve the students at his school.  Running through his mind is a stream of plans to “make sure his students are prepared for life after high school,” “Give his students real-world experiences, so they can better know what they want to do when they leave his place.”  His idea, each student will have a future career track, each student will get the opportunity to ‘intern’ in the community, and each student will have a better plan as to what they actually want to go out into the world and do.  

At Newcastle High School, a rural high school, outside of Oklahoma City, kids can enroll in the aviation elective where they use flight simulators, make hot air balloons, and conduct tests in wind tunnels.  The only problem: the aviation teacher needs more simulators and more materials as so many kids want in that class.  Who wants to help?   

And it is not just cool classes that exist in this innovative high school, but real-world application to future jobs.  As I walked the building with my good friend, Adam, I got pretty near tears as I observed a class of ‘future teachers’ learning about how best to engage the brains of their future students.  I often call my first- and second-year teachers my ‘baby teachers.’ These are real-live baby teachers on an education track in high school, in high school, not college.  

As we walked into the counselor’s office, I picked up an application for an internship.  Students apply for internships and are embedded in the community to work and try out career fields in real time to see if it is for them!  This is so much more than textbook teaching; this is why we do what we do.  Mr. Hull was introducing me around the counselor’s office when a student walked in.  

“I don’t think I want to intern in nursing anymore,” he said, “in my opinion, it is not for me.”  

The adults looked at each other and unequivocally said, “Absolutely, let’s get you placed elsewhere.”  There were no chiding remarks of ‘you have to see it through whether you like it or not; we don’t quit; this is the real world!’  No, this child was seen, valued for his opinion, heard, and empowered to try something else.  

“That is the point,” Adam said, “we should be giving our kids experiences that will help them determine their futures and how they can be successful and happy.  I’m not going to require my students to read and act out Romeo and Juliet if that is not applicable to their future lives.”  Now, Romeo and Juliet fanatics, don’t come for me; it can have its place, but the point being that my friend Adam is not scared to challenge the status quo when it comes to doing what is right for each and every kid that walks the hallways of his building.  And guess what, he was like this as an innovative teacher in a math class.  I was fortunate enough to have him on my team early in my career; I got to see him in action and do some really cool cross curricular lessons with him and our students.  He has taken what he knows to be right for kids and implement it in an entire school community.  It is remarkable.      

As Principal Hull walked me out of his school, kids felt permitted and comfortable to shake his hand, give him a high five, or holler down the hall at him that they were dressing up as him for Halloween.  Also, a teacher came jogging down the hall to get his attention.  

“Hey Adam,” she said a little out of breath because teachers have about a million and one things to do in their one, short, glorious planning period.  “Did you get my email?” she questioned.  

“No,” he answered back, “I haven’t been to my office yet today.”  Mind you, it was 2 p.m.  “I will answer emails when the buses leave.”  Yep, that’s my buddy Adam.  If you haven’t seen the amazing things Newcastle High School is doing, get over there and take a tour.  You will find Mr. Hull in the hallways of his school.  

-Katie