Hi everyone, welcome to my little corner of the internet. Pull up a chair, grab a cold drink, and get comfortable.
I created this blog sometime this summer with every intention of blogging about preparation, last year's classes, and tidbits about myself. As you can see, that didn't happen. I did, however, decide to commit to #teach180 and realized that today, a blog post would be best.
Last year, my very first #teach180 post was about my NO EXCUSE bags. I was asked by several people to further explain what these are and what I do with them but I never really got a chance to blog. I blame it on the fact that our school moved buildings mid-year and a brand new curriculum, but that would be making excuses and I hate those.
A few years ago, I started using whiteboards in my classroom. I don't have pictures to document this, but every day, the students would come in, grab a board, a marker, and an eraser to use during the class period. At the end of the class, most of these things would make it back to the boxes and some things would be scattered. I'd spend my preps picking up the erasers from the floor and recapping the markers. At the end of the week, I'd be short one or two erasers and four or five whiteboards. I realized there needed to be some form of accountability in order to ensure that the supplies were respected and treated with care.
So, I bought baggies. I placed a marker and eraser in each. I then added a small white notebook with a number on it. (I'll explain the reason for this addition in a moment.) Then, I assigned each student a number. At first, I threw all these bags into a box and while all supplies were being taken care of, it took a very long time to go through the box and find the correct number. Then, when I was visiting my mom, I noticed she had her shoes in a hanging organizer. Suddenly, it clicked and I ran out to buy one. Placing the baggies in this organizer made it SO much easier for the kids to pick up and return their supplies every single class.
Over the years, this baggie's contents have changed. One year, I added scientific calculators before the school purchased TI-84's. Another year I added a few colored pencils to color code their notes. The photos I have to share are from last year.
They contained: a whiteboard marker, a whiteboard eraser (sponge), a pencil, a large eraser, and the white notebook. I included the pencil as an experiment to see how long they'd last. The answer is: about 4 months before they are too short and need to be replaced. I went from being asked for a pencil at least once a class to not one student mentioning it. I include the eraser to remind kids that mistakes are easy to erase. The white notebooks were part of a donation to my class that I received years ago. I use them for exit tickets. I ask the kids to write down a problem, three things they've learned, 2 questions they have, and so on. By putting it on a piece of paper removed from the book I'm eliminating the weird sizes and the fringe that you normally get on the sides of note book paper.
This year, I've changed the yellow pencil to a mechanical pencil and added a red and blue pen. I'm always changing and adapting this but it's always been a tremendous help to me.
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