We're all learning together...

Now into the second full week of school, I have been able to test my skills with using pre-fab foldables and some of my own original creations.

To all those out there who are making your own unique foldables: you deserve an award!  They are complicated & time-consuming.  But, so far quite rewarding!

I've almost figured out how to include files into the blog, so look for an edit soon!  I will include the pdf's for all my foldables, but for now just some pictures...

This one might be my favorite

And a couple from the students' notebooks!

(note to self: remember to take more pictures of the students' work!)

I have been stressing "COLOR WITH PURPOSE"

Some things that I have really liked:

• the organization!!! I can easily tell them to look back at a topic, they refer to their TOC and BOOM! they're there.
• working in groups.  They ask each other questions and check results.  the desks have created a very collaborative learning environment
• flipping! they have watched videos for homework on a few topics, it allows us to have the majority of class time to just reflect.  the notes/foldables are much more detailed because of this!  definitely going to continue that throughout the year.
• Google classroom & Google Drive -- if you don't use it yet, I highly suggest it!  What a great way to get info out and help with the "flipping".  They can even download drive on their smart phones

Some things I have not liked:

• working in groups.  the desk formation definitely allows for increased chatter (and not in a good way) - need to continue practicing "good" conversations
• the mess!  even with the caddies & mini trash cans, the room looks like a tornado blew threw.  I am stressing with each class today that the room, groups, & caddies MUST be kept neat for the class that comes in next.  (I didn't want to add in this next part, but I want them to know I mean business)  I also added that any group in violation will lose points on their next test/quiz.
  
• creating the foldables & SMARTnotebook (this is also my first full year with SMARTnotebook) files to go along with them is VERY time consuming.  (Hoping this will get better/easier with time)

Some things the students have liked:

• the organization! -- particularly the table of contents & numbering the pages
• cutting & pasting -- they keep telling me how much fun it is to "play" with their notes
• sitting in groups -- they like having people to work with and talk to

Thanks for reading!  Please leave comments, questions, and suggestions in the section below!

Getting to Know Chelsea...

Hi everyone!

My name is Chelsea Morgan and I am entering my 6^th year of teaching (5^th year at my current school)!  I’ve spent the majority of my 2014 summer vacation planning, reading blogs, and mentally preparing to incorporate Interactive Notebooks in my classroom for the first time!  Along with my co-bloggers, we hope our readers will enjoy and help us learn from our Trials & Tribulations!

Some background on me:

• ·        I grew up & currently live/teach in northeastern New Jersey

• ·        I graduated Penn State in 2009 (love ya lions!) with a degree in Mathematics

• ·        I will be teaching Algebra 2 CP & Geometry Honors for 2014-2015, but my interactive notebooks will only be done in Algebra 2 this year (if successful, I’ll expand to Geometry next year)

• ·        I LOVE reading!!  I’m absolutely a book snob and will refuse to see a movie until I’ve read the book.  I’m particularly obsessed with Harry Potter & Game of Thrones. 

• ·        I’m the Varsity Cheer coach at my school and the sophomore class advisor.  I think being involved in other aspects of my student’s high school experience is super important and helps make me a better teacher.

• ·        Most of the ideas I will use this first year are from the amazing blogs I read all summer and will credit them whenever possible.

• ·        I normally do not like writing, and I’m not very good at it (probably why I chose math ;) ) so I apologize in advance for any spelling or grammar errors.  I promise to try my best.

  

For my first post, I decided to show everyone exactly what I have set up…

For the first 3 ½ years, my desks had been in rows.  This obviously doesn’t foster any collaboration.  So, after some brainstorming about how to change this without going crazy half-way through the year, a fellow colleague (shout-out to DD) suggested sitting the students in pairs.  We both tried this in our classrooms and it was a huge success.  The students really worked well together and we were able to get them thinking together about solving problems instead of always immediately asking us… I would have loved to continue the pairs again this year, but I realized having 12-13 sets of supplies was going to be difficult, which leads me to my current setup…

My room setup

One grouping of desks

I realized that sitting in groups would be the easiest way to get supplies out.  I bought 5 shower caddies from the dollar store and filled them with some important items…  

Caddie Items

• ·        One ruler per person

• ·        One scissor per person (these were ordered but haven't arrived yet)

• ·        1 tape dispenser + a refill

• ·        2 glue sticks

• ·        2 erasers

• ·        2 mini Post-it pads

• ·        A pack of 10 markers

• ·        A pack of 4 highlighers

• ·        A black Sharpie

• ·        A tiny “trashcan” – which is really just a smallish box

For the record, I will not be using actual notebooks.  This blog is all about the fact that this is our first year...  So, I made the decision to just keep using their binders.  I won’t have to actually edit anything down to size and can continue using some favorite worksheets I’ve used in years past.

Plan for Week 1 (Wednesday-Friday):

I wish I could say that my first day will be filled with magic, but that would be a lie.  It’s generally just me talking at the room about all the rules & regs while they follow along with the class contract.  I am trying to make things a bit more interactive this year… I put all the normal day one info into a power-point presentation and white-out parts of their contract for them to fill in.  I’ll also probably hand out textbooks.  (Told you, not exciting.)    [When I figure out how to add attachments, I'll include them for everyone to check out.]

Day 2 will hopefully be better…

This will be the first day we actually start our wonderful ISN’s.  I’m going to show my students the table of contents we will use & how were going to use them, discuss how I want them to label each page, and review the rules of our foldables (cut on solid lines, fold on dotted, etc – might make a last minute foldable tonight for them to actually practice on).

While reading one of my favorite teacher blogs http://everybodyisageniusblog.blogspot.com/ I saw that she starts her year with Multiple Intelligences and Learning Styles Surveys.  I thought this was a GREAT idea and plan on using them as our first entries!  The majority of my students are juniors and that information could be really useful for them during college.   As homework, they will create their own Personal Learning Plan via a Google Form (another endeavor I’m tackling this year). Maybe I’ll dedicate a few posts about Google Apps throughout the year.

Day 3 (Friday!):

We will finally begin some math!!  Algebra 2 Lab (my inclusion class) will start with sets of numbers.  I created a “Venn Diagram” my first year teaching and I still love it [Again, when I figure out how to add attachments, I'll include it for everyone to check out.].  Algebra 2 CP will begin with solving Systems of Linear Equations by graphing.  With them, I’m going to use a 3-door foldable to show the different types of solutions (intersecting lines/independent, overlapping lines/dependent, parallel lines/inconsistent).  **I'll post a picture after they are complete**

I look forward to updating readers throughout the year.  If you have any comments, helpful hints, or questions for me or my fellow contributors, please be sure to leave them below!