Five for Friday

I am linking up for Kacey's weekly linky where I can recap what has happened during my week. This has been a pretty darn exciting week for me! 

One. We only have 12 more school days until my 6th graders take the state assessment (STAAR) in reading! I know we have all been working our butts off, but I am still so nervous. Be sure and say a special prayer for my kiddos and all other 6th graders on April 23rd and 24th!

Two. There are some exciting changes coming in the near future for me and I am so thrilled about them! I cannot wait to share them with you in the next few weeks! 

Three. My kids are absolutely loving the book clubs that we are doing in class right now. I have actually already had several kids finish their first books because they could not put them down. We have been using the iPads and I have gotten several audio books from Audible. Love it and so do the kids! I also love that they all have headphones on, so while I am meeting with my small groups, we are not distracting. :)

Four. I coach club volleyball and we wrapped up our season last weekend! I am so proud of my girls because they improved so much during the course of the season. At our last tournament we only lost one match and then we won the silver bracket! 

Five. I am so excited that we are going to the Zoo for our field trip! I have not been since I was subbing in a 1st grade class a few years ago. I have a feeling 6th graders will be a little different, but I am still pumped!

Book Clubs...They're a Hit!

Today was our first official day of book clubs, and I was so pleased with how they went. We had spent the past few school days setting expectations and discussing procedures for the book clubs. The hardest part for me was actually assigning the books. We laid out all of the choices last week and the students then listed their top five choices on their choice sheet. I was pretty pleased because I only had to place a few students in a group that did not contain a book they selected. 

The highlight though was definitely getting out the iPads for my students to use while they read their book club books. They were so excited! I ordered some Belkin Rock Stars from Amazon so I can plug up to 5 headphones into the iPad. They worked great! Here is a picture of one of my groups that is reading Trouble Maker by Andrew Clements. They made my day when they were listening and all of a sudden I hear a chuckle out of them! 

As I am looking on iTunes for more audio books, I am discovering that some of the titles are not there. Where do you find audio books for your classroom? I am open to using other resources. 

I promise to keep blogging about our classroom journey with book clubs! 

Currently...April!

I just love my sweet friend Farley from Oh' Boy 4th Grade and I also just love her monthly Currently Linky Party! Here is mine for the month of April!

Listening: I am one of those people that has a very difficult time sitting in a silent room! I always have to have music or the TV going if I am in my bedroom. Right now it is on The Apprentice, but my usual choice is anything on HGTV or TLC. 

Loving: My sweet God Daughter! She is just precious and I love getting to spend time with her. Luckily we live in the same town so I am able to spend some time with them on holidays like today. We had some confetti eggs, and boy was that fun! Pretty sure there is still some in my hair! 

Thinking: I am so beyond stressed about my kiddos and the upcoming STAAR test at the end of April! I have some kids who are so ready, but i have about 25% of my kiddos that I am really worried about. I feel like I have been working my butt off and I just do not know if it is enough. There is even more stress because we are currently in Stage 2 of AYP for poor performance on our state assessments in the past. If we do not meet it this year, we will enter Stage 3! I so do not want to do that and feel like it will be my fault if we get to that point. 

Wanting: Rain! One simple request. We got a little tease today with some for about 10 minutes, but trust me, that is not enough for this ground in Texas!

Needing: Oh how I need a massage! My back has been killing me and the massage chair when I get a pedicure is just not cutting it any more. :) I think I am going to have to break down and get one before we test at the end of the month. Don't you think I deserve a little treat?

Advice: I cannot tell you how many times I have been told that I cannot save the world this year. It is not that I cannot save the world, I just cannot do it all at once. :) I really need to continue to focus on one things at a time. I have a feeling that lots of us have that same problem too! 

Bless Your Heart!

Oh my goodness! I had such an amazing time at the PLC Workshop with Richard and Becky DuFour! This is the first year that my campus has implemented the PLC model, and it has for sure been a learning curve. I was able to get a lot of questions answered at the workshop and I also had some great dialogue with my principal and a fellow teacher who also went. 

The DuFours were so much fun to listen to and it is obvious that they are in love! They were funny and very personable which made it quite easy to listen to them while they presented. I think as a whole my campus has done well with implementation of the PLC concept, but we definitely have some work to do as well! 

Some of the things that really stuck with me from the conference were...

One. Collaboration is not an invitation. 

I absolutely love this phrase! It is so true. I am guilty of this so far during the school year. I will get frustrated and not want to collaborate anymore. However, if I choose to not collaborate, who am I really hurting in the long run? The students, not me! No matter how much I get frustrated, I have to do it because my kids will benefit from it in the long run. 

Two. Common Assessments are the key. 

This is where I want to spend my attention during the remainder of the school year and next school year. This year my teaching partner and I have only created one common assessment on our own. We have also had district benchmarks that we have used and reflected on that data, but there is just something about common assessments that are teacher created. I think what makes me so nervous is that I feel like I cannot write a quality assessment that is to the rigor level that is demanded of my kids on the Texas State Assessment. Do you have to write your own assessments, does your grade level do this together, or does someone at the district level create them for you? Do you all take turns creating them at your school or for your grade level?

Three. Sometimes you just need a divorce. 

When I first heard this I was a little surprised. However, the more I thought about it, the more since it made. There are times when it is appropriate to get a divorce from your fellow collaborators. It is not healthy for anyone involved, and it might just need to be ended. This could be something that is initiated by the teachers themselves, or it could happen through administration.

I hope to continue to share more of my PLC journey during the remainder of the school year as well as next school year. I keep telling myself that it can only get better after this year! 

Professional Learning Communities

I so enjoyed my week off this past week! I was in desperate need of a mini-vacation from school. I was pretty darn stressed during the week before Spring Break. Today was our first day back and I had to do a little re-training with my 6th graders! You would have thought they had never set foot in my classroom before. :)

I actually will not even be at school for the rest of the week. Tomorrow and Wednesday I am lucky enough to be attending a workshop that is being conducted by the DuFours who are the gurus of Professional Learning Communities. On my campus this has been our first year implementing the PLC concept, and for the most part I have really enjoyed it. I like that more teachers are on the same page and that we are all focused on the students. I will admit, at times I still struggle with it, but I think it will get better as time goes on. While in grad school, we read lots about PLC's and research from the DuFours. It is going to be great to finally put a real face with them. I promise to be back later this week and share what I learned with you all!

Do any of you all use the PLC format on your campus? How often do you all meet and who is on your PLC? I love to hear how other campuses implement the model on their campus! 

Five on Friday

I am one happy camper right now because as of 3:35 p.m. today I am officially on Spring Break. Oh wait, but I stayed at school until almost 5:30 today. 

I am excited to be linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for her Five for Friday Linky Party!

One. This week was rough and I am so grateful that it is Spring Break. I cried twice this week at school. I have just been so stressed lately and feel like I am working my butt off, but that it is still not enough. With the new STAAR testing and the higher standards I am really freaking out because I have some pretty low students. Our school is currently in AYP mess and I really want us to get out of it. If we meet AYP this school year we do get out and we will lose a few headaches with that. I was pretty bummed with our benchmark results and am going to be completely revamping my classroom when we get back from the break. 

Two. I am so lucky to have an amazing Language Arts coach that comes to our campus once a week from Region 13. She was in the room when I lost it on Wednesday and was ready to help me make a plan to best meet the needs of my students. We decided that I need to move to some additional targeted small group instruction. She helped me to narrow my groups down and to figure out which students I really needed to focus on. We then came up with a plan and schedule for the groups. I know that small group instruction is what they need and am so excited that we are going to make it happen. I am also going to be doing book clubs with my kids so I can meet with the small groups and everyone else is self-sufficient. 

Three. I am proud to be a Texas Teacher Blogger!

Head on over to Fifth in the Middle to find teacher bloggers from your state! 

Four. After crying twice this week I may have decided (with admin approval) to show a movie for the past two days. Best decision ever of my life. We had not watched one all year and the kids were amazing. Since we had been reviewing plot elements, theme, and summarizing, we use Soul Surfer to do it instead. It has to be on my top 5 movie list.

Five. We are gearing up for a Mock STAAR test in both Math and Reading for our 6th graders when we get back to school. I am excited to have some more data, but am nervous about it at the same time too. Creating all of the small groups has been a logistical nightmare!  

I hope that my Texas friends enjoy their Spring Break and get some much needed rest and relaxation! 

Currently...I Need a Break!

It is the beginning of the month, so that means it is time for Farley's monthly Currently link up!

 I have been a sorry blogger lately, but hopefully this will get me back in the swing of things. Things have just been so crazy lately between intervention lessons, tutoring, TELPAS testing and rating training, STAAR training, volleyball tournaments, and did I mention cheerleading tryouts? I am so beyond ready for spring break! Luckily mine arrives Friday at 3:35 p.m. :)

Listening: If you are anything like me you are a reality TV junkie. I am pretty sure this is what keeps me sane during the school week. Some of my favorites are Teen Mom, Dance Moms, The Biggest Loser, Survivor, The Amazing Race, and The Bachelor. 

Loving: Today was an absolutely crappy day at school, but my blog friends sure did make me feel better! It is so nice to know that I can vent to you all and that most of the time your day was just as bad as mine. One of my sweet friends even surprised me with a special treat in my inbox tonight!

Thinking: I can only hope that tomorrow is a better day or I may not be making it to Friday in one piece. I lost it today during one of my classes and started to cry because I was so upset with my students. I know we aren't supposed to do that, but I couldn't hold it in any longer. I won't even tell you how much chocolate I consumed this afternoon. 

Wanting: Have you found a personal assistant? If you have, please send them my way. It seems like I can never get caught up with my grading. I do not even want to think about the number of assignments that I have graded this school year. :( I am so over having 110 kids in class. I want to be double blocked again! 

Needing: At least two weeks off for Spring Break! Oh wait, I kind of have two weeks off. :) The week we go back I am only at school on Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday I am going with my principal to a PLC Conference at our Service Center and the DuFours are presenting at it! I am pretty pumped about this! Then Thursday and Friday I am going to be gone because I am on team for a Women's ACTS retreat. I am so excited for that because I know that the time away is exactly what I need! 

Like, Love, Hate: I really like Karen Kingsbury books. If you have never read one by her before you are so missing out! I love my kids, most days that is. If you asked me today the answer would be no. I also really hate ketchup and do not even eat it. I cannot even really stand the smell of it! 

Hopefully I will be back later this week with some new things to share with you all!