#EduRead: Even Genuises Work Hard

This week's article is Even Geniuses Work Hard by Carol Dweck. In this article, Dweck again works with the ideas of fixed vs growth mindsets, which many of us are familiar with due to her book, Mindset.

Quotes:

• "Research has shown that praising students for the process they have engaged in—the effort they applied, the strategies they used, the choices they made, the persistence they displayed, and so on—yields more long-term benefits than telling them they are "smart" when they succeed."
• "Students who take longer sometimes understand things at a deeper level."
• "It is crucial that no student be able to coast to success time after time; this experience can create the fixed-mindset belief that you are smart only if you can succeed without effort.
• "When presenting learning tasks to students, the teacher should portray challenges as fun and exciting, while portraying easy tasks as boring and less useful for the brain. "
• "When students initially struggle or make mistakes, the teacher should view this as an opportunity to teach students how to try different strategies if the first ones don't work—how to step back and think about what to try next, like a detective solving a mystery."

 

My Thoughts

• It's humbling how much our students' mindset can depend on our choice of words.
• Pointing out the use of the mathematical practices seems like a great way to praise process.
• My mentor emphasized "individual think time" where students try something on their own before any collaboration. I do this by asking kids to "stare at the paper" for 1 minute (using my timer of course) I don't let them talk until the timer goes off. This can help students focus on deeper thinking over time.
• What ways can we show progress/improvement in student work other than pre/post tests?
• I like the phrase "grade for growth". How can I apply that?

 

#5Things I Cannot Do Without in My Classroom

#5 Space between aisles- I hate clutter and I can't stand when my students desks are too close together. Nobody wants the awkwardness of my butt accidentally rubbing against their back because I can't fit through the aisles. Another reason that I group my desks- more space for me! My biggest class dropped from 22 to 18 and moving those extra 4 desks made a huge difference.

#4 Card stock- I love color and especially for activities in class, I must have my card stock! It's pretty and makes everything seem more fun. It lasts forever, even when I don't laminate it. It's a must have for foldables and interactive noteboooks!

#3 Dry Erase Markers- I us them every day and so do my students. I have four giant white boards and dry erase desks so we literally use them for everything. I get SO much more effort from my students with a marker in their hand.

#2 Timer- I have a digital timer that also serves as a clock, calendar, stopwatch, thermometer, and random student generator. It keeps me on track with my bell ringers. Before I used it, I would easily let 12-15 minutes slip away! Now I keep it to 4ish. I also use it when I want to make sure I give the students enough time to think. It helps keep us all on task- I'm terrible at estimating time.

#1 Smart Board/Projector/Document Camera- Unsurprisingly, these are of major importance. Surprisingly, I really only use them as a projector and giant whiteboard.
Modeling, I guess?


What are your top 5?

Made 4 Math: Tape Dispensers and Fan Blades

I have completed five years of teaching. Starting this year, I'm no longer a statistic! Hooray!

To celebrate (I'm just making that up), I decided to completely redecorate my classroom.

I have a theme of teal and green in my classroom and I'm always looking for cheap ways to incorporate more color into my room.

My two projects for today require stickers and duck tape which every good teacher has.

Introducing my plain $1 tape dispensers and my green polka dot stickers. I just made a pattern on the first one and followed it on the others as well. There will be one per group of desks.

Next up...

My chevron fan blades! Chevron is my all time favorite design. I used teal duck tape cut into strips. Then I cut the strips in half. Just like with my tape dispensers, I started a pattern on one blade and tried to follow it on the others. Sadly, when the fan is spinning, you can't really see it like I thought. Also, I definitely used a ladder and cleaned the fan with Clorox wipes first. Ew.

How I Save Money

Because I'm a teacher and we aren't exactly on the Fortune 500 list, I'm always looking for ways to save and make money. As a high school math teacher, I love numbers and I compete with myself to find new ways to play with money.

Household

• My parents live one mile away from me and they make their own laundry detergent so I just steal a gallon of it every time I run out. This may or may not be an option for you but you could always make your own with this recipe. You can basically create any cleaning product for much cheaper if you look on Pinterest first.
• I have started couponing by following the Krazy Coupon Lady (blog and facebook)and Addicted To Saving (blog and facebook) as well as utilizing the iphone apps Ibotta, Checkout 51, Target Cartwheel and Receipt Hog.
• I have a programmable thermostat that I program to change the temperature while I'm gone at school so my system runs less and I can save money on utilities.
• Recycle Wal-Mart bags as trash bags for tiny trash cans around the house.
• Buy reusable Swiffer pads and Swiffer WetJet pads that I wash after each use rather than buying refill packs. 
• I do not have cable/satellite and I instead use Netflix and Hulu Plus. Until satellite costs less than the $16 I'm currently spending, I'm fine with what I have.
• Again, I live close to home, unmarried and no kids, and my mom is a great cook so I literally go there for dinner every night. While that is not really an option for most people, I'm leading up to taking leftovers for lunch every day. There is nowhere to eat in my area other than the school cafeteria but it costs $1.50 per day and for food I mostly don't like. I'm super picky. 
• The Dollar Tree is my favorite store for everything but especially kitchen items. Practically my whole kitchen (and classroom) are stocked from there. I'm talking coasters, placemats, dish rags, dish towels, dish soap, glasses, plates, bowls, measuring cups, measuring spoons, etc.
• I just bought a house in August and I furnished 80% of it with furniture I found at yard sales and on facebook groups and then repainted it. It was affordable, let me be creative, and helped me match everything.
• Not really household, but I buy any iphone products like chargers, adapters, and cases from China. I can always get them for $2 or less but expect to wait about four weeks before receiving them.
• If you have a pool, the chemicals are way cheaper at Menards than Wal-Mart which are both obviously cheaper than the pool stores!

Clothing/Make-Up/Jewelry/Shoes

• I always shop the clearance rack and discount stores  and I try to rarely spend more than $10 for any one item of clothing.
• I shop yard sales, consignment stores, ebay, and community facebook groups. If you have a few brands that you consistently wear, just search for those on ebay since you already know what size to buy.
• Anytime I go out of town for vacation or a conference, I look for discount shops in the area that I don't have at home. Including Goodwill and other consignment shops.
• Now that I've started couponing, I find a lot of deals for free make-up or under a $1. But before that I stuck to cheap brands like E.L.F. Wet n Wild, NYC, and NYC at Wal-mart, Target, and K-mart where prices are all under $5 no matter what. If you see department store brands of make-up you love, just google the name of it and the word 'dupe'. There are tons of bloggers who test out cheaper versions of high end products.
• When buying jewelry, I try to buy things that come in packs, like how earrings come 3 or 6 or more to a pack. I also look for clearances at Claire's and Icing where you can get things under $2. I don't wear junior sizes anymore but junior stores like Wet Seal, Charlotte Russe, Body Central and Rue 21 almost always have jewelry on clearance.
• You can buy a lot of jewelry on ebay from China for $1 or less. It will take about a month to receive it, but by then you've forgotten what it was and it's a surprise gift!
• When I am feeling depressed about not being able to buy things, I just start selling my things on facebook groups. Then I take the money and go shopping, guilt free!

 How I Make Money

• Have yard sales
• Sell used items at consignment shop
• Sell used items on community facebook groups
• Sell used items on ebay
• I use Swagbucks which gives you points for online activities like answering a daily poll, radio loyalty, watching videos, surveys, downloading a toolbar, etc. I also get cash back (points) on things I purchase online by going through their site. Once I earn 450 points, I can redeem it for a $5 Amazon card. I'd say I earn one every 3-4 weeks so I let those add up and then I can shop guilt free!
• I use survey sites Toluna, InBox Dollars, and Pinecone Research to take surveys, earn points and redeem them for PayPal cash or Amazon gift cards.
• I recently joined Influenster where you take surveys, write reviews, and answer questions and you periodically receive a VoxBox in the mail of completely free, full size products that you engage with through the website to keep earning more points.

 Practically Obvious

• Borrow books or check out from your school library. Buy used if you have to buy and always check Amazon and eBay first.
• Rent DVDs at Redbox.
• Listen to music on youtube rather than buy it.
• Get rid of your landline phone and just use your cell phone.
• Combine trips to save gas.
• I do the Dave Ramsey process where you create a debt snowball: pay minimums on everything and throw extra money at the debt with the smallest total. Then when it's paid off, add the amount you were paying to the minimum of the next smallest debt until it snowballs into paying off all of your debt.
• Don't get into credit card debt.
• Don't do habits that waste your money: smoking, gambling, drinking, etc.

What other ways do you save and make money?

Ideas for 2014-2015

Teaching

• Post all notes, notebook, powerpoints on google drive
• Create a tinyurl ahead of time and post in syllabus
• Make my own important formula sheet and give to students at beginning
• Play the soccer game with important math facts that should be memorized
• Counting circles
• Midsegments in geometry
• Start geometry with sketching and drawings and labeling
• Estimating
• Ask questions that have more than one correct answer to encourage debate
• Poster Project (pick specific standards, one per student and hang around the room) Did it. Didn't love it.
  
• Wheely cart for each group of desks (trash can velcroed to the top, scissors, glue sticks, stapler, hole punch, paper clips,rulers, erasers, calculators, pencils, paper)
• Start school with memorizing perfect squares and cubes
• Start school with powerpoint of last year's class comments
•  Start school with Emmanuel Hudson First Day of School video
• Make Remind101 a requirement
• Edit calculator boot camp (add in ACT sheet?)
• Order extra rulers and metal compasses
• Decorate heater with contact paper/shelf lines/wrapping paper, something?
• Turn filing cabinets sideways and decorate with contact paper/shelf lines/wrapping paper
• Use painters tape and then hot glue on top of that to hang posters. Didn't work out. 
• Better lesson plans or unit plans...ugh just fix it!!!
• INBsssssssssssssssss
• Beginning of year. My top 5 vs their top 5
• Practice proofs in stations and packets
• Glue clips to door for calendar, menu, etc
• Poster: Work is not done until it's correctly done.
• Test Corrections
• Exit Slips?
• Math speed drills instead of bell ringers. Or alternate plan.

Cheerleading

• Make new video (with menus and titles)
• Rearrange, correct, and add to cheer packet
• Burn cheer dvds over the summer
• Create permission slip for riding home with someone else
• Update contract
• Include price sheet and payment schedule
• Create entire packet for August tryouts (contract, permission slip, price sheet, schedule?)
• Previous cheerleaders have to create their own cheer for tryouts
• Lets teach harder cheers with beats/rhythms at tryouts to eliminate people that have no rhythm
• Use a routine from pinterest to help everyone learn how to do the splits

StuCo

• Add in forms to event book for more use
• Laminate event book pages for dry erase marker