And thanks to my daughter having to be up at school for band camp for a week, I’m ahead of the game. When she gets her restricted permit in September, I’ll revert to laziness. For now, I’m on it.
So, what’s new?
LOTS of new products in the TpT store to make life better for teachers. After two school years of implementing Story Shorts, Teaching Partner Claire, my other colleagues, and I have determined that it’s a system that dramatically improves writing for just about every student who uses it consistently. So much so that I’ve expanded the series to keep the practice going for two more years, adding Inference-Plus Story Shorts Series A and Series B to use weekly with our juniors and seniors this coming year. I don’t want them to un-learn everything they learned as freshmen. I’m excited. They’re excited (I think). So…if you are looking to keep a good thing going or need to implement some very structured analysis writing with more complex texts each week, please check them out!
TONS of new audio recordings for read-along on the E2E YouTube channel. If past students are any indicator, my soothing voice can be used as ASMR to aid in sleep and relaxation. FML. Like, seriously. F.M.L.
BATHROOM SOAP has been upgraded in our school bathrooms. It is foamy, luxurious, and–best of all–effective at cleaning your hands. Freaking magical. Bonus: it doesn’t smell like Elmer’s glue this year.
MAJOR working ahead to set up my sub materials. This is HUGE for me. Yes, it takes time away from my summer, but now I can be sick on a moment’s notice without having to worry about sub plans. Alas, rotavirus doesn’t care that I haven’t sent a sub schedule to the main office, and I refuse to email anyone from my toilet ever again. I’ve shared some quality prep materials and advice in past years, so check out that old chestnut to make your life easier!
REAL-WORLD LEARNING and client-connected projects are continuing to be a focus in my district. I went to a 2-day PD workshop about RWL and CCP last week. Not gonna lie, I had my Xanax Rx ready so my blood pressure wouldn’t skyrocket while speaker after speaker yammered away for two days, leaving me annoyed and empty-handed. BUT….THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN!!! They talked for, like, 15 minutes, then LET US WORK. It was freaking NIRVANA, and I was able to get my 24-25 CCP unit totally mapped out and ready to go. I work with students who struggle with executive functioning or language acquisition, so I wanted to keep my “client” in-house for the sake of not hanging our asses out within the larger metropolitan area. If that’s your classes, too, check out my new unit on TpT, Improving Freshman Onboarding CCP. Use it to introduce the concept, or to meet that requirement for groups that aren’t quite ready for the outside world. Shoutout to the Kauffman Foundation here in Kansas City for giving me a truly useful PD that didn’t require me to medicate myself with prescription sedatives.
Probably more stuff, too, but this is what I’ve got for now! I think I’m gonna go take a nap on the classroom flexible seating, feeling smug and self-satisfied because I’m an early bird who got the worm. Yay, me.
Tags: TpT products, Story Shorts, Inference-Plus, writing improvement, juniors and seniors, teaching resources, audio recordings, read-alongs, E2E YouTube channel, ASMR, sub materials, teacher preparation, real-world learning, client-connected projects, professional development, executive functioning, language acquisition, classroom projects, Kauffman Foundation, Kansas City, flexible seating, teacher productivity, early bird, education resources, classroom management, student engagement, high school teaching, instructional strategies.
