Literary Sherri Goes Back to School

After a bit of a summer hiatus, I’m blog hopping today with The Literary League – some pretty fabulous secondary ELA teacher-authors. You should definitely know these teachers and their resources, as they create some of the highest-quality resources you will find anywhere. It’s a privilege to be collaborating with them, and I’m excite to introduce you to them!

First, a bit about me . . . I was the kid who loved school and everything about it. In early elementary grades, I cried on the last day of school before holiday breaks and summer vacation. Literally. I spent summers setting up a classroom on a blanket in the corner of the living room and creating schoolwork for stuffed animals – and later for siblings and neighborhood friends. In 4th grade, I announced that I would be a teacher when I grew up . . . and I never considered anything else.

I started teaching in 1992. After a brief stint in 6th grade, I settled into 7th and 8th grade English Language Arts and I love it! Middle schoolers are both fun and funny. They are curious about the world and their role in it; they exaggerate nearly every experience and emotion, and they are wildly optimistic about their possibilities and futures. They keep me on my toes and I thoroughly enjoy working with them!

In life outside of school, I enjoy spending time with family and friends, traveling, theatre and museums, weekend getaways, photography, and getting lost in good books.

Speaking of good books, one of my favorite books to teach is The Giver by Lois Lowry. I can read it over and over again and never tire of the story and the many meaningful discussions it lends itself to, and I always appreciate students’ thoughts about diversity, individuality, freedom of choice, wisdom, the importance of preserving memories and learning from the past, the possibility of creating a utopian society, and the advantages and disadvantages of sacrificing personal freedom to gain a more peaceful society. Middle schoolers have a lot to say about these thought-provoking topics and their insights never fail to amaze me! The Giver is an absolute must in middle school!

Speaking of school, it’s that time again . . . time to plan and prepare for a new year! I love the excitement and anticipation of a brand new school year! One of my favorite back-to-school activities is having students work in teams to design and build a new toy! Though you'd probably never hear them say it aloud, middle schoolers still love playing with interlocking building bricks! Ask them to get busy creating with a few friends, and they think they've just had the best school day of their entire lives! They think this activity is the bomb!

I also think it's the bomb because it fosters team-building, critical thinking, collaborative problem-solving, communication, and social skills amongst students. It's collaborative and hands-on, it integrates other disciplines, and it allows me to start understanding students' learning and communication styles right away. While this is not your typical "get to know you" activity, it truly helps students get to know one another and connect with one another right away -- and it helps me get to know a lot about the students in my classes, as well! In fact, I'm so crazy about this back-to-school activity, that I've made it free! Grab it here and enjoy your first week back with students!

I know you’ll enjoy hopping through these blog posts and getting to know a few other super-amazing secondary ELA teachers as much as I have!

An InLinkz Link-up

Literary Sherri Looks Ahead

It’s the most wonderful time of the year . . . papers are all graded, tests are all taken, report cards are finished, textbooks are turned in, electronic files are organized, the classroom has been packed into carefully categorized boxes (that will seem chaotic in August!) and cleaned so that it virtually sparkles, the count-down is in single digits, and you and your students are actually enjoying all the various end-of-year activities . . . oh, and it’s time to start planning for next year!

After 23 years of teaching, the best advice I can give as you plan for next year is this: Take some well-deserved time off and enjoy unplugging from all things school-related this summer! Seriously . . . there are 8,658 things you need to get done this summer in order to be well-prepared for next school year . . . but the single most important item on that list is to get some much-needed R&R!

You have easily averaged 60 hours or more of school-related work a week. You have given and given and given and you are exhausted to the point of complete physical, mental, emotional, and/or spiritual depletion. So before you spend the bulk of your summer working a seasonal job, strategizing for next semester, planning an entire year’s worth of lessons, creating 9 months’ worth of fabulous bulletin boards, re-organizing all your digital files, scheduling fall field trips, attending inservice days and professional development workshops, and spending countless hours on back-to-school tasks, give yourself some real time to truly enjoy a restful break. Put your feet up and read a few books (not because you want to assess whether or not they will make a great read-aloud or will supplement a unit perfectly) . . . soak up some sunshine, enjoy those activities you always wish you had time for during the school year, relish time spent with family and friends . . . because the single best gift you can give yourself, your family, and next year’s students is returning to the classroom rested, relaxed, and reenergized!

Oh, and when you are ready to get down to brass tacks and put several hours of thought, reflection, and research into some serious planning for next school year, here’s a must-have resource for you to start your year off on the right foot:

Tools for Positive Behavior Management is packed with tools and tips to help you work effectively with tweens and teens to quietly diffuse potential mishaps, provide students with the encouraging recognition they need, create a positive classroom environment, set your students up for success, and save your sanity! Check it out . . . but not until you have taken some well-deserved time to rest and recharge!

Be sure to check out other ideas for looking ahead, as well as some fabulous resources for next year, from The Literary League:

An InLinkz Link-up

Tips for a Better-than-Ever Back-to-School Night!

Do you have the Back-to-School Night Blues? Here are a few tips and strategies to help make this the best Back-to-School Night ever . . .

I try to make parents feel as welcomed and comfortable in my classroom as possible by turning off the harsh overhead lights in favor of softer lighting from a few lamps scattered around the room, playing music that we can easily talk over, and providing a platter of soft cookies from a local bakery. This immediately puts parents at ease and helps conversations flow easier!

 

I write a couple of interesting facts about myself in large, easy-to-read print on the whiteboard, such as:

 

Hi! My name is Sherri Tyler and I love teaching ELA! I grew up on the Mojave Desert in Southern California, I tell jokes in class every day, and I assign homework every night of the year – except on holidays and days after the Buffalo Bills win!

This breaks the ice, helps nervous parents find a way to connect with me, and immediately gives us some common ground to build dialogue! Now, I’m not a huge jokester, nor am I a football fan (please don’t tell my students!) but I tell jokes every day and I watch every Bills game (our local team!) because it gives me something to talk about with my 8th graders and their parents . . . more importantly, parents remember me, they return my phone calls and e-mails, and they walk in my class for Parent-Teacher Conferences later in the year with either a joke or a witty observation about the most recent game – and conversation flows easily, putting them at ease to talk about academics and behavior after a few minutes!

I pre-print sticky notes for parents to fill out with their individual questions and comments, letting them know I’ll touch bases with them within one week. Parents leave their sticky notes on a poster as they walk out the door. (Providing writing utensils always facilitates more participation!)

This allows me to keep the conversation relevant for everyone, gives parents a quick and easy way to communicate with me, and also helps me gather current phone numbers and email addresses!

 

 

Find more Back-to-School night tips and strategies on the collaborative blog post Surviving and Thriving at Back to School Night by my friends Jonathan and Lisa over at Created for Learning:

 

 

 

Happy Teaching!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I don't know about you, but I adore everything about August, from the end-of-summer activities to the back-to-school sales to the preparation for a brand new school year! There's just no feeling in the world like the anticipation of a new year! August holds so much hope and promise!

As you prepare for your upcoming year, don't stay stuck in old ruts! As an ELA teacher, I often find myself looking only at the products of other ELA teachers . . . this year, I broadened my horizons and explored some back-to-school products from teachers across many disciplines and I discovered some real gems!

Kacie Travis of Managing and Motivating Math Minds has several classroom management and organization products in her Teachers Pay Teachers store that will help teachers in all content areas!

Teaching Procedures PowerPoint with Detailed Notes provides teachers with several engaging slides, each containing a question that students will definitely ask during those first critical days of school about your policies and procedures . . . you know, questions such as, "Where should I put my name on my paper?" and "Do I have to keep a binder? What should it look like?"

Kacie has added her own answers in the notes section, which is editable so you can quickly and easily adapt the notes to reflect your own answers, making it a breeze to be ready to review your routines the first day of class! (Trust me, Kacie's notes are so thorough and well-articulated that you will be able to use this tomorrow if you'd like! She thought of everything!)

As a bonus, this PowerPoint has several brain-breaks built in to keep your students engaged and laughing on the first day of class -- comics, memes, humorous photos -- what a beautiful way to set a tone of positivity and to start building meaningful rapport with students from Day One!

Kacie thoughtfully included a few editable slides so you can personalize this product for your own class . . . and it comes in either a polka-dot theme or a navy-and-green striped theme!

Anyone who knows me well knows that nothing makes me happier than organization! You know those closets and cupboards you see in magazines that are filled with labeled boxes and bins and everything is in its place? Yep -- that's my house! When I have a three-day weekend or a snow day, I absolutely LOVE to spend that day re-organizing all the drawers and cabinets in my home! I could drop some serious money at those stores that sell containers for every imaginable thing in a person's possession! So I was absolutely thrilled with Kacie's Binder for Evaluation Systems: Based on Danielson's Framework for Teaching!

If your administrative evaluations are based on the Framework for Teaching Model by Charlotte Danielson, Kacie has the perfect product for you! Everything (and I mean everything!) you need to set up an Evaluation Binder and stay organized throughout the entire year so that your formal evaluations are less stressful -- and your school days are more enjoyable because you have saved countless hours of time to do what you do best: teaching!

Kacie's very affordable binder system is available in three color schemes, so you're sure to find one that's perfect for you . . . and she has graciously included several editable slides, as well as numerous templates and forms you can print and use in both your class and your binder immediately!

Because I'm somewhat of an organization aficionado, trust me when I say Kacie's binder system is so well thought out and useful it will knock your socks off! It's packed full with absolutely everything you need to show a complete, thoughtful, well-organized binder during your evaluation process -- your administrator(s) will be wowed! (If you don't use Danielson's Framework for Teaching, but you have a friend or colleague who uses it, Kacie's binder would make a perfect Teacher gift!)

I'm so happy I discovered these oh-so-practical products in Kacie's math store . . . I can't wait to share what I discovered in UtahRoots' science store! Stay tuned for a gold mine of a product that needs to be in the hands of every teacher in America! Meanwhile, drop me a note and let me know what classroom management and organization products you've discovered -- or that you have created for others!

P.S. Visit Kacie's blog, Managing and Motivating Math Minds with Kacie Travis, for a truckload of fabulous tips, strategies, and engaging and humorous anecdotes! Who doesn't love a math teacher who adores Harry Potter and who loves to write?!?

Happy August!

3 Ways to Save During the Last 3 Days of July!

I've been thoroughly enjoying a bit of a summer hiatus! I hope you  have, too!

I originally intended to take off the entire month of July and not to blog again until August 1 . . . but I'm a few days early because I don't want you to miss out on some fabulous deals! Although I still have a few end-of-summer activities to enjoy yet (blueberry picking, anyone?!?), I can't think of a better way to start gearing up for back-to-school than with a few bargains!

First . . . you know my last blog post? The June 30th post titled, "What Are You Doing This Summer?" . . . well, I had so much fun creating that list that I decided to modify it into a back-to-school product for students!  Of course, the most exciting thing about coming back to school (for students!) is catching up with friends and talking about your summer -- this gives students an opportunity to do just that while squeezing in a little academic review, too! The challenge is to use unique verbs and nouns for each item on the list! The engaging part is creating word art to make the product pop, making this a fun and engaging back-to-school activity that sneaks in some academic review and really let's students' strengths shine through! Best of all -- it's FREE!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Beginning-of-Year-Activity-What-Did-You-Do-This-Summer-1341579

Second . . . one of my best-selling products, Don't Write About Your Writing, is available for free in a giveaway being hosted by One Teacher's Adventures:

http://oneteachersadventures.blogspot.ca/2014/07/200-tpt-follower-giveaway.html


Third . . . for the first time ever, I'm participating in "Two for Tuesday" . . . so TWO of my products are on sale today only for 50% off! These two gems can be used all school year to add some pizzazz to your classes! Get 'em while they're hot -- in 24 hours, they go back to full price! 


http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Review-Games-Common-Core-Aligned-849523



http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Jokes-of-the-Day-405-School-Appropriate-JokesCommon-Core-Aligned-585814

Happy Bargain-Hunting!