Semester 3 and incentive plans

I do nothing to change my classroom management during the holidays except maintain it at a high level. The kids struggle the week before Thanksgiving as they want the break, their parents are taking them out early and when they get back its a short three week learning time. I am focusing on the Holocaust and that is a subject that keeps them engaged.

The only incentive program I am running is in our Daily Math Minutes program. We spend 15 minutes each day and do math drills on basic 8th grade math units called probes. When the class average is above a score of 90, three times, (points not %) we can move onto the next probe. The Science Teacher and I have our classes in a  competition (the math and ELA  teachers are invited but they don't want to compete) and my class is the first to complete the first probe if we do it on Monday. I promised a pizza party if they do it. Also, we go down the hall and do cheers in front of the science room when we score higher than them. The spirit is infectious and even the slackers are bringing up their scores to be part of the average!

Semester 3 and Active Engagement.

Active engagement is all about movement. Standing at the front and speaking causes boredom and disengagement. If I am moving about the room, asking questions randomly, doing crazy things, and forcing students to wonder, what's he  going to do next? then I have engaged them. They are actively listening and learning.

Semester 3 STEM and Social Studies

I focused on using www.timetoast.com in my class both last year and this year. This website allows students to create interactive timelines that show supporting pictures, videos, and data and is so much more than a poster timeline. The kids enjoy being creative and like showing off their work.

Another thing I do with STEM is have the kids make historical Vines and short videos. Its important to screen the prep materials to make sure there is nothing inappropriate. 8th graders can be a bit crude! Academic language is ore important than crude humor.

Semester 3 School Councilor

Until this year I have not had to go to the school councilor at all. In fact when I found out this year that she often see teachers for personal/professional issues, I was shocked. However this year I have worked with the school Psychologist (we don't have a Councillor per se) as I am the Child Study Team (CST) Coordinator. As it is my job to evaluate kids to see if they can move onto her list for testing for additional supports (screen for special needs both academic or behavior) I have worked with her a lot. The relationship has been good and mostly telling teachers they need better management rather than kids needing support. All in all things are good.

Semester 3 Common Core

I honestly have no major concerns with Common Core--and in fact support it. My minor irk, before Arizona voted to not follow Common Core , is that states can tweak their CC and not follow a national standard. If states received federal funds for education, they should be forced to follow a Common Core.

Another minor concern is the weakness of the Social Studies and Foreign Language Core Standards. The standards state "Student can describe Totalitarian Governments" This is so braod that there is no standard.

The final concern is how my district can deviate from (before it was ended) the AZCCRS. 8th grade Social Studies is supposed to cover (whoever came up with this need to share the good stuff) the American Revolution, US government, and US history from WW2 on. No Colonialism, No Early Republic. The 7th grade core covers the Civil War and WW1. No Progress Era or Early Republic. My district has 7th grade cover Colonialism to the Civil War with a unit on government and 8th grade covers US history in the 20th Century. I don't understand how they get away with this. (Yes the they is left vague).