My Teaching Tree

Yesterday was the last day of school!  While I am looking forward to a change of pace over the summer months, I will miss the students that I have spent the past nine months with.  Since my first year of teaching, I have always been a tad emotional on the last day of school.

When I began my teaching career, I wanted to create something that I could carry with my throughout my years in education to remember all of my students.  I found the perfect inspiration on Pinterest!  A thumbprint teaching tree.

after 6 years of teaching

I painted this canvas at the end of my first year, and each year I have my students add their thumbprint to the tree painting.  Each color represents a different class.  On the back of the canvas, I created a guide so I can remember which color goes with each year. I look forward to seeing this tree grow the more years I spend in the classroom.


after 4 years of teaching!
after 2 years of teaching

keeping track of all the classes

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Response to Literature with Sketchnotes and Thinglink

Image
Teacher: Kerry Phillips, SF Bay Area ( @phillips4kids ) Grade: Fourth Content Area: Reading / Social Studies Traditional Lesson Idea: Provide worksheets with comprehension questions to correspond to a class novel. Web 2.0 tools used in redesigned lesson:   Summarized big events in Patty Reed's Doll📘= #sketchnotes 🎨(teacher created or student drawn) we'll interact w/ on @ThingLink @MtDiabloUSD pic.twitter.com/NK4Yay3xoK — Kerry Phillips (@phillips4kids) March 27, 2017 Kerry is an amazing artist and uses the whiteboard in her classroom to create large scale sketchnotes as her students are reading a class novel. If you are not familiar with the concept of Sketchnotes, visit Kathy Schrock's Guide to Everything . She has a whole page dedicated to sketchnotes in education. Sylvia Duckworth is another noted sketchnoter that is a "must-follow" on twitter This is a picture of the class whiteboard after they finished reading Pa...
Read more

Green Screen Curtain Setup

Image
As we all know - if it is a hassle to get something set up... we are probably not going to use it very often. That has been the case with the green screen in my classroom. Previously the fabric was folded and stored in a plastic tote and if we wanted to use it for a class project, we had to clear out an area in the classroom and pin up the green fabric. It was a pain, therefore it didn't happen very often. To solve this problem, I created a Green Screen curtain that can easily be pulled out when a student has a project they want to use. I used some heavy duty wire (previously it hang across my classroom as a work display wire but the fire marshal made me take it down). I also had this package of clips from IKEA that slide along the wire. The clips stay on the wire, but the fabric can still be easily taken down if it is needed somewhere else on campus. The curtain slides into this corner of my classroom so it is out of the way, but easily accessible. I have t...
Read more

SAMR Field Trip Reflection Redesign

Image
I love trying out new tools with my students. I am constantly looking for ways to improve my teaching and engage students with the use of technology.  When using a new tech tool, it is important to consider if the tool is enhancing the learning experience for the students or transforming it. While there are times when only enhancing the learning experience with the implementation of technology is great, I am always on the lookout for ways to transform the learning experience and do things that were not possible before. If you are not already familiar with the  SAMR model  for implementing technology, you can learn more  HERE . A very brief explanation is that SAMR stands for Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition, and it has to do with how technology is integrated into the classroom and the purpose it serves in learning.  Image the creation of Dr. Ruben Puentedura, Ph.D. http://www.hippasus.com/rrpweblog/ This week t...
Read more