The new school year will soon be approaching in August. During the
first week back, students are preparing for a new school year with a new
teacher and new classmates. One of the ways to ease students back into the
classroom routine and a new school year is by reading aloud to them. These are several
book suggestions that I think students will enjoy their teacher reading during
their first week back!
1. The First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg
The story follows a very reluctant character who does not want to go back to school because she is scared of being at a new school, with a new principal, and new kids in the room. The reluctant character turns out to be a teacher. There are countless activities on the internet to do with this book. Even if you choose to just read it, students will enjoy the surprised ending.
2. Back to School Rules by Laurie Friedman Follow Percy Isaac Gifford as he informs the reader about how to have a successful new school year by following several important school rules. This book is excellent to read shortly before you go over your classroom rules and expectations.
3. Second Grade, Here I Come by D.J. Steinberg This rhyming story explores different events that occur in this second grade classroom during a whole year, and is told in different classmate perspectives.
4. Splat the Cat: Back to School, Splat! by Rob Scotton Splat has to tell about his summer vacation for his show and tell project. He remembers doing a lot of great things, which makes it difficult to choose just one activity. Therefore, he chooses to share the common thing that happened within each event.
5. Second Grade Holdout by Audrey Vernick The main character doesn't want to go to second grade because he has heard that it will be different and hard, so he decides to stay in first grade...until he hears cool things about second grade that makes him reconsider his decision.
6. Back to School with Bigfoot by Samantha Berger and Martha Brockenbrough In this hilarious story, Bigfoot explains how "back to school time" is always difficult for him. He begins to worry about starting a new school year until he remembers all of the great things he would miss out if he didn't go back to school.
7. My Mouth is A Volcano! by Julia Cook Luis is a student who has a difficult time not blurting out his thoughts. He learns how to be patient and control his blurting out. This book is good for the beginning of the school year because it allows the teacher to discuss procedures for sharing ideas and what to do when classmates are sharing their ideas and you want to interrupt them. There are great activities on Teachers Pay Teachers to go along with the book. If you're like me, you'll want to buy these books to have every year at the beginning of the school year. Or, consider visiting the library and check out a copy of each book!
These are lesson plans or activities that I either created for my
college assignments while an elementary education major, or are ideas that I
came up with that I think can enhance a lesson.
If you are a teacher, you probably have seen that one video, the one where a wise lady in red stands before a crowd and gives a speech about being there for children. I have seen that motivational video played for us teachers every year since I have started this journey as a teacher. That lady is Rita Pierson. Her iconic speech for teachers is truly powerful and I love it. However, there's one motivational video that first inspired me, and it happened to not be by an adult but by a child. First, here's the video of the iconic speech by Rita Pierson, in case your principal has lived under a rock and never thought to share this at one of your staff meetings:
Now onto the real motivational video for teachers. I first saw a video back in the spring of 2009 when a professor decided to show our class a video about a boy who spoke to a whole stadium of teachers about the need for all teachers to believe in their students. The boy is Dalton Sherman and his speech about how students count on their teachers is one of the reasons that helped me realize that teaching was my calling. In a lot of ways, the things he says in his iconic video is very similar to the message that Rita Pierson presented to a very similar crowd. In both speeches, they admit that children can be a little annoying sometimes. But they also admit that, at the core of it all, those same kids are the ones that really need the nurture and protection from their educator because most children lack that same care at home.
However, I think even that video by Dalton Sherman is no longer his best motivational video for teachers. Instead, it is one that was made not that long ago. In this video, Dalton is now a teenager. The crowd is not as enthused as the previous one, but his new message still has the magic that the former one possessed. In the video, he asks teachers to not give up on teaching but find their joy again.
The reason I say this is the real motivational video for teachers is due to it being real. At some point in our early career, we were inspired to take that jump and become a teacher. Over the years, we have encountered the many work hours, lost weekends, and family sacrifices. We have had to jump through hoops, fear evaluations, change our teaching strategies with every new school training, and deal with school politics just to do what we were called to do - teach. That does not even include having to figure out how to manage a classroom with that "one" student present (every teacher has that "one" student), or help each child become somebody great by strengthening all their weaknesses. After so many times of enduring these things, we do get burned out. Some great teachers quit teaching. Some great teachers become terrible ones due to stress. Yet, some great teachers continue forward and view it as weathering the storm. Dalton Sherman has a point: we teachers need to find our joy again so that we can continue doing our calling. Kids need us. They may not understand it or even want the help, but they need us as teachers. It is great to be motivated by joyous speeches filled with laughter, especially when the teacher is just starting out and is very naive about teaching. However, teachers also need the videos that tell them to continue onward, even though the road is rough, because the hard work will pay off if we do not give up but find our joy again.
