Super Improver Wall!

I just want to say I love WBT. I am so glad that I can use it on a daily basis in my classroom. One of the really cool new things that I have started to incorporate in my classroom {drum roll please} SUPER IMPROVER WALL!!! AHHHH!!! Holy, Kleenex, Batman. I love it. I have had to modify it a few times but what new program doesn't need a few tweaks? My SIW is displayed on the projector.  I use PowerPoint to create the SIW. My room is about the size of 1 1/2 portables. I use my very valuable wall space to hang the anchor charts that are required. That is why my SIW is on my projector. It also was a lot easier and quicker to add the stars to the names. I didn't want to waste time adding it to the wall and carry a pen. It was a lot easier to have it on the ppt and then show the kids. {awesome idea: if you can freeze the projector on a certain view, then do it. Once you add the star, unfreeze the screen and watch the giggle in excitement of their newly added stars}
Let's start off with how it was the first 3 days and the last 2 days. The first 3 days were okay. The kids saw it and tried to get stars. They were really trying to keep up with the daily goal. I had it displayed on my board, however, the students were not able to see the goal because when the projector screen was done, they could not see the goal. So the students tried and we earned stars but I don't feel like it was as much as they could have earned. Then the unthinkable happened. Yes...something that became mind blowing. I put the goal...ready...ON THE SIW!!! It was like angels singing to me. I placed the goal on the top of the SIW so everyone in the classroom can see it. They walked in, read the goal, and quickly tried to achieve it. During every lesson, I update the goal. For example, today the students were working on a writing prompt. The time that is given is 60 minutes. The students however write for about 50 minutes and then are supposed to edit. At about 50 minutes they start to get restless. Which is why today's writing goal was: I can work silently on my writing prompt for the 60 minutes. (I also put the timer on the board so they can see how much time they had left --- online-stopwatch.com) I tried not to tell them what to NOT do. I didn't write: I can work silently on my prompt without talking for 60 minutes. I felt that the kids knew what silently meant so why should they see not to talk again? This is how I feel but you are more than welcome to adjust the goal to your liking. The goals are absolutely attainable by every child. They can be ese, ell, or gen ed, and they are all able to attain the goal. 
I also added a little more. I am not a teacher who likes the students in tables. I don't like the silly chit chat or anything else, HOWEVER, I placed my kids in tables yesterday. I know... I should't have but I felt like the kids need some thing new in the room. So, I created a slide on the same ppt that allows the students to see the table points. *again, don't waste marker space*. The kids loved it. They were competeing to get the table points. If you want the powerpoint, then please leave a comment so I can send it to you. This is probably my favorite thing I have created yet.

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Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year!!! I cannot believe it is 2013. It has been one of the busiest years of my life. Let's recap shall we?

1. I got my own apartment (okay with my boyfriend), but still MY OWN APARTMENT!!!

2. I got my first classroom {I guess this should be one}

3. I got a beautiful puppy and her name is Penelope. That's her in case you haven't seen her. She absolutely HATES when I glitter. If It is an arts & crafts day, I better remain on the table and not on the floor. {funny story...} the first day I tried to glitter with her, she walked up, hit the plate, glitter went everywhere, she had it ALL OVER, and then in walks Wesley. Good thing...he didn't care...bad thing...we had it all over her for about a week... oops!

4. I found Whole Brain Teaching, and started my first masters course.

Like I said...it's been a busy year.

Today is kind of going over what I wrote about last time. In case you need it click {here...}

Due to the fact that our school does FCAT Writes (we live in Florida), We have to track every single prompt and score it according to a calibration set found on FLDOE.org. It is very hard and time consuming, but our students will become better writes because of it. The district gave us conference notes to use so we can keep track of the writing. I, however, found it kind of hard to work with. It did not have a place for me to keep track of the prompt, or the score. How could I possibly know which prompt I was grading and the score? So, of course, I modified it to my own liking. {don't I always?} So my newest document is conference notes. I still use the FOSC Writing Conference Form so don't fret, however, I needed to make sure I had something concise. This form  has the students name, and then a blank. (look below). The blank after the name is to show me the score that the students got. Then I wrote the date and the prompt, so I know what I am referring to. Then I make sure I have my compliment and what I need to teach.

If you want this document, then {hopefully} you can click here and it will lead you to a website where you can download this. Your copy will be blank, but you will be able to edit it to your liking. I did insert this in the progress monitoring binder and when I need it...it is there! I hope this helps you keep track of the writing that your students do.

Happy Shopping and Happy Pinning!