USING COLORING FOR STUDENTS WITH ADHD

Just a brief post today to tell you guys about the wonders of coloring, even in the high school classroom.

There's been tons of research done about the benefits of coloring (see links at the bottom of this post), but I'm writing from personal experience as a teacher.

One of the best discoveries we made in the last few years in our classroom was the power of coloring to settle students with ADHD. One of our students is a delight. He loves to learn, is first to class every day with a smile on his face, and encourages others. But some days his ADHD is so bad that he cannot function in class. I'm talking about a high school student climbing into boxes and meowing, jumping around the room, and generally creating havoc. He doesn't mean to be disruptive, but he literally cannot control his energy and impulses.

On those days, we pull out coloring books and small point markers. He will literally bound up, grab the supplies and hunker down in a corner. He can go for two hours (we're on block schedule), just sitting quietly, when moments before he was bouncing off the walls. It really brings out the magic of Magic Markers : p

We like the Creative Haven Coloring Books, because they have clean lines and good small details (from our experience, regular coloring pages with large shapes don't work). They're also cheap enough on Amazon to pick up several (see referral links below).

Some students like more whimsical designs, but my first choice would be anything with symmetry or tessellations. Trying to match their colors to the symmetry or design helps give their mind something to focus on.

                             

I also recommend giving them markers. The bright, clear colors are more visually pleasing and satisfying than the uneven color of crayons or colored pencils. It also lets them focus on the color pattern, rather than getting frustrated with trying to get solid color fills. Make sure they have plenty of colors to choose from. We just give them a full marker bin so they have free choice.

So, next time one of your students is driving you, the class, and themselves crazy, hand them something to color, then let me know how it worked!


For more information, check out these websites:

Coloring Isn't Just For Kids. It Can Actually Help Adults Combat Stress - Huffington Post

Why Adults Are Buying Coloring Books (for Themselves) - The New Yorker

Why Adults Are Going Back to Colouring Books - Psychologics

8 AWESOME GIFTS FOR NEW TEACHERS

Today at work we threw a surprise party for my sister Momo for both her 30th birthday and to congratulate her for getting her first teaching job. Unfortunately I have no pictures because I was too bust setting up and then trying to keep everyone quiet, lest we lose the surprise aspect of the party. lol

Naturally, I wanted to give my sister a gift that was both useful and meaningful so I put together a gift basket (or rather several gift bags) of items that I find essential as a teacher. I've decided to share that list with you, both for people looking for good gifts for teachers, and for teachers themselves on the look out for some tools to add to their arsenal.

Note: this post contains affiliate links, which means I receive small commission if you decide to purchase anything through Amazon using my links. I only recommend items I've purchased and used myself, so trust that everything I post is legit, and I haven't received anything free or been asked to post any of these items : )

So without further ado:

Paper Mate Flair Pens

 

An absolute must for any teacher! Perfect for color coding, annotating, or just grading with something other than red! I use these babies EVERY day in my classroom and I love, love, love them. They write beautifully, the colors are vibrant, they don't bleed through, and they seem to last a long time. I’ve had mine for a couple of years and haven’t had to replace them yet.




Seville Mesh Desk Organizer

I love this organizer so much I bought a second one for my co-teacher so she could revel in its magic (and so our desks could match). I actually got mine at Costco but it seems they no longer carry it so Amazon to the rescue! I really like that it has both horizontal pull out drawers which are great for loose papers, and vertical dividers for file folders and notebooks.



Officemate Deluxe Rotary Organizer

Is there a single teacher who doesn’t have one of these spinny dervish organizer things on their desk? They’re super useful and this one I found is even better than my own. In fact it was the highlight of the party and everyone was asking where they could get one. It's no surprise. I mean it’s got a built in tape dispenser and Post-it compartment. How cool is that?



What Teachers Make:
In Praise of the Greatest Job in the World

I picked this one up on a whim since I love Taylor Mali’s poem What Teachers Make. If you haven't seen the video, check it out here:

I think every teacher needs a little motivation, especially when you're first starting out. Mali understands what really matters as a teacher and always gets me pumped.




Lined Easel Pads

These are great for making anchor charts, and the fact that they’re lined makes my OCD heart happy. No crooked anchor charts!



Sharpie Flip Chart Markers

Because you need good markers to make good charts : )



PaperPro One Finger Stapler

I LOVE this stapler... and apparently so do other people since it's always going missing from my desk. It's super easy to use, which is great for those times when the copier decides it doesn't want to staple your 100 packets and you have to do it by hand.


Adorable Sticky Notes

Because OMG how cute!

Bees Page Tabs

Chick Page Tabs

Animal Sticky Notes



Honorable Mentions

These items I didn’t buy because we’d already picked them up during summer sales, or she has easy access to them from supplies at work. I’m posting them anyway, in case you found this post while looking for teacher gift ideas and need a bit more. Any teacher would be happy to receive these.


Pencils: Teachers can never, ever, EVER have enough pencils.

Dry Erase Markers: Go for a variety of colors instead of the boring old black, red, blue and green. I like choosing two main colors each month to punch up our daily agenda.

Dry Erase Board Cleaner: Please, don't use anything else to clean a white board. You eventually ruin the finish and the board is never the same.

Sharpies: A mix of round and fine tip is best, to provide versatility, as well as multiple colors.

Highlighters: The old standard yellow can be great, but multi-colored highlighters are amazing for annotating text and coding evidence. I bought 20 5-packs of highlights this summer!

Post-Its: Another supply teachers use and need ALL THE TIME.

Tool Kit: You'd be surprised how often this comes in handy. Make sure whatever you get has a hammer, needle nose pliers, measuring tape, and a ratcheting screwdriver with multiple bit types and sizes. A level is a great one too, especially if the teacher is your life is a bit OCD.

Sewing Kit: If you're anything like me, then chances are kids come running to you when they have wardrobe issues. Not only can you fix it for them with basic sewing supplies, but it gives you an opportunity to teach them a valuable life skill.

Paper Trimmer: I HIGHLY recommend getting a sliding blade trimmer versus a guillotine style. I have yet to meet a guillotine cutter that's aligned at a correct 90 degree angle.

Microwave: This can literally change a teacher's life. It opens up a new world of options for lunch and snacks, plus it can save that cup of coffee you forgot about an hour earlier.

Weekend Project – DIY Cute Fire Drill Teacher Clipboard

Apologies for any typos etc in this post. My ADD has been really bad the last few days (just ask Janice how our planning session went yesterday, or count how many time in the past two hours I've said "Damn it, what did I just think to do?").

On Tuesday I posted about how we handle fire drills in our classroom. A key component of student check in is an easy to find clipboard. The clipboard we use in our classroom is super simple, just a regular board with a paper owl (from the dollar store) taped on. I covered the entire owl with packing tape to protect it.

With my sister getting her own classes this year (go Momo! So proud of you for becoming a teacher), I decided to make a stand out clipboard for her to use during drills as well. It’s cheap, easy, and perfect for a Weekend Project : )

Note: This clipboard is great for any time you need students to follow or meet up with you. Be creative!

Project Completion Time: Half Hour (not counting buying supplies)

Supplies:

• Clipboard
• Decorative item(s)
• Strong tape or glue

Since this is her first year teaching, we went a bit fancier with her clipboard. First, we found this MAKEMarket chalk style clipboard at Michaels on clearance, which matches her chalkboard classroom theme.

 

Then we found these adorable painted wooden decorations (does anyone know what these are actually called?). You can find a wide variety of these in their woodwork section so choose one that matches your style and make it something that stands out. Momo originally picked out the bee because she loves bees, but it didn’t pop quite enough to stand out in a large crowd, so we added in the crown heart to make it the queen bee for her students to flock to : )

If you want to keep your clipboard flush, go with a paper based decoration. You can find teacher cut outs in the dollar store, large embellishments in scrapbook stores, or cut something out yourself. Just make sure you stick to a clear, bold design so that it stands out. A collage of magazine cut outs may truly represent you, but it’s not a great sign post.

Now, just attach your decorations to the back of your clip board. Position them as close to the top as you can for when you hold the board up in the air (especially if you’re short like us).

For the wooden decorations, I attached them with my handy e6000 (one of the best crafting adhesives to have in your arsenal. I use it for everything!).

If you’re using paper, tape will do fine. I like to cover the entire thing with packing tape to protect the paper from tearing or water damage. That way it will last for years.

The last thing to do (assuming you use this for fire drills) is to clip in your attendance roster for each of your classes. Now you’re all set!

If you decide the make one of these clipboard, PLEASE share pics with me. I'd love to see what you come up with and how you use it!!!

Take the Hassle Out of Fire Drills

Update: Check out my super simple DIY for your classroom clipboard here.

Today I'm sharing my fire drill procedure with you, to help take the hassle and frustration out of fire drills for my fellow high school teachers.

I imagine in elementary school during a fire drill, all of the little kiddies line up in two straight lines and follow their teacher to perfection, just like in Madeline (feel free to comment with horror stories if I'm way off there). In high school however, it's a different story; at least where I teach. Students see a fire drill as a break from class and a chance to see friends. We all file out of our building en masse, and students mill around in a giant cluster. Just imagine 16 classrooms worth of teenagers in one clump. (with another 48 classrooms worth outside the neighboring buildings).

Now during a drill this isn't an issue, but in a real emergency it is. As teachers, we need to take roll to make sure all of our students made it out of the building safely. That way we can report if anyone is missing and still inside. Taking roll is impossible in the aforementioned student cluster, so we've taught our students to check in with us as soon as they make it outside.

Teaching this procedure was not easy (who can resist the lure of friends from another class!) and it took a few years to develop a system that works, but my co-teacher Janice and I are happy with it now.

Teaching the Procedure for Fire Drills

1. Explain the basics of a fire drill to students. This includes the route your class takes and (this is key) where you want them to meet up. Our building exits to the parking lot behind it, so kids tend to just wander out in random directions. We chose a safe point on the fringe with a clear marker to head towards. In our case we explained "Once you leave the building, move off the grass into the lot, then turn to the left. Walk towards the No Parking sign and meet up with us there."

2. Explain WHY students need to check in. Yes I know teenagers are moody and independent and think they know better. But guess what? If you give them a sound logical reason instead of "because I said so," they are way more likely to listen. So we tell our students that our job is to make sure they get out safely, and if they don't check in we're going to assume they're stuck in the building. Someone will have to try to find and save them which will waste time that could be spent rescuing people who are in need and could result in people being hurt (or worse) unnecessarily.

3. Give students a way to find you. My students know I love owls, so I put a large bright owl on the back of a clipboard. Our paper attendance is kept on that clipboard (and NOTHING else!) and Janice or I grab it on the way out to take roll outside. We hold the clipboard up high in the air so students can see exactly where we are and check in. It also serves as a visual reminder for those who forgot the procedure.

4. See what happens. As each student checks in with you, check them off on your attendance roster and thank them for remembering to check in. Depending on your school's guidelines have them stick with you or send them on their way. We let our kids go socialize once they've checked in.

I’d love to tell you that without fail that every student will check in no problem. The reality is this last year was my 4th year teaching and it was in one of the last fire drills of the year that we got 100% check in (told you this system took a while to perfect).

5. Now comes the fun part, especially if you enjoy drama. You want to reward the kids who checked in, and give a vibrant reminder to those who didn’t. So what we do is this:

First, give some form of reward to the students who checked in, like a piece of candy or even just some over the top verbal praise. Next is the reproval for those who didn't check in.

One teacher stays out of the room. The other tells them dramatically that there has been a tragedy. Ms. M or Dr. R (whoever stayed outside) has died. So many students didn’t check in that she ran back into the fire to save them and, alas, she did not make it out. Feel free to ham this up as much as possible. One time the teacher who “died” came stumbling into the room gasping and fell to the floor in a dramatic death scene. The idea isn’t to be morbid, but to be memorable. You’ll be amazed how many students remember the next time that they have to check in.

If you’re not lucky enough to have a co-teacher (and I’m sure most of you don’t), this still works. You literally just tell the class yourself that you died. Even with someone else telling the class, at no point do the students believe that happened, so it doesn’t matter if you’re there in the room, clearly alive as you tell them. Of course if you really want to ham it up, you can tell them everything in your dying breaths from the classroom floor : p

We repeat this procedure for the next few fire drills. Eventually you has very few or even just one student who didn’t check in and we call them out directly (note: make sure you have a good rapport with your students before doing so). Usually we’ll tell them “Her headstone will say ‘It was [student]’s fault,’” and the kids will all joke about it.

6. The last phase will be when you get 100% check in during a drill. We give the students a big reward (ex: popcorn and they get to watch an episode of a TV show or part of a movie) and also brag about how they are the most orderly class out there during drills.


Remember, as with any procedure, review review review. Everyone forgets things over time, so we need to reinforce throughout the year, no matter how well we taught it in the first place.

Well I hope this post helps you wrangle your kiddos during the next fire drill! Let me know how it goes. If you have any other tips, please share them in the comments below.

I have a Teachers Pay Teachers Store

As the post title says, I have started a Teachers Pay Teachers store. You can check it out here.

There's not much on there yet, but I plan to post products for teachers who work with students who struggle with reading. There's tons of reading products on TPT for elementary students but not much for middle and high school.

For now, I've just posted some printable posters I created for my own classroom. They're high resolution professional quality.

The first is a freebie, featuring a delightful quote by JK Rowling (creator of my favorite book series ever):

The second is $1.50, but it's on sale for $1.20 right now! AND use code BTS15 and you can get another 10% off (through August 4th).

I love, Love, LOVE this poster (I mean come on, it's got books, magic, AND Carl Sagan). It is my pride and joy in my classroom and students really do love it. They take pictures of it and one students last year asked if she could have my framed copy!

If you decide to grab either of these, I highly recommend Short Run Posters. I used them when I ordered these posters for my own classroom and they did a great job at a low price. (That is not an affiliate link or anything. Just sharing a good resource ^_~)


Lastly, I updated my pun supply labels and turned them into colorful owl posters! This one's $2.00, but also on sale.

Please check out my store and let me know what you think of these products : ) I'm new to this so I'm open to comments, criticism, ideas, and requests.

Just ordered my Erin Condren Life Planner

OMG, I just ordered my first ever Erin Condren Life Planner!

I am so flipping excited I cannot wait! They even included a set of markers for free! And I got $10 off. Yay!

You can bet a review will be coming soon. I plan to use it as both a personal planner AND a teacher planner so I'll let you know how that works out.

In the meantime, if you're also dying to order one of these bad boys (or their adorable Lesson Planner), you can get $10 off your first order by using my affiliate link. I've heard this is the only way you can get a coupon for the site (it's how I got mine) so it's definitely worth it, and I'll get $10 too to spend on their adorable accessories ^_~

Being Aspie and Dealing With Change

Today I had a complete breakdown. Thankfully it happened as a result of a text, not in person or on the phone, and thankfully my boyfriend was with me and helped me calm down but it was pretty rough there for a while.

What caused such a breakdown, you ask? Surely something horrible or tragic? A death? An accident? A betrayal? No, it was a schedule change. Specifically I found out that our school (or maybe the whole district or state? No one seems to know) is dropping double block reading and moving to only single periods.

Please, keep reading to understand why, as a person with Asperger's, this felt like a death blow.



My first reaction to the news was indignation on behalf of my students. These kids are in high school and reading at the elementary level. Many of them need to make 5 to 10 years of growth to be on level. The least you can do is give me two years worth of time with them to try to make that happen. Plus our school is on alternating block schedule, so now I'll only see them every other day instead of every day. Grrr.

But at least that response was logical and (I think) justified. I then spent a good hour depressed, frustrated, and occasionally crying because I was overwhelmed. The worst offense of all in my mind was that my co-teacher Janice and I literally met yesterday for hours, planning out the year, including a good chunk of time working out our daily schedule to try to cover as much as possible. Just before getting the Text of Doom, I was heading to the computer to start typing up plans.

Then there were the logistics of the change. This switch means I'm teaching 4 classes instead of 2 doubles (plus a period of ESE test coordinating), some without my co-teacher, and there are a total of 6 classes taught in our classroom instead of 3.

My mind swirled with thoughts (most of which are frivolous now that I'm thinking rationally):

• We'll need a new Turn It In Bin with 6 drawers. Or should we just get a second 3 drawer bin? Could I find the same drawer we have now so they match?
• What colors will be use to represent each class? Our class theme only has 4 contrasting colors. Can we really use brown for one? But that won't stand out from the walls. And who wants to be brown? And what about the last class? What other colors exist? What colors of paper do we have? Are we really going to run 6 paper chains across the room?
• How can I mentally switch between co-teaching and single-teaching for different classes?
• Crap I have to be in charge of remembering to take attendance
• Will we have enough notebooks? What about highlighters? DID I BUY ENOUGH HIGHLIGHTERS?
• I need to plan a new planner. I just figured out my planner. And plans. Now we have to redo our plans. How the hell do you track alternating plans? How do I get them organized enough to turn in to admin?
• Seriously though, 6 colors. Think! What other colors can we use? What colors do we even use now?
• New routine. We need a new routine. We didn't have enough time in double block, how do we make a routine with enough time in single?
• Should I print my own planner? Buy one? How do people do this?

All of that (and an assortment or thoughts in a similar vein) ran on repeat, punctuated by an occasional sob.

And this is how my disorders can affect my teaching.

First, let me be clear that-

[at this point I got distracted by my dog (hello ADD), started searching about font formatting on blogger, then accidentally removed my last blog post and spent half an hour redoing it]

Ahem, as I was saying:  First, let me be clear that I have never had a breakdown in front of my students. Typically I handle things well, and when I do get overwhelmed I can retreat briefly and be ok (Janice calls it going under the dome). Today just hit hard because it touched on some of my weak points.

The first is an unexpected change of schedule. This is a struggle for most people with ASD. We like our routines; we plan things out ahead of time and don't like when reality doesn't match the picture we had in our minds. Like I said, we had just made up our schedule and routine for our classes and the next day they were smacked down. I perseverated over that a lot.

The second was feeling betrayed by someone I trusted. Growing up I was bullied a lot, and learned not to trust people. Even if someone was nice to me, I assumed it was some sort of joke. As a adult I have grown past this for the most part, but that underlying fear of finding out people aren't really my friends is still there. It was a good friend of mine who texted me about the change and my mind immediately associated her as the cause of it. In reality she was being a good friend by giving me a heads up about it, but I couldn't see that at first.

The last trigger I can clearly see (there may very well be others I'm not cognizant of), is being forced into conflict. I HATE conflict. I avoid it like the plague. I don't stand up for myself. I don't argue or complain. I practically hyperventilate if I have to call a company about an issue, and spend half an hour psyching myself up before I do it. 99 times out of 100, I will put up with something rather than face the conflict of addressing the issue. So today I was put in a situation where I had to stand up for myself, my co-teacher, and my students, even though I didn't feel comfortable doing it. Even as I was arguing against the change, I was apologizing for saying anything about it. Those conflicting emotions of feeling justified and unreasonable at the same time can be very distressing.

In the end I argued my case, then accepted that I couldn't change things and, for the most part, was able to let it go. Even now though I feel agitated thinking about it, and spent the past several hours working on this post instead of planning because I can't face thinking about that right now. By tomorrow I'll be fine and start obsessing about putting together new plans (and color schemes), but for now it feels good to just get this off my chest.

Thanks for sticking with me through this whole post. I hope I've given you some insight into the Aspie mind. If you've got any suggestions for me, feel free to leave me a comment below!

Weekend Project: How to Organize Teacher Computer Files in 5 Easy Steps

Time for my first ever Weekend Project: How to Organize Teacher Computer Files in 5 Easy Steps

Maybe you’ve never given a single thought to where you save your computer files. Perhaps you started the year off organized but by the end of the year had given up and have a massive cluster of files shoved in My Documents. With any luck you at least know what My Documents is : )


Regardless of your computer experience or how diligent you are, we all end up with a mess of digital files on our teacher computer at some point. If it’s gone on for a while, you may have hundreds, nay thousands, of files to sort through. It can be overwhelming, but rest assured, I’m here with the answer, because it’s time to finally organize your teacher computer files, and I’m going to show you how to do it.



Project Completion Time: 1 – 12 hours (depending on how organized you were to begin with and how computer savvy you are)


First things first, make sure you have enough time to get this all done before you need to use your teacher computer again. The process involves taking EVERYTHING off of your computer, and the last thing you need is to go crazy trying to find a file you need, or to undo the process out of necessity to get back to work. This can be done on a weekend, but I like to do it during the summer; mainly because IT tells us to back up our computer before we leave anyway, and it ensures that I'll have plenty of time to get it done..

Step 1: Take all of the files off of your teacher computer

The first thing you need to do is get your files off of your teacher computer. Yes, you could potentially do all of your sorting from within your teaching computer, but I guarantee you’ll be far more likely to stop in the middle of it (and either abandon it or forget where you were and have to start over), or will be far more reluctant to get rid of files you don’t need. You want a clean start here, so the best thing to do is to get your files to neutral territory so that you can look at it through a critical lens.


So, go through your work computer and move all of your files to a portable USB drive (aka flash drive aka pen drive). Don’t have one? I love the Lexar TwistTurn drives, since they swing closed to protect the USB end when you’re not using it.

Because there is such a wide variety of computers in use in schools, I am not providing detailed instructions for this step. The basic process is to drag all of your computer files into a single folder on your USB drive. I name my folder Work Computer and then the date I moved all of the files.

Make sure to check My Documents, Pictures, Videos, Downloads, and your Desktop! You don’t want to miss anything.


If you need more detailed directions, Sandisk has guides for Windows XP, Vista, 7 and Mac OS here.

If you’re still lost, contact your school’s tech support person, or find a tech savvy teacher who can help you out ^_~

Step 2: Copy your work computer files to your home computer

Now it’s time to copy all of your files to your home computer. The reason I copy the files to my personal computer instead of moving them, is so that I still have a backup saved on my USB drive. We all make mistakes and I like to know that if I accidentally delete something I need, I can get it back.

Note: all of the following images and directions are based on Windows 7 but the basic concepts are the same.


The first thing you need to do is plug in and open your USB drive. Chances are as soon as you plug the drive in, a window will pop up and let you open it. If that doesn’t happen, or you accidentally closed it, here’s what you do.

Click the Windows start orb, then click Computer. This will open a window that shows your computers drives.

Double click on your USB drive. It will most likely be towards the bottom of the window.

Now that the files in your USB drive are visible, drag them onto your desktop to copy them over. (You don’t necessarily have to use your desktop, but I find that to be a good place to work on sorting files, since it doesn’t require extra folders to be open.)

Step 3: Consider your folder organization system



At the heart of any computer filing system are folders. Just like the filing cabinet folders teacher use to sort out student files, unit documents, etc., computer folders are designed to sort and separate computer files. Folders on your computer have the added benefit of what’s called a folder tree or folder hierarchy. Simply, you can have sub-folders inside of folders. This allows you to create folders for larger categories, and then more specific folders within those.


As you can see in this image, I have a folder called Lesson Plans. Inside that folder is a folder titled Archive (for old plans), and one called PGP (for Professional Growth Plans).

Below that is a more complex set up, with a Lessons folder, which is full of folders for each subject I teach. Inside many of those folders are sub folders to break things down even more specifically.



Now that you understand how the folder system works, it’s time to decide HOW you want your folders organized. As you can see in my folder tree, I have main folders based on key times of the year (beginning, end, and holidays), a separate folder (Classroom Setup) for printables for around my room, a folder for all of my ESE work, one for final exams, and the aforementioned Lessons folder.

The list goes on and on. If you click here you can see my entire folder tree. This was pre-reorganizing so it may change a bit, but you can see how much I love using folders! By contrast, my co-teacher uses much fewer sub-folders because she doesn’t like have to click into multiple folders to find something. I can’t stand scrolling through long lists of files, so her system doesn’t work for me. You really just need to find what’s right for you.

That being said, I do have some recommendations.

On my computer, the Lessons folder is the heart of my teaching. I know that all of my teaching materials are in that folder and its subfolders; nowhere else. Nothing but actual teaching materials go in here.

I’d recommend a Personal folder. No, we’re not supposed to handle personal business at work, but we’ve all had to fax a letter to a doctor, submit insurance information online, or something else that we find takes up our lunch break ; ) So have a spot to keep anything that has to do with your personal life to keep it separate.

Create a To Sort folder. I use this as a safety net for when I get overwhelmed with fifteen million things and I stop keeping up with organizing my files. At the end of this school year I had 165 files sitting in that folder to sort through! Can you imagine if they were scattered throughout my computer instead?

I also have a folder called School Documents. This is where I save the various passes, schedules, testing calendars, etc. that administration sends out. I like keeping them separate because 1) it makes it easy to find them, and 2) I can usually delete them at the end of the year since admin sends out updated documents each August.

Everything else is really up to you. You know what you have and need, so you can best organize.

Step 4: Create folders for your newly organized files

Here’s the key step. We’re going to create ALL new folders to move your files into. First create a master folder to put all of your files in. This will keep everything in one place and make transferring it back to your work computer easier.

To create a new folder, right click on the Desktop. Put your mouse over New to open another menu, then click on Folder. Your New folder will appear with the text highlighted in blue so you can change the folder’s name. I named mine Work Computer – Organized but you can name it whatever you want.

If you’re super organized and know exactly where your files will end up, you can create all of your folders at once. Since I tend to mix things up a bit and organize things a little differently each year, I like to create folders as I go along. I start by creating some of my master folders, then add others as I need them.

DO NOT just copy over full folders from your existing files! The idea is to actually look at everything as you go.

Step 5: Move your files and delete the junk

Ah, the final step. Time to move your files over. As I said in Step 4, the idea here is for you to actually LOOK at your files. I’m willing to bet there are some you haven’t opened up in years. Do you really need those sitting around taking up room and gumming up the works? If you haven’t used something in years, and aren’t suddenly inspired now that you’re looking at it, go ahead and delete it. Anything you want to keep, move it into the appropriate folder.

What will happen is that gradually you’ll be emptying out your old archive folder, and filling up the new folder. By doing it this way you ensure that you went through every single file and you’ll know you’re truly done when the older folder is empty.



So there it is: 5 Steps to Organize Your Teacher Computer Files. Hopefully I’ve explained everything clearly enough. If you have any questions or suggestions, please let me know in the comments below and I do another post to add anything I missed, clarify, or throw out some advanced tips.

I’d love to know how this system works out for you, and feel free to tell me how you organize your files. I'm always looking for new ideas!

5 Things Every Teacher Should Do Each Summer

Yes, summer time is finally here! It's the moment you've been looking forward to for at least the last month or two (don't deny it). If you're anything like me, come the end of the summer you'll be wondering "Where did all of the time go?" and "What did I even do?" With that in mind I can up with five things we should all do each summer.

Take Time to Relax

I don't know a single teacher who isn't mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted by the time they walk out the doors at the end of the school year. You've worked hard and earned this break, so take advantage of it.

Now, relaxing means different things to different people. For me, it's letting my body sleep as much as it wants (often over 10 hours a night at the beginning of summer when my body is recouping). For my friend, it's waking up early to hit the beach in time for sunrise, and for another it's RV'ing around the country.

So, figure out what it is helps you relax, and seek it out. I have a rule at home, that I'm not doing anything for the first week of summer but relaxing. Institute the same rule if you need to and hit the spa, read a book in the backyard, do some coloring, or practice Tai Chi in the park. Whatever works for you, do it.

Tackle a big non-work project

I think it's in our nature for teachers to give their all to their students and lessons during the school year, often to the detriment of things at home. I know I'm guilty of it at least. That's why each summer I try to tackle at least one large home project, and try to make some progress on a few others as well. This will help give you a sense of accomplishment, and reconnect you to life outside the classroom.

For me this year, it's finishing painting our house. Last spring we began searching for a home to purchase, intending to buy at the start of summer. We figured we'd have several weeks before move in to paint the house and get everything ready. Of course that didn't happen. We closed less than a week before the start of the school year so we're way behind where we'd like to be with the house.

So this summer try tackling some home upgrades, deep clean the house, or finally clear out and organize that walk-in closet. Of course if you have kids, just keeping up and spending time with them may be enough of a project. : )

Learn something about your field

It seems that educational best practices change all the time, and it can be hard to keep up. I try to read anything that comes my way during the school year, and check Pinterest regularly then as well but there's still so much to learn. That's why I try to actively learn during the summer.

This year I'm attending a CHAMPS training offered by our district (I made my sister sign up too. Always bring a friend to trainings if you can!). Most districts offer in person or online trainings for free, so see if any are of interest to you. It sucks to give up a day of vacation, but it's often well worth it.

No trainings offered near you? No problem. Time to check out some of those amazing education books you've heard so much about. Reading The Book Whisperer two summers ago completely changed my teaching, so I always write down books people are raving about (suggestions welcome). I just read The CAFE Book to see how well it can apply to high school, and have a few more books waiting in the wings .

And of course there's the internet. I have a board on Pinterest titled Read then Pin, for all of those interesting sites, blogs, and articles I come across but don't have the time (or mental energy) to read when I find them. Each summer I work to clear that board out.

Sort computer files

If your district is like mine, then chances are they tell you to back up your teacher computer files over the summer, in case anything happens to the network. As much of a pain that is, I've turned it into an opportunity to be more organized.

Every year I start with a great file system in my computer, but over time it gets jumbled. I make an assessment that covers several subjects and I'm not sure where to put it, so it sits in My Documents. I accumulate tons of random files I downloaded from TPT to check out and never organized or deleted. I may also have come up with a new way of organizing during the year that I want to try out.

So, each summer I take all of my files home on a USB drive. I sort through EVERYTHING, and refile them in folders that make sense to me now. When I go back to school in August, I copy everything to my work computer and I'm cleaned up and ready to go.

I know being able to do this may not come naturally to many people, so check out my post: How to Organize Teacher Computer Files in 5 Easy Steps

BONUS: This is a good time to clear out e-mails as well. In g-mail, labels and archive are your friends! Don't be afraid to delete things you don't really need.

Plan for the coming year

I won't get into a huge post here about how to plan for the school year (just Google or search Pinterest for teacher planning, long range teacher plans, teacher curriculum plan, or View my Planning board here.

Bottom line is that it is SOOOO worth planning out your year ahead of time. Start by asking yourself the most crucial skills your students need to learn. Then try to arrange them so they build on each other. Even just having that simple framework of what to teach in what order will have you feeling far more sane as the new year approaches : )



So, those are my suggestions for teachers this summer. Is there anything I missed? Anything you can't stand? What are your plans for the remainder of this summer? Tell me in the comments below.

The Sales are Starting - Tips for Buying and Saving on Classroom Supplies

Oh yes, it's that time of summer we all look forward to/dread. Supplies are going on sale and we have to grab them while we can!

Did you know that most office supply stores post their weekly ads online before the sales go live?
Staples posts their ad at 10:00am on Thursday.
Office Depot/Max posts their weekly ad at Midnight on Thursday night/Friday morning
Totally Target posts early scans of the flyer.

Now, why do you care about viewing ads early? So you can map out your plan of course! Every summer these stores put out some really good sales (and a good deal of not so good ones), but quantities are limited and stores often only have a few of each item in stock. So, if you don't want to miss anything, you have to plan ahead and get to the store early on Sunday. This is my sister's first sale season as a teacher so we'll be at Office Depot/Max when they open this week and hopping over to Staples right after : )

One thing to keep in mind is that you CAN purchase over the customer limit as teacher. You generally need to speak to manager to do this, although some cashiers will ring you up and just get the manager to override for you. I've heard that managers do have a certain level of discretion regarding this policy and they can make you wait until later in the week so other customer's get a chance to get the deals first, but this hasn't happened to me yet.

UPDATE: Apparently my local Office Depot no longer does this. You can get around the limit by making multiple purchases at different stores or at different times. Not as easy but worth the effort for some deals. Staples used to let you buy more and get the deal back as a rebate but they have discontinued that option.


As I said, there are some really good deals out there, and some that aren't worth your time. So here are the supplies I look for and the price I aim for:

• Binders - 50¢ or less
• Copy Paper - free
• Colored Copy Paper - $1 or less
• Loose Leaf Paper - 25¢ or less
• Spiral Notebooks - 25¢ or less
• Composition Books - 50¢ or less 
• Pocket Folders - 15¢ or less
• 3 Prong Folders - 25¢ or less
• Pencils - 50¢ or less
• Pens - 25¢ or less
• Crayons - 25¢ or less (may pay higher for Crayola)
• Colored Pencils - $1 or less (you'll see some off brands for sale way cheaper, but they're not worth it)
• Markers - $1 or less per pack
• Highlighters - $1 or less for multipack
• Liquid Glue -  25¢ or less for small bottles, 50¢ or less for large bottles
• I no longer buy stick glue. Even though it's less messy, it doesn't last.
• Rulers - 25¢ or less
• Scissors - 50¢ or less

A note on Free Items:

You can get some awesome freebies during school supply sales. Before merging with Office Depot, Office Max definitely gave the best deals in this regard for MaxPerks members online so I'm curious to see what Office Depot does this year.

Free items are often free after getting store rewards back. In other words you pay out of pocket for the item, then get rewards on your loyalty card which equal what you paid for the item. These rewards often expire within 1-3 months, and sometimes may not post to your account until summer sales are over, so be cautious about picking up things you don't need. You may end up buying even more stuff you don't need just to spend your reward credit.



One last tip. Passion for Savings has a back-to-school deals page. It's worth following to catch some lesser known sales, especially if you have kids yourself as they post deals on clothes and backpacks, etc.


So, what summer sales do you look for? Tell me in the comments!

Welcome!

I feel like the inaugural post of any blog ends up seeming silly and out of place down the line. It's the sort of thing you feel should be profound and amazing to hook people in, but at this point I have no idea what this blog may evolve into.

So instead of stressing over how to kick things off, I'm going to use this post as a bit of an introductory About Me session. Hopefully it's a good use of your time and mine : )

My name is Tracy and I teach ESE (aka special education) Intensive Reading in a Florida high school. My classroom is not exactly what one would call traditional. My co-teacher and I (more on that in later posts) work with students from grade 9 through 12. Some of them are decent readers who need help with higher order thinking, and others have the lexile of a 3rd grader. They may have learning disabilities, language impairments, behavior disorders, health impairments, or any combination of the above. So you can imagine how crazy it can get.

That bring me to the name of this blog: Disorderly Teaching. Clever, I know. I chose the name for two reasons. One, my students all have some sort of disability or disorder etc. Two, I have several disorders myself. The more common ones I face are ADD and mild OCD. I am also in the process of getting diagnosed with Asperger's, which is part of Autism Spectrum Disorder. I plan to write more on that in the future, as well as how these disorders (sigh, such a negative word) affect my teaching.

Beyond teaching, my hobbies include a variety of crafts, reading (I'm obsessed with Harry Potter - Go Hufflepuff!), watching too much TV and anime, and playing video games. I'm also a beginning runner, although my asthma is fighting me on that : p

So hopefully you now have an idea of who I am and what I'm about. I hope you'll stick around and enjoy Disorderly Teaching.