Live and Learn Series - Weekly Schedule

Creating a weekly schedule for your class can be very beneficial. It helps you create a sense of structure. It also sets expectations for students. If students know what to expect, and what is expected of them, they are more likely to live up to those expectations. There will not be a grey area in which students are unsure how they are supposed to act, with the ultimate outcome probably being a behavioral issue.

My weekly schedule for my classroom is as follows:

Monday - Notes day

Tuesday & Wednesday - Centers

Thursday & Friday - Computer lab

Any time that I deviate from this weekly schedule because of teacher work days, holidays, etc I let my students know in advanced. This helps create a climate in which students are comfortable because there isn't any guessing when it comes to what kind of activity we are completing that day.

I do have more flexibility with how I structure my week, being that I teach a remedial math "connections" or "specials" class. However, I do think that you can achieve this in the regular classroom as well.

How do you structure your class?

What are your thoughts on keeping to a strict schedule every week?

Live and Learn - Trying New Things... One Step at a Time

Over the summer, I took professional development courses to improve my teaching after a very stressful first year. I then began to make a huge list of all the new things I'd like to try my 2nd year. However, I forgot one very important thing.

Change is gradual.. it doesn't happen overnight. 

So as I raced through my pre-planning days trying to get all of my new ideas in place, I just simply couldn't do it. I found myself stressing so bad because I couldn't get everything I wanted to try in place before the kids returned for their first day of school. That's when I started prioritizing. I took my list of new things to try, and decided what was... first of all manageable in the time I had left in pre-planning, and second of all what would make the biggest positive impact on my teaching.

Here's my list after I completed triage, so to speak...

The first 4, I was able to implement this year. Next year, I plan on trying my reward system. I am stock piling goodies for rewards as we speak. Whenever I see something on sale that my kids might like as a reward, I buy it for my reward box.

I will be posting what I have learned from implementing each of these as I go.

Middle School Math Centers - Specifics

Centers sound like an awful lot of work to put together. There is one very huge thing that you can do to make them easy though.

Find the common denominator

What types of centers can you do that can be used with multiple concepts?

What are centers that practice basics math skills that students will need for the real world?

What are some basic centers that will help students be successful in math class? 

Here's how I found the common denominator:

I took a unit from each grade level (since I teach 6th, 7th, and 8th), and for each standard I wrote down vague ideas for centers. I noticed that I could use a lot of the same types of centers with different concepts. All I'd have to do is change up the types of problems, and maybe tweak the directions for some of the centers. 

Here are my common denominator centers:

1. A vocabulary center - crosswords, word searches, vocabulary charts, vocabulary sorts, etc
2. A comprehension center - Short writing prompts, sorts, anything where students have to take the basic vocabulary and apply it 
3. A practice center (you can do multiples of this one) - white boards, card games, real-world problems, etc
4. A small groups instruction center 

If you are interested in starting math centers in your own classroom, I have a few low-cost TpT products that will get you started (below). I will definitely be posting more about my lessons learned as I implement math centers throughout the year.

Math Center Templates

Math Center Icons or Labels