Teacher of the Month

Coming back from lunch today, I was greeted with flowers, delivered by my principal and academic principal.  I had no idea that I was about to receive the honor of being the January Teacher of the Month.  

What made this recognition so special is that today is my father's birthday.  My father would have turned 73.  He was always extremely proud of me, especially when it came to my teaching accomplishments.  Each day when he would call, he always made sure to ask how school was going and how my kids were doing.  Though I couldn't talk directly to him, as I received this recognition, I knew he was smiling down from heaven, just as any proud father would.  

Here is part of my nomination:   

Elizabeth forms relationships with her students and makes her classroom fun by incorporating technology, activities and collaboration.  Her students adore her, and she makes a positive contribution to PLC and uses data to plan interventions for her students. She is a great addition to HMS!

As I was recognized for the amazing accomplishments of my learners, I am reminded of how I listened and trusted in the Lord this past year. Because of following His path, my days are filled with kids who make me smile and laugh, as well as adults who encourage and hold me accountable in my faith journey. Im truly blessed by the people in my life 😊 #CrushingitGod

Helping Our Community

Over the past few months, I soon realized what a special group of learners were in my 5th period!  27 learners who came from various elementary schools, bringing with them a variety of learning styles and interests.  One commonality amongst all of them was their love of animals.  They loved our class "pet," which was a small stuffed Husky, named Wesson.  Because of their love of animals, I began to think and create a mini-PBL, which would focus on rational numbers as well as their passion for helping animals.  

After our entry event, learners were given the task of unpacking our standards.  We created both an individual and class Knows & Needs to Know chart, which served as our daily checklist to create a fundraiser to help the animals in our community!    

As we all know the days between Thanksgiving and Winter Break are filled with numerous activities that pull learners out of our classrooms.  With our task to create a fundraiser to help our local animal shelter, learners were motivated to come in before and after school to work on their tasks!  Workshops focused on rational numbers in recipes (multiplying and dividing) and budgeting and creating toys for the animals (adding and subtracting).  

Our class chose to take their final exam early, so they could work in their groups and make blankets for the shelter animals.  I loved watching these learners come together for the good of our community!  

Learning from Each Other

Like I mentioned earlier, we share our classroom with a Texas history class.  I'll be honest, growing up in St. Louis, I don't ever remember learning so much about Missouri as today's learner does in Texas!  Crazy thing is I not only learned about how Texas came to be, but I also began to collaborate with Coach Lawson on instructional strategies. 

One of my most favorite formative assessments that he implements is Jot Thought!  In all my years of being in a classroom, I thought why haven't I ever thought of this.  After watching his learners actively participate, the wheels in my brain began spinning.  I started asking questions and by fifth period, I was implementing this "new to me" strategy with my 6th graders! 

Our first Jot Thought was over ratios and equivalent fractions.  Our goal was to see which group could come up with the most words to describe ratios.  This was a great way for me to assess my learners' prior knowledge, as well as help plan our upcoming learning opportunities. 

Stacks of Post-It Notes were passed out to each table.  Learners would have 1.5 minutes to work independently to write down everything they knew about ratios and equivalent.  After the independent think time, each table group categorized their words and eliminated any duplicates. 
                           
I'm proud to say that Coach Lawson implemented stations based on what he had seen in our classes!  These stations focused on reading strategies, implementing technology and vocabulary, as well as writing.  Texas history was no longer just notes and discussion, but now created opportunities for collaboration and inquiry. 

                            

There was an excitement sparked in our room after these activities which served as a reminder of the importance of working together, even if you teach different contents....we can all still learn from each other! 

How Much Sugar is in Our Favorite Drink?

As we moved into our second six week's of learning, both 6th and 7th grade math, our focus continued to focus on ratios.  7th graders continued working with their knowledge of similarity and equivalent fractions, by focusing  on unit rates.  To make learning abit more engaging, we recreated Dan Meyer's 3 Act Sugar Packet using our learners' favorite drinks! 

 

Each table group analyzed the nutritional labels of the four drinks and determined the number of sugar packets in a serving.  Needless to say, they were shocked at how much was in a serving of Coke! 
                   

Because we had many learners who hadn't yet completed their unit 1 assessment, we created a Google Sites: Introduction to Proportionality with all of the information needed to complete the investigation.  This allowed our learners the opportunity to still participate in the activity, even if they weren't in our classrooms!