Entry 4

I think I am finally finished with Entry 4 of my National Boards! Ok, so I'm sure I'll need more revisions, but I'm well on my way to being done with Entry 4. A couple of you mentioned in the comments of my last post that you would be willing to read my writings, and I would appreciate that so very much! My mentor is a third grade teacher, and she has already made my entries so much stronger than they started. However, we all know that being a specialist teacher is it's own thing entirely, and I would be eternally grateful for an art perspective. That said, here is the link for my entries for my Accomplishments. These are supposed to be significant accomplishments that have linked my classroom with the community (local community and/or teaching community) and increased student learning. The link is set up as viewing only, so suggested edits can be emailed to jodiyoungman@gmail.com. Thank you in advance for your time and thoughts!

Post-It Mural-Day 1

 I planned on starting our Post It mural with my fourth and third graders today. I got an email from the fourth grade teacher that they would be 15 minutes late because of a presentation. They ended up being over a half hour late, and got ten minutes to work on this. They were really bummed, but I assured them that they would get more time another day. The third graders worked on it for the whole class period. We started by watching the video of the business creating their mural that I posted last time and moved on to how to read my Excel chart. I then showed them how to mark each square with what color Post-It should be attached there. I'm not sure I should have started this way. It may have been easier to just start with the Post-Its, but I plan on having them add double sided tape to the bottom of each Post-It and that stuff really sticks. I don't want to risk the paper ripping if they make a mistake with that stuff! 

 I got smarter after watching the fourth graders. Originally, I had printed four copies of the chart, one for each long roll of paper. That proved to be a little confusing for the students working on the middle two rolls. Before third grade came in, I cut each of those charts to show only the squares that the students would be working on in their specific strip of paper. This worked much better, and the kids got a lot of work done. 

National Boards

I got my kit today! I am excited, scared, and intimidated. I am also almost a quarter of the way completed. I have to write one more paper on a professional accomplishment and then I'll start the other three writtings. I have been recording my teaching since the week before break, and I have started photographing for the first entry. Part of me cannot believe I am doing this, but one of my colleagues is a NB Certified teacher and is mentoring me through the process. She is amazing, and I am thankful for her dedication to the process. Now I am off to set up my camera for this afternoon's session! If any of you out there are thinking about or would like more info on NB, just let me know!