I'm stealing a few minutes (hopefully) during this nap time to catch up with my old friend, this blog. It is officially summer in this neck of the woods and I can truly say...
Thank. Goodness.
I absolutely loved my class. Love what I do. Love who I work with. But this year brought some exceptional challenges my way that had me practicing my ability to balance it all....
I'm not sure I always did but I tried my best.
So now it's time for the 3 Rs.
Relax. Rejuvenate. Recharge.
I packed up my room yesterday and with it all the things I want to improve on for next year. These last few days I've had two important things on my mind...
1. My kids. Love this unstructured, unscheduled, uninterrupted time with them.
2. My summer bucket list (projects to do list...really.)
First up on my list is to revamp my listening station.
I've tried and tried and tried. Retaught. Retried. Re-explained. Restickered. Redone. And retried.
And yet, I still, after all these years cannot get that darn station to work for me.
Problem #1
They put headphones and suddenly think no one can hear them. Hence the reason talking (er...yelling) ensues amongst them. Inevitably one "listener" is always trying to tell the other to turn the page or pointing out the funny parts to the other listener. Listener #2 decides to engage back and suddenly the "listening station" sounds like a party on the carpet.
While the human being in me watching the interaction with this finds it amusing, the teacher trying to run a guided reading group does not.
Solution #1
Get rid of sharing the listening station.
Problem #2
The cd is in wrong or isn't working.
Kids nowadays (and first graders) don't seem to have much experience with cds so I can't blame them for not knowing. This is the reason for the modeling, stickering, teaching, and reteaching. All a fail. (#trueteacherproblems) Regardless, much of my "guided reading time" is spent figuring out the cds, switches, knobs, and volume errors.
Solution #2
Get rid of cds.
Problem #3
One story only lasts about 4-6 minutes depending on the text. By the time the kiddos get the next story out and figure out that crazy cd again (hopefully without clicking any other switches), time is up and they are moving to the next station. What a bust.
Solution #3
Put all stories to be read on a device that can be easily found and clicked to start.
How do I make this happen??
About a month ago, I was teaching and having these struggles. I had been racking my brain as to how to solve these issues when it finally hit me...
Why not put all my listening station stories on an ipad and turn that into the new and improved station??
Great solution!
Another problem...
I need my ipad for assessing students and using the music as a transition cue while working with groups.
Another fail.
Until I had one more solution...
Create ipod/iphone stations for individual listeners. Place all my stories on playlists with the covers as part of the titles making them easier to identify. Students can listen to stories without the hassle of cds and buttons and volume knobs. Genius.
As I did a little research following what I thought was an amazing idea, I found that many other teachers had thought of the same idea. #greatminds
So I'm using them as a great resource of information as I begin this new project.
Now that I have figured out how to solve this problem...
I'm on to part two of this solution...finding ipods/old iphones to be donated to our class.
Fingers crossed this will be crossed off the bucket list (project list) soon...or at least before school starts.
Happy summer!
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