Monday, January 10, 2011

"Thumbs on Top"

We are finishing up paintings and prints these days so a lot of wet media is 'walking' around the room during class. I have a saying that I use to remind the students to hang on to their work: "Thumbs on top!"


I demonstrate all the terrible things that can happen when they DON"T hold onto their work...

work can end upside down on the floor...

work can end up pressed on your shirt (happened just last week)...

work can end up on your neighbor...

Then I demonstrate how none of that happens when you have your thumbs on top of your work as you carry it to the drying rack...


I was thinking of putting it to music - like "Pants on the Ground" made famous on American Idol last season...

Thumbs on the top
Thumbs on the top
Work can't fall
If you have
Thumbs on the top!

Hmm...maybe I can moonlight as a songwriter!

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Class Lists

It's that special time of year...There's nothing like a fresh, clean class list to start off the New Year...no absences yet, no sad goodbyes to those students who have been crossed out because they moved away, no new students scribbled in at the bottom of the alphabetized list, no behavior record of those that drive you crazy, no assessment grades yet - just a clean spreadsheet with so much potential!!

I spent some time yesterday updating my class lists. Now all 29 lists are finished & assembled in the grand BOOK OF CLASS LISTS. Thank goodness for technology - it only took a few hours!

I gave up using the standard class list book years ago. Too much time spent re-writing the names each quarter (we have a high rate of turnover in our district). Plus there weren't enough pages in one book to cover my all my classes. So now I create my own spreadsheets with daily dividers and assemble them with 2" binder rings.

I have an all-time high number of classes this year - 29. It really helps that nowadays I can download a fairly up-to-date class list pdf from our district online database. Once those are downloaded, I copy and paste into my spreadsheet form.

Each class page includes the class code, teacher name, room number and classroom phone extension number along with the list of student names.

The list of student names is color coded as a quick reminder for each class period of the special needs of my students: purple for resource students, green for gifted, red for non-readers, blue for ESL. This year I have a few students with medical issues (diabetic, vision impaired, and kidney/bladder issues) so those have a designation as well.

My class list book includes for each group: first student list of the year (includes initial 2D assessment, info from the special needs list) as well as grades/attendance records for each quarter. Pages are tabbed on the right side with class code designation. It's about 1 1/2" thick right now - thank goodness we only have one more grading period!

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