Back to school – Becky Boer

When Those Who Can Maybe Shouldn’t (How Negative Teachers Bring Us All Down)

July 20, 2016

I am tired of teachers who complain about their jobs. I get it. Being a teacher is really, really hard. It’s one of the few jobs where the better you are, the harder it is. After all, it’d be easy to be one of those teachers who just sits behind a desk all day while his or her kids do worksheets. Boring, maybe, but easy. It’s a lot harder when you’re invested in your kids, when you spend evenings making crafts and coming up with lessons, when you spend nights staring at your ceiling, not ...

Teaching

2014-2015 Goals

July 17, 2014

I’m not one of those teachers who stops thinking about work on the last day of school. I know that some folks are able to put school completely out of their minds for the entire summer, and sometimes I envy them, but I am certainly not one of them! I constantly reflect on my year, and what I’ll need to change the following year. Although I’m very late, I decided to join up with I Heart Recess for the goals I’ve set for the 2014-2015 school year. I had a hard time ...

Teaching

Classroom Rules

June 11, 2014

Last year, I adapted a set of classroom rules. These rules are based loosely on the idea of Whole Brain Teaching, and are influenced by a few teachers that I know. There are only five rules, and they are fairly simple and easy to remember. 1. Listen when the teacher is talking. This is always on my class rules, no matter how many times I change them. I try to make sure that I’m concise and succinct when I’m talking to my kids, because their attention spans only last for about ...

Teaching

First Day Activities

May 31, 2014

I recently left a comment online answering someone’s question about what they should do on the first day of school. I thought I’d post it here, in case it might help someone. I usually stand at the door to greet the kids. Oftentimes parents will walk the kids to the classroom and want a picture of the kid with the teacher, or will just want to chat with you, and it’s easier to keep the parent out of the classroom (by the time they’re in fifth grade, that is; I know ...