Blog Post #9
Persistence & The Toolbox
The authors share 15 tools from their own toolbox. What could you add to the toolbox? Share one of your strategies and comment on at least one other participant’s strategies.
Blog Post #1
As author Julia Cameron points out in The Artist’s Way, “In order to do something well, we must first be willing to do it badly.” And as the authors of this book say, “Rookie mistakes lead to growth and mastery.” Describe a rookie mistake you’ve made as a teacher and the growth you experienced as a result. (This is an exercise in laying your inner Joker to rest.) In addition, please leave encouraging comments on at least two other participants’ posts.
I am also fascinated by the room transformations. I have a friend at another school who, instead of complete room transformations she transforms her "reading nook" into a theme, and it is so amazing. She mentioned it is budget-friendly and still effective. She has also done desk transformations, which would be amazing too. My 2026 goal is to incorporate some sort of Transformation of some sort into my Special Education classroom.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds amazing Tabitha! Children always like to go to a different section/area when reading. I think it also helps them to take on the role and to get more involved in their book or activity.
DeleteI love this idea! This seems much more manageable to me, and I think it would be a great strategy to implement. Thanks for sharing!
DeleteI really like this idea! It's not as overwhelming as a complete room transformation is.
DeleteI love the idea of desk transformations also. I was completely overwhelmed by the idea of room transformations, but desk transformations sound do-able!
DeleteI also love the idea of transforming the reading area. It's not so overwhelming as the idea of the entire classroom. It'd be a great way to start small!
DeleteI teach first grade and I see a lot of students that struggle with managing anger and finding strategies to calm themselves down appropriately. I would like to add de-escalation strategies to the toolbox. Strategies that students can use in the classroom, but also outside of school such as at home
ReplyDeleteThis is a great idea. I think we see more and more kids every year with anger that don't have strategies to cope. A toolbox of de-escalation strategies could be very helpful!
DeleteThe tool I would include in the toolbox is something you were thinking about, but I called it redirecting strategies. I would take it a step further and not just use it for misbehavior issues. Some students during a tasks can not stay focus on that task, so I would use one of the strategies to redirect this student to allow them to get back on task.
DeleteDe-escalation strategies would be a great tool to add. In too many instances I need to pull many tools from my toolbox before I find the right one.
DeleteI also want to add emotional regulation to my toolbox! I am finding that now, more than ever, families, staff, and students need to acquire basic foundational skills in emotional regulation that can aid them in all areas of school and life!
DeleteI think what interested me most was the current events. Especially with how art is ever changing having that connection to current events really sounds interesting to add. I know one of my strategies is definitely games. I’ve adapted the game of cues and hues for when we do our color theory unit and students love finding compliments, analogous colors and matching them. It helps them to apply the concepts in real time and I see a bigger improvement in color usage than from just forcing them to memorize and regurgitate it.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in high school, I had a teacher that had us, the students, bring in current events every Monday. It was kind of fun and definitely interesting to have organic conversation among the students. I did like it.
DeleteThis just came to me and I do not have a classroom, but individual counseling does allow me to incorporate social skills and dealing with different issues in a school day. A good social skills implementation would be to use the "Inside-Out" movie theme to teach emotions and proper response to others and their own emotions. Also teaches them that it is okay to have emotions and that all people have these, and how to deal with themselves and others during these times. One could even do a room theme for students to look at and refer to throughout the school year.
ReplyDeleteI think an Inside-Out theme would be the perfect way to teach emotions. I teach 2nd grade and my students would love something like this! It'd be fun to do a room transformation at the beginning of the year to work on those social skills!
DeleteWhen I was a paraprofessional for a year before I student taught for a year, the school district I was at had the Inside-Out emotions as their forefront. Each grade would see the school counselor for a class each week and her theme was the emotions from this movie. Students really could relate and visualize because all of them saw the movie at school. They reflected on each emotion in the movie and could use the poster when they were feeling a certain emotion during the school day. Educating kiddos on emotions is so vital because a lot of students, as well as adults, do not know how to control or deal with emotion. Therefore starting at a young age and allowing students to work through emotion is critical to their future self.
DeleteI'm loving the idea of room transformations and am really wanting to try one. I like the ideas of the ones they gave in the toolbox and I was thinking of one that I could add to that. The 100th day of school is coming up this week. I am going to try a soft launch of a room transformation, celebration themed. I have ordered some black lights, neon balloons, neon streamers, and decorations. I'm going to dress up like an old lady, have the lights turned off when they enter, black lights on, Celebration song playing, and get them amped up for the day. I am going to have STEM activities all day that incorporate the number 100. I'm excited to try it and hope it's a success!
ReplyDeleteI hope your 100th celebration was a hit! I'm sure it was a day to remember for your students.
DeleteOne thing I would like to put in the toolbox is redirecting strategies. Most teachers may think they need this tool when a student is having a melt down but it also could be used to help students get back on task. I already use this tool in my classroom for both anger issues and getting them back on task. There are many different strategies I use for redirecting a student, but I never thought about one of the tool that is already in the toolbox and that is the call and response. I think I will come up with a phase in my classroom and try it out for redirecting students.
ReplyDeleteThey shared some amazing tools that covered a lot of areas. One thing I could add to the toolbox is reflection and celebrating achievements. A strategy I use for this as a substitute teacher is putting a blank sticky note on each student's desk at the beginning of the day. I write this sentence starter on the board: "( insert full time teacher name here) would be proud of me today because________________." The students need to come up with something throughout the day to fill in the blank. It can be something academic, something they helped with, something they did at recess, anything they feel like their teacher would like to know about when they come back the next morning. If the students haven't filled in their response close to the end of the day I can usually help them brainstorm some ideas. Sometimes, if time allows, we can have a full class review at the end of the day about topics kids could write about if they are stuck. I feel like this strategy gives kids confidence throughout the day and it can push them to do something to make their teacher proud. It's also a good strategy for getting kids to reflect and review their day. I hope the teachers enjoy reading them too!
ReplyDeleteI love that you have mentioned celebrating achievements and reflection. This is an important way for us to support our students, by celebrating them! You have some great ideas here!
DeleteWhen teaching, I could have added more games/competition to my classroom. I definitely had fun games throughout the year, but I think involving my whole caseload/different classes against each other could have been a fun motivator. For example, we had graphs that students would color in after receiving their score from a spelling test. Students would color their own graph on their own page and place it back in their folder after reflecting on their score from the week prior. Instead, I could have averaged the class score and created a graph for each class to display on the wall so peers could challenge themselves to do better than a different class to earn a fun reward at the end of a unit. This was also a little tricky in special education as different classes were at different grade-levels, but in all, incorporating games/competition is engaging for everyone!
ReplyDeleteI agree with you about more games and competitions. I feel like I did do a good job with this and had a high level of engagement. The big trick is to not let some of the students slide between the cracks or hide out and not participate.
DeleteI would add emotional regulation to the toolbox. As an Early Childhood Special Education (ECSE) teacher, emotional regulation is an essential skill that supports both learning and social development. Many young students are still learning how to identify their feelings and respond to them in safe and appropriate ways.
ReplyDeleteIn my classroom, I help students practice emotional regulation by modeling calm responses, teaching them to name their feelings, and providing strategies such as taking deep breaths, using a quiet space, or asking for help. I also use visual supports and social-emotional activities to help students understand what they are feeling and what they can do when they feel overwhelmed.
I am constantly learning alongside my students and colleagues about better ways to support emotional regulation. When students develop these skills, they are better able to focus, build relationships, and participate in learning activities. This makes emotional regulation a valuable tool that supports success both inside and outside the classroom.
As a School Counselor, I would add a Calming Kit to the toolbox. This kit would include tools and strategies to help students both literally and metaphorically regulate their emotions when experiencing anxiety, fear, stress, or overwhelm. Items could range from stress balls, fidget tools, and coloring activities to guided breathing exercises, reflection prompts, and positive affirmations. The goal is to give students tangible ways to regain control, reduce emotional intensity, and refocus and regain control. Having a Calming Kit available not only supports students in the moment but also teaches them lifelong coping strategies they can use outside the classroom. In addition, I would again include relationship-building as a key strategy. Connecting with students, listening, and establishing trust allows me to understand their individual needs, provide guidance, and help them navigate academic, social, and personal challenges. It is critical that students feel seen and supported. These strategies complement other tools in the toolbox, such as emotional regulation techniques or reflection exercises, because a strong relationship is part of the foundation for students to feel safe practicing these skills. By prioritizing both the Calming Kit and relationship, there is a greater chance that I can create an environment where students feel empowered and help set them towards long term successes.
ReplyDeleteThere were so many great suggestions to add to my toolbox at the end of this book. The tool I am most excited to add is the room transformation tool. I think that the entire book hyped transforming a room that I feel motivated to. I also enjoy the blogs by Hope and Wade; they are inspiring as well! The students will love this, I know that if I were still a student in school, I would! I feel that a room transformation will keep students engaged and excited and guessing what will happen next, all the qualities that Hope and Wade talked about in their book.
ReplyDeleteThe list from the toolbox gives me so many cool ideas. I love the room transformation. I see some of my students struggle with daily self-management skills and I think transforming the classroom into a calming environment would really help those students to calm and manage their behaviors. I picture a "classroom coffee shop" with couches and fun chairs to sit in with dim and/or whimsical lighting. A place where they could find a cozy place within the classroom when they need a break or just a place to focus.
ReplyDeleteOne strategy that I used in my second grade classroom was taking my lessons outside. One in particular that I will share, was a lesson on spelling words. We went outside, sat in a big circle, and bounced the ball around to our classmates. Whichever student got the ball spelled the word, and then all the students repeated the spelling together. I found this to be an effective way for students to learn their spelling words because it was something different than worksheets in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteTaking the lesson outside is a great idea! I think it would get students motivated and excited for the lesson if their learning environment changed a bit just for a part of their day. I think it could be distracting if done too often, but an occasional change in the routine would be fun!
DeleteI really like the idea of transforming my book nook into a different theme every month. Another idea for toolbox is Post It note games. I do some of these for math and language arts review. They always involve some sort of movement and sticking Post It notes on the board. Kids seem to love them.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first read the prompt for this Blog post I thought oh man the authors have already done an extremely thorough job of delivering tools for teachers. But then the Career and Technology Education teacher part of me showed up. To me personally, and also based on the feedback from students, meaningful field trips and onsite visits to explore industry have had a huge impact on my students and has greatly promoted their enthusiasm and learning.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that I could add to the toolbox is going back to old-school learning. I have small whiteboards that I have the chemistry students use occasionally so we can work on practice problems and I can quickly check their work without having to look close at their paper. The students don't feel like they are doing a worksheet. They love writing on the whiteboards with markers. I can just walk around the room while they are working and quickly assess their work and help with questions. I think the students enjoy the whiteboard practice also because they get tired of always having to do things on their computers.
ReplyDeleteThe authors covered so many great ideas in their toolbox! I really liked their Soft Skills section and the acronyms for MAGIC. Due to today's world of technology, etc., kids don't naturally practice these social skills. In the lower grades that I taught, I would add some sort of social relationships for the students as well. Respect is important in the classroom and also outside of the classroom in places like lunch and recess. The younger grades are still developing those social skills of respectfully interacting with peers. That's where I draw in on the role playing and work on examples of situations the students may encounter and how they should be handled.
ReplyDelete