julie faulkner

Best of 2017

It’s been my tradition the past few years to reflect on my best teaching moments of the year. I’m so fortunate to get to work with such amazing students, so it’s hard to pick just a few moments that have been amazing! But I have selected five times throughout the year when I have been most proud of my students! Plus you get to see some more snapshots of the resources from my store that I use in my classroom.

The American Dream Project – There are SO many possibilities for teaching Gatsby. When I have time in my schedule, I love to have students complete the “Making Your American Dream Come to Life” project to end our Gatsby unit. The details, instructions, and rubric are all in my Gatsby complete movie guide. I do hope all their dreams come true!

Vacation Bible School Maker Fun Factory – This year my husband, mom, sister, dad, and I had the task of teaching the nightly lesson to our church’s vacation bible schoolers. Our church had chosen the theme of Maker Fun Factory: Created for a Purpose. We knew we wanted to convey the message that each kid was created for a purpose and God is working on them – shaping and molding them to be something great. So… we transformed our classroom, where students could come and hear the lesson every night, into the inside of a machine! I crafted the lesson each night to tell the story of an important bible character who did great things because they were sensitive to God’s call and were willing to fulfill the plan and purpose He had for them. Those people, our precious church members, dressed like the bible characters, entered as a special delivery, and told the story from their point of view. Each night, the students couldn’t wait to enter the Fun Factory, and they were talking about going into the machine forever! See my entire catalog of kids for Christ materials here!

Break Out Escape Box Games – I had been seeing and hearing about break-out games and escape rooms and even people using them in the classroom, but I’d never seen or done one before. I knew it was something I wanted to try, but I have to admit, I was really apprehensive. So, I attended a training, and the facilitator conducted a game with us, and after that, I knew it was something I had to try with my students. This semester, I’ve done several, and my students are crazy for these games! Since I felt there was such a huge learning curve for me to figure out how to conduct one of these games in my classroom, my escape box games are super user-friendly. They include a simple print-and-go pack of clues for students, three ways for you to play the game, and a video tutorial where I explain everything to you! I have several already prepared for you in my store, so if you are ready to unlock some fun, check them out! All my escape games can be found here!

Canterbury Tales Puppet Show – I’ve never done a puppet show before with my secondary students, and certainly not any seniors. But when I was deciding how to teach the Tales in a modern and engaging way, for some reason a puppet show came to mind! I assigned students in my class one of the tales, and they had to read (from the Prologue) about that character. Everyone took notes on his/her travel log during the show! Then using the super cute clip art puppets I made and a puppet show curtain I borrowed from my nieces, voila! We had a puppet show. My students really got into it, and other teachers have shared their success stories with it, too! The puppet show materials can be found in my Canterbury Tales complete teacher’s guide.

Generational Interview Project with Fahrenheit 451 – When my seniors read 451, the project I assign during part 3 of the book is inspired by the passage where Granger reflects on how his grandpa influenced his life because of the things he was able to do and leave behind. I ask students to close read that passage and answer a set of questions. Then they are required to interview a person several generations older than them and write a report of that interview to share in class. I encourage them to interview a grandparent, and most do. When my seniors presented this year, it was overwhelmingly impressive how many of them took it seriously… and personally. When your seniors cry during a class presentation, you know it just got real. All the materials to conduct this close reading lesson and interview project can be found in my 451 Close Reading Lessons pack or in my 451 Complete Teacher’s Guide.

Please share in the comments below what you tried this year that worked!

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How My Trip to Disney Helped Me Prepare for Back-to-School

My family and I traveled to Disney World back in June, and I hadn’t been there even half a day before I started feeling inspired. For me, school is pretty much always on my brain, so it’s not surprising that it came to mind even when I was on vacation! But, truthfully, there is so much going on at Disney that I couldn’t help but learn from the best while enjoying my time at the happiest place on earth. Many of these things that I noticed at Disney reaffirmed what I’ve done in my classroom for years, but it’s nice to review, revisit, and recap. Here are five ways my trip to Disney helped me get prepared for back-to-school this August.

1) You can have a happy place and still have rules. Disney is known for being “the happiest place on earth.” So how is it possible that the happiest place has rules? Oh, but they do. They want you to move left, stay inside the tape, stand in straight lines, keep your hands and feet inside, etc. Why do they do this? So people are safe and get to do what they came to do. In turn – happiness. They aren’t unreasonable rules and requests at all. However, don’t most of our students – and maybe even the public – think that rules are just for fuddy-duddies who want to put a damper on all the fun? I, for one, believe in establishing rules up front so that it’s clear what the expectations are. I don’t like to make rules that are arbitrary and just have a bunch of rules just for the sake of having rules, but there must be a set of guidelines. In my classroom I typically select 3-5 overarching rules that serve as my classroom expectations – and that are good rules to live by as well. Too many rules, and all you’ll be doing is enforcing rules, but if you don’t have some rules to control the chaos, the chaos will control you.

I’ve had the following three rules hanging in my classroom for 10 years now:

Mrs. Faulkner Rule #1: Own it and stay in your lane.

Mrs. Faulkner Rule #2: Be aware of your surroundings.

Mrs. Faulkner Rule #3: Make a way, not an excuse.

You might notice I don’t have rules about gum, food, phones, etc. Now I do talk about these specific items on the first day. Check out my fun Classroom Rules Emoji Puppets for doing just that! I’ve learned if students are following those governing guidelines above and if I’m doing my job of actively teaching and facilitating each period, we can have a successful and happy place.

2) Schedules, plans, routines, and structure are necessary for things to run smoothly, for things to get done, and for everyone to feel good about it. Disney has everything planned down to the minute, and there is very, very little interruption to the plan. If you think about how much they have going on to make the parks the happiest places on earth, it’s critical to establish and maintain routines. They have a plan for shows, parades, buses, rides, fast passes, rain delays, and more. They even publish specifically when and where the characters will appear. Now think about how much we have going on in the classroom: attendance, lunch count, signing field trip forms, turning in lesson plans, differentiating, signing devices on the wi-fi, providing make-up work, collecting homework, passing out tasks, assigning groups, scheduling conferences, RTI, passing out a Band-aid, and on and on. Imagine if there were no plan for how to take attendance or how to pass out papers, etc. It would be chaos, kids would know you had no plan, and you wouldn’t get anything done. I am probably an over-planner or over-scheduler, but I do have a plan for every minute of my class period, every day of the week, and even an extended plan for the month. I have routines for turning in papers, passing out papers, getting in groups, and so forth and so on. Now, no plan, routine, or schedule is any good if no one knows what it is. That’s why Disney has the published pamphlets up front each day and even an app. The first few days of school, I talk about my classroom routines and schedules. We even practice, so they know what to expect. Some may argue that it takes up precious time at the beginning of the year, but it SAVES so much time later on. Plus, I just work them into what we are doing so that it feels natural. Each week I write the daily schedule on the board, and each day, I go over the daily plan with students before we start the lesson. We are all on the same page that way and can get moving.

3) Kindness and smiles matter. There are so many opinions about whether or not to smile at students right away or be overly kind to them. I would even say that my own opinion here has evolved over the years. The people who work at Disney wear a smile as part of their uniform – and maybe they are just genuinely happy to be there. I mean, if I were a Disney princess instead of a high school English teacher, then maybe I’d be all smiles all the time, too. But I chose to be an English teacher – I want to be there. So why wouldn’t I let my kids know that with a smile? So can you be kind and smile AND maintain a professional image and relationship with students? Absolutely – yes. I am 100% not my students’ friend – not in any way, shape, form, or fashion. That doesn’t mean, though, that I can’t – or won’t – be kind to them. That also doesn’t mean that I have no classroom management either or that I’m crossing any lines or that I’m not stern or won’t correct them. Believe me, I have plenty of lines drawn. Kids of all ages crave kindness, and for the 90 minutes that I have them each day, I need to find ways to show kindness. And going back to the idea of really wanting to be there – I do and I like to see kids learning and hear what they have to say. That makes me smile. They make me smile. So from the first day of school to the last, I greet them at the door and smile. I say please, thank you, and great job, and I really mean it. Smiles are contagious – give one and get one!

4) Have a grand finale, but start with the fire fingers. The best closing show at Disney this year, in my opinion, was the Fantasmic show at Hollywood Studios. I loved all the closing and opening shows at all the parks because Disney doesn’t ever do anything halfway, but the HS park show had several things that really spoke to me in terms of back-to-school. If you’ve seen the show, you know that it opens with lights and music – it’s the best and biggest lead at any of the shows, and so you are expecting something really, really great. Then up from a mountain on a stage far, far away pops up a teeny, tiny Mickey. Granted, it was a live Mickey and not a projection or puppet, but he was so, so small. I guess I was just expecting more. Then several minutes of almost nothing go by and out of nowhere, he starts to dance and shoot fire from his finger tips!! That is a new level of spirit fingers, folks! Immediately, I was in. Why didn’t they start with that? Why didn’t they start with the fire fingers? The lead in was good and it got me interested, but then it was a huge let-down – until minutes later when Mickey whipped out those fire fingers. When I think about applying this experience to my classroom this year, I was reaffirmed that I must start and end the lesson with something great to get my students’ attention. It certainly won’t be fire fingers every time – or ever LOL! – but it needs to be relevant to activate their learning and draw them in – and keep them in – before I lose them. The law of primacy and recency says you remember the best whatever is at the beginning and ending. I’ll carefully plan bell ringers this year and exit tickets with specific purpose and pizazz so they aren’t just a waste of time or means to an end or a way to check a box. For me, that will look like carefully chosen daily grammar practice because my junior and seniors have ACT on the brain. For yearbook, it will be inspirational photos and team building tasks. To end, I’ll be sure to have students review the lesson and make their own connections. The beginning and end really do matter and make meaning. Every day won’t be “on fire” – that’s just going to be a reality – but this reminded me I do need to bring it to the best of my ability day in and day out.

5) Keep the focus and purpose in mind. I went to Disney with my family and two nieces – nine and three. The girls are super familiar with most Disney characters, and those we knew they weren’t interested in, we didn’t spend much time at. But there was one show we went to and about half way through, my three-year-old niece asked, “Who is that?” We all knew who it was and hadn’t even thought that she might not know. At that moment I realized that might be how our students feel when we present knew material to them. Sometimes we take for granted they know it. Because I have a very tight schedule, I can’t afford to spend time teaching material they already know, but I also can’t afford for them to be lost and have to rush and make it up later. So, at the beginning of the year, I always give a pre-test of 100 words that every high school English students should know. These are words from the CCSS, standardized testing words, and other words that are specific to English. Also, it’s really important to share with students the purpose of the lesson or activity for the day. They need to know why they are learning it and how it connects with the larger purpose. I usually explain it so explicitly to them so that they could tell anyone who comes into the class period to observe or anyone they talk to after class.

At the end of the day, Disney is in the business of making dreams come true. But we teachers are, too. In fact, the biggest of dreams are in our hands. What an honor and privilege to have that role in someone’s life. As I prepare for my 2018 school year, I want to make as much a magic in my classroom each and every day that I possibly can. Here’s to a “Soarin’” kinda year, and not a “Hollywood Tower of Terror” kinda one! Share with me in the comments how you prepare for back-to-school!

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Benefits of Using Task Cards at the Secondary Level

Using task cards at the secondary level can be hugely successful. Interestingly, I was using “task cards” in my class before I knew they were called that – and way before they looked so cute! If I needed to guide a particular group on a topic or break up the assignment, I would often just grab some colored index cards and a sharpie and beginning assigning the tasks, differentiating, or reviewing! Now with the wonderful world of technology 🙂 and access to tons of programs, task cards can come in any form or fashion. Here are 5 ways and reasons to use the task cards strategy at the middle and high school level.

#1) Differentiation and Scaffolding: Task cards offer teachers and students many benefits. Teachers need easy, but effective ways to meet the needs of all students who come to the table with all different ability levels. Task cards can easily be used to tailor instruction and reinforcement to those needs.

–You choose who gets which card, and that can be done without the students’ knowledge of that choice. All of my response to text task cards are written in two levels and are clearly labeled in the file. Pictured below are two examples from my poetry and speech task cards. If you head over to my TeachersPayTeachers store, you’ll be able to get a couple of these free in the preview file.

– One directive per card helps students focus.

–If students or groups of students are working through a set of cards, they set their own pacing. Here different groups of students are analyzing poetry, but one group only has one card, while the other group has two cards.

–Some cards can have suggested answers or clues, while others are more open-ended.

–Some students or groups can be assigned one or more depending on their needs.

– Task cards just by their nature provide individualized instruction and scaffolding because they allow for effective chunking of material. For example, when I teach writing, we use task cards to guide analysis of model papers during the pre-writing process and task cards to provide directives for revision and editing during the phases of the writing process.

#2) Discussion & Collaboration: Classroom discussion is very important for classroom culture but also for understanding. I believe students need to read about it, talk about it, and then write about it. Task cards provide a direct focus for talk topics where needed.

–Students can see cards first to prepare individually before small or whole group discussion.

–Guides whole group discussion. Take a look at these fun Emoji Accountable Talk Stem Puppets They offer a accountable talk stems for students to respond to or use during discussions.

– Can require students to produce a larger product together. For example, if you want students to write a paragraph, give each group a task to complete a certain section of the paragraph. When they put their work together, they have a complete product.

– Can even be used with large class sizes. See how I make it work:

#3) Games and Review

–Play traditional games (board games, card games, beach ball toss, etc.) with task cards for your subject. Below students are reviewing ELA vocabulary using vocabulary cards from my 100 words every high school English student should know pack in order to move their pieces around a game board I whipped up for fun. Give each group a set of task cards, and in order to take a turn, each student had to answer a question on one of the cards. The rest of the group had to agree with the answer before they could move on. Groups or students could also have a recording sheet that they turn in or use as a study guide.

#4) Gallery Walks, Scavenger Hunts, Quests. and Stations: Lessons that involve movement can sometimes be overwhelming to create and produce, but for Kinesthetic students especially, movement enhances learning. Pretty much any student, though, enjoys the opportunity to move around during class. Task cards make these types of activities much more attainable because they are easier to create and/or manage.

–Cards are posted around the room/hall for a gallery walk. Never tried a gallery walk? Want some fresh tips? Click over to take a look at this FREE video tutorial where I explain how to set up and manage gallery walks.

–Assign students certain numbers to complete or do them all.

–Set time limits.

–Students record answers on sheets.

– Use them in stations or centers. Here’s a quick video where I explain how I developed impromptu centers using my poetry task cards in station rotations. Get the FREE poetry recording sheet here.

– Add QR codes for a self-checking function or to add a quick video tutorial.

#5) Going green with task cards The trend is certainly moving toward more technology in the classroom that is student-centered. Task cards offer so many opportunities for teachers to convey both lesson content, practice, and assessment because they are so flexible.

•1:1 schools

•via Google Slides or Google Classroom in the lab, group device, or on their own devices. All of my response to text task cards are now available in Google Slides format. You can get them here.

•Nearpod student led or in homework mode.

•Classflow with student response systems or on their own devices

•Kahoot for whole class review and gaming. I love putting my Real-World Grammar Fails Task Cards in Kahoot to use at bell ringers or fun test-prep review! They come in large pdf and large jpeg mode for easy uploading in this format, so there’s no extra work for you. See more about my experience with Kahoot at this post!

•Single iPad used via Apple TV to share task card work. Below students were correcting sentences with some grammar task cards. In order to share with the class, I used the mirror feature on my iPad with my Apple TV, so the entire class could see the original sentence from the task card as each group explained the corrections that needed to be made.

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Updated Sep. 2018

5 Reasons to Love TpT for Back to School

Going back
to school isn’t just a one day event for teachers. It is a process- a process that takes hours,
days, and weeks. We teachers pour over
our classrooms and attend meetings. We run copies and plan lessons. We wonder what desk arrangement is going to work. How many students will I have? What will
I do on the first day? And now with the ~~pressure~~ inspiration of
“Pinterest classroom” – phew! We will never be finished, right? Teachers just
simply do not just go back to school!

So, that’s
why I love Teachers Pay Teachers for back to school. Here are five reasons that
TPT is great for making back to school a little simpler.

1) Give-a-Ways
– Many TPT sellers work together to put together huge bundles of great
resources, gifts, and more that teachers can enter to win! Find out about these
give-a-ways by following blogs and individual stores and by doing a
quick Internet search.

2) Freebies
– What’s better than an idea or resource that you love? If it’s free, right?!? TpT is has thousands of free,
quality resources for back to school ideas, classroom décor, pre-tests,
curriculum, ice breakers, and lessons.
There are no strings attached – just log in for free and download until
your heart’s content! See some fabulous freebies for secondary ELA here.

3) Bundles
– Anybody like shopping at Costco or Sam’s? Do you prefer those large jars of
pickles at Wal-mart to the smaller ones? It’s true – bundles give you more bang
for your buck. Even if you don’t eat every last pickle in the jar, you paid
less but got more and loved every bite of each one that you did eat. The same is true for bundles of resources,materials, and activities. You get to
pick and choose what you can use, or use it all, and it’s all there in one easy
download!

Back to School Trip to Costco

4) Sales
– I love that tingly feeling when I’ve gotten a good deal on a pair of shoes.
You know the one J.
Teachers Pay Teachers sellers are very aware that ~~most~~ all teachers
use their own money to buy school supplies and resources, and sellers know that
teachers are spending their own hard-earned money and trusting our resources. At the start of every year the site hosts a
site-wide sale, and they host several throughout the year as well. Periodically throughout the year, individual
sellers will throw their own sales. The
fact of the matter is, though, that the prices on TpT are already
rock-bottom. Where else can you get a
week unit plan for $5 or less? See what’s on sale this week!

5) It’s
all in one place at your fingertips. – Time is precious. Having resources that
are ready-to-go and tried and true all in one place that you can preview before
you buy is fantastic. No need to run to
the dusty supply closet, hop around on various sites, or wait for something to
come in the mail. Just relax in your jammies with some coffee and shop. It’s all right here –
right now!

As
back to school rounds the corner more closely each day, may the odds be ever in
your favor!