JaDoF - Just a Day of Firsts

Today was a big day, the first day of teacher meetings for teachers that are new to the district. We spent time doing icebreakers with all of the new teachers in the district, then heard from administrators and teachers that are in charge of district-wide initiatives.

We played Quiz, Quiz, Trade (QQT) as an icebreaker. What a GREAT idea! QQT was actually not a first for me. I have used this game in the classroom a couple of times as a time filler, and as a review game. Students have a notecard or a sticky-note and write a question about the subject for their peers to answer. Students find a partner and ask their question, wait for an answer (Quiz), then the second partner asks their question and the first person answers (Quiz). Once each of the partners have asked their questions and received an answer, the notecards or sticky-notes are Traded, thus Quiz, Quiz, Trade! The students then find a new partner, and ask the new question. If students aren't quick to find partners, you can encourage them to raise their hands when they don't have a partner, so the activity is constantly moving forward.
We were asked to write down any question we wanted, we could make it as simple or complicated as we wanted. For example:

• If you could talk to any celebrity who would it be? Why? 
• Where would you like to live when you retire? 
• If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would it be? 
• What is your favorite food to eat? 
• Superman or Batman? 

These are just a few, but I think this is a GREAT way to keep kids moving in the classroom, while interacting with others.

Today was the first day I realized how many different acronyms there are in education. As I was sitting in some of our meetings, it dawned on me that some of the people in the room might have no idea what was being talked about. It seems like  for every initiative, there are multiple acronyms! Luckily, I have been exposed to them for awhile, so none of them threw me for a loop. Here are just a few: PLC, PDP, RtI, SBG, PBS, CCSS, NEE, 21CL, EOCs, AYP, ELA, IEP, NCLB, STEM, AP, BOE, CBA, FERPA, IDEA, ELT...okay, enough, I think you get the point. That alone is a little overwhelming. Needless to say, my planner is full of acronyms to make sure I don't get them confused...ever.

This afternoon, I took a little bit of time to get my room in some order, here are a few pictures of my room before I started

...stay tuned for Transformation Tuesday!

Shelby