LaborLESS Blog Hop and Giveaway

ARE YOU REAAADDDY!!!?

It is Finally here!

Today I am linking with Laura from Where the Magic Happens, Krista from Teaching Momster, and Lisa from PAWsitively Teaching! I have joined forces once again with my bloggy friends to bring you the best, most amazing giveaway on this Labor Day weekend!
All of us have been thinking about good ways in which to treat our readers and followers. We thought hard, and I mean it! Really, really hard… and decided that we can treat you to our best ideas to work smarter rather than harder… at school and home!
I know what it takes to be a great teacher, the stress, the time, the energy… I could go on and on! I also know that we crave time to ourselves and our families.

So here I go!

In my classroom I'm one of those teachers who puts in ALL of the work ahead of time so that during the school day I am more of a "facilitator" than a teacher. I've been able to remove nearly all of the stress from my teaching life this way! So, how do I do it? With a semi-flipped classroom.

I'm at the elementary level so I do not expect all students to be able to watch videos at home as homework. Instead, I make my daily directions into a video or screencast and post them on my class website. Students access them at school before they get started with their assignments. Perhaps I should clarify that I am a Technology Teacher, so I see 6 classes each day for 45 minutes each. This is an example of a screencast I made for a Typing assignment in 3rd grade.

The benefit of making the directions into a video like this and doing it ahead of time is that students can watch the video multiple times, and if anyone was absent, I can send them right to the video so they don't even need me! Are you starting to see how the Facilitator role works for me?

Having a class website is hugely beneficial, too. I teach students how to get to my website right away and we bookmark it in our web browser. This eliminates the need to type in websites every day, and if they accidentally close the browser window, they know how to get back to their lesson. This is how I LaborLess at school.

Teaching can be incredibly draining. It is important to take time out of your busy day that is just for you. I'm not asking you to have a balanced life, (in my opinion, trying to have the perfect balance spreads a person too thin) just make time for the things that help you unwind. For me, it is Reading.

Right now I'm reading this really cool book called The One Thing. It is all about setting one priority in life so that you can be successful beyond your wildest dreams. Here it is on Amazon if you want to check it out.

Reading gives me time to unwind and give my mind a break from thinking about school. I usually have 2 books going at once. A work or life book and a fun book. I'm trying to work my way through the Game of Thrones series of books as my fun books.

Since we are all here to try to make our lives easier, I want to recommend a resource for Technology Teachers, or any teacher required to teach the International Society for Technology in Education Standards.

This resource provides the K-5 technology teacher with everything you need to organize your school year. Curriculum mapping, planning pages, data and assessment recording, and student tracking pages for your older students to be self-reflective of their learning.

Here is a recent review of the resource from my TpT store: "I cannot put into words how much this tool has helped measure my technology teaching and thoroughness of instruction. ISTE NETS-S standards can be rather vague, but the I Can statements along with this easy to use planner have completely revitalized how I assess student technology skills.

Thank you so much!!"

Hopefully I've given you some ideas for ways to rest and recuperate even during the hectic school year. Be sure to enter to win these amazing prizes! Thanks for reading and connecting with me. Teachers who work together are most successful.

Top all these great tips and ideas with these top-notch prizes!

A $100 gift card to Amazon