I'm joining up with some other fabulous bloggers for the monthly Bright Ideas Blog Hop! I always get such great ideas from other teachers.
As a resource teacher, I'm servicing students from 6 different gen ed classrooms. That means I have students with 6 different special schedules. I always joke that my classroom feels like kids are getting on and off a merry-go-round all day long.
But seriously.....it really does feel like that and make teaching rather difficult when you have a schedule like this, for example.
This is a sample schedule since our special schedule hasn't really started yet. Some days are WAY worse than this with nonstop kids in and out at different times all day long. It drives me crazy.
My first few years of teaching I put a big schedule on the board and would spend all day trying to remember to send Johnny to PE at 9:30 and then remember to send Henry to Music at 9:45. My poor kids missed so many specials, because I would forget. Or I would just be so wrapped up in teaching or a behavior problem that I wouldn't even realize that Susie needed to be a Speech right this second.
Last year, I thought of this super easy way to keep my kids on track.
I still keep my big schedule on the board. But I also plugged all the times and days of the week into my phone's alarm. This saved me so much heartache! It did take 16 alarms set in the phone last year, but it was ok. My kids never missed a specials class.
I set the alarm for 5 minutes before the special time. That way they have time to quickly clean up their area or activity and head out the door. I was worried it would be disruptive to the class, but it's really not a big deal. The alarm goes off, everyone looks at the schedule, and someone leaves. Then I keep on teaching. I even taught my kids how to turn off the alarm in case they were closer to my phone than me.
This was a lifesaver to me and I hope it will help you out, too!
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This would work well for an iPod touch or classroom iPad, too, if you don't want to clog your personal phone with all these alarms. But the idea is brilliant! I always always always forget to do my attendance on time. I need to set an alarm!
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! They seriously should issue us iPhones (and antibiotics) at the start of the year! Great idea for the classroom teachers to set an alarm too so the students are ready to go!
ReplyDeleteJennifer from Simply Kinder
Great idea! I think I finally figured that out the third day my para-professional was out sick! She was always so good at reminding my students when it was time to go. I always forgot but, then I thought to myself, "Hello cell phone!"
ReplyDeleteThis is such a great idea! Simple, but it works :) Thanks!
ReplyDeleteJenny
Luckeyfrog's Lilypad
I did this last year too! It works like a charm. I need to do it for this year. I keep forgetting to send them :/
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
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