Teaching Mrs. Ryan

  How many of you have tried digital break-outs, or any kind of break-out for that matter in your classroom?  If you haven't I promise you are missing out on a fun way to engage your students in their content while making those brains work on some serious critical thinking skills!     After spending $$ on my favorite website ( TeachersPayTeachers of course) on digital breakouts I decided I really needed to learn how to do this myself.  Especially when I couldn't find the exact item I'm wanting.  Let's face it... it's hard living in a Common Core World when I work in a TEKS environment!  Common Core and Texas Essential Knowlege and Skills (TEKS) are pretty different and most of what I tend to find is catered to Common Core.  Time for me to "BREAKOUT!"     I would like to tell you that I spent a large amount of time researching and putting together my first break-out but let me be honest with you... I didn't have that time ...

  By now all of you savvy educators are well aware of what Bloxels are, and I am super proud to be a Bloxels Ambassador.  In case you aren't familiar with Bloxels and how they can impact your classroom, let me introduce you to my favorite curriculum collaborator!   Yes!  You are reading the logo right... a program that lets you build your own video games.  This educator values the fact that it is hands on and technology!  Most of the graphics on my page today come from the Bloxels webpage, but some are my own.  Creations by imagination.   If you are not familiar with Bloxels or how it works I recommend visiting their website HERE .     The amazing Bloxels website contains a huge amount of information such as the Bloxels blog, how it works, where to buy it, and even educator lesson plans.  Let me tell you how my Bloxels journey began: One day I stumbled into a Barnes and Noble with my family and there was a ...

I have to admit, that this past week has been the most exhausting and exhilarating week I've had since I was in the Navy.  I began my student teaching journey this week as a long term substitute teacher.  I am teaching Math to middle school students who are in the 6th and 7th grade, and boy am I learning a lot! My students have been in school for 2 weeks now, this upcoming week will be their 3rd.  I am the 3rd teacher they have had, and the one they have had for the longest.  The school I'm teaching at uses C Scope for their curriculum, so my students do not have text books.  This is something new for me, and I feel like I'm starting to overcome this challenge.   In all of my classes, my students seem to be lagging behind, so I've been giving remedial instruction this week to make up for the lack of a more structured instruction process.  I have a lot of material to cover, and not much time to cover it in.  Each class is with me for 1 hour a day...