06:00 AM – Another alarm signalling another day. Why is it so difficult to get out of bed every morning?

06:05 AM – I am washing my face and brushing my teeth while thinking about what I have to accomplish today after a hectic day yesterday; I found out that a student in the class had trouble reading independently, but they’re able to follow along great when I read to them. There’s also a few other students who finds math frustrating, and I have a lot to prepare for for the upcoming Parent-Teacher Conferences that’s happening in less than a week! Oh boy!

06:30 AM – I am preparing breakfast, lunch, and some snacks to bring with me to school now. I’m also looking up some research packages on Connect that could possibly help me with my current dilemmas.

06:32 AM – I forgot my password to get into Connect. This is frustrating.

Why is Connect so hard to navigate? Why must they constantly update this thing instead of keeping it plain and simple to make it easier for everyone?

Arg, technology.

06:40 AM – I’m in. Finally.

(And, honestly, that took way too long than it should have.)

06:45 AM – I found the research package on reading. Guess I’ll be tackling this one first. Oh boy.

06:55 AM – This research package is very useful. There are a lot of tools in here that I can utilize with my student who is having issues reading independently. I know that they are able to follow along when I read aloud to them, now the next step is to check where they are at with their reading skills. According to this package, I can try to build their confidence up by pairing them up with another student so that they can read together. Maybe I can introduce this today during Reading Time after checking out the large book section in the school library.

Awesome. Next.

07:30 AM – I just discovered from another package that there is this amazing math teacher who makes math so fun and exciting that I wish my math teachers were all like him! Incorporating technology with math – that’s ingenious!

I’m going to bookmark his blog and look at some of his things as soon as I get home today. Perhaps I can introduce the new unit on Finance using this 3 Acts of a Mathematical Story method! I bet the kids will love it!

07:42 AM – Got distracted exploring some of the things on there. Oops. Back to research.

07:44 AM – Oh wait. I just realized that this math thing depends a lot on group work. Uh oh. I don’t think some of my students are ready for that leap into collaborative learning. Time to search up some strategies to incorporate this into our classroom.

08:00 AM – Ah ha! I found a research package on building a collaborative classroom community. Jackpot.

8:02 AM – Just had a quick scroll through this and there seems to be a lot of information. I will go over this once I’m back from school today.

5:05 PM – School went well today, I think! The student that had issues with reading independently loved the shared reading idea; They asked a friend to read together, and they read one of their all-time favourite superhero books together! It was great! I’ve never seen them both so engaged in their reading! This is amazing! I guess we’ll be doing this for a while and after their confidence in reading has built up a bit, I’ll try introducing independent reading again. One step at a time.

5:10 PM – I’m hungry and my stomach is singing the song of its people. I’m going to grab a quick snack. Shall it be dried mangoes today or some fresh fruits with yogurt? Maybe I can make some honey lemon tea too. I think I deserve it – it’s been a tough, but good day.

5:17 PM – Alright. Time to get researching again.

First up, math.

5:20 PM – I’m going to bookmark the Money Duck (maybe I can simplify it for my grade 4/5 class). It’s a pretty funny video.

5:22 PM – Coin Counting also sounds interesting. I might be able to use this as a Quest of the Day or an introductory question and have the students guess the amount.

5:23 PM – This dried mango is too sweet. I should have bought the ones without additional sugar in them. Do they even sell that anymore?

Collaboration. Right. I need to find some strategies that I can employ tomorrow in class.

5:30 PM – Okay. So, I’ve found quite a few helpful strategies that I think will work in my class:

• Small groups (less than five – maybe three? Either way, don’t put friends together since they can be easily distracted.)
• Mixed group composition (mix students with different academic skills – can help develop and reinforce their interpersonal and group skills, and peers teaching peers helps them retain new information better)
• Think-Pair-Share might be a nice way to start off
• SUMMER might also be another good way to begin

5:40 PM – Oh, now that I’m thinking more about this collaborative learning approach, maybe I should introduce and shift my teaching into this method instead? Or would it be too late? Nah, I already have a great teacher-student relationship with the children and they know that I care about their learning. They also trust me a lot. I think it will work!

5:45 PM – Hmm, all this researching, thinking, and planning is making me hungry.

Oh my! Will you look at the time! It’s almost time for dinner! How time flies. I think I’ll whip up some delicious instant noodles.

6:30 PM – That was a nice break. I also fed the dog. So, dog’s full, human’s full, now to fill up my brain again.

6:32 PM – Parent-Teacher Conferences. Oh boy.

6:35 PM – This research package seems to be very comprehensive on dealing with parent-teacher conferences! Yes. This is excellent!

6:50 PM – The big idea after a scroll through this package is that I should always make myself accessible by having an open-door classroom, and that those short chit-chats in the mornings with parents are great ways to get quick snippets of updates on their children’s progress and development at home. Who knew? I should utilize this time better and more strategically!

6:55 PM – Oh, the research package talks about having an on-going communication with the caregivers. I should look into starting a Facebook group for all the caregivers of the children. I’m going to double check that I can do this with the principal tomorrow.

6:57 PM – Oh, or maybe a blog might be useful too! I can keep a daily or weekly blog and keep caregivers updated that way! Moreover, since there are some caregivers whose first language is not English, they can translate the blog to their first language using Google Translate!

I am a genius. I love technology.

I’m going to look into setting up the blog right now.

7:02 PM – So many pretty designs. Oh my goodness. The possibilities are endless! I cannot wait to get started on this creative platform for on-going conversation with caregivers! I should write up a newsletter for the children to bring home so they can give it to their caregivers about the new blog! Better get some bilingual teachers to help translate it!

I should have taken up more languages while in school. Darn. Good thing I’m always encouraging my ELL students to use their L1 if it helps them learn so they won’t forget it!

7:20 PM – It has been a busy, but extremely productive day if I do say so myself.

Pat on the back, Ms. Milly. You did good.

Note: All pictures retrieved from Pixabay.