The Start of My Year of Many Firsts

So it's now Fall Break and I FINALLY feel like I can breathe again! It's been almost two months since my last blog post, it's also been almost two months since school started. Coincidence? I think not. To say things have been busy is a bit of an understatement. First year teaching, including KTIP (Kentucky's version of first year internship for teachers). Signed on as co-owner of the gym I've worked at and helped to grow since college. Hustled partnerships, funding opportunities, and new ideas for my nonprofit, Pink Elephant. Attempting to launch a new project near and dear to my heart in Africa called Kuinua Craft Project (more to come on that!). Preparing for grad school in January. And I wonder why my hair is falling out. But in all seriousness (even though seriously, my hair is falling out), I've never felt so excited and close to things that I am passionate about. These things may be the source of my stress, but they've become the source of who I am and what I'm meant to do at this point in my life. With that said, before I delve in deeper to this post, I leave this food for thought. Whether it's me running across it again later, or a visitor to my blog (graciously) reading this, I hope it will continue to spark the same passion as I felt the first time I read it:

The wise words of Desmond Tutu, ladies and gentlemen. 

Since I started this blog as a way to record my own personal journey, even if it's just me going back to read it, I feel like it's important to express my feelings and experiences in teaching so far. This will be fun to look back on at the end of the year. These last two months have been a whirlwind of firsts. Meltdowns, boogers, kinderbaby potty accidents. Let me just say, your first year as a teacher is NOTHING like student teaching, or anything you experienced in college to "prepare" you for the job. It's hard. Really hard. All of a sudden you've got the huge responsibility of educating children and making sure they know what they need to know by the time they leave you; a romantic notion maybe, but it's a totally different story when it becomes your responsibility. That, coupled with KTIP, and you've got one thing: STRESS. You've got a lot of people to answer to; the principal, your mentor teacher, your university supervisor, parents, and perhaps the most daunting critic of all, yourself.
But to be fair, the challenging moments are 100% out-shined by the truly rewarding moments. Like when you see the excitement on a student's face when the lightbulb goes off and you know they've got it. Or when a professional in the building compliments what your doing in the classroom. Or when your able to provide advice to a fellow teacher in supporting the more challenging students in their classroom. Or when you just take a moment to laugh with your students and appreciate the little humans that they are. The list could go on and on. These are the reasons that carry me forward...to the end of the day, to the end of the week, to the next break from school...to the next point where I can take a long deep breath and ready myself to jump back in again. These are also the reasons I look forward to going back for more. The challenge. The joy. The excitement. The way it makes me want to keep growing and learning. Most of all, the purpose and meaning it brings to life. I am forever grateful that God led me to this profession and blessed me with this passion.

Without sounding tedious, I want to make note of the people I owe a huge thank you to for helping me keep my sanity to at least this point. First and foremost, my husband, who puts up with my nonstop work/stress/venting/money spending on my classroom...he's a real keeper ;). To the family and friends who have been supportive in my journey thus far. To the coworkers that have helped me adjust and learn as a first year teacher. To my Pink Elephant partner in crime who I can share my passion for PE's programs with, and who keeps me going on the projects abroad that are so very near and dear to my heart. And to everyone else that must deal with me in the often overwhelmed/busy/stressed state I find myself. THANK YOU.

Now there's officially four days left until we are back to the daily grind I live for. Until my next post (which hopefully won't take two more months to make), I leave you with this:

What will you do to shake the world?

Classroom Reveal

I am too excited to finally share my long awaited classroom reveal! I had one week from the time I was hired to create my classroom design, get my hands on the decor I needed, and put my plan into action (not to mention prepare for my first year as a primary special education teacher, but that's a whole different story!). Somehow, I managed to pull it off and I am pretty satisfied with the results! Check it out for yourself here. Let me know what you think!

A First Year Teacher's Guide to a Rockin' Portfolio

*****THIS BLOG HAS MOVED...CLICK HERE*****

As a recent college grad, I can attest to the stress felt upon graduation. When all of the excitement settles, once you finally bask in your moment of glory and walk the line, degree in hand, after 4 (or 5, maybe 6, but who's counting) years of hard work, you begin to realize that you have been unapologetically thrust into the real world. It's time to put your big girl panties on and go get that job you've worked so hard for. 

But how do you set yourself apart from all of those other recent teacher grads who want the same job you are going for? You create a "rockin" teaching portfolio, of course! 

***Update: If your reading this and you are NOT a first-year teacher, no worries! This portfolio is excellent for the veteran teacher as well. It includes several opportunities to show off what you've done so far in your career. Regardless of where you are in your career, you can dress up your portfolio and set yourself apart with this rockin' template!

Front Cover/Welcome Page:

The purpose of this portfolio is to sell yourself as a teacher. The goal is for the interview team to "buy" into you and hire you for their school. The main components of your front cover need to tell the reader who you are. So, if you're selling yourself, the front cover and welcome page will tell the interview team what exactly they are "buying" into.

On the front cover, you will want to include your name; big, bold, and eye-catching. You will also want to include your credentials, i.e. the degree and/or certifications you hold that are relatable to the job. Also include your contact information, because after all, you want them to call or email you after you rock your interview!

The welcome page is a continuation of you selling yourself as an educator. Look at it like a letter to the reader. You are briefly going to introduce yourself, as if the reader is going to read it without having met you or without you being present. You may very well end up leaving this portfolio with a potential employer. You want the reader to gain a sense of who you are, as both an individual and an education professional.

I decided to make my portfolio even more personal by including a visual of my teaching abroad experience, since this is something that is really important to me and shapes me as an educator. Pictures say a thousand words, so I decided to include pictures from each of my experiences. I used these handy photo flips to present the photos in a compact and unique way. If you have something that is unique and personal to you that is related to education and can set yourself apart from other potential candidates, feature it!

Professional Resources:

In this section, you will want to include your resume, cover letter, and proof of any certifications you hold. As the title suggests, this is the part of your portfolio that showcases your authenticity as an educator, so be sure not to leave it absent. Newly updated to include coordinated pages for: Experiences & Responsibilities, Certifications, Professional Development, and Professional Goals.

No pictures required, who hasn't seen a resume and cover letter before? So instead I'll show you my adorable cover for this section :)

Classroom Setup: 

In this section, I included four different topics of focus: the classroom experience, classroom library, classroom layout, and welcome letter example. As a first year teacher, I have very little previous classroom experiences to draw on, other than what I completed during student teaching. Without having a classroom of my own, I cannot use tried and true examples from my classroom, only ideas that I wish to carry out in my future classroom. That's what this, and much of the rest of the portfolio, is; picture examples, along with a rationale, of what I envision my future classroom to be. At this stage of the game that is the best I can provide, I think my fellow first year teachers can agree. If you are a veteran teacher, this is the perfect opportunity to include some evidence of what you've done in your own classrooms. Use pictures, descriptions, whatever gets the point across.

When describing the classroom experience, I included my vision for classroom design. I didn't just include pictures of how I want to decorate my classroom, I gave rationales for why I chose the different examples I did and, more than anything, I described the overall feeling I want my classroom to have. This idea is continued when describing the classroom library and layout. Ask yourself, how do you want your students to feel in your classroom? What's your goal? How will your classroom be organized and why will your system work? Lastly, I included a sample welcome letter I would send home to my students' families. Family involvement is important in any classroom, so I wanted to be sure to showcase my attention to this detail. As I created each section, it really got me thinking about all of the systems I will need to establish before school starts, which was definitely an added benefit as a first year teacher. 

*If you like the flip-book style welcome letter, for something a little different and unique, grab the one I used here.

Classroom Management:

In this section, I again included four different topics of focus: my management plan, procedures, rules/rewards/consequences, and parent communication. Completing this was one of the most valuable things I could've done in preparing for an interview. This really made me think in detail about systems I am going to put in place in my classroom. I had to look beyond the tons of management systems floating around and, not only choose the one most fitting for my classroom, but give a rationale for why I believed in that system. As you can see, completing a portfolio like this can give you major prep in readying yourself for the interview!

I think these titles are pretty self explanatory, but if you need some ideas to get started, consider asking yourself: What management system will you put in place and why will it work for your students? What procedures will you need to introduce at the start of the year? (Check out this resource for some specific procedures to think about.) Remember, if you don't teach it, you can't expect your students to know what to do. What rules will you have and how will you establish them? What is the reward/consequence system you will use? How will you communicate with parents? 

Best Practices:

During my student teaching experience, I had the opportunity to participate in a mock interview with my school's principal. One of the things she really focused on were best practices in teaching. She said typically when she asks about a potential teacher's belief in best practices, they respond by only paying attention to practices related to behavior and not enough academic. I wanted to make sure I was prepared to discuss both academic and behavior best practices that I believe in.

I decided to not just list the best practices in teaching that I agreed with, but to give a brief explanation for why I felt each was important. To make it more visually appealing, I added the picture examples when it seemed fitting. Completing this section was most beneficial in that it got me to narrow down and really think through roughly eight best practices I feel strongly about that I can discuss in an interview. After completing the brief explanations for each, I felt a lot more prepared to discuss them with an interview team.

Lesson Plans:

This section is just as it suggests, a compilation of personally designed lesson plans that showcase your talent as a teacher! This is your evidence that will show the interview team what you are capable of, so make sure you choose what you feel are your strongest lesson plans to put on showcase.

 I chose a few lesson plans from units I designed during my student teaching experience. I also included the assessments I developed for each lesson, as well as evaluations of each lesson from my supervisors, so the reader is getting a double (really a triple) whammy when they check this section out!

Unit Plans:

Once again, here you are you going to be demonstrating your talents as a teacher through unit plans you have designed and, ideally, taught. This is further evidence to show the interview team what you are capable of. 

I chose to include two different unit plans I designed during my student teaching experience; one pertained specifically to my special education placement and the other to my Gen. Ed. placement. I included a copy of my unit map for the week, using a template I created, which you can get here. Luckily, I documented my unit plan in the Gen. Ed. placement, which integrated an Earth Day theme into my entire week of lessons. I made sure to include the photo documentation, once again using the handy photo flips I mentioned earlier.

***I've updated this resource to include a Student Work Sample title page. If you are a veteran teacher, or have student teaching experience where you kept student work completed from the lessons you taught, this is a great place to show that off.

My Classroom Ideas:

This last section consists of a compilation of all of my ideas that didn't exactly fit in the other parts of the portfolio. I'd say this section would be optional to include; I chose to because I had a few additional ideas that are important to me that I wanted to make sure to convey to the interview team.

I grouped these remaining ideas into a few themes I intend to integrate in my classroom. Again, I included a brief description for each. Since these are ideas that are at the core of my teaching philosophy, I can quickly flip to this section and reference them if needed during an interview. This is another opportunity to make your portfolio unique to you as an educator.

So, there you have it. A complete guide for first year teachers to creating a rockin' portfolio that will help you set yourself apart and land the job you've worked for.
Ready to create your own? You can pick up the same handy presentation book I used here. Grab the template I created for this portfolio at my TPT store here.

Now available, same great concept with a brand new color scheme!

A Teacher's Guide to a Rockin' Portfolio *Modern Edition*

I'd love to know what you think about this resource, so be sure to leave a comment below. If you purchase this resource for yourself, please make sure to leave some feedback on the TpT product page and earn TpT credit (translation: free TpT $$$!)

Best of luck to all of you first year teachers out there, may you not only rock your interview, but rock your first year in the classroom as well!

Welcome to my blog!

Since this is my very first blog, I guess that would make me a blog newbie, so bear with me!

I created this blog so that I can share ideas and resources from my own classroom, collaborate with other educators around the world, and sort of "journal" my classroom experiences. I am a first year teacher, fresh out of college, with a lot of passion and drive for my own classroom, so I am excited to track my journey in education, even if no one cares to look back on it besides me :)

The blog name "Teach the World" has a purpose, more than one actually, so let me indulge you...

As a teacher, I really believe in teaching students to be effective global citizens. This means teaching them in a way that will encourage them to give back to the world, to make it a better place. I believe in authentic, real-world learning with a purpose. I want my classroom to provide students with the knowledge and encouragement that will launch them on a path to succeed in life, with just the right dose of rigor to get to them beyond the finish line and onto their next adventure.

As an individual, I am extremely passionate about the world. I love to travel, I love new adventures, and most of all, I love to experience learning in faraway places. I have been blessed to experience learning in classrooms from four different regions in this world, and I hope this number will grow as I continue to grow as an education professional. In my life, I hope to be able to quite literally "teach the world" by experiencing education in all cultures and places that I can.

One way I attempt to bridge my life here in America and the work I yearn to do abroad is through the nonprofit organization I launched a year and a half ago, Pink Elephant. Don't ask where the name came from, because I have no truly good story for that, other than the fact that it was the name of my Etsy shop I used to sell handmade headbands to fund my first international trip to Botswana in college. It was this trip, which allowed me to teach in schools and collaborate with both the students and educators, that forever changed the course of my life. I learned about the struggle for teachers to receive an adequate support system to support them as professionals; this struggle, no doubt, overflowed onto the students. In America, say what you will about the downfalls of our education system, but one thing we definitely have is collaboration among educators. In the schools, we work with our coworkers, as well as administrators and education professionals provided by our districts, to fully support our students in the best ways we can. This was a missing component in the education I saw, reiterated after teaching experiences in Belize and Kenya; one that I believed had a true negative impact on quality of education for the students on the other end of this system.

The Teacher Outreach program through Pink Elephant is in place to provide a global support system to teachers in disadvantaged communities who need it most. This system allows our partner teachers to connect with other educators around the world (like you!) to share lesson plans and resources, as well as collaborate on ideas, questions, and anything else education related. We are bringing the support system to them, in hopes that it will improve the quality of instruction they are capable of delivering, thus improving the quality of education the students are able to receive.

It may be a long shot, but its something I devote myself to growing and developing each and every day. If your still with me on this (bless you!) I urge you to check out what we are doing by visiting our website: www.PEinternational.org or go straight to our Teacher Portal and sign up as a Supporting Teacher: portal.PEinternational.org.

As I wrap this up, and I know its about time I do, I just want to give a shoutout to my personal support system, my high school sweetheart and (brand new!) husband Garrett. Without him, supporting me and encouraging me through all of this I wouldn't be where I am today, on the path to where I am going tomorrow. When everyone else told me it couldn't be done, or rather I couldn't do it, he was the one voice that said otherwise, even when it wasn't easiest on him.

Ok, that's it! I promise. Now off to plan future posts to help you guys support your own littles in your classroom. Asante sana for sticking around and hope to see you back soon!