brooklynsbrightest Math, Teaching in General

How I use Color by Numbers in my Classroom

-Turn Some Questions into a Google Form! I love to take a color by number sheet and screenshot 5 questions to pop into a Google Form. I like to leave these activites for a sub, and then the next day have them pull out their paper to pop answers into a Google Form. That leads me into the next idea- 

-Sub Plans! These are perfect because the coloring take some time, so they are great for a sub. I always leave an answer key for them! 

-I make them redeemable for tickets! Depending on the level of difficulty, I will make color by number worksheets redeemable for 2-3 tickets once the front and back are complete. (Check out my ticket system here if you aren’t familiar.) 

-Early Finishers. My early finishers also like these because they know they can be redeemed for tickets! 

-Quiz or Test Review. I love to pull out a color by number before a unit test to use it as a review. I will also have students circle questions that mirror any on our upcoming assessment so they can pay attention to that problem type.

brooklynsbrightest Building Relationships, Management, Teaching in General

Positive Interactions in a 55 min. Period

Seeing the good and teaching and intervening and spiral reviewing and reteaching and assessing and doing all the things.. in 55 minutes.. is hard.

One hurdle I have had this year is the group I am teaching. They are truly a dynamic and challenging group all around- academically, behaviorally, personality wise.. it’s a lot. (I knew them when I taught at our feeder elementary school- it’s just always been that way with this bunch.)

We have 9 weeks of school left and I am working really hard to see the good. I know it is there if I look. One simple way I have incorpated this is to pass out these ‘Today I noticed’ cards. I print a stack and have them sitting on my desk. They are short and simple and take all of 10 seconds to write.

  • Notice someone who never pulls out their bellwork and they actually did today?
  • Someone give someone a pencil so you don’t have to go hunt for your spares because your kids literally have depleted your stash this year?
  • Someone showed their math work and they like *never* do that?
  • Someone particiapted who usually does not?
  • You caught someone actually referencing an anchor chart?

One thing about middle schoolers- they don’t outgrow wanting praise. I slip this to them on the way out the door and they know that I noticed something. It’s been a simple yet effective way to not only let them hear something positive from me, but it also reminds me something good happened this period.

Grab your free template here to make your own!

brooklynsbrightest Math, Teaching in General

3 Ways to Use Bingo in Your Classroom

Everyone loves bingo- but I like to mix up how we play it.

  1. What I think of as a traditional way to play: Cut up one of the bingo cards and mix up all the pieces. Choose one from the stack to display under the document camera. Students will answer that question on their board. You can laminate their cards, put them in sheet protectors so students can use markers, or simply print them out and let students actually write on them. You can do the perimeter of the board to get a bingo, a blackout where all the pieces are filled in correctly, and your typical 4 or 5 in a row vertical, horitzonal, or diagonal.
  2. Set a timer for 10 min and have your students answer as many questions on the bingo as possible. When the timer is over, pull out cards as I mentioned in idea #1 where you would display under the doc camera. If they have answered the one you display correctly, they get to mark that one on their board.
  3. Have students swap papers with students- kinda like ‘find someone who’- and set a timer for say 15 min. or so. When students swap papers with someone they have to each answer a bingo question on their peer’s paper. When they swap back, they check other’s answers! This is great because when I do ‘find somone who’ they don’t really stress about the accuracy of the work. They mostly want to get every answer filled in, right? But for a bingo, accuracy matters!

Simple Prize Ideas for Bingo

*Sticker packs from Amazon

*Mini eraser packs from Amazon

*Pencils

*Give out tickets to winners! I have a blog post for tickets here.

brooklynsbrightest Math, Teaching in General

Learning Targets Goal Setting

I use this learning targets goal setting for mid-unit assessments as well as summative assessments to group student learning needs based off specific targets. This is wonderful not only for my instruction, but also for student ownership. Students are able to reflect why they missed a particular learning target, and celebrate learning targets that were mastered. This is a great piece to present to parents to break down learning progressions and what needs to be mastered, WHY, and still celebrate what targets have been successful.

In the example above, the quick check consisted of 6 questions. Three involved one step equations with addition and subtraction, while the other three addressed one step equations with multiplying and dividing. As you can see, the student mastered the multiplication and division, known as target two. This student needs to practice the addition and subtraction, and reflected that this was due to mistakes with inverse operations.

What I love about this tool is that it’s so versatile- any subject can utilize this, and you can have multiple targets. Sometimes I have four! I try to stay between 2-5 so that it is not overwhelming and can remain concise.

I have a reel on Instagram showing how I used this for a summative assessment on rational operations.

The bottom number of each target represents the number of questions there were. For example, there were 4 questions for rational operations: integers. Students write the number they got correct for those and put as the numerator. This takes some practice, but after 2 times my students really grasp the concept and don’t need as much support filling this out. I usually write on the board questions 1-4 addressed this target, etc.

Students reflect on why they missed particular questions as we work through them. I allow them to glue these in their notebooks, and they can be pulled out for conferences. You can also file these in a folder. Then I conduct small groups based on who needs to still master what target. P.S. YOU decide what mastery is- 4/4 or 3/4, etc.

Grab your free template here.

Nov. 2022 Update: I have now started a product line of quick checks for formative assessments that have a pre-made goal setting template to match! You can check those out here.

Have a topic request? Fill out this form.

brooklynsbrightest Management, Math, Teaching in General

Effective + Engaging Collaborative Groups

We all want this- but how do we achieve this!? I love to complete this anchor chart activity at the beginning of the school year. I also did it with my summer school studnets- and look at their amazing responses! I am always surprised with how each class brings a new perspective to the topic. I am also proud of the converations it leads to. Whenever we are laying out ground rules for students (especially middles!!!) it’s important to share the why. When students cultivate this themselves (without even knowing it) it becomes even more effective.

I hope to see you at the Grow Your Impact conference where I dsicuss thi activity further! http://www.brooklynbrightest.blog/growyourimpact

brooklynsbrightest Math, Teaching in General

Spin to Win

Who else likes to spice up their review every now and then!? It’s always important to keep my middle schoolers enagaged.. or else! This is a super simple and low prep way to add in some extra fun + focus.

I like to take a paper study guide and cut up the questions, or simply use task cards.

The, I display them one at a time for students to work in groups to solve. I usually set a timer to keep them on task. The time depends on the level of difficulty for each quesiton. Sometimes I give them a minute, or maybe I give them 3 if it’s a challenge or requires multiple steps.

When time is up, I have the groups hold up their answers. (I usually use white boards!) If the whole group has the same correct answer (more about that below), they get to participate in a spin! This is where it gets interesting. I put lots of different points- plus, minus, large, and small. So sometimes they gain 100, or maybe they lose 50! I reward the team with the highest points AND the lowest points, because sometimes there are a lot of teams in the negatives from getting a quesition right, but it was a negative spin.

What I also like about the game rules: Everyone in the group has to have the same answer to gain the spin points. This ensures communication. If one student has a different answer but eveyone else has the correct answer, they still don’t get the points from the spin. Trust me, after this happens 1-2 times, they are over not getting the spin and will communicate!

If you use this idea in your classroom, please tag me on social media- I would love to see it! @brooklynsbrightest on Instagram, and @brooklynsclass on Twitter.

brooklynsbrightest Building Relationships, Teaching in General

BTS Activities for Middles + Math!

As you are headed back to school, virtually or traditionally, I wanted to offer some great resources from my math friends. Hopefully you will find these inspiring and useful for your classroom!

Digital Would You Rather shown above by myself, Brooklyn’s Brightest

Geometry Scavenger Hunt by Lindsay Bowden (PS This one is free!)

Digital Math Activities by Busy Miss Beebe

Editable Math Learning Targets by 8th Grade Math Teacher

Back to School Choice Board by 2ndary Math

Back to School Digital Breakout by Moving Towards Mastery

Math Interactive Notebook Cover Paper + Digital by Math Stop

brooklynsbrightest Teaching in General, Uncategorized

Teacher Instagram Post Ideas

So you made a teacher Instagram page.. now what!? The first year that I had my teacher page, I struggled with what content to post. So, if you are new to this & feel you aren’t sure where to start- here is a little inspiration!

Classroom Pictures

I love seeing pictures of other classrooms! It is so refreshing.

Management Ideas

Share ways that you manage your classroom- big or small!

A Good Book

This can be an actual student book for a classroom library and/or a professional read!

Something You’ve Created or Used

Share something you have made or used in your classroom. This could be something you made for your own TPT or it can be something you purchased that was great! Try to tag the creator if you do the latter- we love seeing you use personal material!

A Teacher Outfit

Teacher t-shirts are an obsession of mine. But many teachers even just share comfy outfit ideas. This may not be something everyone is interested in, but I personally love sharing my t-shirts. On a plus side, they are usually from teacher owned businesses or a small business, so it’s great to give them a boost of support.

Organization Ideas

I love seeing how other teachers organize things. From manipulatives to notebooks, share how you do you!

Activities

Share something in action & elaborate a bit on how you made it work for your classroom.

Classroom Buys

Fun or educational- share something you’ve purchased for your classroom. I share things that I purchase with personal money (such as a lanyard) as well as things I purchase with school fee replacement money (such as good classroom supplies).

Get Personal!

Audiences like to know YOU, so post some personal content occasionally. I like to share travel photos when I go on a trip. These are also great to use for introduction posts as you gain followers.

If you are new to the teacher Instagram world, comment with your handle and I’ll be sure to follow you!

brooklynsbrightest Teaching in General

10K on Instagram

I recently obtained 10K followers on my teacher account & I’m really excited to meet this milestone! For many teachers we desire this mark because it enables the swipe up feature in stories. I have gotten a lot of questions about how to get here, & I want to first and foremost communicate that I have had this account for FOUR years of teaching.. so it took me a lot longer than many others I know! However, I really didn’t become intentional with my account until this past school year. I will give you my best insight & share some easy tips that will probably get you there a lot faster than I did, now that I know what I know! (:

HUGE preface- I know that 10K doesn’t make you a better teacher, or that you have to even have 10K to be a good teacher, etc. I just want to throw that out there! ‘It’s not about the numbers’ although I will keep it real & say it’s okay if you really want it like I did. YOU do YOU!

  • SWITCH TO BUSINESS. Get a free business account. Like right now. Go do it. Just switch in your settings! The only requirement is for a Facebook page to be tied to the account. I just made one with the same name as my Instagram but I don’t post very regular on it for now (maybe one day) & honestly you don’t even have to do anything with the tied FB account! Why should you switch? Having this type of account shows your engagement levels and when your followers are active. Let me show you..
Click VIEW INSIGHTS on your post to see these numbers.

So on this post reading from left to right, I can see there were 718 likes, 94 comments, 38 people ‘sent’ this post to someone else (that’s what the little paper airplane means) & 272 people bookmarked or saved this post. This lets me know this content was very appealing.

These are my times for the summer which is more spread during the day bc we are all off work. During the school year my bar graph reaches more towards the top around 6PM, which is why I usually only post around that time during the workweek! I’m CST btw.
  • TIMING MATTERS. This is probably what changed my posting strategies the most- look at those times!!! This is during the summer months so teachers have the freedom to check IG all day.. I will probably update this post once we are back in school so I can show how drastically these times change when we are all working. I am in the CST zone, & my bar graph is still pretty low around 12 and 3 pm during the school year. THIS is why I quit posting while I was at school. LIGHT BULB MOMENT when I realized that just because it was 10 AM and my kids were in PE & I had free time to post, other teachers were TEACHING and not going to interact. My followers on the West Coast are 2 hours behind me and were just kicking off their day- more than likely not in IG. (To clarify, I may post a story at school but I do not post a POST at school.. did you get that (: lol)

Why is that important? Due to the IG algorithm, if your post doesn’t receive engagement within the first hour or so, it can get lost in the shuffle of other posts bc followers don’t see posts in chronological order as we all kinda wish they would sometimes. So in a nutshell, you want your post to get some attention right off the start, meaning DON’T post it when only a small portion of your followers are active. For me, 6 PM is the sweet spot bc the East Coast is only an hour ahead of me so it isn’t too late and MST/PST zones are finally out of school. (Although I have followers from all over, the majority of my audience is from the states, also shown through the business account. So 6PM really is the sweet spot for the bulk of my followers due to my location and audience.)

Here are my posts ranked in order from engagement.
  • BE INTENTIONAL Recognize that IG is a VISUAL platform. What vibe do you want people to feel when they visit your page? Do you want them to notice your transformations, organization, student engagement, a little bit of it all? I started being intentional with what should go in a story & what should be in a post. Think of yourself opening the IG app. We all look at the photo first, then read the caption. If you want the caption to be read, make the photo engaging enough to stop someone from scrolling past it. I don’t use any fancy apps for posting but I just try to take a decent picture. I do use some apps for stories & I try to post in those more- you can track engagement levels with that too. I really think people like to see YOUR face which I’m still working on doing more.
  • HASHTAGS Use them!! & I try to vary them. I save them in my notes & when I post I just copy/paste a group of them. #teachersfollowteachers #teachersofig #teachergram , etc. You can see how popular a hashtag is by searching it just like you would a person, except tap ‘tags.’ Try to use popular ones!
#hashtags
  • GIVEAWAYS One last note- GIVEAWAYS. Okay so I like them, don’t get me wrong. But don’t try to get to 10K through only giveaways. A LOT of people unfollow after those. I have done some this summer bc it’s been really fun & I had time for it, but I also want my audience to be as authentic as possible- that’s just me. Just remember you could gain 300 followers from a giveaway but lose half of them the day after the giveaway ends- really. Do some, but not too many!!! You can join them easily by filling out the forms on a giveaway page bio on IG. For me, I would do them when I felt I needed a little boost. (:

I don’t consider myself an expert by any means, but I began the school year with a little less than 2K and when I started the business account around late August or September, that is when I started seeing a difference. (It is now July for future reference!) I made the changes above & it helped so much. If you have any tips to share with others please comment below! If you have a question also feel free to comment or email me at brooklynmccarley@gmail.com You can follow along with my teacher ig @brooklynsbrightest.

brooklynsbrightest Teaching in General

Amazon Class Wishlist

My friend over at Teaching With Amber Miller shared an Amazon Class Wishlist last year & I decided to try it out myself! So I made one, shared it on fb, & literally the next week every item had been donated!!! My cousin in LA decided to purchase the whole thing when he saw it which was so incredibly touching. As I continued to add items, they continued to be purchased. It felt AMAZING to see items come in for my kids. I had my settings set to ‘surprise’ me, so I didn’t know who purchased what until it was delivered & read the notes.

Once school started I put the list on a QR code memo for parents along with all the fun back to school paperwork we have to send home. At Christmas time I reminded them of the list through an editable memo in my TPT & about half of my parents used that list to purchase a Christmas gift for me + my class instead of the traditional mug or chocolate bar. I truly loved actually receiving a gift that was useful for the entire class.

If you want to check out my current school wishlist, you can find it here. If you need help brainstorming items to add to your list, you can type โ€˜classroomโ€™ in the Amazon search bar & lots of inspo will pop up! As far as how to create a wishlist, here is a simple step by step set of directions! What items would you add to your list!? I would love to know!