A Purposeful Prayer Life

In our busy, hectic lives, prayer can often fall through the cracks as a casual priority.  But just as organization can aid us in our worldly pursuits, it can also help us draw closer to God in a meaningful way.  I have found that my spiritual life thrives when I take a purposeful approach to my Bible study and prayer, and I do this by keeping an organized prayer journal.

I would love to share my prayer journal templates with you in the hopes that it strengthens your prayer life and walk with God.  Here are the free downloads below:

Prayer Journal Download -- Mint Polka-dot Printables

Prayer Journal Download -- Spring Chevron Printables

Prayer Journal Download -- Milk and Honey Printables


Enjoy, and God bless!

Making Grammar Fun

Grammar.  Many teenagers wince when they hear the word.  Visions of prepositions dance through their heads, and they see no reason for its importance in their lives.  These kids need to understand why grammar matters before they can get excited about learning it, and that is my goal--finding relevance for my students every day. When teaching grammar, I especially love using humor to show why bad grammar just doesn't work!  

Below I have attached a YouTube video that I made with my colleagues, and it presents an example of how grammar can become simple, relevant, and even fun. 

Check out my education store for some more relevant ELA ideas for the classroom:  

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Creative-English-Classroom

DIY Dry-erase Boards for Classy Teachers

Hey there, resourceful teachers.  This past school year, I decided to experiment with individual dry-erase board ideas for my students, and I came up with an inexpensive solution: 67-cent picture frames from Wal-Mart.  I inserted decorative scrap-booking paper and dabbed a few layers of magnetic paint on the pack, and I was able to store the attractive frames with markers magnetized to the backs.  I loved the unique aesthetic value, as well as the financial bargain!  Take a look through the pictures below, and let me know about any other DIY classroom hacks that have worked for you!

Secondary Kindness

What did you learn best in school?  Literature?  Algebra?  Physics?  These subjects, along with many others, get pushed down students' throats as teachers desperately attempt to improve their students' intellects and future prospects, but we produce intelligent, callous members of society when we forget to teach one thing:  kindness.  Now, for a Kindergarten teacher, kindness might be an easy subject to teach.  Kids can sing songs about manners and play games about courtesy.  But how can we teach this seemingly simple subject to secondary grades?

In my classroom the past two years, I have assigned a personal narrative speech to my tenth-grade students, but this personal narrative focuses not on an event in the distant past, but in the present.  I push my students to commit a random act of kindness -- whether leaving a plate of cookies outside someone's door, delivering flowers to a nursing home, or leaving encouraging notes on fellow students' lockers.  Then they must tell the story for their classmates to hear.

Some students take an easy approach and clean their parents' houses.  Some may argue that they should help with the cleaning already, but hey -- it's a start.

Other students try to impress the teacher.  I received cookies, crackers, and even a live fish during this unit.  Some may argue that these students had shallow motives, but the cookies and crackers tasted delicious, and I still have the fish in my classroom to this day.  Teachers deserve a little attention now and then!

Then we come to the students who creatively carried this assignment to fruition.  One student handed out bubbles to over twenty small children as they left their elementary school.  Another taped dollar bills to a vending machine and recorded people's reactions as they suspiciously eyed the money.  These stories, along with the others, held every student's attention as they laughed about the awkward encounters but realized how easy it can be to make a difference in someone's day.

Growing older doesn't have to mean that we give up our innocent enthusiasm for kindness and spreading joy.  Kindergarten kids, high-school teenagers, and even middle-aged teachers could use a little reminder that a smidgen of kindness can turn a bad day around.

--The Bigger Desk

P.S. If you are interested in trying this assignment for yourself, feel free to check out the assignment sheet and rubric that I used in my classroom here.

The Smaller Desk

Some days I miss the smaller desk 

Where I sat and I listened and learned.

I answered when called upon -- that was enough--

And my teachers' approval I'd earned.

Some days I miss the smaller desk

Where I read when they told me to read.

I wrote when they told me to write.  That was all

That I needed for me to succeed.

Some days I miss the smaller desk

Where I kept just a notebook and pen.

I'd write a few lines that I thought sounded smart,

But if not, I could just try again.

Some days I miss the smaller desk

Where I counted down days 'til I'd leave.

The end was in sight, and my thoughts flew beyond

To the dreams that I knew I'd achieve.

Some days I miss the smaller desk,

For now twenty such desks point at me.

But the bigger desk gives me the chance to become

Who the smaller desk taught me to be.

What New Teachers Are Told vs. What a New Teacher Learned

What new teachers are told:

Don’t let your students know your age.  If they know you are in your twenties, they won’t respect you.

What I have learned:

Teenagers have plenty of middle-aged Christians to admire and emulate, but many twenty-something siblings and friends have shown them bad examples of a moral life.  New teachers should emphasize their young age and prove to teenagers that young people can be responsible, intelligent Christians.

What new teachers are told:

Be strict. Don’t compromise.  Don’t ever bend your rules.  Students will think you are inconsistent and will refuse to listen to you.

What I have learned:

New teachers, especially, need to be understanding.  Teenagers have incredibly hard lives, and many of their circumstances are still out of their control.  Yes, we should try to act consistently.  Yes, students will have to deal with the uncompromising world outside of high school.  But right now your students need someone to listen to them and take them seriously.  Your classroom may be the only haven they have in this messed-up, chaotic world.

What new teachers are told:

The first year will be the hardest.

What I have learned:

Every year will be harder than the first.  Each year you will have to set aside your perceptions from the year before to rebuild a new curriculum for new students.  Much of what you learned your first year will be turned upside-down in the second, and so on.  The students you learned to love will leave you, and you will be tempted to compare each year to the year before.  The longer you teach, the more you will feel that you have not improved, prepared, or learned as much as you could have—and it will always be true.

What new teachers are told:

Find a respected veteran teacher, and model your teaching style and curriculum after that person.

What I learned:

Sure, you can (and should) take advice from older teachers.  You might even adopt some of their strategies.  But of the many teachers your students have had, you are the only you to have ever taught them.  Don’t compare yourself to another teacher.  Unique teaching styles make content more memorable than seven teachers teaching the same thing in the same way.  Your students need you to be the best you you can be.