The Breakfast Club – #BFC530 – is a 15 minute, 1 question Twitter chat every weekday. We chat in 4 timezones Mon-Fri – 5:30am Eastern, Central, Mountain, and Pacific Times. The mission of BFC is to empower participants to make a difference in education by engaging in consistent reflective practice in a supportive community that inspires and challenges one another.
Good morning #bfc530 friends! I’m looking forward to my wife’s return later today after a 12-day trip to China. I’m off for a run after a workout. I hope you all have a safe & hope-filled day! My thoughts and prayers are with those in Toronto affected by terrible tragedy.
Gday #bfc530
Today I took my Year 12 boys to a primary school to see what maintenance we can do. looks like we are repairing boards and clearing the garden area
fav is "Panther Choice," Ts nominate a Ss ( anonymously ) who has grown, or made an impact someway. Big ceremony with family and revel at the end #bfc530
End of school tradition #bfc530
I was at a school once where we sang out the students. Imagine "I will survive"... now go, walk out that door, don't turn around now...
I would say.... state testing. It's such a great way to end a fantastic year of exploration, self-discovery and growth! Forcing kids to respond to questions in a sterile environment with black plastic bags covering the walls is so conducive to creativity! *wink* #bfc530
I am fortunate to be at a very small school. We do a whole school field trip to celebrate our year. Staff, students, and myself included, look forward to this each year! #tradition#bfc530
Back in England it was sports day for the house cup. My house always lost, but it was such fun! There really isn’t one I savor here, but as a new school we started a sixth grade game day last year - I had the karaoke room. That shows promise 😂 #BFC530
I have the S’s complete a secret questionare about things they accomplished / liked this school year, then I make a crossword puzzle from it. Their answers r the clues and their names r the answers. #BFC530
Good morning. My favorite end of year tradition is having my current ELL students leave messages for the new students who will arrive over the summer. Used to do it in a new student handbook and now we use @Flipgrid. #BFC530
I do a reflection sheet (this year a @Flipgrid ) on their favorite thing about math, and answering some questions to give me feedback. Answers are always funny and insightful! #bfc530
I like to end the year with more creative activities: poetry, mythology and fable-writing, self-assessment, book discussions... and great discussions about what's to come for them next year. #bfc530
I have the S’s complete a secret questionare about things they accomplished / liked this school year, then I make a crossword puzzle from it. Their answers r the clues and their names r the answers. #BFC530
My favorite tradition is how we spend like the last month of school testing kids ... it makes them feel like what they learned the whole year had a real purpose (Did you hear the sarcastic tone) #Bfc530
On graduation day the grads walk into the auditorium through a gauntlet of Ts clapping & cheering for them. It mirrors their very first day of school in gr9 when they came into our gym through a gauntlet of cheering Ts & #LinkCrew Ss. 😍
#BFC530
This isn’t a tradition but should be: we once made a mandala out of all the colorful papers students cleaned out of their lockers. It stayed undisturbed in our common room for about a week, which was a big feat for middle schoolers. #bfc530
Thanks, Bonnie. The cool thing was the student celebrations after he left the room and they saw what he had written...high fives, hugs, selfies in front of his signature, etc. There was no special prep...just them being awesome as always. #bfc530
I look forward to the day in May when seniors sport apparel of their next adventure while Ts celebrate where they went to college and talk about their experience briefly in each class.
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So many great end of the year traditions from everyone! We have Art & Tech Show, Field Day, and Awards. Project Graduation is getting prohibitively expensive for Ss to attend. #bfc530
I feel like districts that focus on state testing do really give up on the other, rather than seeing that as alternative path to higher scores. I think they feel the risk is too great? #bfc530
#bfc530 At the end of the year, #students write a kind comment about every other person in class, and they are distributed. I play a song about friendship as they are passed out. It is a great way to end the year.
Manny, I wish they didn't - but testing is so structured (so many rules!) that it takes any possibility of individuality out of the equation. Maybe necessary, but not for 5-6 days. #bfc530
In that case....
On first Year 7 assembly the Year 12s make a guard of honour.
On last day Year 7s make guard of honour for Year 12s as they walk in for last time. #bfc530
I'm new to my school this year so, I'm not really sure what the traditions are. I look forward to finding out though and being a part of some new ones. #bfc530
Always nice to see kids showing off what they did to parents. We have an Art & Technology show I jumped in on last year with one of my gamers. Hope to showcase a few this year:)
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I like going over all of our journal responses- and each student picking their favorite quote they responded to. It's more than a year in review- they see how much their views changed ( or not ) and how their critical thinking skills improved #BFC530
On graduation day the grads walk into the auditorium through a gauntlet of Ts clapping & cheering for them. It mirrors their very first day of school in gr9 when they came into our gym through a gauntlet of cheering Ts & #LinkCrew Ss. 😍
#BFC530
I like ending the year with a cool project ... this year I am thinking about having the kids pair up and write a historical fiction children’s book using their own art. #bfc530
We have something called WAMS expo which is a wonderful celebration of creativity. Students showcase artwork, projects, music, and so much more. It’s a wonderful event. #bfc530
ICYMI I have started a teaching instagram (mostly of books) if you have one, would love for you to join me @mrsiwanicki (also the title of my class twitter) #bfc530
I also do my annual Drakey Awards, which is my opportunity to remind students of the joys that they have brought to my classroom throughout the year (it's a roast of the students). The 6th graders love it. #bfc530
#BFC530 ... lots of little celebrations including student videos, sharing letters to each other about why their classmates made this year so special~ we call these days “tears of joy days”... no dry eyes ❤️ ... Big hit days 👍
It is even better when they put their review in the form of Jeopardy because then they can say they’re adding gaming to their teaching tool box #bfc530 (tiny bit of sarcasm added)
Nice! This is really important. I know some teachers will shy away from asking students to provide feedback, but I treat it like gold...sure, some of it stings, but you have to take the good with the bad to constantly improve and grow. #bfc530
I take a small group of students to the Farm School for 2 days! So lovely to get outside and work side by side with my students! I’ve been doing this for 5 years! #BFC530
My last couple of schools did something similar. One of those schools, the Year 12s would visit the local railway station with roses and carnations to say thank you to the local community for hosting their educational journey for the last 13 years. #bfc530
In that case....
On first Year 7 assembly the Year 12s make a guard of honour.
On last day Year 7s make guard of honour for Year 12s as they walk in for last time. #bfc530
Our end of year traditions include an outdoor pizza party with all the 8th grade. We also have an end of year assembly with the whole school where all the staff do lip dubs, they unveil the theme for the following year and throw out prizes #bfc530
Our 8th grade class walk up to the High School on the last day of school where they are greeted by the entire staff. Then a brief welcome. This year my oldest will make the journey. 😥#bfc530
The last day of school we have our 8th grade party ... celebrate by just hanging out and being with each other ... the kids appreciate the time as many of them go to different high schools #bfc530
It may sound crazy but I invite my students to my house. We have a cookout, do science experiments, play badminton, legos, etc. Oh and chase my chickens. Can’t forget that one. #bfc530
Absolutely. I will still offer the paper version if they want to remain anonymous... I think the videos will be fun to share with next year's students! #bfc530
We are required to do a student survey as part of our evaluations. We need to do 2 of 5 classes. I try and do all 5 just to see what they say. Only for our eyes, then we need to write a summary of what we found.
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Nice! This is really important. I know some teachers will shy away from asking students to provide feedback, but I treat it like gold...sure, some of it stings, but you have to take the good with the bad to constantly improve and grow. #bfc530
End of year is time to stretch our boundaries ... try something that you can refine over Summer. Going to be also looking @TeacherGaming ... playing around with ideas #bfc530
Indeed! If there is ever a case study in this...we would have to be it. It's frustrating at times, but cool to see the students embrace the "whatever it takes" attitude. #bfc530
Completely agree! As teachers, we need real-time data to help adjust our path, not something that takes 5-6 days away from learning to give results we don't see for 5-6 months. State testing does not help me help them like MAPS can. #bfc530
When I asked students about their favorite unit, fav lab, fav video, etc. I was always surprised by some of the answers. And, those answers weren't necessarily the same as when I asked what they learned the most about. It helped me when I planned for the next yr. #BFC530
I do a reflection sheet (this year a @Flipgrid ) on their favorite thing about math, and answering some questions to give me feedback. Answers are always funny and insightful! #bfc530
My fave end of the year tradition is counting up the days not down!After last day of testing,we count UP 2show how much we learned in 180 days.Then Ss present their #ELL portfolios 2a committee w/ a persuasive speech as 2why they should Bpromoted to the next grade! #bfc530 ❤️
Cool! I just visited a class yesterday where the T did a #breakoutedu activity. It was awesome to see the kids work together in different ways. #BFC530
We have “Piping of the Grads”: a bagpiper walks/pipes through the school to pick up the Gr 12s as he walks by their classes. Ss on spare at that time start w/ the piper & the grp grows as they go through the school. The rest of the school stands in the hall & claps #BFC530
Our Lancer Medallion Ceremony. Every staff member can pick one student to recognize for any reason. Many unsung heroes get a moment in the spotlight! Always leaves everyone feeling good!! #bfc530
.@EmmanuelMacron is visiting #US & one of his agenda is the negotiation about #IranDeal.
He should take into consideration that the rhetorics of @POTUS and threat to the exit, discourage #Iran to adhere to #JCPOA.He must simultaneously work for the keeping Iran in #Irandeal
We play “Guess Who?” Ss at the beginning of the year write on a notecard some info and one unique thing about them. At the end of the year, I read the unique things. They love guessing and getting to know each other even on the last day. #BFC530
I try to do shorter, challenging projects where Ss can connect a lot of their previous learning units/lessons. Last year we covered health, PSA’s and a Science Fair. Ss collect and connect ideas from all three and see what challenge/problem/product they can produce. #BFC530
Yes, and a solid embedded formative assessment practice (visible learning, feedback, reflection, response) gives the best data and IS learning - eventually leading to an effective and personalized student self-assessment practice. #bfc530
Greedy peeps jewish bastards suck a dick anyway did yall helped lookin me like ewwwwww now who is youuuuu suck a dickkkk #bfc530#leadership#inspiration
Watching daughter (@WorcesterState rocks!!!) as well as new edus here-MA ROCKS teacher prep! Can we do better? Absolutely! Each college does it differently. Edu majors should observe each semester AND their entire senior year should be spent in school(s) w/several edus #bfc530
