A New Year, A New Approach: Passwords

Year 7 is off to a great start. 
I'm feeling extremely grateful for all of the great ideas that I gathered over the summer about taking time -I mean really taking time- to establish, practice and reinforce classroom procedures and norms. 

Students love to shake your hand. Our classroom passwords are off to a great start- I highly recommend Bryce Hedstrom's book on Passwords. Last year I loved doing this activity with my 6th graders. I debated doing it at the high school this year...really because I was feeling lazy. Am I really going to stand outside and wait for 8 minutes during our extremely long passing time? Couldn't I check my emails during that time? Couldn't I go pee? Couldn't I use that time to breathe? I could but I refuse to. This activity alone is allowing me to learn names faster, smile at each and every student and ironically it's giving me more time- while providing an opportunity to learn rejoinders. Students aren't allowed to enter until I'm ready for them and it's magical. No matter the level, check this activity out if you haven't yet! 

Hasta la próxima, 
Erin 

​
​