High Fives and Rock n Roll

Every new year I create new goals for myself - both personally and in the classroom.  And though I am required to document my "official" goals in a "Professional Development Plan," I also like to seek growth in other areas of teaching that fall outside of the traditional lines.
This year the goals are simple, continue to build the culture in my classroom:

1.  I am going to greet every student as they enter my class with a High Five, every day that I can.

2.  I will use music for everything that I possibly can.

So, I LOVE to give high fives, and I also love to connect with my students - so daily greetings are great, but they also enable me to also carve out some time to have a chat, ask about their day, or just notice how they are.  Relationships are everything, and daily high fives are just another chance for us to get to know each other.  More importantly, it is hard not to smile when giving a high five.  So, opening our day with a smile means it is a worthy cause.

As for music, I have been using loud music since day one of my teaching career, from quiz songs to class introductions - we rock out.  But, this year I am hoping to expand my practice to include songs that signal interludes as well.  So far, Rob Base's It Takes Two means quiz, and The White Stripes' Seven Nation Army means its time to play the Grahamy's Review Game ( I was even able to visit The White Stripes record label this summer...and get a picture with...an actual Grammy...it all came together nicely ;)

So needless to say, I am excited about this school year - and so far, handing out  High Fives and Rock n Roll has been just the start we needed.