VR Goggles With 7th Graders

Just from that title you’re probably thinking, “that was either a complete mess or so much fun!” and to be honest, it was a little bit of both. But overall, the kids loved it and are so excited to try it again!

Teaching language arts and living in a technology filled world can be challenging sometimes. Our school got a grant for VR goggles and we were ecstatic about it but kept questioning how we could use them in LA. We just got them in, so this week was really just a trial run. One teacher got them yesterday and I got them today. We used them to do “creative writing.” It was more of us having fun today, but in all seriousness, I think they could be very useful to use for creative writing! Especially with those kiddos that have a hard time writing. This helps them actually picture something they can write about, rather than just relying on their memory or imagination. We did an activity where the kids were in partners. One partner watched a video on the VR goggles and wrote down a description of what he/she saw and heard. The other parter had to guess what they were doing and where they were! We are new to the VR world so we just gave the students 5 links to VR YouTube videos. I’ve heard of different apps but wasn’t sure if they were all school appropriate so I didn’t want to risk it.

The VR goggles we got are called, VR ELEGIANT, and they were pretty awesome! I took them home and played around with them before the kids got to ;). The fit every size phone and had headphones on the side so you got the full effect, sound and all. Our only problem with them was that the headphones are adjustable but they also kept coming completely off the headset. 7th graders like to freak out over little things so I heard a lot of, “Ms. Evans it keeps coming off!” “Ms. Evans I promise I didn’t break it but it came off!” “Ms. Evans, Ms. Evans, Ms.Evans!” Like, y’all, I know they are breaking. I told you this before you got them for a reason… Even though the headphones kept breaking, we think we can just glue them back on and be all good! There’s nothing a little super glue can’t fix, right?!

Other teachers and the students are so excited to be using these throughout the rest of the year and so am I! It was a lot of fun and can bring some life to any lesson. Even my rowdiest class was calm and quiet with them today so it could also be something that could distract them for a little bit while you can gain back your sanity.

 

The First Day Back

The first day back after Christmas break… I wasn’t ready for it. I needed just a couple more days!

The kids actually weren’t that crazy! I made it a point to review “class expectations” again just so they knew I meant business. Luckily, though, it’s only a three day week annnnd we don’t have too much going on! Today was a little boring and Friday won’t be much fun either but I am so excited for tomorrow! We are trying out our new virtual reality goggles! WOOOO! The kids are so excited and so am I!

With the goggles, we are playing a little guessing game. The students will pair up, watch a video (pre-selected and school appropriate), and write down what they see. His/Her partner will have to guess what was watched! The other Language Arts teacher tried it today and said the kids love it so I am thrilled to try it tomorrow with my classes! I will keep y’all updated as to how it goes!

Even though today was not complete chaos, I am still worn out! You don’t realize how much a day with 100+ 7th graders really drains you until it’s almost time to go home and all you want to do is snuggle up in bed and go to sleep until tomorrow. I am currently trying to keep myself awake so I can actually sleep tonight! Wish me luck ;)! Who else started back today or starts back this week?! Doing anything fun??

My First Day as A 7th Grade Teacher

Throughout college I substitute taught, interned, and student taught, but I don’t think anything prepared me for my first real day as an actual teacher. It also didn’t help that throughout all my college experiences in schools, I had only been in one, 45 minute, 7th grade class. To say the least, it was a little of what I expected and a lot of what I didn’t.

I got to school an hour and a half early with constant thoughts of what could go wrong. Other teachers checked on me multiple times (I have a FANTASTIC team) and I was finally starting to realize that this is the first day of my career!

I had a great plan. The kids would come in, find the desk with their name on it, I would do a short introduction, and we would play, “Getting to Know You Bingo” (which was actually really fun and worked out well).

In the district I work in, the kids go to intermediate school for 5th and 6th and then have 7th and 8th grade in middle school. So not only was I new to the school, but so were my kids! They were all scared little babies that couldn’t open their lockers (and still can’t) and were afraid to speak up and get in trouble. Boy, did that change FAST!

First period started off pretty good. I did my introduction but was so nervous that I forgot to introduce my aid I have in the class! I felt so bad but made it up to her as soon as I could. The next couple of classes went smooth and I thought I had this teaching thing down! I was wrong…

One of My Favorite (Teacher) Christmas Gifts

First blog post, WOO HOO! (I’m new to this so please, no judgment.)

Okay, y’all, for my first post I have to talk about one of my favorite teacher Christmas gifts. I may be 10 years late to the party but I just found out about my new favorite pens.

I have been a true lover of flair pens (I still am and probably always will be) but I have also come to find out about fun erasable pens, that actually COMPLETELY erase! Buh-bye whiteout! My new obsession is Pilot Frixion Pens. They write smoothly and if you misspell something, which I embarrassingly do all the time, oh well! You can erase it, no problem! There isn’t as many colors as there is flair pens, but there are lots of fun colors to write with still! My Erin Condren planner has never been cuter.

If you’re like me, I am a complete perfectionist when it comes to my planner. I love for it to be colorful, have cute writing in it, and look pretty all the time, even when its filled with too much stuff. With my Frixion pens, I can re-wrtie something multiple times without it looking sloppy or scratched out, which keeps me sane in a world full of craziness.

I received my pens as a gift but I know you can buy them off Amazon (another amazing teacher resource) and any other office store! Go out and get you some before your holiday break is over! Start the new semester off with fun pens that keep you excited! What are some of your favorite pens to write with?!