Zombies invading Wikis near you!

Greetings and Happy Summer Zombie followers! Nearly two weeks after school ended, I finally have a day to sit down and catch up on life. Housework is out of control so I figure a few more days of laundry/dishes piling up won't make much difference. 

What will make a difference, in the short and long term, is sharing the amazing things my students accomplished in the last few weeks of school. In addition to building a Stage 5 Tetrahedron, we also built our own collaborative Wikis that are now public and editable by members of the Wikispaces community.

You may be asking yourself, "What's a wiki?" The simple answer: a wiki is a website developed collaboratively by a several users, where any user can add/delete/modify content. The best wiki sites (like wikispaces.com) are free and have their own web software that is easy to use and requires little to no web development skills on the part of its users.

Wikipedia is the most popular example of a wiki. It is a free, online encyclopedia that is amazingly accurate, although anyone on the planet can edit the content. One of the authors of the textbook for my technology course actually tested this theory, by posting 13 pieces of false information on Wikipedia. All were corrected within a few hours!!!

 

So how did all of this come about in my classroom? Well, I had to make a wiki for my grad class anyway and figured it minus well be a purposeful task. I absolutely loathe doing projects for "school" that serve no purpose in my real life. You'd think we'd take that comment more to heart for our own students, since I'm sure they feel it too. 

  

We were covering linear equations in my regular math classes, and sequences in my accelerated math class. In my search to find an engaging chapter opener, I stumbled across the Fibonacci video at the top of the page. I was brought almost to tears watching how amazingly mathematical nature is. Not only did I show it to my class, I also linked it to the aloe picture on the home page of the Sequences wiki so students could watch it again if they wanted to.

I made two wikis and let the students contribute to them as an assignment choice. I still offered the book and worksheet assignment options as I always do on my math menus, but I went heavy on the technology to stimulate interest and engagement during those last few weeks. Boy did it work out! I've never been able to teach new concepts so late in the year (especially after state testing is over), and have students actually excited to keep learning past grade level standards. Here is what their last menu of the year looked like.

In developing the wiki pages, many of the students were interested in the photo journal choice. I gave them time to use their smart phones at home and school to walk around (with a pass) and take pictures of linear equations and/or sequences. They emailed, texted, Instagrammed, and in some cases, directly posted their pictures either to the wikis or to the Pinterest boards I'd made using universal student logins. This circumvented the issue of students who are not allowed to have their own emails, in that they could sign in as a student, and still use Pinterest and Wikispaces. 

I would recommend teaching Pinterest posting, Wiki building and Google video/picture searching/saving in small chunks, to small groups of students. And NOT just your G/T group. Some of your lowest, most uninvolved students will be really engaged in technology assignment opportunities. This is one of the biggest benefits to the Flipped Classroom model; my students were able to read the lesson and take notes, and watch example-by-example How-To videos on Holt McDougal's online site. 

When class time rolled around, we did a quick warm-up of the concepts they had read, talked through the lesson and what was easy/confusing/too hard for them and I had to reteach. Then, we still had 75% of the class time to work on their assignment choices. They branched out all over the place; some doing worksheets with their work groups, others roaming the halls for the photo journal, and still others getting help from me and other tech-savvy students to work on the wiki on our school laptops. We still had a summative quiz, which by then, most students felt was extremely easy. 

The most valuable learning, however, was looking through the Wikispaces sites and Pinterest boards we had created, and having the students feel they had contributed to something important and meaningful that is out there "published for the world to see". 

My challenge to you, fellow educators and blog readers, is to click on the wiki picture/links above, peruse what we have made, and see if this is something your students would like to be a part of. You can either start your own, or join WikiSpaces and ask to be added to our Slope and Sequences wikis. I would be thrilled to see our wikis grow as more classrooms jump on board.

Now get outside! Get off your computer/device! Lay in a hammock somewhere in the shade, sip a giant iced tea, and do nothing. While you do that, I'm going to attempt to go out for a 10K run. Although... it's pretty hot and humid... maybe I should take a nap instead ;)

Exponential Growth of Zombie Brain Decay & Tetrahedrons!

Well folks, we have reached the end of another amazingly transformative year. My biggest regret is that life trumped my ability to blog. Although, I have switched over to "micro-blogging" on Twitter, so if you're not following me there yet, you're missing out on my more frequent (and less wordy) life/school updates. So much has happened since my last post, I hardly know where to start! Maybe working backwards is best. 

This past Saturday I ran my first half-marathon and nearly fainted. Everyone said, "It's really hilly!" and I assumed they meant just the downtown portion. I knew that, and had trained on it. Lake Waconia looks relatively flat, from a distance, but IT IS NOT. Thank goodness for the Twin Cities Orthopedics Pacer Team who kept me going with all their shouting and cheering on. I finished with a personal best of 2:01! 

It's laughable to look back on my first day running, almost exactly a year ago, and how much I whined about my 2-mile run being as bad as child birth. Now, here I am, running 13 miles at a 9:11 minute pace. If I can do it, anyone can do it. Really and truly. Start small and set goals. Keep a fit journal. You'll get there eventually!

Backing up further, I am proud to say that my 7th graders this year exponentially surpassed last year's goal of a Stage 4 tetrahedron (256) and built a Stage 5 tetrahedron! (1024 individually cut, folded, taped and glued tetrahedrons). We made individual nets that were slightly smaller than last year, knowing that the Stage 4's wouldn't fit through my classroom door otherwise. 

I used the Educreations app on my iPad, projected onto my Smart board, to launch the project. I took screen shots and uploaded photos to my iPad on slides in the app, and then hit the "play" button and dubbed over each slide. It took me about 4 tries to get comfortable with my own recorded voice, not say "um" every two seconds, and figure out exactly what I was trying to say.

Students in four PLP's (prescribed learning periods) and one math class, took part in constructing the Stage 5. It all came together at the second to last hour of the day, on the last instructional day of the year. Talk about cutting it close! This is as big as you can go, without reinforcing the corners and connectors with some sort of Popsicle sticks. 

Click here for more information about the book that inspired our class, and how to get started on your own version of this interdisciplinary project.

Rewinding a few more weeks, when I was still well into training for the race, and my students were hard at work on their first Stage 4, I finished my Learning Technologies Certificate from Learner's Edge. The best part of this distance learning program, is that they partner with Pacific Lutheran University. I got 12 semester credits for a fraction of the price of attending graduate classes in person. The learning was all hands-on, apply in your classroom today, and very motivating. Highly recommended!

My favorite new skill is building wiki's! (like Wikipedia, except student-made)  A wiki is an online site that allows registered users to interact with and add to the content. You can sign up for free at www.wikispaces.com. I found it helpful to create a student account, that anyone could use, so my students without emails could still access the program. Several students created their own wikispaces accounts, and with the tech skills they learned on the projects, can now build their own wiki sites. 

I also created a school Pinterest account, and a student login that could be used, both to find existing pins of slope and sequences, and to upload their work to a safe and secure account (not requiring their own email). Many students were so fascinated by Pinterest that they created their own accounts there too!

Click here to see the Slope Wiki my students built in Math-7 classes.

Click here to see the Sequences Wiki my students built in Accelerated Math-7.

*Click the main aloe picture on the home screen for an amazingly inspiring video on the Fibonacci Sequence in nature!

The last bit of big news is that I applied for, and was hired as, a Technology Integration Coordinator for Waconia Schools! I am really excited for this new role. Many of my coworkers asked, "Why would you want to leave the classroom?" My answer, was that I really don't have to leave the classroom. I get to work in all levels and types of classrooms across the district, as well as sharing instructional and pedagogical best practices with staff! It's really the best of both worlds. For me anyway. 

How will this affect my blog? It won't really... I've always been pretty interdisciplinary-minded, and I'm sure the math focus will still remain. You may notice that I'm posting more about learning technology, standards-based grading, and backwards design (UbD). I'm quite sure that I'll still be a zombie, and in my heart I'll always be a math teacher, even though I'll be reaching out to a wider audience. 

Speaking of... have you read The Fundamental 5 yet? One of my administrators recommended it for staff development and I second his high opinion of the content. It's a fantastic (and short) read. It reminds us all what we already know about best practices for instruction. If you're looking for some inspiration this summer, and/or a guide for PLC or teacher evaluation, this book is as great place to start.

That's pretty much all that's new since my last posting.

Here's my parting thought: 

Teachers tend to keep their blinders on to all that is dirty/broken/unfinished around their house and in their personal lives during the school year. We have that first night of celebrating, "WAHOO! School's out!" Then we go home and open our eyes to the overwhelming mess waiting for us to clean up in just 11-12 short weeks. On top of that, many of us have summer jobs (like writing more books, hopefully?) or attending staff trainings or grad classes... or curriculum writing or teaching summer school. Anyone who says teachers "work for their summers off" is seriously deluded. 

My advice to anyone who is fighting the panic of their summer to-do list, like I am, is to THROW IT AWAY. Mark down on your calendar the dates/events you ABSOLUTELY have to accomplish. Let the rest happen as it will. It's a very powerful feeling to wake up in the morning, and say, "What do I want to do today?" You'll be amazed how much actually gets accomplished and you won't feel so overwhelmed. 

And you won't feel nearly as guilty for taking those well-deserved days off, sipping a margarita and laying out in the hammock, doing absolutely nothing :)

-Zombie Out.

Zombie invasion on Twitter

Greetings, oh fellow tech zombies. Long time no talk! Between working on a Learning Technologies certificate, jumping head-long into Google Apps in the classroom, and training for a half marathon, it's been a very busy spring. State testing is just around the corner as well... I am hypothesizing about how I can make the most of my digital resources to make cumulative review more interesting. 

I found a great scholastic article entitled "Using Games & Team Activities for Test Review" that had some specific strategies that would engage students better than a giant multiple-choice packet. It reminded me that my Holt/McDougal curriculum has a jeopardy style game show disc that we could use, for starters. I am still planning on running review packets by strand (Number/Operation, Algebra, Geometry, Data/Probability), but it will be a choice. In lieu of this, students can complete interactive games on my Schoology site for 30-60 minutes per night, depending on how many extra credit points they want. I'll share my strand-by-strand review sites in a few weeks once they're done.

Meanwhile in Zombie Land, my grad classes on technology have suggested that I need to step outside my comfort zone of Facebook and Blogger, to play around with some of the more popular social networking and tech resources. Kids today are all over the place on the internet. I wanted to look around and see how I could use their vast skills to make class more interactive, and help them use their knowledge for educational purposes (and not just fun). Here is what I've tried so far:

1. Google+ 

The biggest benefit to Google is that you can register with any email. You don't have to use a Google email to create a Google account. If your students know your school email, they can "share" documents with you.  The hard part is deciding which email account you actually want to use. I think I have 4 active Google accounts, counting my school account, my personal Yahoo account, my U of MN account, and a gMail account that came with my phone.

Need help getting started? I found a great online "binder" with many helpful links to using Google in the classroom: http://www.livebinders.com/play/play/135530

2. Twitter

I am new to Twitter, so there's not much on my profile yet. But I keep hearing over and over what a great source it is for teachers, so I'm going to find out! I have already discovered that there is real power in "group thought". I made my first hash tag ever for "ihatewinter" to share that I'd seen a silly Minnesotan snow-blowing his sidewalk in a t-shirt and shorts, as the temperature had changed 50+ degrees in a day.  Just today, I made the first ever hash tag #zombiemathteacher which I will be using shortly to tweet all my previous blog posts. I am thinking it might be a helpful place to post online learning opportunities, as your tweets can feed directly into Facebook and Schoology, and various other teacher sites. So exciting!

An excellent resource for using Twitter in your classroom is "100 Ways to Use Twitter in Education, By Degree of Difficulty". I've barely scratched the surface of this site and have already found many helpful tips and tricks. 

3. Instagram 

My students are on Instagram all the time. Sharing on Facebook/Twitter, uploading, hash-tagging topics or tagging their daily lives. Wouldn't it be amazing if we could utilize this tool in the classroom? The photo editing and grouping tools (like Instapic Frame) are second to none. While students can visit Twitter and shared Google documents without having their own account, Instagram does require members to be 13 or over. This is probably most appropriate for high school. 

Classroom ideas for Instagram can be found at Edudemic

4. Facebook (obviously)

I have separate accounts for personal/friends/family, and one for current/former students/parents. There are very few pieces of information and/or people that apply to both spheres of my life. I have to apologize to those who do fall into both categories, who occasionally get repeat news that is worthy of sharing with both groups. Gone are the days when summer rolls around, that students and teachers stop talking to each other. I have already received several graduation party invites, via Facebook, for students whom I've kept in touch with for 5+ years. It gives a whole new meaning to teaching/mentoring. 

You have to be very careful what you share though; you never know what might get shared or posted. 

Here are some pretty obvious don'ts: "Eight Ways Teachers Get into Trouble"

Here are some uplifting do's: "100 Ways to use Facebook in the Classroom" 

And something to cheer you up for the day! We definitely need to work with students to develop appropriate online etiquette in various venues and social networking apps. Here's an interesting way to tackle it...

That's all for now! I'll continue to share as I find the best of the best in each suggested site, and let everyone know how it goes in the classroom.

iPad for Instruction: Zombie Cat Approved

Bruce waves his stylus at Zombie's new iPad and meows "I approve!"

My humblest apologies for the extended time between posts as of late. I have been playing virtually non-stop on the iPad provided by my school district and have had time for little else. Having owned a Samsung Galaxy 10.1 Tablet since my August blog post, I was unsure that an additional device in the classroom room would make much of a difference in my instruction. BOY was I wrong!!!! 

If/when you are able to afford or acquire an iPad for your classroom, you absolutely MUST get one. End of story. The tablet still has its uses, but seriously... the instructional apps in the Android/GooglePlay store for my Samsung Galaxy are far inferior to those available in the iTunes App store. Most notably, Doceri Desktop and Reflector App (currently only available for iPad) have made Smart products virtually obsolete in my classroom.

Here's a price comparison to make my point:

Typical "modern classrooms" outfitted with Smart products: ($6000-7000 per classroom)

• Wireless capable laptop ~$500
• Smart Notebook software suite ~$500-600 (very hard to find pricing!!!)
• Smart Board & Projector ~$5000-6000 (plus ~ $500 for installation)
• Teacher must be touching the Smart board or markers to interact
• Time wasted if/when students walk back and forth to interact with board
• Time wasted importing teaching materials, pdf, PPT into Smart program
• Needs specialized instruction and installation with all components
• Warranties must also be purchased for tech servicing/upgrades
• Good WiFi infrastructure/speed is helpful, but not critical

New "classrooms of the future" with iPads/projectors: ($1500-2200 per classroom)

• Wireless capable laptop ~$500
• iPad mini or 10.1 ~ $400-500
• Optional iPad Stylus ~ 10 for $3.24
• Computer Projector ~$500
• Optional Projector Cart ~ $150
• Optional roll-down Projector Screen ~80
• Doceri Desktop App ~ $30  (remote controls computer/projector from iPad)
• Reflector App ~ $13 (reflects iPad or iPhone onto computer/projector)
• Teacher can control computer from/with iPad from anywhere in room
• Teacher can hand the iPad to a student to interact with content from desk
• Teacher can interact and/or write on Doceri ink layer from any program 
• Teacher can record instruction with Doceri/other program and post online
• Any Joe Shmoe with wifi and average tech skills could set this up pretty easily
• Warranties only needed on laptops and iPads for drop/spill protection
• Bundle pricing discounts are available for school-wide use of apps
• District/school MUST have great WiFi infrastructure & tech support
• Access to online and/or computer versions of content is extremely helpful

Granted, I have a Smart board and LOVE it... having the flexibility to interact with either my Smart board, or my laptop, or my iPad from anywhere in the room. But if you don't have a Smart board yet, there is going to be less and less need for one in the future, and you simply cannot argue with the pricing difference. I mean really... a typical school has around 60 classroom teachers.... that's a difference of roughly $240,000!!!!!

Are you lucky enough to fall into the "classroom of the future" category? Here is what is working for many of the teachers in my district. 

1. Set up an interactive classroom. Schoology.com is free with no ads and can be accessed from anywhere. There are Schoology apps for all types of devices. Cloud Storage can be used to link your Google Drive. You can also share documents, links, pictures, class content and videos within classes and in "groups" with colleagues.

2. Try out lots of different Remote Desktop control apps. You never know which one you are going to like the best for your particular grade level and subject. For instance, many of my colleagues prefer Splashtop 2 over Doceri Desktop. Both apps remote-control your computer from your iPad. Splashtop 2 is nice because it is available in both Apple and Android formats, and many users find the interface more friendly. Doceri Desktop has a big advantage in its ink layer that will write over ANYTHING. But you have to close the ink layer to go back to interacting with your content. Both apps have recording capabilities.

Doceri Desktop is my favorite desktop app. Watch the video to see how I use it. 

1. Install the trial version of computer software at http://doceri.com/download.php 

2. Install the free app from the iTunes store on your iPad (not available on iPhone)

3. Launch the program on both your computer and your iPad BEFORE instruction

4. Search for the device or use the camera feature to locate the bar code

5. Once your iPad and computer are communicating, set up a Doceri password!

6. Minimize the app on your iPad to do other things if needed, like checking email.

3. Want to project a video or app or game from your iPad onto your computer? Download the free trial of Reflector App. You can show iPad content on your computer/projector for up to ten minutes before the free trial will shut the program down. That's usually all the time I need it for. I like to use it with the MyScriptCalculator app to show a math problem on the Smartboard (or projector). See the video below for how it can be used.

1. Install the computer program from http://www.reflectorapp.com/
    ( you do NOT need to install an app for this on your device)
2. Launch the program on your computer and set a password
3. Open the gray app tray on your device
4. Slide the tray to the right. You should be at your iTunes player bar
5. The bar should have a new rectangle button that is your Reflector app "mirror"
6. Click the button and search for your computer under the device list
7. Once you find your computer, toggle the mirror button from "off" to "on"
8. Right-click the iPad/iPhone image on the screen to adjust its view/width
9. Make sure to turn the reflector "mirroring" button back to OFF when done!!!!

**PLEASE NOTE** You CANNOT use Doceri Desktop and Reflector App at the same time. Their program types make your iPad "compete" with your computer, so that one reflects the other, which reflects the other, which reflects the other, on and on into infinity. It takes some time to perfect switching between programs. But they both have their uses!

4. Math teachers - I highly recommend using and inviting your students to try MyScriptCalculator. You can add it to any devices, whether phones or tablets, Mac or PC. It's free and extremely helpful. You just need to have semi-decent handwriting. Here is a video that shows how it works:

Have fun playing! I will post more updates as I find cool new apps and instructional uses.

Zombie Gangnam Style

Happy Valentine's Day! Mine was full of sugar, some learning, some fun, and more sugar. And now for the crash... except we are packing to go to Wisconsin Dells after work tomorrow, so I can't crash. Also I should run on the treadmill to burn off some of the sugar. We shall see if that happens. 

I gift my Zombie fans with the lovely video above. Our Pennies for Patients fundraiser was an enormous hit. We creamed the previous years' totals of $10K and $11K and raised over $14K this year!! Amazing. A big shout out to one infamous coworker who pledged to shave her head if we hit $12K (which we did) and more amazing coworkers who dressed up in silly costumes (i.e. Minions) and others who slept in tents on the roof of the school after their totals were surpassed. 

I replied to a group email saying, "sure, I'll dance the Gangnam Style at lunch", assuming there would be lots of other teachers to sign up with me. Nope, just two... so the pressure was really on when the students hit the $6,000 goal. We practiced and practiced until our calves ached. The plus side, I didn't have to run for three days! And the result was exceptional hilarity at each of the 4 grade level lunches. That's me in the pink.

If you have any interest in learning our version, please visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MigOMlru67c

We are off on Presidents Day as well, so I'll see you on the flip side! Have a great holiday weekend :o)

Breeding a Culture of Homework Zombies

Greetings and Happy February! We have survived the worst of winter (we hope) and the days are getting longer. I would hope the warmer weather would mean that kids of all ages would be back outside, romping in the snow, and releasing their excess energy. Not so. Bad behavior abounds in the classroom. No amount of threats, shooshing, emails/calls to parents, seating changes or flat-out yelling seems to affect them.

What is the next step? Strap on their winter gear (or lack thereof) and make them run a lap around the school in the 10-degree weather? Bring in a squirt bottle to squirt them like a cat when they misbehave? Enforce a class-wide nap time? Make them work in silence all hour? Turn them all into REAL zombies instead of just seasonal ones? 

While I continue to ponder the answer to this conundrum of winter sillies, I stumbled upon a student Facebook post, whining about "a whole hour and a HALF of homework tonight", like s/he was so tortured to have more than half an hour. I couldn't resist clarifying, "You mean thirty minutes of homework per subject, right?" To which I got an immediate reply of "NO!" (which was quickly "liked" by another student). I reminded  the student that the following grade regularly reports 2-3 hours of homework per night, even on the weekends, (NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!). Can you hear the crickets chirp? I may have just been un-friended ;)

Which led me to re-open the conversation in my brain about homework in general. As an institution. Students don't like doing it. Teachers don't like grading it. There is growing data to support that assigning large volumes of homework, especially math, is actually detrimental to test scores. At least any more than the "times 10" rule, of a student's grade multiplied by ten. For example, my seventh graders should do 7 x 10 = 70 minutes or so of homework per night. Considering that they have 3 long classes, that regularly assign homework, and three short classes that most often do not assign homework, they should be doing about 20-25 minutes per night of homework for their core subjects.

Whether or not you include free reading time in the equation, is up to you. Data has been shown that assigning free-reading as homework does actually improve school success and raise test scores; whereas, doing any more than 15-20 minutes of math is going to shut down a kid's brain as fast as running for 15-20 minutes does for most adults (it used to for me!!). Where am I getting these blanket statements? I've heard them many times before, but I hate to pass on incorrect or unsubstantiated claims. I found a fascinating article that sums up much of the recent research on homework. It also gives concrete tips for teachers and parents to make homework valuable, meaningful, and engaging. It's totally worth the 10-15 minutes it will take to read it all. 

Click here to read all about it. (From www.challengesuccess.org ) 

The article brings up a lot of good points about the generalizations that dominate common teacher practices today; even new teachers who are trained in modern pedagogy. We tend to revert to the way we were instructed in school, because it is comfortable and convenient; thus perpetuating antiquated beliefs that may or may not have any value. Or may have not have ever had any value. 

I have blogged before about "no homework" weeks. But I felt the need to restate a more permanent philosophy that I can stick to, not just for special occasions, but on a daily basis. I don't want my students to become homework zombies who are programmed to jump through hoops just because they're told to. I want them to be creative thinkers who push themselves further than they thought they could, because they want to. As far as homework is concerned, my goal is to stick to these guidelines:

1. Assign 15 minutes or less of homework per night (unless they've wasted their class work time and have to bring it home, that is their choice)

2. Assign homework that can be done independently, and doesn't strictly need a teacher/parent/tutor present to complete it. (like taking notes on readings, watching a video, participating in an online discussion, doing a home-based project, completing a small quantity of independent practice, taking an online quiz, playing a content-related computer game)

3. Offer differentiated assignments (variety of levels of difficulty and learning styles) that involve meaningful skills. Worksheets can be engaging, depending on the topic and delivery. Our Holt/McDougal worksheets are awesome. And we have 6 different choices for every lesson! And chapter projects! And online study resources. Really, I don't make any money off these little plugs, but if you are looking for new textbooks, I highly recommend this one.

4. Grade assignments timely and meaningfully. Or make students grade/peer-grade their work themselves if at all possible. Making students take ownership in grading is the best way to get timely and relevant feedback; especially if students take the time to ask for help if/when they bomb a worksheet or don't understand a concept. 

5. Avoid assigning homework on weekends and holidays (except makeup work and extra credit). Students need family time and re-charge time, just as we do. I keep reminding myself how miserable I feel leaving school at 5 pm on Friday, after working two hours after the students leave, and still having another 3-4 hours of work to do over the weekend. And I'm an adult. Kids need time to be kids. 

6. Make myself available to help students after hours. It really doesn't take long and it doesn't have to be in person. I currently have an open-text policy and an open email / schoology messenger policy on my iPad. My phone and iPad beep when I have incoming messages, which are usually only 3-5 questions/comments per night. 

I'm sure I could think of more, but 6 goals seem like plenty for now. You may think the Zombie is crazy already, just off of these six. Wish me luck! Now go make your own list.

Zombie's Mid-Winter Crack-Ups to fight the blues

Fun fact of the day: Zombies DO get sick! I am on Day 7 of my bout with the flu. The first couple days weren't so bad, so I went to work... then the flu SLAMMED me into the wall at Conference night and I called in the next day :o(  And laid on the couch all weekend and today before finally going into the doctor this afternoon.  Doc says, "Congrats! You have a flu virus. Antibiotics won't help. If you're not feeling better IN A WEEK, come back and see me again".  Thanks Doc.

If you're as down in the dumps as I am, I figured you could use some cheering up. So here are some pointless teacher memes to make you feel better. All of the pictures are linked, so click away to pin all the originals or make your own meme. I'll warn you, it's addicting :o)  Fun to insert into lessons and Smart files just to make the kids laugh.

To Teacher: From, Students

(We are covering ratios/proportions/percents/protractors for the third year in a row, not just learned it three years ago, but still true!)

To Dumbledore: From, Ministry of Magic 

(Burn!!!!!)

To Sci-Fi / Fantasy Cross-Over Fans Everywhere: From, LEEEEELUUUU

(For no reason whatsoever except an LOL. Corbin Dallas Multipass!!!)

To Snarky Students: From, Snarky Teacher

(Yup, I'm just that quick-whitted. And like any student nowadays says "May I")

To Test Anxiety: From, Math Students everywhere

(Just about everyone has seen this, but it still makes me LOL)

To my 2nd grade teacher: From, Ryan Gosling

(Everything's better laminated)

To Bad Student: From, Wise Parent

(Not so much an LOL, but a SO TRUE!!)

To Every Teacher Everywhere: From, Every Other Teacher

(LOL Yup, it's happened to all of us)

To Teacher Teams: From, annoyed Students & Parents

(Yup, this happens unintentionally more than it should... but welcome to life kids!)

To Math Teachers: One last "haha" for the road

(Yay! One I can finally use in my classroom!)

Cheers and Happy Tuesday everyone! Think HAPPY and HEALTHY thoughts :D

-Zombie