For all of those distance learning this year, I am sure you feel me when I say it is way more tiring than teaching in person. I think a huge reason for this is because you have to be prepared for everything down to the second. I am constantly checking that everything is set up, published, and ready to go so that students can access their work. I make sure to set timers to ensure I don't spend too much time with them in our Zoom sessions, as well as double-check all lessons are good- to- go for the day (live, recorded, and independent). Don't even get me started on how much problem-solving and how- to's need to be prepared to make things less stressful for my kids.
Here are four quick tips for how I organize my content for when it comes time to teach. With everything being so digital, it's nice to have my good old pen and paper as I know it will always be at arms reach in case anything happens.
1. First of all, I love using my Pilot G2 pens for writing down my lessons onto sticky notes. I always make sure to include things I want to remind myself to go over so I don't forget.
2. When teaching my math lessons, I like using ink as it shows up much better on the document camera. However, I am sure most people know math and pens don't usually go hand-in-hand. What if you make a mistake? My mind was blown when I first heard about FriXion pens, markers and highlighters. They are colorful, smooth writing, and erasable! My favorite are these FriXion Fineliner marker pens. They don't bleed through paper and are so easy to erase.
3. I like to highlight key terms before the lesson to make sure that we can go over them as a class. I also like to mark the definitions on our paper so we can easily refer back to them. What is better than an erasable pen you might ask? An erasable highlighter! These FriXion Light Pastel Highlighters are my favorite because they come in literally all my favorite colors! It also comes in handy for color-coding once assessments are finished!
4. Like I said, sometimes a good old paper and pen are nice to have in an era spent online. I always keep a pad of paper handy in case kids come up with a good idea or I need to remember something. I also like to just write a quick run-through of my day with the times and important details so I don't forget. With all these cute and smooth-writing pens, this is something I actually quite enjoy because it helps me keep track of our online/live minutes in a way that makes me happy.
I hope you all enjoyed these tips, as pens and cute erasable highlighters seem to be bringing me the most joy these days. I am not lying when I say I think I have pretty much every pen known to man in my giant pen holder. These great, cute, and colorful options from Pilot are what help me stay on top of my teaching and relax a little as I don't have to have another tab open or try to remember it all in my head.